When asked what he finds so attractive about America, Tim Wheeler, lead singer of the band Ash, quips, ‘The challenge of trying to make it in another country besides Ireland is certainly appealing.’Take into account the band has hit the covers of all the major magazines in their homeland, the top 5 there four times and are being compared to Oasis as the next band to break (in the U.K.). You might think the band is being nothing more than a bit greedy. You may reconsider when you stop to consider the size of their homeland. The United Kingdom, is two islands roughly the size of California each and that the Brit-tabloid press and fans are nothing short of leaches. Ash must be thinking now is the time to try and invade another country. They have prime warm-up slots on the Weezer and Stabbing Westward tours. A critically acclaimed sophomore album 1977 (year in which two of the band members were born) and an extremely supportive record company all taken into account. Ash will bring the 1977 tour to the Newport this evening as the opening act for Stabbing Westward.1977 is produced by Owen Morris, who is well known for his work with Oasis. The album combines a sophisticated bubblepunk, a revved-up guitar with a pop melody, featuring Wheeler’s slashing guitar work intermixed with a driving rhythmic section that hooks around for an infectious melody. This is something that Brian Wilson innovated, in the hope that many future musicians would follow, with the Beach Boys much under-rated ‘Pet Sounds’ album. Wheeler credits another influence for his music though. ‘We were really big into Nirvana a couple of years ago when most of these songs were made. I didn’t really get into the Beach Boys, Phil Spector or Motown until just recently,’ Wheeler said.Realizing the potential of the young men, Ash’s record company pursued the power-pop trio and ended up winning a major-label bidding war by offering a five album record deal. The label followed with words of caution.The amount of commercial punk-rock material in the marketplace could clearly outweigh any hopes of some bands making it, said the Vice President of artist development for Reprise Records, Gary Briggs. ‘There’s room but not enough room for all of them,’ Briggs said. He then continued to describe Ash as, ‘Reprise’s next big band to break.’ This puts Ash in some pretty hefty company. Already on the Reprise talent roster are the likes of Green Day, Alanis Morrissete, Neil Young and Filter. So how does the young lad feel about all of this, now he has left the U.K. to get away from all of the pressure?’Musically we just want to keep making good records, but we’d certainly like to do well in the states. It takes three weeks to cover the U.K. while touring but it takes forever here. We’d certainly like to do well here also,’ Wheeler said. Catch them while you can still say you ‘saw them back when’.