'For Some Reason Everyone Got Into Cross-Dressing' Ash On Making 1977

As the pop-punk soundtrack to many a breakup, makeup, teenage fantasy and adventure – primarily their own – Ash's debut record 1977 holds a dear place in the hearts of many who grew up in the '90s.

Rick McMurray thinks back to the creation of an album that spawned five Top 20 hits – Kung Fu, Girl From Mars, Angel Interceptor, Goldfinger and Oh Yeah – and describes the sensory overload that came with revisiting 1977 as Ash prepare to visit Australia.

“As you play it, it's just like an absolute flood of memories coming back for the brain to process,” he reflects. “I guess we were just sort of getting used to being a band, and [working in a] professional studio recording properly – it was a steep learning curve.

I think there was a lot of madness goin' on as well – I think half the record was written in the studio. We'd never do that now; in a thousand pound studio a day and we're sitting around tryin' to write songs! It was pretty crazy but we were workin' with Owen Morris and it's been well documented how crazy a producer he is. He taught us a lot about songwriting, production and recording, but he also taught us a lot about partying as well.”

Fresh out of school, the trio had recorded a couple of 1977's key singles before embarking on their debut world tour and returning to the studio. They were fast learners when it came to creating rock'n'roll memories.

“For some reason everyone sort of got into cross-dressing,” McMurray recalls. “We'd go down to like a charity shop and buy awful women's clothing and we'd just get dressed and record wearing that – there were so many weird things happening. A lot of them I can't remember, but pretty much every day we'd get up in the morning and go straight down to the pub – that's where work would start; we'd have a couple of drinks and then sort of go back to the studio, do a little bit of work then we'd keep drinking,” he chuckles.

“I'm sure we gave the record company quite a few headaches… A maniac producer plus three teenage boys let loose in the studio with loads of alcohol and drugs and it was like, 'Okay, are you going go and make a record now guys?'”

More...