Alasdair Mackie "Algy" Ward (11 July 1959 – 17 May 2023) was an English punk rock and heavy metal bass guitarist and singer.
Clinton Walker said Prehistoric Sounds was, "an extraordinary record - one of the period's best bar none - a brooding, melancholic collision of electrically charged rock balladry and swooping, brassy arrangements.
"[7] AllMusic's Andy Kellman described Prehistoric Sounds as "the textbook by which to make a great rock record where horns play as much of a role as guitar".
He toured with the band worldwide, including America in 1979 where they played at Whisky A Go Go, Hollywood, and the Waldorf in San Francisco, significantly influencing the American Hardcore scene.
Ward appeared on the live performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in England featuring "Smash It Up", before he was fired from the group due to animosity between him and drummer Rat Scabies.
During his career with the Damned, and influenced and inspired by Lemmy and Motörhead, Ward began to express interest in the burgeoning new wave of British heavy metal movement, which was kicked off by bands like Witchfynde and Saxon.
Initial copies of the album came with a free 7", featuring The Snake, a cover of a song originally written by Larry Wallis and Mick Farren's proto-punk psychedelic band, The Pink Fairies.
After their fifth album (which was self-titled) was released in 1987, growing disputes over musical direction and lack of commercial success grew more frequent, which led the band to split in 1989.
In 1997, Tank reformed with Ward on vocals and bass, Bruce Bisland on drums, and Tucker and Evans on guitars.
However, the reunion was short-lived, as legal disputes and recording issues for their supposed seventh studio album Sturmpanzer caused the band to split up once again in 2006.
Shortly after this, he teamed up with friend Paul Evo from Warfare to record a six-track EP entitled Damned unto Death, released under the name of Evo/Algy.
[12] Ward died on 17 May 2023,[13] at the age of 63 at a hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, apparently after suffering from serious health issues for some time.