Are Ash the biggest ‘Star Wars’ fans in rock?
British music in the 1990s often gets boiled down to Blur and Oasis by rock fans like us. Whether this is justified or not varies from person to person, but one thing is for sure—the music scene in that decade in the UK was a lot more varied than most give it credit for, even among guitar bands. For me, one of the best examples of this was the teenage sensation from Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, Ash.
What set Ash apart from their contemporaries was the “teenage” part. Bands getting their first flashes of success at 18 or 19 is not hugely unusual, but singer Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray were shockingly young. The band as we know them today were formed when they were 15, and by the time Wheeler received his A-level results, he was opening the envelope containing them live on Radio 1.
For better and for worse, the band were also “authentically” teenage. With one listen of their early records, you can really tell that Ash were a band barely out of secondary school when they recorded the tracks. The downside of this is that the lyrics aren’t exactly great, a skill which, with the greatest goodwill in the world to Wheeler, he never really got the hang of in his career.
The upsides, though, are plentiful. The youthful energy with which the band attacked the songs on the debut EP Trailer and debut album 1977 (the year the whole band were born) still hits to this day. Wheeler was and still is a preternaturally gifted songwriter with an ear for at 16 that most will never have in their lives. Most of all, though, is the sheer charm and unabashed glee the band had for their passions, the way anyone does as a teenager.
How did Ash show off their obsessions?
An early single from the band, ‘Angel Interceptor’, cribs its name from a fighter plane featured in the British TV show, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. On the other hand, ‘Kung Fu’ was a tribute to the martial arts movies Wheeler grew up watching. The biggest influence of all, though, came through on the very first sound of 1977, an Imperial TIE fighter hurtling through space, baring down upon the listener.
Yes, it turns out there’s another reason they called the album 1977. It was also the year that Star Wars was released. Like most kids of their generation, Ash were massive fans of the titanic sci-fi franchise. However, unlike them, they were able to pour their fandom into one of the biggest rock bands of their day.
Alongside the TIE fighter kicking off the album, there’s the fact that Hamilton, for a long time, took to signing off his social media posts as “DMH” (Darth Mark Hamilton). In fact, the band were once led on stage by the Stormtroopers of the 501st division for the encores of their 1977 anniversary shows at Camden’s Roundhouse. Arguably, their most beloved b-side is a cover of John Williams’ iconic ‘Cantina Band’ theme.
Most heartwarming of all is the fact that this display of unabashed fandom didn’t go unnoticed. The band were tapped up by Lucasfilms to play the wrap party of Star Wars Episode I — The Phantom Menace, which was almost certainly better than the actual movie itself!
