Aslan, who took their name from the heroic lion in C.S. Lewis's series of books chronicling the fictional land of Narnia, (Aslan is the Turkish for 'Lion'), emerged from the working class areas of Finglas and Ballymun in Dublin's Northside, in the mid 1980s. They released a demo single, 'This Is', in the Spring of 1986, which was a huge hit and became the longest ever play-listed single on Ireland's pop radio station, RTE 2fm.
In the summer of 1986 they played a series of rapturously received shows in the UK and Melody Maker noted, 'Lucky the label that signs this band!'. Janice Long at BBC Radio 1 recorded Aslan in session and went on to air it for an unprecedented three times in the subsequent weeks. At the end of 1986 Aslan walked away with The Stag/Hot Press,' Most Promising New Band' award and signed to EMI.
In Summer 2000 Aslan toured Australia for the first time to promote the release down under of the album "Shame About Lucy Moonhead" and in the process, sold out shows in Sydney and Melbourne. Aslan ended 2000 by playing their first gig in the Netherlands to a sell out crowd and then returned to home soil to sell out the Point Theatre again on Dec 27th.
In the Spring of 2001 Aslan recorded a single, "She's So Beautiful", (featuring Sinead O 'Connor on backing vocals,) which entered the Irish singles charts at number 9. The band released the follow-up "Different Man" which charted at number 7.
In September 2001, the band's most recent studio album, "Waiting For This Madness To End" went straight into the Irish Album charts at number 1, out selling the number 2 album four times over. The following week it remained at number 1 and kept Kylie Minogue off the top spot! "Waiting For This Madness To End" hit the platinum sales mark after only four weeks.
In Christmas 2001 Aslan again sold out the 9000 capacity Point, and in 2002 Aslan were nominated for eight categories of the Hot Press readers poll, demonstrating the immense following the band have in their homeland.
October 2005 and the band release a 48 track CD, simply called The Platinum Collection. The album chronicles the singles, b-sides and rarities of their long career. The platinum collection went into the charts at no. 3 and after a few weeks lived up to its name by achieving triple platinum sales.The same year also say a successful sold out show in the Point marking the platinum collections release.
2007 is an exciting year for the band as it marks their 25 years together. With their first single "Here Comes The Sun" from their forthcoming album "For Some Strange Reason" entering the Irish Singles Charts at No. 5, their second single of this year "Jealous Little Thing" from the aforementioned album is set to rival the first!
