Das Freie Magazin 5 sprach mit Rick McMurray & Charlotte Hatherley von Ash sowohl über ihr aktuelles Album "Meltdown" als auch über die Höhepunkte und Schattenseiten ihrer bisherigen Karriere.

Die Karriere von Ash lässt sich ungefähr mit einer Achterbahnfahrt vergleichen. Ein ständiges Up and Down: Auf Welttourneen, Hit Singles und Nummer-1-Alben, folgten Drogenexzesse und Selbstmordversuche, die durch den medialen und dem selbst auferlegten Druck ausgelöst wurden. Ash haben seit ihrem weltweiten Erfolg mit dem Album „1977“ im Jahr '96 - in dem das Durchschnittsalter der Band rund 19 Jahre betrug - vieles erreicht und erlebt. Diese Erfahrungen gehen an einem Menschen nicht spurlos vorüber und deshalb sind die vier Iren mit den Jahren gereift, gewachsen und haben sich selbst gefunden. Dieser ganze Prozess spiegelt sich im aktuellen Album „Meltdown“, welches 2004 veröffentlicht wurde, wieder Über diesen Wandel und die damit verbunden Probleme sprachen wir mit Rick McMurray (drums) und Charlotte Hatherley (guitar)

FM5: The new album "Meltdown" sounds more like a rock album than the previous album "Free All Angels". Was that a conscious decision?

Rick: I think when we recorded the album we could have made an album kind a similar to "Free All Angels". Most of the stuff was heavier, with these few tracks that we left off the album it would have been more like "Meltdown". In the past we have been concerned about making quite a balanced album, but this time we thought we have done that before. So let's try making an album that's more sort of extreme, with a bit of rock. You want to change things a bit, you know

FM5: You recorded your new album in the states. Why have you changed your producer for this album?

Rick: We were with the same producer for like six or seven years. And I think with "Free All Angels" we felt that we had gone as far as we could with Owen Morris. And he agreed with this as well. He said "It's time to look for someone else, 'cause it's gonna be really hard to make anything better than "Free All Angels", with me". And most of the bands we have been into like "Smashing Pumpkins", "Nirvana", "Pixies" and stuff, they all had American producers and studios, so that's the reason we chose Nick (Nick Raskulinecz also worked for "Foo Fighters" and "System Of A Down").

FM5: What was the difference?

Rick: You know, Owen Morris is a very unique producer. He's insane. He really works my way, he takes lots of drinks and drugs and then sees how things go. It's a lot of hard work to bring it up, but with Nick there's a different work ethic. He's very straight, he's focused, it's just interesting how he works.

FM5: You just mentioned drugs. What's your favorite drug: Sex or Rock 'n' Roll?

Charlotte: Sex.
Rick:Yeah, Sex.
Charlotte: But it changes every week.

FM5: You have made music for 10 years, what is your goal for the future?

Rick: There are lots of goals! We want to have a number 1 album in the UK, but we would also love to have a number 1 album in Austria. We would like to bring the success we have in England to the same level in all Europe. There is just a lot of stuff we feel he haven't achieved yet.

FM5:Which country or city do you really enjoy playing in?

Rick: We just played at FUJI-Rock in Japan, which was the first time we were back in Japan for ages and probably one of the best reactions we had all year. So it was cool.Charlotte: The crowd really flipped out. I have never seen anything like that! They knew every single song. It's a good place to go.

FM5: In your career there have been lots of good moments and success, but also bad times. How were these bad times?

Charlotte: Well, I think after "1977", Tim suffered from a little bit of writers' block, it was a general burn out from that period. So the writing for the second album was hard work. When we look back on it now, it was necessary for us. From that we can learn that success can be a very fickle thing and we don't take it as granted. And so we developed a strong work ethic.

FM5: And how is the situation in the band. Have you grown much, together?

Charlotte: Of course, I have been with the guys for seven years now. You can't help it, we spend so much time together. We have grown together and have a special relationship.

FM5: How is it, touring with 3 wild guys? Do you miss girl-talk or things like that?

Charlotte: Yes, it's not only that I'm the only girl in the band. There are also roadies who share our tour bus. There are around ten guys! It's not really a problem, but sometimes you wish there was a girl to talk to.

FM5: How big is the pressure to make new albums? Is it hard to find satisfaction? How big is the pressure from the media and the label?

Rick: I think our label is pretty cool. We are left to our own devices. No one from the label comes to the studio. We make our album, give it to them, and they have always been happy. I guess after we did "1977" there was a lot of pressure from the record company. They wanted to follow it up really quickly. The label also looked for something like a "1977 Part 2", but we wanted to make something quite different. But we are pretty lucky in our contract - we can choose what we wanna do. The record company doesn't really say much.

FM5: What's your favorite band at the Frequency festival?Rick: There are some good bands tomorrow like "Snow Patrol".[So war es aber leider nicht der Fall - abgesagt]. We have been friends for a long time. They supported us in the UK three years ago and finally they have got well known, so that's a success they deserve.

FM5: Which festival do you visit yourselves, rather than as a band?Charlotte: I don't go to festivals unless I have to! Glastonbury is the most famous one, it's the biggest and probably the best. But also FUJI-Rock - which we just did - had the best bands and the best line up.

FM5: What do you think about illegal file sharing? Do you practice this yourselves?

Charlotte: Yes. I just recently got into it and started downloading stuff. We, as a band, don't see it as that much of a problem. Our album was also available on the Internet a long time before it came out, and it started pretty well. We don't mind.Rick: Well, you can't give your album away for free, otherwise all the bands aren't going to survive. You've got to have income coming from somewhere. But we understand the fans, they expect to get special stuff, so we put up exclusive live versions on a website and you can download them for free. We have a good relationship with our fans in that sense.

FM5: Which things in your life would be a reason for you to stop playing music?Charlotte: I can't even begin to think about that. I have been doing music since I was 15, so I can't imagine a life without music.

FM5: If you could choose, would you rather be ugly or stupid?Rick: Oh, being the drummer you are expected to be ugly and stupid, so I don't mind.Charlotte: That's a tough one, but i would never want to be stupid, so let's say ugly.