Ash Finally Finish a Song They Wrote 30 Years Ago
Northern Irish trio Ash have released "Bittersweet Blue," a song they call one of their "lost" tracks. According to NME, the song was written before the band's 1996 debut album 1977, played live in 1995 while supporting Therapy?, and recorded in early 1996 — but never finished. Thirty years later, it's out as a 7-inch vinyl single with a new music video.
Mislabeled tapes and a three-decade gap
Although the song had become a favorite within the band, it was never completed, and frontman Tim Wheeler would improvise the lyrics on stage. Drummer Rick McMurray says that after the band started playing it live, almost no one mentioned it again for close to two decades — until their back catalogue was digitized for reissue, and some of the original masters appeared to be missing.
McMurray says it took another decade, during preparation for a 30th-anniversary 1977 box set, before Wheeler tracked down the problem: the master tapes had simply been mislabeled. But what turned up was incomplete — one usable drum track, bass, a few rhythm guitar takes, and a rough vocal take with no finished lyrics. McMurray describes it as asking the impossible of the band; Wheeler ultimately reconnected with his teenage self to write new lyrics and complete the song.
The music video was filmed in the band's early rehearsal space — the same room where the song was first played. McMurray calls it meaningful to have that space permanently documented, describing the single as "30 years in the making."
The 1977 30th-anniversary tour
Ash will launch a UK and European tour marking the 30th anniversary of 1977 this November, following stops already completed in Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia. The run closes with a sold-out show at London's Roundhouse on December 17.
What else the band has been up to
This summer, Ash surprised fans at Kendal Calling by performing under a tribute-band name, and were presented with a gold record for the 1977 single "Girl From Mars." Last September, the band released a double A-side single featuring Blur's Graham Coxon; around the same time, Wheeler joined Coldplay on stage at Wembley Stadium for "Clocks." The band's ninth studio album, Ad Astra, arrived in autumn 2025, following 2023's Race The Night.