I was only recently thinking: when will I hear of Richard Ashcroft again? News comes that he wants to write a musical based on his and the music of Oasis reflecting the younger years of both bands. Ashcroft jokes that he would take the starring role and play himself.

Back in the late 1990s, Noel Gallagher was highly complementary of Richard Ashcroft’s band The Verve, famously saying that The Verve were the best band in Britain, bar us [Oasis].

The Verve go back as far as 1990 when they originally formed. 1995 saw their release of their second album, Northern Soul featuring the melodic track, ‘History’. They broke up and bounced back in 1997 with the ground breaking Urban Hymns leading with the strings of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. ‘Sonnet’, ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Lucky Man’ also featured as quite amazing singles defining The Verve as one of Britain’s greats.

Ashcroft spoke to Noisey, stating:

“I’d like to do a musical of our songs combined, in a story of both our youths and the combination at the end, and the fact that we have both crossed paths, been mates, looked after each other.”

He continued comparing the potential experience as being part of a family:

“The pros are [Noel is] an amazing songwriter. So if I get 50% on the publishing then it’s obviously cha-ching for both of us,” Ashcroft explained. “But there’s a lot of negatives working with either of them and not working with the other one. It’s like being a brother in the middle.”

As Richard Ashcroft began his solo career, ‘Song for the Lovers’ remains as his identifying solo moment as he led his new path in music back in 2000 taken from the album Alone With Everybody. His last solo album, United Nations of Sound, was released back in 2010.

So the return of Richard Ashcroft to our music scene is indeed long awaited. His new album These People will be released next month, 20/5.

Ashcroft will be preforming with The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival, before this there are a string of pre-festival dates:

14/5 – Albert Hall – Manchester
16/5 – Roundhouse – London
27/5 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
28/5 – Redcliffe Farm – Scarborough
9-12/6 – Isle of Wight Festival – Newport

Fans will expect to see more of Richard Ashcroft as the festival season ends. Watch ‘Song for the Lovers’ below: