Gavin Ward was one of the two founding members of Bolt Thrower. He started out as the bass player early on in the band in 1986, and so can be heard on the first demo. For the second demo, he switched to playing lead and rhythm guitar. He plays lead and rhythm guitar on all albums, save Mercenary and Honour - Valour - Pride; there he plays solely rhythm guitar. Ward was also one of the lyricists of the band. Bolt Thrower disbanded in 2016, a year after the death of their drummer Martin Kearns.
Before Ward started with Bolt Thrower he helped out the punk band The Varukers on one of their tours - the band later joined them on a European tour.
He is from Leamington Spa, England.