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| Interviews: Ash |
The Boys From Mars Ash's Mark Hamilton: 20 July 1996 the master tape of this interview has gone missing, so this is only some of what anastasia and i talked about with mark. if i do find the rest of it, there's at least another 30 minutes of conversation. for now, enjoy what's here. anastasia: okay, do you consider ash to be a pop band or a rock band? mark: both. it's got strong melodies, which would be more pop, but you've also got strong riffs and aggressive guitars, which are more rock. a: are you trying to be a pop band, now that the album's taking off, or do you want to stick to being a rock band? m: both. we're just doing what we do. f: the way the album is, you've got the softer stuff like "goldfinger" next to "kung fu," but those were obviously written at different times ... do you write pop songs that turn into rock songs or rock songs that turn into pop songs? m: sometimes ... dunno. when you get an idea in your head, it is what it is. you don't delibrately say "i'm going to write a rock song. it just happens. f: are you guys influenced by the stiff little fingers at all? m: we got asked that a couple days ago. but we never actually have. i've only heard one of their songs. one of the big famous ones. f: it's just that they were one of the only big punk bands to come out of northern ireland. m: it's weird, but because it was so before our time, we were never really interested at all, even finding out what it sounded like. a: speaking of influences, i read that you're a big fan of sonic youth. m: yeah, great band. but that's one of them. i love nirvana as well, and stuff like abba. great group. i think that's where we get the pop from, because when we were young, both me and tim's mums were big abba fans, ya know, so they drilled that into our head when we were young, and when we got older we listened to led zeppelin and stuff like that. a: well, name 5 cds that yr listening to now. m: ween. i listen to a lot of ween. underworld. this band called 60-foot dolls from wales. we did a tour with them. they're really great. the verve ... a: which one? m: erm, a northern soul. and that kids soundtrack. a: do you think you fit into the britpop scene? m: i don't know. we sort of drift in and out of it. we just spend a lot of time in england, and we're pretty big there. but we're from northern ireland. i guess that's pretty close ... maybe we're britrock. that's what kerrang called us. it's weird, cos we got front covers in smash hits, which is this 15-year-old girl's pop magazine, with bands like take that, and we've had front covers of kerrang, which is your heavy metal magazine, and we've had front covers in the nme, melody maker and big magazines like select, so we've covered quite a wide range of press. a: are you afraid that because you guys are cute and young, and because a lot of the material on 1977 is more balladry than on trailer, are you afraid that you guys'll get a reputation as a teeny-bopper band? m: not at all, because bands like take that have such a clean reputation, and we're totally the opposite. we get letters written into the nme from parents saying that we're setting bad examples and shouldn't be in there. we get a lot of shit from unionists in northern ireland saying we're disgraceful and all everytime we get in the papers for wrecking a hotel room or something. f: what's it like being the same age as most of your audience? m: it's good. it's not weird. where we played last night was an over-21 gig, so everyone was older than us. a: do you think that the press and your peer musicians treat you like kids? m: not really. not at home. i don't know about here. at home, we used to have a bit of that, but i think that the album proved a lot to people. a: what do the kids at school think of you as a big pop star? m: it's weird, but it wasn't til after i'd left school. They saw us on top of the pops. we were big in the underground when we were in school, but it wasn't until "girl from mars" charted and we were on top of the pops that everyone was like "(gasps) wow!" last time we played belfast a couple weeks ago, i saw all these people in the crowd, and it was weird ... "look where we are now." a: do you feel different from your average 19-year-old? m: i dunno, because i haven't been anyone else. a: but you have friends at home who are the same age as you who aren't touring all over the world and selling lots of records. do you miss that? m: i dunno. you do miss your friends, but this is so much fun. there's nothing else i'd want to do. a: do the people at home treat you differently? m: well, not the people you know. not your friends. but to everybody else, you're a celebrity. i've only been home twice this year for two days. one night i went out with my mates, and six fights happened just because i was in the building - just because i was there. it's strange. but the good thing is that most people who see you on the street don't want to talk to you cos they know our reputation - apart from the fans, that is. f: you guys have a reputation for your drug use - how is that effecting the u.s. tour? m: i don't take drugs anymore, but the other ones do. it's never a problem for the band - i drink myself unconscious almost every day. i'm not missing the party. and it's not hard drugs either - apart from the crew, who tend to get a bit crazy. with the band, it's more tame. over here, they've got some weird ideas about drugs, like 'all drugs are bad,' weed is bad, but it's not like smack. a: speaking of drugs and partying, what's the story with the secret track on 1977? m: that was about two months in. we were in the studio for about three months, and about two months in we started hiding away from the rest of the world, getting a bit crazy, doing nothing but recording and writing and drinking and shit like that. one night they were all on acid. there were six of us, us three, and the producer and [some friends of the band's]. basically it was just us six for the entire three months. and the studio was like a party. a: who was being sick? m: that was me. i was just feeling generally ill, and we were just doing this song called the scream. it's 122 voices, starting off going "hmmmmm," and by the end they're going (high pitched) "ahhhhhhhh!" only each voice was done separately. we were trying to thnk of a new way to do it, and i wasn't feeling well, so we thought, right, well, i could be sick, get a microphone, go out in the yard and we could put it in the background, just to add to it. and then we listened to it on its own like 40 times, and everybody was just laughing. first it was kind of gross, but then we thought it was funny, and we thought how outrageous it would be to put it the album, which no one else would dare do. a: and the record company was okay with this? m: they didn't really want it on there - they said it was commercial suicide. but the thing is, our contract says we can do what we want, so they had to. f: i can see how they'd say it'd be commercial suicide ... m: but the thing is that it's the other way round, really, because once they hear about it they want to hear it. f: what do your parents think of it? m: they know about it - they've heard it. but they haven't asked me about it - i think they just don't want to know. f: what do they think about all the "mark: my heroin hell" stories in the tabloids? m: my parents don't like the stories - they say "you shouldn't be talking about that." i told the belfast press to leave our parents alone or i'd pay someone to come round and get them. they come by, and my mum's like "fuck off!" f: do you think you'll get the same kind of reputation over here that you have at home? m: i dunno. i'm not worried about the stories getting out. i don't care, really. f: do you about how well you do in america? does it matter at all? m: we want to be successful everywhere, not just america. we've made it in the top 10 in australia and japan, and in southeast asia we're the top selling band aside from the manic street preachers. weird stuff. f: what's the coolest thing that's happened for you musically this year? m: we got a song on rumble in the bronx. f: yeah, how'd you get that? m: jackie chan actually asked for it. we were going to come meet him, but were doing a video. f: speaking of films, i know you're a big star wars fan. if you get a part in it, who would you be? m: if i could be in it, i would be anyone, cos they're their own characters and all. i'd be meself, but i'd be flying one of the x-wings in luke's squadron, only i'd have a special modified ship better than everybody else's. my collection is worth about 75,000 pounds ($50,000). it's so big that i can't fit it all in the house. 20th century fox owns our record label in england (where they've sold over 5 million records), so we're trying to get cameos in the next movie. f: do you get a lot of girls coming after you on tour? m: um, i don't know. i drink a lot when i'm onstage, so i'm usually not in a very good state afterwards. i think tim and rick are much more approachable. we're not into groupies. we've got friends all over, we hang out with them - groupies were never my sort of thing. that's sort of an old heavy metal thing. you do get some people who are groupies, but you try to ignore them. or you be nice to them and talk to them so you can say "see you later." a: i noticed at the new york show that your roadies were coming on every few songs to give you water - to pour it in your mouth for you. was it that hot onstage? m: no, that's gin and tonic getting poured down my throat. |