Ash

Few Northern Irish bands have travelled as far from a Downpatrick garage as Ash. Formed in 1992 by Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray, the trio built their sound on guitar-driven pop, and while they were grouped with the Britpop acts of the mid-nineties, they never fully embraced the label. Their reluctance was rooted in home: in Northern Ireland, stressing Britishness could be read as sectarian.

The three-piece released the mini-album Trailer in 1994, and its follow-up 1977 two years later, which NME later placed among its 500 greatest albums. Singles such as Kung Fu, Girl From Mars and Angel Interceptor followed in 1995 and carried them to American audiences through the film Angus. Charlotte Hatherley was recruited as a second guitarist in 1997, and the 2001 album Free All Angels, made while the band was close to bankruptcy, yielded Shining Light, which won the Best Contemporary Song award at the 2002 Ivor Novello Awards. In 2009 they released 26 singles in the A-Z Series.