As we awaited the arrival of Ash to our local record store, the band themselves were sound checking at the Wedgewood Rooms ahead of their sold-out festival warmup – the bank holiday traffic, unfortunately, put things behind schedule resulting in a short but sweet acoustic session, albeit one that was certainly worth the wait.
Once Mark Hamilton’s three string bass was tuned in and set up it was time for the trio to burst into “Life Less Ordinary” before the first of two songs from new album “Kablammo!” in “Cocoon” showing that it may have been eight years since their last release but the new track stood up alongside the hit singles from the past.
It was then time for a little conversation with the crowd, for there’s always a relaxed atmosphere at these intimate in-store appearances and as Tim Wheeler apologized for playing songs that could be heard again later in the evening new tune “Machinery” was then given the acoustic treatment.
I still find it hard to believe twenty years have gone by since Ash first appeared on our stereos and it’s the band’s first full length release entitled “1977” that would go on to hold them in good stead for the two decades that followed, so unsurprisingly then the last of the four tracks played at Pie and Vinyl would be the classic “Girl From Mars”.
Someone once said to me that the sign of a good song is that it can be played in its rawest form and still sound great, now I may have heard this on more than one occasion and whilst I don’t always fully agree this is the case, when it comes to “Girl From Mars” it certainly rings true.
Played acoustically it’s still the perfect piece of guitar-pop showing that even as a teenager Tim Wheeler had an ear for a well-written tune, it’s stood the test of time and with the release of “Kablammo!” all these years later Ash are back with another cracking album.
So after spending time to sign a few autographs the band were provided with a lift back to the Wedgewood Rooms and for those lucky enough to have grabbed a ticket for the main event, I’m sure quite a few would have been disappointed to miss out on the earlier Pie & Vinyl experience.
