Daniel Ash, who, along with Peter Murphy and brothers Kevin and David Haskins, formed Bauhaus, a band who were pioneers of goth rock. Their debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is considered by many to be the first record of the gothic-rock genre.  They released five studio albums, and during that period, Daniel and Kevin formed the post-punk band Tones on Tail in the early 1980s. In 1985, David Haskins, now as David J, rejoined his Bauhaus bandmates, minus Peter Murphy, and they became Love and Rockets. Where Bauhaus was known for its gothic sound, Love and Rockets’ had a brighter, more pop feel. They enjoyed a successful run in the ’80s and ’90s, touring internationally and were featured prominently in the glory days of MTV. And now, Daniel Ash, along with drummer Bruce Smith of Public Image Ltd. and bassist Paul Spencer Denman who backed Sade, is back. The band is Ashes and Diamonds. The atmospheric sound of their debut album, Ashes and Diamonds are Forever, is fantastic. It releases October 31st and according to my talk with Daniel, the Halloween release is “appropriate”. He was such a pleasure to talk with and I think you’ll enjoy my talk with Daniel Ash.

DJ: Daniel Ash, thanks so much for taking some time to talk today.

Daniel: Dave, I’m so excited about doing this album, getting this out there. It’s been seven years, you know, in the making for various reasons. Thank you for the plug.

DJ: Yeah, well I know you’re a busy guy. Um, by the way,are you in LA. right now or what part of California?

Daniel: No, no. I, I live about 1,800 miles north of L.A.

DJ: Oh, wow.

Daniel: Yeah, I’ve been here, uh, about 25 years, so it’s been a while since I left Los Angeles.

DJ: But when you, go back and forth, do you hop on that motorcycle or…?

Daniel: Uh, yes I do. I definitely hop on that motorcycle. Yeah. That’s the only way to travel. Well,

DJ: It’s a nice drive.

Daniel: Yeah. On the PCH. It is, yeah.

DJ: I mean, is it cool if I just kind of talk a little bit about like, what you listened to when you were, you know, just, just really, really young?

Daniel: Yeah, I mean, I have repeated that so many times. You know.

DJ: Probably know it by heart.

Daniel: Yeah, I mean, when I was, when music really hit you between like 12 and 15, I was on like a strict diet of, um. David Bowie, T-Rex, Roxy Music and Iggy Pop. And there it is right there. That, that’s, um, oh, I did say T-Rex, didn’t I?

DJ: Oh yeah.

Daniel: Sorry. Yeah, yeah. You know, I think it shows as well, you know, I mean that’s, that’s, um, my older brother was into, okay, here we go – ’cause he’s five years older than me and he was into the Stones, the Beatles, the Who and The Kinks. So there’s his, that’s what that, so I was hearing that every day. And then when I got to 15, suddenly David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust happened, and, uh, Roxy Music, those first two albums when Eno was with them and, you know, the whole T-Rex thing, T-Rex Toy and Iggy and Iggy and The Stooges, Raw Power, that album, et cetera, et cetera. So that’s, that’s where I, that’s where I come from for sure.

DJ: Love that. Yeah, I was in a, I got together with a guy after school. Um. You know, for months and months, and it never really became an official band. We were just kinda having a lot of fun. And boy, we were way into Marc Bolan and T-Rex and, uh, and I also loved Bowie and, uh, of course Roxy Music, love all that stuff. So I think you and I, I think you and I are about the same, uh, time period. So.

Daniel: Sounds like it. Yeah.

DJ: Yeah. And I had an older brother too. I just had one brother. But he, you know, I was, hearing a lot of the albums he was playing and he had great taste. But, uh, were there other family members that played instruments though around the house?

Daniel: No. No. Not at all. No. I think my younger brother had a go on the bongos for about 10 minutes. Okay. That’s about it.

DJ: Well that’s cool. Uh, in Northampton, is that where you’re from?

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. 60 miles north of London. The, um, the center of the universe. Northampton.

DJ: Yeah, well, I’ve only been to England twice in my life, once when I was like 19 and once 10 years ago. But isn’t, isn’t that kinda right between like London and Birmingham?

Daniel: It’s, yeah, it’s exactly in the middle of the country. We’ve got a, yeah. Yeah, we’ve got a, we’ve got a massive park called the Racecourse and that is actually officially the center of the UK.  Yeah. So we’re right, bang, you know, we are the furthest spot away from any coastline.

DJ: Now you mentioned The Kinks when I was there 10 years ago – I’m such a fanatic of The Kinks. I made the, I took the train up to Muswell Hill and knocked around. I don’t know, I just had to kind of see where that all came from.

Daniel: Oh, okay.

DJ: So, yeah, I love those guys so much.

Daniel: Yeah. My older brother was a huge fan. Absolutely. I think that was one of his favorite bands. Yeah, for sure.

DJ: I hear that a lot and I like to hear that. So I know you play a Fender Telecaster. I, I’ve got three guitars. One of ’em, it’s a Telecaster, one of ’em is a Les Paul and one’s a jazz master. But I do love that Telecaster. Would you say that’s your favorite, or do you have a favorite guitar?

Daniel: Um, yeah, it is, I mean, I, I actually use this Fernandes guitar with a built-in. Um, it’s got the built-in sustainer on it, which I’ve used for many, many, many years.

Um, it’s basically just like an Ebow. Instead of activating one string like Ebow, you activate the whole keyboard. So you can do a power cord if you like and sustain it forever. And it’s also got three octaves of sustain as well. So, um, but, but having said that, I’ve also had that built into the telly that Fender gave me. I got a, you know, I got the sustainer unit built into that as well. So these days my main guitar live is, is the telly has been for about 10 years. ’cause um, the Fernandes is so old now. It’s from, I don’t know, 1990 or something. And it’s, it’s really bashed up. It’s done a lot of gigs. So it’s not reliable. It’s a secondary guitar. If I break a string, ’cause, um. You know, it cuts out these days now and again and I’ve tried getting it rewired and this, that and the other, but it’s ’cause it’s so old. It’s not that old. It’s only early nineties, but it’s done a lot of work. So the Tele’s taken over again. You know, I started out with the telly and the reason I used, I just like the look of a Telecaster in, in preference to a Strat. I just like the, the sheer simplicity of it and you know, that guitar cuts through anything. It’s like a razor blade that cuts through. And if you, if you fiddle around with the pickups and get a, you know, a custom pickup on it, you get the low end as well. Plus I put it through a, a fender amp these days instead of a solid state. So I get a nice, rich bottom end to it, so it’s not all toppy all the time. I can get the low end as well. So it’s a sort of, you know, a nice, you know, it’s the ideal mix really of a, you know, the, the combination of a tele with a valve amp with a fender valve amp. I think I, yeah, I used the hot rod amp. I discovered the hot rod amp six years ago and never looked back very, very loud out with two 12 inch speakers in it.

It’s, uh, very loud.

DJ: I can imagine. Yeah. They are great guitars. I love Teles. But, um, and you get such great sounds out of, I mean, you know, it seems like over the years you’ve, you’ve from everything from just, you know, scratching and just the Ebow and you, the very, very, very experimental in a great way. And, um, yeah, and just through all the years and all the bands you’ve been in, it just seems that you’ve, you’ve really, uh, taken the guitar to another level.

Daniel: Well, a few people say that, and I’m very flattered. So, yeah. Thanks for that.

DJ: Well, yeah, I’d love to talk about your new band, Ashes and Diamonds, a band that is made up of you with, uh, Bruce Smith of PIL, Public Image Limited, and Paul Spencer Denman. Paul, uh, played bass guitar for Sade and also her backing band Sweetback who perform as a band without Sade. Well, how did, I mean, you’ve mentioned this has been in the works for quite a while, many years, but, originally how did the idea come to be?

Daniel: Well, Paul wanted to work with me years ago, and, um, it wasn’t gonna happen back then. I, I was doing other stuff and busy, busy, busy and all that. And then he approached me again and this time round, Actually, yeah. Paul actually auditioned to, to play for the pop term project that I was doing, but also Kevin’s daughter, Diva, auditioned for that as well. And, and basically Diva got the gig on that one. And then when that had played out. Which was around 2017, Paul contacted me again and you know, suggested that we get together and I was on for it. The time was right. And then his wife, Kim, who I know from art school, she was in the fashion course at art school, so I knew her way back. You know, we’re talking the seventies now when she was at art school, same time as me. So that’s how I know, I know Paul through his wife. Uh, anyway, you know, he contacted me seven years ago, seven, eight years ago. And then, um, uh, it was around 2017 and then, um, Kim suggested, uh, Bruce to be, to play drums. So I had never met Bruce. So basically, ’cause Bruce lives on the east coast in New York area, so basically he jumped on a plane. We met up at a little rehearsal studio in la. Shook hands in the parking lot. And then three quarters of an hour later, the three of us were making a noise in the studio, working up a song. And then, you know, the rest is history. Seven years later, we finally have the album finished,

DJ: That’s great.

Daniel: Produced, directly and mixed right. And, you know, we are, we are very fussy, the three of us. So it’s taken all this time, you know, to get it right. Plus, at the 11th hour, we ended up recording the whole album again. Um, in L.A. in a studio in L.A. and we had 10 days to get it all done from scratch and we managed it. I think we actually finished at about seven, eight o’clock on the last of the 10 days with everything in the can, as it were. So there it is. Yeah. Seven years later. Finally finished. uh, we, we are very happy with it.

DJ: Well, it’s yet another of your bands that has a, and an album that has a sound very unique, all its own experimental and extremely addictive. I had, I had the pleasure of hearing an advanced copy, and I just love it.

Daniel: Well, yeah, thank you. I, I just done an interview with, with SPIN Magazine and they were saying the same thing. She was saying the same thing. It’s um, it’s incredible. She was saying now it’s, um. She gets like hundreds of things she has to listen to during the course of the week, and that this is one of the best albums this year. There’s bizarre words. She said it to me at least three times during the interview. So I’m, I’m really over the moon about that. That’s exactly what we want because, um, we, we wanna, you know, the sky’s the limit with this, so the more the merrier. I mean, if we, if I can get, if we can get reviews like that. Uh, we could be on our way and it’s not just something that’s gonna be overlooked, so fingers crossed on that one.

DJ: Well, I agree, and a lot of times when I first hear an album, I just kind of absorb it the first time and get into the feel and atmosphere of it and, and then when I hear it again I’m like, yeah, this song is so cool and this song is so just really, really great. I’ve been listening to it a lot, and I dig it so much. I even, uh, I grabbed my acoustic the other day and I, I started strumming along with “Plastic Fantastic”. Which is such a great song. It’s a great song to sing along with too.

Daniel: Well, it’s easy to play as well. It’s just four chords. Right,

DJ: Right. Which is good for me,

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. No, that, that’s sort of very deliberate for it to be, I, I think that one could be a crossover track to mainstream radio and whatever else. ’cause it’s got some hooks.

DJ: Yeah, yeah. I was singing along with the la la las.

Daniel: Right?

DJ: It’s great.

Daniel: Yeah. Well, I got, I got that idea actually from the T-Rex song “Ride A White Swan”.

DJ: Oh, I love that. I love that.

Daniel: You know, the idea of extending that end again and again, again, you know, that was, that was a direct influence from T-Rex, you know, getting that ending the way it is.

DJ: Right. I also heard, uh, somewhere along the line, uh, I think you were a fan of Wilko Johnson, the late Wilko Johnson.

Daniel: Yeah, absolutely. I, I copied my sound from him because I noticed that he played his Tele with a H and H um, combo, and I had exactly that setup for many years. I love that razor blade sound, super sharp sound as it cuts through. So yeah, that was a big influence.

DJ: Yeah, it’s such a unique way of playing and it was so, 

Daniel: Oh yeah. 

DJ: So sad to see him go.

Daniel: Well, he had a good inning if you think about it, because, uh, he had that cancer scare many years ago and he got through that he was misdiagnosed and then I think he got another 10 years before he passed on something like that. So he did have, uh, he had a good inning.

DJ: He was, he was great. I loved all the Dr. Feelgood  stuff.

Daniel: I think one of my favorite albums actually Stupidity that live album and I’m, I’m not into live albums usually at all. I much prefer studio albums, but that one is right up there. That is a brilliant album. Stupidity.

DJ: , Well, the new album comes out at the end of October. Is it on the, on the 31st?

Daniel: It certainly is on the 31st. Yeah. Perfect timing.

DJ: Yeah. Halloween here in the States. So,

Daniel: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think it’s appropriate. Yeah, I think it, it is. Got a nice ring to it for it to come out on Halloween.

DJ: And will you guys be doing a tour to support it?

Daniel: Um, well, everybody’s asking that. And the thing is, if it takes off, if this thing catch fire, then, then we will look into the whole live side of things. So that’s what the situation is. If the demand’s there, obviously we’ll look into it, but if the demand isn’t there, then obviously we won’t look into it. So it’s, it’s up, it’s in the hands of the Gods now.

DJ: Well, I tell you what, when I do get out to L.A. or out to California, um, not specifically L.A. but just to, you know, up and down L.A. I’ll, uh, my, I have a brother who lives up there and his family, uh, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Daniel Ash heading down the PCH or, or maybe I’ll spot you in, you have a Jaguar too, right?

Daniel: Yep, I got a Jag. It’s a very rock and roll cliche thing, isn’t it? Motorcycles and a Jag. Yeah. Bit of a cliche.

DJ: I was gonna say, I always picture you on the motorcycle, but then I, I caught wind that you have a Jaguar, so that’s pretty cool.

Daniel: Well, yeah. I used to have a couple. I’ve got this, I’ve got a really cute silver 2007 XJ, um, XK. Sorry. XK Jag. I love it. I love, I love that car. I don’t use it much, uh, ’cause I’m always on a bike, but it is a beauty and um, yeah, and it wasn’t expensive. I got it secondhand and it was really well looked after and I keep it immaculate and uh, you know, one of my favorite colors, it’s silver. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it’s a little beauty. It’s very, very fast as well. It’s a V eight and it’s got an aluminum body, or as we say in England, aluminum. Life is a feather and it goes like a bullet. So it’s a little spitfire. I love it.

DJ: Fantastic.

Daniel: Well, yeah, thank you. As I said, the uh, somebody from SPIN was going on and on about it saying it’s one of the best albums of the year. So it’s exactly, this is exactly the reaction we want. We don’t just wanna, the idea of an album just coming out and like everybody, you know, people talk about it for about four days and then it’s done and then it’s the next thing.We’re hoping this is gonna have some real staying power. ’cause we worked real hard on this for seven years on and off. And I dunno if I just said this ’cause I’ve done a few interviews, but you know, we rerecorded the whole thing at the 11th hour and we had 10 days to do that. So, um, and we got it. We just got it done in time. So, um, you know, we are precious about the way things are mixed and produced. It’s very, very important to get it right and we have finally really got it right. So now it’s, uh, it’s up to the public now whether they embrace it or not. So, you know, fingers crossed all round. Yeah. So in two days’ time, folks is, uh, you know, “Teenage Robots”. You’ll be able to hear it on YouTube and all that. And, um, we’re working, we are just putting the finishing touches on a video for that one.

DJ: Well, Daniel Ash, I still can’t believe I’ve had the opportunity to talk with you, and I’m so glad we were able to do this today. Thank you so much.

Daniel: Yeah. Okay. All right, man. Well listen, fingers crossed on this. And again, I appreciate the plug. I really do.

DJ: All right, man.

Daniel: Maybe I’ll see you on the road sometime, maybe if it’s, um, on a bike or on stage.

DJ: That would be great. I love it.

Daniel: Alright, well thank you so much.

DJ: All right. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel: Hello, boys and girls. This is Daniel Ash and you are listening to Frets with DJ Fey.