It's with heavy hearts that we announce that Jay-Jay Winter, bassist & singer with ASOMVEL has lost his life in a car accident. He was driving home Today on October 18th when en route he was forced off the road by another drivers incompetence. Jay later died in hospital from the injuries he sustained.

Jay was a great man, he was one of the most honest, forthright and brutally truthful people you could ever hope to meet. With his razor sharp wit and frank opinions, he was loved and respected by all of his peers in the UK Metal community because of his strength of character. He was generous and helpful to a fault with people who deserved it, and sometimes even with people who didn't deserve it. Such was his love of fair play and the underdog getting the upper hand.

He was more than just a bandmate, he was also a family member and a true friend. We are all stunned by this turn of events and hope that you will all understand why all our forthcoming gigs are now cancelled.

R.I.P. Jay Jay.

Lenny Robinson & Ian Wright (ASOMVEL, October 18th 2010).



"Jay Jay Winter - A REAL MAN, he played every English shithole under the sun and spoke the truth like we all should and nothing else. Let this be a lesson to us all. IF SOMETHING WAS SHIT HE SAID IT. 100% Respect to the man. Jay was like a big brother to me, he introduced me to the pleasure of cheap whiskey and a love for loose Women, How can anyone deny that to a man ? But he also cared for the underdog, he was a warm hearted bastard and would never see anyone on their arse?he looked after my goodself even when I was passed out in the piss filled toilets whilst wearing his own leather jacket back in Harrow 2008...

Turn it up LOUDER you daft twats??I'm playing some Venom and downing a bottle of Jameson's tonight for the man!"

Randy Reaper - THE LAMP OF THOTH


"Jay Jay Winter was the perfect sardonic counterpart to Lenny's playful enthusiasm. If he wanted to take the piss out of you and rip you a new one - he could do it with ease. His command of the well timed phrase and put down was legendary. I learned that to take him on in a piss-taking contest was like bringing a blunt and rusty pen-knife to a gun fight. I remember being quite wary of him at first - here was a guy you just would not mess with. But as I got to know him, I realised that he was also a true Yorkshire gentleman possessed with the unyielding commonsense and common courtesy of that race - he was a force of nature on and off the stage.

The Lamp of Thoth was lucky enough to play with Asomvel on many occasions, but the one that sticks most in my mind is when we played in Birmingham. We got to the venue early, and after Jay had taken the piss out of some of my more cheesy lyrics and promised to heckle me with them later, we got a beer in and waited to soundcheck. The band that was soundchecking as we waited had the average age of fifteen and was a fifteen piece nu-metal, emo, prog rock abortion with five hundred guitars, a keyboard and an older dodgy looking bald bloke playing a computer?! It sounded like crap, and much to our annoyance these arrogant musos took an age to soundcheck, fine-tuning every little unnecessary pretentious little instrument. Jay had his foot in his cast at the time, so he set himself down on a sofa that the organizers had pushed out of the way of the stage. The smoking ban had recently come in, but Jay didn't take any notice of that. He lay down on the sofa - his plastic foot draped over the edge and lit up a cigarette, sending plumes of smoke into the air. The owners of the club pretended not to notice. As the sound check came to a sudden end and silence filled the room, a voice boomed from behind the smoke enshrouded couch

'That sounded as gay as a cock going up a man's arse.'

Rest in Peace Jay Jay. Rock and Roll till the end. We are gonna miss you mate."

Simon Strange - THE LAMP OF THOTH


"What can I say? We all loved been around Jay, he epitomised everything that I thought a metalhead should be, balls of steel that man, he talked the talk and he fucking walked the walk and didn't give a fuck which slack jawed liberal he offended with his opinions, he was generous to a fault and suitably abrasive with all those sad twats looking to climb some sort of social ladder. It's a big void now where Jay was, and I'll doubt that we'll see anyone like him again in many a year. Jay, we salute your memory mate, I hope that your looking over us all from that great casino in the sky with a bottle of whiskey and a winning poker hand and will haunt us all for many years to come, you were the man we all aspire to be".

Rich Walker - SOLSTICE