New kids out for rock'n'roll
glory and your daughters 

It's the other side of the Boyzone coin - three young lads with melodic punk rock influences instead of pop. And it's almost a similar success story. 

 From Downpatrick, Co Down, Ash are Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton, and Rick McMurray. 

 While at school a couple of years ago, they refused support slots with Pearl Jam and Green Day, two of America's most successful 90s rock groups. Now a fully fledged postacademic rock band, Ash have just returned from a US tour and last night they performed at the Point. 

 The band's debut album, 1977, is doing "respectable" business in America for a band of Ash's stature. In realistic terms, this am ounts to about 50,000 to 60,000 record sales. 

 In the UK and other parts of Europe, however, Ash are the proverbial new kids on the block - out for rock 'n' roll glory, a place in the Irish rock history books and your daughters. 

 The average age of an Ash audience is several years older than that of Boyzone. 

 The age difference doesn't ap- pear to make the adulation any less passionate, but undoubtedly more thoughtful. The common bond for both, though, is sex appeal. 

 "I like Ash because they are far more of a natural band than Boy zone," says Aoife Boylan (19), from Malahide. 

 "You just know from their music and approach to it that they practised in a garage for all hours just for the sake of the music and not the money. Little girls who are into Boyzone don't realise that, I think." 

 "Guitar music is a lot sexier," chips in Arún Fenton (19), from Bayside, Co Dublin. "I'd rather have bands like Ash than any of the boy bands, like Boyzone or OTT. Mine you, having said that, I'd pass Ash by in the street if they didn't have guitars in their hands." 

 So there you have it, low-slung guitars apparently brandished by any suitable young man, are sexy. And state-of-the-art choreographed hand moves and dance steps are not. The youth of Ireland has spoken. 

 Ash, meanwhile, amidst writing material for their second album, return to America in the New Year. Their teenage years behind them, they are now ready and able for the rough and tumble of incipient international stardom. All bets are off.