Rick announces side project Burned As Witches
Ash drummer Rick McMurray has today announced details of a new album from his side project Burned As Witches.
The self-titled album is due for release on April 17th via Fierce Panda and Earblind Records and is available for pre-order now. It features Rick McMurray playing all instruments and was produced by Graeme Young.
Burned As Witches started as a way to deal with the untimely passing of Ash’s long-term live agent, friend and rock‘n’roll hellraiser Steve Strange in 2021. Inspired by The Strange One’s love of metal - this record was conceived in mourning and is all about the doom, full of chunky riffs and weighty themes. Rest very much unassured, Burned As Witches is an out-and-out rock album, as Rick ruminates:
“It started with me just writing some pretty dark riffs after we’d played The Roundhouse on our much-postponed anniversary tour. We thought that gig would put the COVID years to bed but it turned into a wake for Strangey. By the time I started putting the music down in demo form, I realised I was writing a tribute record to him.“
“That was too much to take and the demos went on the hard drive where solo projects go to die. But it kept tugging away at me. After a few months and a few tours I had another listen, which brought an epiphany in which I heard the words, ‘It doesn’t have to be about me’. Now, I’m not saying that Strangey spoke to me from beyond the veil or anything – it was probably my subconscious – but, whatever, I realised how proud he would be to have been the inspiration for me. Steve, I miss you and love you, you mad bastard. We all do.”
The album features the following tracklist:
- Scapegoats
- Hold Your Nerve
- Pay the Ferry
- Truth Comes Crawling
- It Comes Before the Fall
- Right in Front of You
- A Spartan Mass
- To the Sky
Along with the album release, a video has also been released for the single Hold Your Nerve, directed by Anthony Neale, featuring additional direction and staring Ash bassist Mark Hamilton.
To celebrate the album’s arrival, Burned As Witches will perform a short run of intimate UK shows in April. The three-piece band will consist of Rick McMurray on guitar and vocals, George Pringle on bass and Mike Hawk McMurray on drums.
- April 14 – Pop Recs, Sunderland, UK
- April 15 – Black Heart, London, UK
- April 16 – Night & Day Cafe, Manchester, UK