Post-hardcore legends At the Drive-In are kicking off their reunion tour on Wednesday (March 23), but they'll be doing so without one of their founding members. The band announced on Facebook that guitarist Jim Ward (pictured second from right) will no longer be with the band.

“As our ship prepares for voyage, we announce that Jim Ward will not be joining us on future journeys,” ATDI wrote in a brief statement posted to Facebook “We wish him well and are excited to see you soon.”

While the news is unexpected, it isn't entirely shocking. When ATDI initially split in 2001, Ward didn't join singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in the Mars Volta. Instead, he formed the less experimental Sparta. And when rumors began to surface that At the Drive-In would reunite to play shows this year, Ward "seemed rather surprised" according to an interview with the El Paso Times.

Ward founded At the Drive-In in 1993 when he was 17 with Bixler-Zavala. There's no official word about what prompted the development and if Ward will be replaced.

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