MOTRHEAD Issues Statement On Passing Of Former Guitarist

July 11, 2011

MOTRHEAD has issued the following statement regarding the passing of the band's former guitarist Michael "Wrzel" Burston:

"We are greatly saddened to confirm that our long-time friend and comrade Wrzel died Saturday at his home. Wrz was pouring a Guinness and cracking a joke when he succumbed to a heart attack; at least we know he went with a smile.

"It is a clich to say that words cannot describe how we feel, and in this case, other than ones such as 'shit' and 'awful' and 'very, very sad,' it is true, they really can't. We all shared many many great times together, and what he did for MOTRHEAD is quite simply indelible.

"As our good friend Steve 'Krusher' Joule said, 'RIP, dear Wrzel, a rocker and a gentleman.'"

MOTRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister added: "Wurzel was my friend and my brother and he's never going to laugh with me again or bitch me out or do.anything. And that truly and cosmically SUCKS.

"RIP Wurz. Godspeed. Good man."

MOTRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee told the Swedish newspaper Expressen about the passing of his former bandmate, "He was wonderful. He wrote lots of fucking great MOTRHEAD riffs. I remember missing that when he was not in the band anymore. I missed the simple, classic MOTRHEAD riffs. We never wrote those after that. They ended with him. He was really funny. There was a lot of rock and roll in the old man."

Before joining MOTRHEAD in 1984, Burston had been a corporal in the Army, serving in Germany and Ireland with the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and had played in the bands BASTARD and WARFARE. Joining another relatively unknown guitarist, Phil Campbell, they played together at a MOTRHEAD audition, and both were taken on.

Wrzel can be heard on the following MOTRHEAD albums:

* No Remorse (1984)
* Orgasmatron (1986)
* Rock 'n' Roll (1987)
* N Sleep at All (1988)
* The Birthday Party (1990)
* 1916 (1991)
* March r Die (1992)
* Bastards (1993)
* Sacrifice (1995)

Wrzel left MOTRHEAD in 1995.

For the past couple of years, Burston has played with a new band called LEADER OF DOWN, which last month headlined the main stage at the U.K. fundraising music festival "Never Mind The Bullocks" in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)

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