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We just recently learned of Jimmy Ashhurst’s departure from Buckcherry through a post on Buckcherry’s website today:

Oct.16.2013

An Important Message From The Band Regarding Jimmy

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.

Keith, Josh, Stevie, and Xavier

So, we all want to welcome Kelly Lemieux who will taking over bass duties for the remainder of their 2013 touring schedule. You may be familiar with Kelly as he has worked extensively as a studio sessions bassplayer and work with Goldfinger and MD 45, Paul Gilbert, etc.

Kelly LeMieux - Photo by Multienfoque — Kelly LeMieux – Photo by Multienfoque

Jimmy also had posted his own announcement on his Facebook yesterday which might have prompted the band’s post. Here is what Jimmy had to say:

Ok that’s it…
Now even my doorman’s checking on me to make sure I’m not dead sooo…, here goes.
Over a month ago now the band collectively decided that they would prefer to proceed without me.
I haven’t made any sort of announcement prior to today since I believed and still believe that this news should have come from the band itself.
However, since they’re already on their 3rd or 4th show without me and still haven’t let anyone know (maybe they’re having trouble finding wifi or somethin …that shit’s expensive yo); since it was not my decision to leave the band; since I’m uncomfortable not answering the many kind but speculative messages I’ve been receiving; and finally since I believe that there are folks out there who’ve been loyal and supportive of us over the years and as such have a right to know; – Im forced post this myself in order to finally put this to rest and move forward with whatever shows up next for me.
If you’re looking for a reason you’ll need to ask them, since the one they gave me of my being ‘unhappy’ and of them ‘doing-me-a -favor-to-release-me-from-this-torment’ isn’t really resounding with the ‘Ring of Truth’…. (If everyone who had a job were sacked for being unhappy who’d clean the tollets for fuck’s sake, only happy people? … dunno…but I digress…)
While it is true I’d become unhappy about certain aspects of touring and of the state of Rock and Roll in general that I believed were of vital importance to our collective well-being, I still believe that those issues could have easily been resolved as a group. Sadly others did not agree and as a result- result.
I dunno. Im gonna go with “Im a Democrat and they’re Republicans” if anyone demands an answer or whatever…As far as what I’m gonna do next…
Welllll hahaaaa…ZERO for the moment, but after a bit of refresh/recharge I doubt that I’ll be able to resist the temptation of the Devil’s music for very long.
First and foremost, however, I very much wanna take a moment to enjoy the life that my work with the band has provided me with, while it lasts, and I thank the band, all of em, for giving me this opportunity to do so.
I wish nothing but continued success for the guys, and I hope the new guy works out great
(I dunno who it is so please don’t ask. I do hope he’s super cute though).

In closing, to all fans of the band: Arrivederci, Nos vemos, Au revoir, いってきます, Até mais, and See ya later…

but to everyone else… Im back.

We also want to wish all the best to Jimmy Ashhurst in all his future endeavors. I am sure we will be hearing more from him and hope things are going well. It is hard to watch bands have to address these situations and honestly, I don’t think it is any of our business what happened to make this departure, etc. I admire all the musicians for what they do and you just have to accept it and move forward. Too many people get caught up with prying and that “have to know” attitude and I wish they would just be there to support all the musicians. We had the opportunity to catch Jimmy Ashhurst at one of last performances with Buckcherry during Aftershock Festival last month and here are some of Rockin Ryan’s photos from that set.

Buckcherry is currently doing a couple shows in South American and then heading overseas as well as touring with Steel Panther. Check out more dates on their site here.

~ Marisol

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