Film actor, theatre Thespian and key orchestrator of underground Grime music scene – Ashley Thomas has no shortage of strings to his bow. In his latest role for Matthew Hope’s shoot-em-up UK conspiracy movie, The Veteran, Ashley transforms into the be-hooded gang leader, Tyrone. Between quick-fire interviews and lobster lunches (or at least hypothetical lobster lunches) Ashley took time out to talk to THN about his transition into cinema.
THN: In The Veteran, you play Tyrone, a gang leader on a South London council estate. You were the scariest gangster we’ve have seen in a long time….
ASH: Oh Yeah?
THN: Scarier than Brick Top… Scarier than Tony Montana
ASH: That’s pretty good then. I’m not actually scary in person. I’m nice, I’m nice.
THN: This isn’t your first screen role. I saw you in 4,3,2,1 so how has that transition been for you? Going from music into acting? Was it a natural thing?
ASH: Yeah it was more natural as I did acting first before I did music but I was still learning and getting used to acting for screen. I’m just embarking on acting my acting career so each role I get, each time I do it, it’s not becoming easier, it’s becoming, I know what to do more and where to position myself and how to act for the camera which is slightly different to doing theatre or just acting in a music video. But it’s cool, I love it.
THN: Next up you’re in COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES. What can you tell us about that?
ASH: Yeah it’s going to be exciting. I play a character that’s called Mental Mickey. So there’s a few leads and that characters one. It’s going to be so good. Like the effects in it are going to be crazy and some of the stuff that they shot I didn’t even know we were allowed to shot. They locked off whole roads, whole streets to shoot stuff. It’s crazy.
THN: The VETERAN is such a heavy film in terms of its themes. A lot of it seems to be about lost youth. What were you like when you were a teenager?
ASH: I was cool. I mean I was blessed to have a good family. I mean my dad was around and I lived in an estate but then we got enough money to move and we moved to a house in more pleasant area. But you know. As a young person I still think regardless to if you were brought up like you would always have, I think you would always rebel slightly and a little naughty side to you..
THN: Do you have a naughty side?
ASH: Yeah a do man I mean I had one but I’m good now. I just liked adventures, I liked to do things. But obviously circumstances if you were born in a rough area nine times out of ten it’s going to be like, you’re going to be a product of your own environment. There are a few lucky people that get out but that’s not an excuse, that’s just how it is.
THN: A lot of your music is really focused on real life things, all rooted in reality like PAY AS YOU GO MOBILES and BURGERS AND CHIPS all that sort of stuff. You’re getting quite a lot of notoriety now, do you worried about your music becoming polished?
ASH: Nah cause I think music is just true to you and it’s just what you go through in life you know as just experiences. I had a particular experience that people would be able to relate to at other levels, do you get what I’m saying? Like maybe I might say, ‘Cool I could eat a lobster now or whatever’ but I could remember when I couldn’t afford like, KFC or something. That would be relative to someone else not to eating lobster but they might remember when they couldn’t offered a packet of sweets. I talk about love and like working hard and having dreams and stuff.
THN: So when you wrote your first single, well the first one that came into the public eye, BLACK BOYS. You were still driving a bus to Golders Green. What was going through your head back then? Did you know what was going to happen?
ASH: No I didn’t think that a couple of years later people would be interviewing me about film and like that, no I didn’t. But yeah I always had a dream and applied myself to that goal. This is nuts cose I was depressed in those times, I hated it. And I couldn’t see this, just being here now relaxed and I just had lunch and came to interview. Its good, I feel blessed. Those jobs taught me that you need to stay focused on your dreams cause they can slip away, life’s hard if you do something that you don’t love doing as a job. You know what I’m saying? If you love driving a bus then fine that’s good, if you like driving and you like meeting people then that’s cool. But that wasn’t my sort of thing.
THN: Is money important to you?
ASH: Yeah I think cause money is important to me cause it enables you to do certain things that you couldn’t before, do you know what I mean? People say, ‘money doesn’t matter’ but it does. Money doesn’t make you better but it enables you to do things and I think like fuck it, I want it. People say money’s not important, I hate it when people say that in an interview.
THN: I think money’s important to everyone.
ASH: Yeah they say money’s not important but it matters.
THN: It definitely matters when you don’t have it, those who say it doesn’t can normally afford to think that way.
ASH: Yeah, yeah anyone who knows that you need to get it like to even buy normal shit like food and feed yourself. So yeah, money’s important to me.
THN: You worked with Noel Clarke on Adulthood & 4.3.2.1, Do you think you’ll work with together again?
ASH: Yeah Noel Clarkes a friend of mine so I just think, you know, he’s just got a positive movement going and I would, I was there from quite early on like when he directed his first film which is ADULTHOOD. So yeah he’s a friend so why not.
THN: Does it ever bother you that you are so often compared to other rappers turned actors like Will Smith, Ice T, Plan B?
ASH: I don’t know, that’s good company right there. Will Smith, talented actor, Plan B talented as well. For me it doesn’t bother me at all, I’m in my own name cause I do different music to all of them and I’ve got a different acting style to all of them so it doesn’t, it’s cool man, its good company.
THN: Plan B has his own film on the go now. Would you ever consider directing?
ASH: I’m not really into that at all at the moment. I might be an assistant director or co-director with someone but I’m more interested in the writing of it and sitting down with the director and painting my vision and executing it rather than sitting behind the camera and stuff.
THN: Who are you favourite recording artists now, who are you listening to right now?
ASH: Listening too… Frank Ocean, the new Chimpmunk’s album I got last week, lil Wayne and Rick Ross.
THN: How would you describe Grime music? If you were to explain it in a nutshell….
ASH: To me grime music is like an expression of genre of music that was born, I would say, in Britain especially in the 2000s. It’s very comparable to hip hop and kind of a hybrid of dance, hip hop, reggae, pop dance, just like a hybrid of loads of those sounds.
THN: I saw on your twitter that you were pretty impressed with THOR.
ASH: THOR is SICK! I just liked the way it was shot, I liked the actor, I liked the story. I just liked it all, I just thought it was really good man. It wasn’t cheesy at all. For fantasy, it was really good.
THN: What superhero would you play?
ASH: I don’t know yet. I don’t know, there all good. I don’t know, I’m going to read up on some Marvel characters, I have to dream. I’ve been blessed quite a bit so hopefully that will be another of my blessings that I get something like that.
THN: Is there anyone that you really want to work with in terms of film? Whether acting or directing?
ASH: I definitely would love to do something with Martin Scorsese. I just think what he does is always cool, it’s always great.
THN: Whats the best thing about being where you are now?
ASH: The freedom to like just more freedom to… I’m not locked into a specific time. I still have to show up for a show, show up to the studio, go do a movie but there’s no set date which is what I prefer. It’s not 9 to 5, it’s not the same, everyday it’s something different and I love that.
THN: Are you still independent? You’re not signed to a label?
ASH: I’m still independent. It’s hard, but I enjoy it.
THN: Do you ever worry about music windows ever being closed by immersing yourself in the film world?
ASH: Naw. There two separate careers and I’m looking for them to stay that way. It’s cool man I don’t think so. There’s obviously a couple of hurdles to skip but they come with doing one or the other. Just gotta work with it.
THN: What do you think draws people from music to film cose it happens so often. I know creatively there is a similarity.
ASH: It’s just expression. I think a lot of people do it to expand their brand and don’t really care and there’s others that do care and there’s others that have always done it, who have always acted and always done music and were always entertainment based. You just happen to see them in one first and that’s what you know them as like Jamie Foxx or Will Smith or anyone else who does that.
THN: Going back to THE VETERAN, it is quite a violent film, do you ever worry about that in terms of stereotypes when you were playing Tyrone? I know a lot of people bill you as a role model because of the nature of your music?
ASH: For me I’ve got two separate careers so I talk about that in my music and this is a film and its portraying a character so it’s not me. That’s like you see me credited it always Ashley Thomas, not Bashy .
THN: What was the best thing about filming THE VETERAN?
I thought he was really cool, he was really dedicated, he’s inspired me to be the same so yeah that was probably the best bit.
THN: I know you get asked this all the time but…
ASH: Oh yeah if you could give up one thing ‘music or film’ yeah?…
THN: No no, not that. I was going to ask you about your time in the Brit Music School, did it actually help your career?
ASH: Oh that’s fine. Yeah I think it helped me by… in a few ways man. It was a cool school where the teachers cared about what you did and I liked that. It was fun to go too, there was no pressure, and I know a lot of people doing their thing now like and progressing in their careers and I’m progressing in mine and I was in their class.
THN: Whose class were you in?
ASH: I can’t really namedrop.
THN: Namedrop a little bit, just one drop?
ASH: I’ll drop one. I was in with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett he’s in SKINS… no not SKINS, MISFITS. He plays Curtis.
THN: In terms of creatively is there anything, not music, not theatre, not film, is there anything else you what to get involved in?
ASH: Yeah I want to own a restaurant or a bar. I’m not sure what I would call it yet. It would be really cool with food and drinks and cocktails and shots and… I could make it really cool.
THN: SO what’s next for you?
ASH: Well I just wrapped Cockneys vs Zombies, that was really good. That comes out next year. And then I just finished my album as well. I was on tour with the Gorillaz and I was filming THE VETERAN and COCKNEYS so I didn’t have much chance to do the album but now it’s done, ready to go. I think ‘COCKEYS’ was my favourite project so far, everyone was the same age, the whole cast. It’s been great man.
