Buckcherry Part Ways with Bassist Jimmy Ashhurst

Buckcherry Part Ways with Bassist Jimmy Ashhurst -

Los Angeles hard rockers Buckcherry have parted ways with bassist, Jimmy Ashhurst.

The band, who released their most recent album ‘Confessions’ in February earlier this year, broke the news via their official website.

Here’s what was said (via Hennemusic):

“Recently many of you have been contacting us wondering what exactly is going on with our current line up, our bassist, and generally wondering why we haven't addressed this directly. For the sake of setting the record straight and letting our fans know what's up, here it is:

With heavy hearts and with great difficulty we have decided to part ways with our long time bandmate Jimmy Ashhurst. This was not an easy decision, nor was it a rash decision made in haste. It's not our desire to air dirty laundry or inner band circumstances that brought about this result. Every band has its issues, and while we have gone to great lengths to minimize them and work through them, this band has had its own issues like any other.

We in no way wish to put Jimmy in an unfavorable light. Simply put, we felt it was in the best interest of the collective group to find a replacement for Jimmy, for the good of the group as well as the good of Jimmy. This was communicated to him very clearly and with much respect. He was given the opportunity, after many years of freely voicing his extreme level of unhappiness on a daily basis, to step aside. He chose to stay and remain in a situation that not only wasn't working for him, but also was beginning to diminish the collective happiness, creativity, and progress of the band. That, to us, was unacceptable.

We feel our fans deserve a band in which all 5 guys you pay your hard earned money to see actually want to be there and are grateful for the opportunity play music. Regardless of half-assed, sideways social media posts to the contrary, that was no longer the case for Jimmy based soley on his actions and daily conversations with him over the past few years. There is no victim here as we have, individually and collectively, attempted to make this a situation that works for all of us. We wish Jimmy the best, he is a great musician.

Now, we are moving forward. Any delay in getting this news to our fans was simply due to our focus on finding and rehearsing a suitable replacement for our tour of South America. Please welcome our friend Kelly Lemieux who will be handling bass duties for the remainder of our 2013 touring schedule.”

In related news Buckcherry will release a ‘Best Of’ compilation, ‘The Best Of Buckcherry’ on October 29^th. The album will also feature liner notes for written by renowned US radio personality and ‘That Metal Show’ co-host Eddie Trunk.