Viewer Discretion Advised: Slashed

posted in: Features

Every once in a while a group of truly cool people come together in a cosmic collision of rock ‘n’ roll and sheer lunacy that cannot be ignored.  Back in 2002, such an event occurred when Irish alternative rock band Ash was on tour in the US supporting English alternative rock band Coldplay. Back before the invention of the FlipCam, Ash took to the streets to record an indie slasher movie with nothing more than a personal video camera. And a little help from some friends they met along the way.

Over the years there has been much hype around the release Slashed. The narrative opens as a mockumentary following Ash on tour, but soon an ax murderess swathed in a bloody white dress appears and chaos ensues. Originally due to be released in 2004, rumors resurfaced in 2007 when Ash bassist Mark Hamilton claimed that the video would be uploaded to YouTube with “I’m sure some people would want to see Chris Martin (name drop!) getting murdered.” Clips have mysteriously surfaced over the years, but have often been thought to be a hoax.

Slashed stars a slew of our favorite big names, including Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland as FBI agents and Dave Grohl as “Hysterical Dave Grohl” (we can only begin to imagine what that means). So, when our friend Kate over at Warner recently brought to our attention that the Slashed footage is finally being slowly let out of the vault, our excitement was matched with skepticism. But sure enough, Ash announced a few weeks ago that such footage would start to be put to use, and on May 24th a music video was released doing just that. Kate also happens to make a cameo in the film as “Angel #2”. Doesn’t it help to have friends in “high” places?

You can watch the first of 2 videos featuring Slashed footage below, set to “Binary” from Ash’s A-Z Series. In addition to Ash and Coldplay, Matt Sharp, Ben Kweller and Charlotte Hatherley all make appearances. We just hope it doesn’t take another 8 years to see the Part 2.