Young at heart: Tim Wheeler

Two decades after Downpatrick band Ash exploded onto the 1990s music landscape with their summery punk-inflected pop, the band are back with a new single and album

Tim Wheeler of Ash: ‘I just play the songs the way they’ll sound good live’ Pic: Burak Cingi/Redferns

‘Tim isn’t here. He’s gone to Dublin.”

It’s not often you pick up the phone to interview a pop star and find yourself talking to their lovely mother instead, but such is the case when I call chez Wheeler on an appointed day and discover that Tim, frontman of iconic chart-topping Downpatrick band Ash, has abandoned the family home for the day to go to a funeral in the south of Ireland.

Frankly, ...