Ash frontman Tim Wheeler enjoying time with at home with mum

6 May 2020

IN terms of being stranded anywhere during lockdown, Ash frontman Tim Wheeler agrees that staying with his mother in Downpatrick has to be one of the best outcomes.

Unfortunately, this extended period of staying with his mum, Rosalind, who celebrated her 86th birthday on Sunday, comes at a cost.

He is separated from his girlfriend, the stunning French model and art director, Julia Restion Roitfeld, and his friends in New York which he has called home for the past 15 years.

The 43 year-old is writing music in the same room that he used over 25 years ago before Ash made it big. Like all of us, he’s patiently waiting for when things return to normal and travel is possible again.

“I definitely haven’t spent more than at couple of weeks at home since 2011 when my father George died,” explains Tim. “It’s a real shame that I can‘t really enjoy everything that Co Down has to offer, but at least home is a good spot. Myself and my mother enjoy going out for a walk along the Quoile river every now and then.”

The third of four children, Tim has an older sister, Heather, and two brothers, Michael and Pat. Their late father was a highly respected lawyer, who became a county court judge.

Ash, the band Tim founded in 1992 at the age of 15 with fellow Down High School students Mark Hamilton, also from Downpatrick, and Rick McMurray, from Killyleagh, exploded on to the Britpop scene in the mid-1990s. Known as one of the softer alternative rockpop bands, Ash put Downpatrick well and truly on the music map. Along with the success of the Papenfus brothers, Kenneth and Carl, with their band Relish, and local rockers, The Answer, it was a golden age for music for the town and district.

Tim and the band have been recording and touring ever since, having recently embarked on a European tour to support their new specially compiled album, Best of Teenage Wildlife – 25 years of Ash. Coming in a combination of vinyl, a special 3 CD with an 18 rare track CD, Teenage Wildlife has charted well so far, coming top in both the UK and Irish Independent Albums chart and 26th in the UK Album chart.

When President Donald Trump closed the US airports in March, it could not have come at a worst time for the band in promotional terms.

Tim explained: “We were in the middle of European tour in February and everything was just gradually grinding to a standstill. At that time, I did think if I didn’t leave for New York soon there was a chance that I wouldn’t get back for two to three months.

“But our UK dates were the following week and they still hadn‘t been cancelled. I felt that I didn’t have a choice so we stayed and we spent three days driving to Hamburg to a gig which got cancelled on the day. We travelled back to the UK and then the tour dates got cancelled the day before the first show was meant to have been held. It was too late for me at that point to get back to the US so I came back to Northern Ireland and stayed at my sister’s place for a week before I went to Downpatrick.”

While he is enjoying his downtime in Downpatrick, rehoning lyrics to songs he first started several years ago, Tim is naturally concerned about when and if he will get back to New York.

“I’m technically a temporary resident so I’m worried about getting back to the US as I’m not a citizen or permanent resident. I was planning to move to London in July as we have a recording studio there with a lease ending soon and we need to move equipment out over the next few months. That’s all a big question mark now. I’ve been in New York for 15 years and would like a chance to say goodbye to everyone.”

Although the change of pace is different at home compared to New York, both are close to Tim’s heart.

“The number one thing about New York that I love are the people. It’s such an amazing mix

of cultures. It has so much energy to the place. The pace is really fast, it’s endlessly interesting,” he said.

“But I’ve always been comfortable about coming back to Northern Ireland. We are surrounded by woodland and the Quoile river. When the sun shines, there’s nowhere better in the world. I like going between the two extremes, it’s a really good place to be writing, reading and walking around.”

Tim recently connected with the world of music globally when he broadcast a live performance from his Downpatrick home to raise money for struggling musicians and artists impacted by the coronavirus lockdown. Organised by the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which pays royalties to members when their work is performed in whatever platform, Tim was one of 50 big names who took part.

He started off with a rendition of his hit, Girl From Mars, performed with an acoustic guitar, and played Shining Light, which he won an Ivor Novello award in 2001 for Best Contemporary Pop Song, finishing off with Teenage Kicks by Derry band The Undertones.

“That felt really good and I felt really connected; it was good seeing all the comments coming up,” said Tim. “But to be honest, it was nerve-wrecking doing a broadcast from home as the internet is not too good here. Normally on stage you would have fears of your equipment failing but I was just thinking I hope that this internet does not cut out. If the phone rings the home, the internet cuts out. I was praying that no one would ring my mum in the middle of it.

“It just dawned on me while I was singing Shining Light that I had written it in the same room where I was broadcasting from. I’ve written a lot of good songs in that room.”

He joked at how long it normally takes him to release new music and how he is still working on songs he wrote several years ago.

“The guys and I have been chatting a lot still and I’ve been sending them song ideas and discussing things but I really wish we could get into a rehearsal room and jam through the stuff. Maybe we will get to do that in a few weeks’ time.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what new music comes out from artists after the lockdown but I’m always on a bit of a lag with new stuff as by the time I’ve written a new song and we’re recorded it, it’s three years later. The good thing about this time is that it’s given me an opportunity to finish a lot of lyrics where I just didn’t have time before. I’m wrapping up a lot of songs that I started in 2017, so expect our coronavirus album in 2023.”

He’s disappointed, as are local fans, that the band’s planned Belfast gig has had to be postponed until at least the autumn.

Best of Teenage Wildlife is available now for streaming on various platforms and to purchase from Ash’s official website store https://store.ash-official.com/

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