Ananova:

Northern Irish band Ash are to meet Star Wars director George Lucas next month to discuss "top secret but exciting stuff."

The band, who are all big Star Wars fans, say they'll meet the director at his Skywalker ranch in California.

They're appearing at the Coachella Festival, in Indio, California, on Sunday, May 2.

The band have a number of Irish gig lines up for later this month. The dates are: Thursday, April 22 - Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin; Friday, 23 - RTE television's Late Late show, Dublin; Saturday, 24 - Cuba, Galway; Sunday, 25 - One Big Sunday, Londonderry; Monday, 26 - Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick, Co. Down; Wednesday, April 28, Belfast Music Live (pre-recording).

Ash have also been confirmed for the Carling weekend at Reading and Leeds and will perform at T4's Pop Beach event, Great Yarmouth, on Sunday, June 6.

The band are also confirmed to support the Pixies in Berlin on June 29, and Paris on June 14, and will play the Oxygen festival in Ireland and the T In The Park event in Scotland in July.

They will also play at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan later in the summer.

Meanwhile, the band have revealed more details of their new single and album. The first commercial single release will be Orpheus on May 3. Their fifth album, and their fourth full-length album - Meltdown - is released on May 17, according to the band's official website, www.ash-official.com.

Their UK tour begins at the Carling Glasgow Academy on May 21.