Ashton Irwin recently popped by the idobi Radio Studios to talk to Fish on Gone Fishkin, all about his newest album, BLOOD ON THE DRUMS! The album was released in two separate parts: The Thorns, which came out on June 12, and The Roses, which was just released on July 17. During the interview, Irwin touches on his creative process throughout making the album, including the reasons behind a two-part release and the significant role of mental health and human resilience throughout the project.
According to Irwin, he names of the two parts of the album come from the lyrics, “I know your thorns protect your roses.” The Thorns half of the album is the “side of resilience and personal strength, conjuring that inner strength of keeping yourself alive in this world.” On the other side, The Roses “is softer and shows what he has been working on acoustically.”
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Throughout his conversation, Irwin is clear that throughout his process, he channels and references a range of genres that inspire and influence his sound, stating the “album is genreless: acoustic folk, moments of massive hard rock, crazy drumming, and also a psychedelic vibe. It goes all over the place.
Mental health is especially important to Irwin, stating that his goal was to “give strength to [the listener] to recover from depressive bouts…about rekindling your fire and getting back to feeling happier.” His driving belief is that “If you stand by anything, it’s human resilience to live. A basic but powerful reason to live,” and that is shown throughout both parts of his album, BLOOD ON THE DRUMS.
Although there are no upcoming live dates planned, Irwin is not shying away from opportunities to perform in the near future, be it solo or with 5 Seconds Of Summer. Listen to BLOOD ON THE DRUMS on any streaming platform!
