The A–Z Series is a series of singles released by Northern Irish rock band Ash. Consisting of 26 singles, each represented by a letter of the alphabet, the singles were first released on a fortnightly basis from 12 October 2009 until 27 September 2010 on 7-inch vinyl and by download. Along with the 26 primary singles the series also includes 21 B-sides, 13 remixes, 7 acoustic tracks and 2 live tracks which were sporadically released in various formats. The series was later released in various other formats, including two compilation CDs Volume 1 (singles A–M) released on 19 April 2010 and Volume 2 (singles N–Z) released on 11 October 2010, a compilation of all 26 tracks on three vinyl LPs was released on 6 November 2012 through Noyes Records and finally a compact cassette featuring 15 of the band's favourite tracks from the series was released for Cassette Store Day, titled Letters from Alphabet City.
The series spawned six radio singles; "Return of White Rabbit", "True Love 1980", "Space Shot",Spaceshot ash-official.com, 18 January 2010 "War with Me",New Ash Video – 'War With Me' NME, 16 March 2010 "Binary",Q – Binary ash-official.com, 14 April 2010 and "Carnal Love".Carnal Love Video ash-official.com, 22 July 2010
Background and recording
Split from Infectious Records The band's previous album, Twilight of the Innocents, was released on 29 June 2007. From this the band members themselves formed Atomic Heart Records, setting up headquarters in New York City, calling their new studio Atomic Heart. Band members Tim and Mark both moved to New York; "It was a dream of mine, ever since our first American tour in the mid-1990s, to live in New York", whilst drummer Rick resided in Edinburgh's Craiglockhart, commuting to the New York Studio on a regular basis and working in "intensive bursts". The announcement itself of the band's boycott on the album format came at the time of release for Twilight of the Innocents, which the band called "their final album"—sparking rumours over the possibility of Ash splitting up.Ash deny they're splitting NME, 12 June 2007
Recording at Atomic Heart Studio Upon entering the studio, the band recorded "Survivor", later titled "Ichiban", "Coming Around Again" a cover of Carly Simon, a Beach Boys cover of "Do You Wanna Dance?". Soon after several early titles of tracks surfaced on the band's official website, including "Survivor"—now titled "Ichiban", "Prypiat" which was written originally for Twilight of the Innocents, but was not finished in time to make the album, "Return of White Rabbit" which at the time Tim Wheeler supposedly joked about being their comeback single, "Nouvelle Adventures" which features both Tim and Mark on bass guitar, "No Face (Jesus Christ)", "Daedalus", as well as "Hospital Song" and "Lay Down Your Arms" which were both originally intended for Twilight of the Innocents.NYC Trip/New Material ash-official.com, 12 August 2008 Soon after more titles were leaked, including "Space Shot" and "Tracer (Without You)".Last night dmh came round... ash-official.com, 12 August 2009
In NME, vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler stated "We wanted to be the first people to do it like this" also saying, "I think it'll be great for our fans waiting every two weeks knowing they're going to get a song and wondering what it'll be like. It'll be fun".Ash to release 26 new singles in a year NME, 20 May 2009
Bassist Mark Hamilton also spoke of the merits of releasing in an alternative way:INTERVIEW: Ash eastmagazine.co.uk, 1 October 2009we thought we'd come up with a different model where we never really had to be actually be away, that might work better. That was one of the reasons. We had the freedom when launching our own label as well, to try something different, so we're going to give it a go. I think if it works, a lot of people might copy it.
Artwork Each single is assigned a specific colour and letter A–Z, prequel track "Return of White Rabbit" features the upside down stylised as ʁ, representing the rabbit. The front of each single simply shows the letter followed by the band's logo below, whilst on the back the track name is shown. The coloured artwork has also been used for the promotion of their A–Z Tour, with each colour representing a place and a letter of the alphabet, similarly the band through their forum and the assistance of their webmaster have allowed fans to create their own avatars and use emoticons in the A–Z style.Ash A-Z Series Promotion ash-official.com/forum Almost all of the artwork for the series was created by Post 98 Design and Modo Productions, with the exception of the cassette Letters from Alphabet City which was created by Elisa Dalla Tor and handmade "Return of White Rabbit" and "War with Me" CD singles which were created by the band.
Release The 26 singles of the A–Z Series were released once every two weeks through both digital download and 7" limited edition vinyl. The opening to the series was a free download "Return of White Rabbit", released on 18 May 2009, promoting the track were three music videos, an animated one created by Big Button,Return of White Rabbit ash-official.com, 24 June 2009 a home-made one—following the 'White Rabbit' around New York City,Return Of White Rabbit (NYC) ash-official.com, 16 September 2009 and a live footage video, filmed by fans at Thekla in Bristol.Return of White Rabbit @ Thekla ash-official.com, 9 September 2009 The first single to be announced for release was "True Love 1980", opening the series on 12 October 2009, with subscription to the series itself opening on 5 October 2009.
The band in October 2009 confirmed that only the first half of the A–Z Series were "set in stone", with mastering taking place, and the artwork, pressing and release dates confirmed, but the second half of the series would at the time be decided once the series had been launched, with the band holding a then total of 44 tracks recorded, and plans to re-enter the recording studio again in late 2009, "the first six months are set in stone, but the second half is still flexible. It's nice to have that kind of freedom".
Digital downloads The digital subscription for the A–Z Series is offered worldwide; however, the United Kingdom service differs to the rest of the world. The subscription service in the United Kingdom is provided by 7digital, with the fortnightly single released on a Monday, and other non-subscription UK downloads through 7digital, Amazon, Play.com, HMV, iTunes and other download services providing the tracks on the day before subscribers.A-Z Series Store UK ash-official.com The rest of the world service is provided by Topspin, the band have not used Topspin in the UK as they wanted each single to be chart eligible.Ash Debuts 'A-Z' Singles Series billboard.biz, 12 October 2009
The digital subscription service was set to launch originally on 5 October 2009, but was delayed and launched two days later on 8 October 2009.Ash's A-Z store is now open for orders and subscriptions! ash-official.com, 9 October 2009 A free download of 'pre-A–Z' single "Return of White Rabbit" was launched digitally on 18 May 2009, whilst the A–Z Series was celebrated on 14 October by the release of the original 'extended mix' and an 'Atomic Heart' mix of "Return of White Rabbit", available for free download through sneakattackmedia.com.Free Return of White Rabbit Downloads: Extended Version & Atomic Heart Remix ash-official.com, 14 October 2009
Limited 7" vinyl
Subscription for the 7" singles opened on 6 October 2009; the vinyl, whilst costly for both the band and customer, was something the band demanded, as with previous singles whilst still signed, the band ensured all their singles were released on 7-inch vinyl. The singles were each limited to 1000 copies and were each collector's items; the complete vinyl subscription cost £130, or £140 including a special box to store them all in. The vinyl subscription service was provided by Recordstore.co.uk, whilst other retailers would also be given a small number of the singles, to sell at each release.Ash A-Z Series Store ash-official.com, 8 October 2009 Steve Wheeler of Recordstore commented on the partnership with Ash as "being chosen by an innovative and popular band like Ash is testament to the quality service that Recordstore.co.uk provide forward-thinking labels and artists"ASH SPREADING OVER A YEAR AS UNIQUE BUSINESS MODEL ERUPTS altsounds.com, 14 October 2009
Compilation CD The band released two compilation CDs of the series: Volume 1 covered the letters A–M and Volume 2 the letters N–Z. The compilations were released on CD, limited CD/DVD and digitally.A-Z Vol. 1 – Released 19 April ash-official.com, 4 February 2010 Some fans criticized the band's choice to release a CD, pointing out its similarity to an album, but bassist Mark Hamilton responded that it was always their intention and it was about making the A–Z Series available for everyone.A-Z Volume 1 ash-official, forum, 6 February 2010
On 24 February the Japanese version of Volume 1 was announced, featuring two disks, unlike the standard UK one-disc version, with the first disc holding the A–M singles and 7 B-sides; "Return of the White Rabbit", "Coming Around Again", "The Creeps", "CTRL-ALT-DEL", "Do You Feel It?" and exclusively "Kamakura" and "Disenchanted" with the second disc featuring 14 remixes, acoustics and already digitally released B-sides "Lay Down Your Arms" and "Gallows Hill". The CD was released earlier than the UK version, on 7 April 2010.A-Z Vol. 1 Japanese Edition ash-official.com, 24 February 2010
On 28 July 2010 RecordStore.co.uk announced the second compilation—A–Z Volume 2 for a release on 11 October 2010. The release unlike Volume 1 did not include any acoustic tracks, remixes or a DVD, and only had three bonus tracks as opposed to the previous five due to the length of Single Y "Sky Burial".Ash – A-Z Volume 2: Signed Pre-order @ Recordstore.co.uk Record Store announcement/ash-official.co.uk forum, 2 July 2010 The full track listing was revealed on 6 August 2010, with the three new B-sides being "Spellbound", "Nightfall" and David Bowie track "Teenage Wildlife". The Japanese Volume 2 also included two exclusive B-sides—"Running to the Ocean" and "Midnight in the Garden".Ash to release part 2 of their 'A-Z' singles compilation NME, 6 August 2010
A is for Ash A is for Ash is a film documentary of the band's A–Z 2009 tour from Aldershot to Zennor. It was directed by Josh Klezkin and produced by the members of Ash. The documentary features interviews from Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray of Ash, as well as featuring BBC DJ Steve Lamacq, Emmy The Great & Ian Wright amongst others, as well as live performances on the A–Z tour of Spaceshot and Arcadia, acoustic performances, the final days of recording the A–Z Series in New York and behind the scenes at some of the TV, radio and other media appearances.
The documentary was released onto Region 0 DVD, limited to 5000 copies, released on 19 April 2010 in the A–Z Volume 1 CD compilation.A-Z Volume 1 ash-official.com, 19 April 2010
During the course and after the A–Z tour the band released four short webisodes onto YouTube and NME.com, which acted as promotions for the complete documentary, featuring some footage that would be used in A Is For Ash, and some exclusive content.A-Z Tour Video – Episode One: The Gathering ash-official.com, 21 October 2010 The trailer for the complete documentary was released on 3 March 2010.A FOR ASH Trailer YouTube, 3 March 2010
Other releases