See Sa ID AS

Ash

Nu-Clear Sounds Ash is a perfect example of
Dreamworks / Universal 2.28nd who got famous play-

ing the Brit rock scene.
Frontman Tim Wheeler and
Bassist Mark Hamilton decid-
ed that they wanted to be
rock stars at age 11. Once
they convinced their parents
to buy them real instruments
so they wouldn't have to play
Iron Maiden riffs on tennis
rackets. Rick McMurray
joined at age 15, originally
playing guitar, but deciding to
switch to drums when he
realized that everyone was
playing guitar. The original
band, Vietnam, became the
laughing stock of

Over The Edge Page 8 Soundscape October 19, 1999

SNe a

whee x

SS ee ae
Downpatrick, the Northern
Ireland town where the three
grew up.

To prove perseverance
pays off, they continued to
play local bar gigs and gradu-
ally improved. When they

were about 20, they recorded

a demo and eventually land-
ed themselves a record deal
with the UK’s_ Infectious
Records, who they are still
with.

At this time, they also decid-
ed to add another guitar to
the bank and “borrowed”
Charlotte Heatherly from

-London band Nightnurse.

Heatherly had no clue what
she was getting herself into,

as the made the jump from
performing in front of 20 peo-
ple one week to 20, 000 the
next week at London’s V9
festival.

The band is a good mix. It
is easy to see why they are
so popular in the UK, Ash is
simply a latecomer to the
North American scene. The
record itself is described well
by Wheeler when he says it’s
“quite noisy in some places
and quite uncompromising,
very passionate.”

Many of the songs revel in
their simplicity. Although
maintaining a steady rhyth-
mic sound, many of the
songs use only a few chords -

they just make good use of
them. This prevents the
songs from becoming too

busy and separates the
songs from the noise. For
example, popular track

“Jesus Says” uses only two
chords.

While Ash may not have
what it takes to successfully
play the top American charts,
look forward to hearing them
as they grow in popularity. If
their success in Europe is
any indication of things to
come, then they might rock
our world too.

Method Man and Redman
Blackout!
Def Jam / Universal

What is it about Method
Man and Redman which
makes them the venerable
dynamic duo of hip hop?

While both have reward-
ing careers in hardcore hip-
hop, fans have embraced
every song which the two of
them have collaborated on.
\f anyone remembers the
“The Snow” soundtrack from
1995, you'll realize how true
this is was with “How High,’
which Meth and Red pieced
together themselves.

Both Meth and Red have
acheived platinum status,
both have been in the Hip

fie:

Hop game for.a long time.
Meth claims that this is
because they keep on top of
the game, “staying on
point...keep rising, keep
modernizing with the times.”

Redman describes’
Blackout! as “the fusion of
two crews that have been
running underground hip-
hop for years.”

After 9 individual albums
between the two of them,
Blackout! proves that the
duo are still able to come up
with new lyrics and killer
beats. Method Man claims
of the song writing process,
“We just sat down and

wigged out. We said what-
ever that music told us to
say. As far as the rhymes
go, we ain’t playing.”
Blackout! also features a
smattering of appearances
from artists under the Def
Jam label. Besides Method
Man and Red Man, Reggie
Noble, Johnny Blaze, Funk
Docta Spot and Meth Tical.
To make this record even
more diverse, it was pro-
duced by the likes of
Redman, DJ Scratch, Erick
Sermon, The RZA,
Rockwolder, and
Mathematics. Songs like “4
Seasons’ feature other Def

Jam artists such as LL Cool
J and Ja Rule.

For many of the songs on
Blackout!, the massive
combination of talent and
influence which went into
this record cause it to sur-
face with a straight hardcore
beat, true to the cause. It’s
the skill, charisma, and

‘sheer energy which Method

Man and Redman give to
theitkcreations which makes
Blackout! such an intense
experience.

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