Ash

Ash are a Northern Irish alternative rock band, formed in Downpatrick in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album Trailer in 1994, followed by 1977 in 1996. After the success of their full debut, the band recruited Charlotte Hatherley as a guitarist and vocalist, releasing their second record Nu-Clear Sounds in 1998. After narrowly avoiding bankruptcy the band released Free All Angels in 2001. Their fourth record Meltdown, released in 2004, was the band's final record with Hatherley before returning to their original three-piece lineup for their fifth studio album Twilight of the Innocents in 2007. After five conventional albums the band released 26 singles in The A-Z Series in 2009, one every two weeks. The band have had one silver, two gold and two platinum-selling (and chart-topping) records in the United Kingdom, as well as 18 songs in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.==Links To Peel== Peel heard the band in 1994 through Steve Lamacq, who got to hear the band from their mini album Trailer. The band were regularly played by Peel in the 90's and performed many sessions for his show at Maida Vale and one at Peel Acres with only Tim Wheeler and Charlotte Hatherley performing an acoustic session in 1999. By the time of their fourth album, Peel lost interest in the group, but nevertheless Tim Wheeler paid tribute to Peel after his death when the band dedicated Teenage Kicks at their gig in 2004.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1994 Festive Fifty: tbc
 * 1995 Festive Fifty: Girl From Mars #04
 * 1995 Festive Fifty: Kung Fu #06
 * 1995 Festive Fifty: Angel Interceptor #43
 * 1996 Festive Fifty: tbc

Sessions
1. Recorded: 1994-04-03. Broadcast: 30 April 1994. Repeated: 10 March 1995 2. Recorded at Glastonbury: 1995-06-23. Broadcast: 23 June 1995 3. Recorded: 1996-04-14. Broadcast: 27 April 1996. Repeated:*I'd Give You Anything / Get Ready / Lose Control / Darkside Lightside 4. Recorded at Reading Festival: 1996-08-25. Broadcast: 25 August 1996*Goldfinger / Darkside Lightside / Oh Yeah / Innocent Smile / Petrol / Girl From Mars / Kung Fu 5. Recorded: 1999-04-15. Broadcast: 15 April 1999*Folk Song / Something Like You / Aphrodite / Girl From Mars 6. Recorded: 2001-06-06. Broadcast: 06 June 2001
 * Silver Surfer / Season / Petrol / Jazz 59
 * Silver / Jack Names The Planets / Intense Thing / Uncle Pat / Season / Petrol / Angel / Punk Boy / Girl From Mars / Kung Fu
 * Walking Barefoot / Candy / Sometimes / Pacific Pallisades / There's A Star / World Domination / Jack Names The Planets / Submission / Teenage Kicks / Melon Farmer / Girl From Mars

Other Shows Played
1994 1995 2000 2001
 * January 1994 (1) (BBC World Service): Jack Names The Planets (12") LaLaLand
 * 27 August 1994 (BFBS): Petrol (7") Infectious
 * 29 October 1994 (BFBS): 'Punkboy (2x7"-Crazed And Confused)' (Fierce Panda)
 * 29 October 1994 (BFBS): 'Uncle Pat (7")' (Infectious)
 * 30 September 1995 (BFBS):  'Angel Interceptor (CDS)' (Infectious)
 * tbc
 * 26 December 2000: 'Shining Light (CD single)' (Infectious) (JP: A challenger for next year's Festive Fifty? I wouldn't be at all surprised.)
 * 25 July 2001 (Radio Mafia): Teenage Kicks (double 7" single Sometimes) Infectious (JP: "It was recorded originally for my programmes here, a live recording at our Maida Vale studio in London, and while that was going on in real time, as it were, rather than recording, I was singing along with it, and crying at the same time. Why this is, I really don't know. Every time I hear Teenage Kicks I burst into floods of tears. Which is why I had to follow it with another record without speaking.")
 * tbc