Twiggy Ramirez, longtime friend and bassist of Marilyn Manson, has parted company with the Goth rocker and his bandmates, it was announced Wednesday.
The severance was the result of Ramirez not gelling with the direction Manson is moving in as he prepares the group's fifth LP, The Golden Age of Grotesque, expected to drop in autumn (see ), according to an Interscope Records spokesperson.
"I have spent eight months transforming this band and our new songs into an unstoppable juggernaut, and sadly Twiggy wasn't able to make himself a part of it," Manson said in a statement. "Unfortunately, I feel that Marilyn Manson, as a lifestyle, is not where his heart is. So I have decided to let him go his own way, otherwise it wouldn't be fair to us, the music, or especially to the fans. Although you can never replace a best friend like Twiggy, this album and new lineup will redefine anyone's idea of what Marilyn Manson is capable of."
Filling Ramirez's rhythms on the new album will be KMFDM's Tim Skold, who has been tapped as a co-producer on the new LP. He joins fellow Manson family members John 5 (guitar), M.W. Gacy (keyboards) and Ginger Fish (drums).
Ramirez appears on all of Marilyn Manson's albums, beginning with 1994's Portrait of an American Family. Among the songs he's co-written with Manson are "The Beautiful People," "Antichrist Superstar," "Mechanical Animals," "The Dope Show" and "Disposable Teens."
