'Listening to Thin Lizzy on a sorrowful day': The Wallflowers pay tribute to ex-guitarist Michael Ward after his death at 57

Michael Ward, former guitarist of The Wallflowers, has passed away at the age of 57. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

On April 4, the official Facebook page of The Wallflowers posted a tribute message for the guitarist. Ward played in the band between 1995 to 2001. The post said that Michael will always remain a "crucial part" of The Wallflowers. It said:

"With love and gratitude the Wallflowers say farewell to the great and singular Michael Ward. Michael’s role and talents will forever remain a crucial part of the band’s history. His contributions to music began before his time with the Wallflowers and continued long after his time with the band. Listening to Thin Lizzy on a sorrowful day. Rest now Mike. Much love to his family and his two children."

According to Michael's Instagram account, the guitarist was scheduled to perform on April 5 in Las Vegas. Apart from his stint with The Wallflowers, Ward was one of the founding members of the band, School of Fish.

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The Wallflowers posted a tribute message for ex-guitarist Michael Ward

On Wednesday, April 4, The Wallflowers shared a tribute message for Michael Ward, who served as their guitarist from 1995 to 2001.

The post included a picture of the guitarist from his initial days, one with the band's lead singer, Jakob Dylan, and a cover of their hit number, 6th Avenue Heartache.

Before his stint at The Wallflowers, he was a part of the alternative rock band, School of Fish. Ward was one of the founding members of the School of Fish. In 1995, The Wallflowers member Jakob Dylan offered to join the band.

Michael served as the guitarist for two of the band's most successful studio albums, Bringing Down the Horse (1996) and Breach (2000). Bringing Down the Horse sold over 5 million copies.

In 1998, Ward won a Grammy in the category of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for his contribution to The Wallflowers's song One Headlight. Throughout his career, the guitarist was nominated for five Grammys.

In 2001, Ward left The Wallflowers, reportedly due to his differences with Dylan. In 2006, he joined the band Ben Harper. He was a part of the albums Both Sides of the Gun (2006), Lifeline (2007), and Call It What You Want (2016).

Michael Ward was also a part of the rock band, Gogol Bordello between 2011 and 2015. His fellow bandmates from the band paid tribute to him following the news of his death.

Ward was scheduled to perform at Stoney's Rockey Country in Las Vegas on April 5, as per his Instagram.

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Gogol Bordello members paid tributes to Michael Ward following his death

The current lead vocalist of Gogol Bordello, Eugene Hutz, shared a message for former member Michael Ward following his death.

In a collaborative post with the official account of Gogol Bordello, he wrote:

"This is beyond sad and heavy for those of us who had a special bond with Mike. 2011-15 Mike brought to GB rock fury & gunslinger skills of a legendary session player."

In his post, Hutz shared a memory of how Ward "slayed it" when he called him for "reinforcement" while recording one of Glenn Campbell's songs. He wrote:

"Once i was recording an adventurous cover of Glenn Campbell with friends in LA, so i called Mike for reinforcement, he came in, brilliantly slayed it in one take leaving everyone dumbfounded like whaaaaaaat ? — Well, I played it before… with Glenn Campbell, Mike said, while splitting to next session."

In another follow-up post (due to Instagram's text limit), he spoke about how Ward remained involved with the band even after "moving on" from it. The post said:

"Even after moving on from GB Mike remained involved advising on future players and forever milking and expanding our Ronnie James Dio inspired myth-lore we humored ourselves with, years later bringing up our lullabys & mantra versions of Dio’s “We rock”… And Rocked we fkn did, brother."

Hutz shared that Michael Ward's texts would always come at the most "miraculous" and "perplexing" timings. He shared that the guitarist's last message to him read, "Eugenious! Let's make some music together soon!"