Questionable Corner: Ash

Since releasing Twilight of the Innocents back in 2007, the Irish trio known as Ash has turned away from the conventional recording of albums to focus instead on releasing steady singles on their own schedule. This led to the creation of The A-Z series, a collection of 27-songs that will be released every two weeks for the next few months. The songs find Ash trying out new avenues and new sounds, but somehow they don't neglect their own past in doing so. I got a chance to chat with Ash front man Tim Wheeler about the new strategy and how it makes a whole world of sense in the new digital age of music. Here's what he had to say, and make sure you subscribe to The A-Z series so you don't miss any of the fantastic singles!

PTST: The A-Z series is a pretty unique way to tackle the new, digital world of music. Like
Radiohead did with In Rainbows you seem willing to embrace the new and try out a different
approach to releasing music. What made you guys want to explore this unique strategy?
Tim Wheeler: I think it's essential to come up with new ways of releasing music. The internet has given musicians a direct connection to their fans and there's a lot of fun to be had with that. Doing a traditional album seems pointless to me at the moment when there's so many new things that can be done.

PTST: Do you think this will protect you from illegal downloading in any way?
Tim Wheeler: I hope so. We wanted to make sure the downloads are reasonably priced, it's $20 for all 26 songs. I know our fans are happy about that. I think people's attitude to illegal downloading is starting to change for the better as well which helps. We're entirely self funded now so we're relying on our fans to be able to survive and keep making music.

PTST: Do you think record labels will ever be able to get away from the traditional way of
releasing music and start to embrace new ideas like this?
Tim Wheeler: I think it could work really well. I'm hoping the idea will be picked up by other artists.

PTST: When you guys first decided to stop making albums and start focusing on crafting and
releasing only singles instead did you picture this sort of series of singles released one after
another?
Tim Wheeler: Yeah, but we kept it quiet at the time until we figured out how to do it. I thought the idea of a constant stream of music over a year would be awesome for our connection with our fans.

PTST: If there was this much material, why not just put it together for another full length record?
Tim Wheeler: I love this Andy Warhol quote: "The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting". Albums have become devalued in so many ways. They used to feel like an event, but now with the internet things move so quickly. Albums come out and disappear within 3 months. When you've worked on it for 2 years that sucks. Albums used to have a physical quality too but now they're invisible pieces of data on your hard drive. You used to listen to albums from start to finish because it was easiest to put them on and let them play. Singles were a pain in the ass 'cos you had to get up every 3 minutes and put on a new one. Now with playlists, you pull a bunch of your favourite single tracks together and you can let it run without thinking about it. People are used to getting things in regular installments now, like blogs and podcasts, so why not do it with music. Each song will be like an event, our fans will be excited and so will we.

PTST: Now that there is a constant source of songs would you ever re-think the strategy of just
releasing singles from here on out?
Tim Wheeler: I really hope it's going to work. If it does then I don't see us going back. We've done all the set up work, so we can keep it going. We're setting our website up as the first place that people will come to get our music. Once we've reached the end of our A-Z we could easily switch to a cheaper subscription and release a song a month for the next year.

PTST: What made you focus on labeling each song with a letter of the alphabet? What would
have done if there were 21 songs instead of 27?
Tim Wheeler: We decided on doing a song every 2 weeks first and with there being 26 fortnight in a year we figured it would be a cute way to tie it together with the alphabet. It's a loose concept, the best thing is how good and simple the artwork is. It also means we can do some new things to draw attention to the singles. We're doing an A-Z tour of the UK over the next 2 months, starting in Aldershot and finishing in a place called Zennor.

PTST: How do you feel these new songs compare to the songs of your past? Do they all have
similarities or are they completely unique to themselves?
Tim Wheeler: They're all pretty varied. It was freeing not writing for an album. The songs don't have to fit together, in fact it's better if there are surprises because it'll make it more intriguing for the fans, wondering what the hell they're going to hear next.

PTST: What was the writing process like for these songs? Was it done as a band or was there on
dominant songwriter?
Tim Wheeler: I've written most of them but the other guys have written quite a lot too. We announced our plans earlier this year with a free download of a song called "Return Of White Rabbit" which Mark wrote. It's one of my favourite songs that we've ever done. It's so much fun to play live.

PTST: How long did it take to compile the 27-songs being used?
We still haven't finished. We've recorded 44 songs, but we're being really picky because the songs have to stand up by themselves. They're singles so they need to be really great songs. We're going to do another session in January and February and we'll probably do 10 more songs then!

PTST: I read that there's also a slew of b-sides to go with the songs being put out, are those
ever going to see the light of day?
Tim Wheeler: We haven't figured out what to do with the other songs yet, but they should get released at some point.

PTST: Do you ever take a break from song writing, or is it just part of your daily routine at this
point?
Tim Wheeler: It's hard to write consistently on tour, I'll write little bits and pieces but I can never finish a song on the road. So I end up getting quite out of practice on tour.

PTST: You've already sold out most of the shows supporting the releases in the UK, when do you think you'll be hitting the States?
Tim Wheeler: Hopefully we'll start playing the States again in the spring next year. It's been too long!

PTST: What have you guys been listening to lately? Did any of your outside listening seep into
the sound or style of these songs?
Tim Wheeler: I just had a quick look at the recently played section of my iTunes. In the last week I listened to Julian Cope, Simone Dinnerstein, Brian Eno, Thin Lizzy, Vampire Weekend, David Bowie, Arthur Russell, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Annie, Dennis Wilson, The Stranglers, Howling Wolf, Talking Heads, The Soft Boys, TV On The Radio, Peter Schilling, Falco, Pixies, James, Justice, Magazine, Pascal Rogé, Grace Jones, ELO, Liquid Liquid, Santogold, The Fall, Can, Barrington Levy, Keith Hudson, and Chet Baker. I'm always looking for ideas when I listen to other music. So it always seeps in in random ways. I steal production ideas from other people but use them in a different context in our own songs and end up with something new for us and different from the original idea.

PTST: Were you guys ever members of any singles clubs growing up?
Tim Wheeler: No, but I always thought the Sub Pop singles club and The Wedding Present hit parade were really cool.

Tim Wheeler: Where do you think Ash will go from here? We've pushed ourselves hard to do things differently. I think we'll continue along this path of unpredictability because it's making things extra enjoyable.

Listen: Ash - "Return of the White Rabbit"