Ash

Ash are proud torchbearers of Ireland’s legacy of punk-influenced pop music—even if vocalist/guitarist Tim Wheeler and bassist Mark Hamilton started out playing together in an Iron Maiden cover band. After forming Ash in 1992, the pair and drummer Rick McMurray turned heads with their giddy 1994 debut single, “Jack Names the Planets”, and the explosive “Girl from Mars”, from their effervescent 1996 full-length debut, 1977. The late-’90s addition of guitarist/vocalist Charlotte Hatherley expanded Ash’s sound further, leading to the power-pop gem “Burn Baby Burn” (found on the 2001 No. 1 album Free All Angels) and—in a nod to their early shredder days—2004’s metal-influenced “Orpheus”. After Hatherley departed in the mid-2000s, Ash went back to their punkish roots as a trio, releasing the pop-leaning 2015 album Kablammo! and recruiting two members of Irish punk legends The Undertones for the rough-hewn 2018 single “Buzzkill”.