While at Reading And Leeds 2023, Ashnikko sat with NME to discuss their newly launched debut album ‘WEEDKILLER’ and friendship with Ethel Cain
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00 (audience cheering)
00:03 - Hi, I'm Sophie from NME,
00:08 and I'm joined by the wonderful Ash Niko at Rennin Festival.
00:10 Ash, how we feeling?
00:11 - I'm good, how are you?
00:13 - I'm good, thank you.
00:14 So first of all, happy Weed Killer Day.
00:16 - Thank you.
00:16 - How does it feel that the album
00:17 is finally out in the world?
00:19 - Yeah, a lot of mixed emotions.
00:21 I'm like, feeling like I have to relinquish control
00:26 of my project that I've been working on for years,
00:30 and now it's not mine anymore, it's now everyone else's.
00:35 So that's a process, but you know,
00:37 I also feel elated that I get to share it.
00:41 And I feel so happy that I get to share it
00:43 with people who are excited to listen to it.
00:46 - Well, you posted to Instagram last night
00:48 that you celebrated with a Weed Killer dinner, right?
00:51 - I did.
00:52 - What was on the menu?
00:53 - We had breads in the shape of my Weed Killer sigil.
00:58 They were rosemary bread.
01:02 The whole, I posted the menu.
01:04 There was this, it was just a bunch of gorgeous
01:09 pieces of art that you could eat.
01:12 There was like a Cacio e Pepe,
01:15 a potato salad thing, there was this gorgeous
01:21 cream cake with thyme and berries.
01:24 There was, what else, like, just loads of gorgeous salads.
01:30 Courgettes and herbs and everything.
01:34 It was just fairy food, basically, yeah.
01:37 - And I guess, were there any guests
01:38 that maybe weren't there that you'd consider
01:40 inviting to your dream dinner party?
01:42 - My favorite author, Neil Gaiman, Bjork, Dolly Parton.
01:50 Who else?
01:53 Mort Garson.
01:55 Let me think, let me think of someone else.
02:03 Someone else really, really cool.
02:05 - Bit of a wild mix, I'm enjoying it.
02:07 - Yeah, I feel like that would be good conversation.
02:10 - Totally.
02:11 So you just got off stage at Reading,
02:12 and it was a surprise set.
02:14 How did it feel keeping that a secret from the fans?
02:18 - I mean, yeah, I feel like it was,
02:22 it just felt like the cherry on top of today,
02:24 to be able to celebrate by singing the songs
02:29 from the album live.
02:31 Yeah, it was special to be able to channel
02:35 that built up energy that I have from releasing an album
02:38 onto a stage and thrash around.
02:41 So it was very special.
02:43 - Totally.
02:43 And when you think about all the festivals
02:45 that you've played and been to over the years,
02:46 what's the one memory that sticks out,
02:48 whether that's the earliest festival memory,
02:51 a crazy set that you saw?
02:52 - I saw Tame Impala at Corona Capital in Mexico City
03:00 a few years ago, and that really blew my mind.
03:04 What else?
03:10 I'm not really a festival girlie.
03:13 - Right.
03:14 - I get really overwhelmed in big crowds.
03:16 I prefer a headline gig.
03:19 I saw Bjork at Coachella, though, that was really cool.
03:23 - Beautiful.
03:24 - But I've also seen her headline show,
03:27 and that was more special to me.
03:30 Yeah, but my first festival moment, I don't know.
03:35 I don't know, I honestly don't remember my first festival,
03:38 probably because it was messy.
03:40 Messy, messy time.
03:42 - Too messy.
03:43 - Yeah.
03:44 - Well, your friend Ethel Kane is playing Reddyn
03:45 later this weekend.
03:47 - I know, I just realized that she's here.
03:49 What day is she playing?
03:50 - Sunday.
03:51 - Okay, damn.
03:52 Yeah, we just put on a song together.
03:54 - Yeah, and what was it like when you two hit the studio?
03:57 What do you find so inspiring about her?
03:59 - Well, she has the most beautiful voice.
04:05 It makes you feel like you're in a cave,
04:09 but also in church, but in the middle of the earth,
04:14 but also in the middle of the forest at midnight.
04:18 And yeah, that's how it feels listening to her sing.
04:22 And she also did a lot of production on that song,
04:26 and she's just, I feel like a once in a generation
04:31 type of artist.
04:32 She's so cool.
04:33 I really love her, and yeah,
04:36 it was such a pleasure to work with her.
04:38 - And when you guys first met,
04:39 what were your first impressions of each other?
04:42 - Um, well, I was a huge fan,
04:46 and I was just so happy that she had taken the time
04:51 to come to the studio and work with me,
04:56 and we, yeah, we hit it off.
04:58 And yeah, it was a really nice experience.
05:00 I really enjoyed it.
05:01 - Beautiful, and going back to "Weed Killer,"
05:03 how are you hoping this album is going to make people feel?
05:06 - Um, I don't know.
05:09 I don't know.
05:10 I think what made me feel, which was incredibly light,
05:15 I felt so much lighter after writing these songs,
05:19 and I felt like it helped me step into myself
05:24 and evolve to my most healthy self.
05:31 So I'm hoping that people can listen to these songs
05:36 and attach their own stories and use them as little tools
05:41 to tell their own stories to themselves.
05:47 And yeah, that's what music is all about.
05:51 - Totally.
05:51 - Just processing your feelings,
05:53 whether they're good or bad.
05:55 - Yeah.
05:56 - Love and hate, I feel like, yeah,
05:58 that's why I listen to music.
05:59 So I don't want anyone to get one specific message.
06:03 I just want them to have a silly time listening.
06:08 - And just to wrap things up,
06:10 when you look back at the past year
06:12 and all the time that it took for "Weed Killer"
06:13 to sort of come to life,
06:15 what makes you feel proud of yourself
06:16 throughout that process?
06:18 - Say that one again, sorry.
06:21 - Sorry.
06:21 So when you look back at "Weed Killer"
06:23 and how long it took to get to this day,
06:25 what makes you feel proud
06:26 for sticking through and persevering?
06:28 - Yeah.
06:29 Everyone's been like, "Oh, it's been years."
06:30 And I'm like, "Has it been years?"
06:32 (laughing)
06:33 Gosh, time really slips.
06:36 Time really goes.
06:39 It felt like for me, it felt like it just happened
06:41 so quickly, but yeah, I'm really happy
06:43 that I took the time to really think through
06:47 all the songs on the album
06:49 and really pour everything into the visual side
06:53 of the album as well,
06:54 because I feel like the visual side of the album
06:56 is just as important as the musical one,
06:58 because there's a lot of storytelling that we do
07:02 through the comic that I wrote
07:03 and through the four different album covers.
07:07 I made four with my creative director
07:09 because I couldn't choose one.
07:10 So yeah, there's so many details.
07:14 We made our own little sigil language.
07:17 There was so much folklore and research,
07:22 so much scrapbooking, and I think just doing my best.
07:27 I'm proud that I did my best,
07:29 and I really poured everything into this.
07:32 And it really approached songwriting in a different way
07:36 with this album, and that was really special.
07:40 - That's beautiful.
07:41 Well, thanks so much for speaking to us,
07:42 and enjoy the rest of your festival.
07:43 - Thank you so much.
07:44 Thank you for your questions. - Thank you.
07:45 - I appreciate it.
07:45 Enjoy the festival too.
07:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]