Ashton Irwin, drummer of the pop-rock quartet 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS), today announces details of his second solo album, BLOOD ON THE DRUMS, available everywhere July 17. The album is available to pre-order/save HERE. Ashton also unveiled the first single and video off the new album, ‘Straight To Your Heart’, an 80s new wave infused, alt pop anthem. Listen HERE.
Straight To Your Heart is one of 12 tracks written and produced alongside 5SOS collaborator and rock veteran John Feldmann with four further tracks written and produced alongside another long-time collaborator, Matthew Pauling. The video, shot by Ryan Fleming and co-directed by Irwin was filmed on location in the California desert. Ahead of shooting, Ashton passed his motorcycle licence test and learned archery in order to use the skills as part of the creative for his video.
BLOOD ON THE DRUMS will be released in two instalments, The Thorns (Side 1 of the album), consisting of the first eight tracks including lead single ‘Straight To Your Heart’ available June 12; and The Roses (Side 2) which completes the full album, available July 17. All 16 songs on the album will have a video component.
“I love to make full length albums but also the idea of the listener digesting it in two parts initially, forming their own interpretation. It’s important to me as a fan of music to have a comprehensive body of work to fully dig into the artists perspective.” Ashton says.
BLOOD ON THE DRUMS, a title Irwin calls “a metaphor for how much I’ve given my music”, is the follow up to 2020’s Superbloom. The new album is a forward-thinking collection of songs that combines infectious 80s-tinged anthems, barbed rock bangers, dubby art-pop and more. Unlike Superbloom, crafted during the pandemic and full of personal reflection and poignant contemplation, BLOOD ON THE DRUMS looks more outward than inward. Weaving through the highs and lows of Irwin’s life over the past decade and emerging with songs built to connect on a mass scale, where universal themes are wrapped around personal tales.
“I was thinking about the people I left behind, the people I miss, the family that I had to leave when I was young. Thinking about the addictions I’ve been through. The way I evolved as a young man who never had a father. Thinking about my personal strength and knowing that generally speaking no one else has my back but me and becoming someone that I have to be for the rest of my life,” he says.
BLOOD ON THE DRUMS allows Irwin to take centre stage as a bona-fide frontman, while showcasing his songwriting, lead vocals and of course his dynamic drumming.
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