With a very heavy heart, Austin Carlile announced his departure from Of Mice And Men. As many are well aware, Austin has Marfan Syndrome and has been struggling quite a bit this year. He's been in and out of the hospital, and has had at least one heart surgery that I recall this year alone. The poor man has suffered a lot, and now thanks to this illness is unable to scream, which is his role in Of Mice And Men. He said the band is continuing on as a four piece, so assumably Aaron will be taking over as the singer. He gave a very touching, and beautiful statement regarding the whole thing, which I encourage you to read below. "I never thought in a million years i would be sitting in Costa Rica writing this. I never thought I would start a successful band. I never thought I'd open for Marilyn Manson and Slipknot for an entire summer. I never thought I would go on a world tour with Linkin park and sing ‘Faint' on stage with them all around the globe, I never thought I‘d become friends with Mike Shinoda and he'd help me write songs for an album of ours that sat at the number 4 spot on the Billboard top charts. I never thought I would befriend bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica, and Korn. I never thought i would sing 'Ball Tongue' on stage with Korn. I never thought my band would play, much less headline Warped Tour, play giant radio festivals all over the world with some of my favorite artists, or tour in Germany, or anywhere in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Canada, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Holland, Norway, or Italy, etc. The first time i ever left the States was because of this band that I started in a tiny barred window studio apartment... I never thought people would ask to take selfies with me inside the Roman Collesium, on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or even the mall I worked at in Ohio where Of Mice And Men was born eight years ago with the help of my friends in Though She Wrote. Kameron Bradbury now in Beartooth on guitar, recording our first song together in a local studio for just $50. I never thought putting the song "Seven Thousand Miles For What" on MySpace would reach over a million plays in a week, and that I'd sign a record contract of my own just days later. I never thought i‘d pack my things up and drive to California for the first time to find permanent band members. I never thought all my wildest dreams and more would eventually come true... "I also never thought my fibrostic connective tissue disorder marfan syndrome would cause touring to be so hard and painful for me. I always thought the pain would get better one day, or that i would get better too. But this never happened, that day has still yet to come. From multiple surgeries, caused from touring over multiple years, and after cancelling a European tour half way through, this October 2016 finally brought me to my knees. My greatest fear had become a reality... I had 3 tears in my dual sac surrounding my spinal cord, and we discovered that every time I would push down to scream spinal fluid would rush though the tears which was causing me the violent pain every time I'd perform. It was causing my muscles to seize up, and body to contort on stage, and making me lethargic and sore every hour of the day. My doctors and team of specialists had warned me for years of the detriment of my career to my health, but I pushed through anyways. I always pushed through. I had to push through. This is what I love, music is where i found myself. But these 3 tears in my spine, plus a fourth that occurred the year prior, were signs that i was absolutely not able to scream anymore. My team advised me that if I continued to do so, it would cause "permanent and irrevocable damage to my spinal cord and nervous system." After learning this I realized that I had to step away from Of Mice And Men. No longer able to scream most of our old material, or continue to scream on anything new, I cannot continue on. This has been the hardest thing that has happened in my life for a very long time, but thankfully the band, my family, and closest friends stand behind me and understand. They have all personally seen how much pain I have had to endure and especially the past 2 years as my spine was tearing apart but I kept going, I gave it my all, and cannot express this enough. "The band will now still continue on just the four of them, and I wish them the best of luck without me heading into 2017. I will be here in Costa Rica, where I have now moved, continuing to heal, rest, and write. I will not stop playing music, I am still able to sing and I'm hungry for what is next to come even though I have no idea what that may be. I feel God placed me at this cross roads for a reason, and with the closing of one door, another will open. I'm taking this as an opportunity to grow closer to him, as he is the reason I never gave up or ended my life years ago while facing my various troubles. I have decided to listen to my specialists, and God telling me it's time to do something new. I have to do this for myself, my health, my body. I'm so thankful my spinal injuries weren't worse for I could have easily been paralyzed permenantly. I have now made the choice to use my life, my story, and my voice for his glory. To help show his love and grace I have experienced first hand to anyone else searching for the same hope. Of Mice And Men offered hope to thousands, but there is no true hope unless through Jesus Christ (yashua). I have now dedicated my life to sharing this with the world, which needs it so badly right now more than ever. "Some ask how I am not mad at God for taking ali. This from me and putting me through so much pain and loss... My answer is simple: it is my path to follow, my story, and my life is not my own, but a gift from god in the first place. This seems like the perfect opportunity for me to use my story to hopefully inspire others who have experienced pain, hurt, depression or loss in their own lives. We all have our stories, we all have certain things we have overcome. We have done this together, you helped make my dreams come true, and I want to thank you all for the immense support over the years. Now I must do what i have to. "I wanted to keep this news in 2016, because 2017 is going to be a new year, with new chapters. Remember your days are like pages, chapters unread, you have to keep going, keep turning, keep reading... Because your book has no end. Just like the ampersand tattoo on my thumb, we will not fade. You are in my heart and I‘m ready to start a new journey with all of you remaining by my side. I can do nothing alone, and I'm grateful I won't have to because of you. "Thank you. To everyone who has ever been a fan or a part of Of Mice And Men, from the start, Kameron, Joey, Luke, Ethan, Jared, Jaxin, Phil, Aaron, Joel, Justin, Jon, Shayley, Tino, and Alan, for everything, thank you. Here's to 2017. God bless! X -Austin Carlile" Austin Carlile is truly one of the most heartfelt and sweet people in the music industry, and we hope he finds some comfort at some point. This illness, along with thousands of others, are simply terrible, and nobody deserves to deal with such a thing. It impresses me how incredibly greatful and supportive he is, even through all of this.
0 Comments
Mastodon originally formed in 1999, and originally had a female singer. This changed by 2000, but they just got word that she unfortunately passed away. They have decided to do a fund raiser to help give her a proper memorial, and help the family out in this difficult time. As it stands right now, they've already earned just over $8,000 and the amount is ever growing. There was not much said in regards of how she passed, but they said it happened on December 23. When they shared the fundraiser on December 26, they stated, "Yesterday we received the very sad news that Jessica Saner, our good friend, and sister to Mastodon's original singer, Eric Saner, passed away unexpectedly on Dec 23rd. This is a link to the gofundme account set up to help the family with funeral costs. Thank you in advance for your generosity." If you would like to donate, please click here. If nothing else, please share and help them out through this difficult time. To support their brand new album, The Last Hero, Alter Bridge has announced a tour! They posted a video on their Facebook with all the tour dates, and we encourage you to check it out here! All the tour dates are also below, but the video is cool so definitely check that out as well. The fun actually begins with the Shiprocked Cruise, which docks out of Miami, FL on January 16. They come back on January 20, and the tour begins on January 21 in Mobile, AL. Joining them on this tour is Nonpoint, and the tour goes through February 22. For ticket information, please head on over to Alter Bridge's official website, tickets are available right now! Their fun doesn't stop there. They're taking the month of March off, but then on April 1 they're performing in New Zealand, and go all around Australia, with their last show being on April 8. They come back to the US just in time to perform at many of the big festivals, such as Fort Rock, Northern Invasion, and Rock On The Range. I Prevail did an acoustic cover of Linkin Park's classic, "In The End" on APTV. They did a beautiful job on this cover, and you can watch the video below! Also for APTV, I Prevail did an acoustic performance of their single, "Scars." "Scars" is featured on the band's debut album, Lifeline's which just came out in October of this year. To watch that performance, please click here. Use it to get excited, as I Prevail will be performing at several festivals coming up in the new years such as Fort Rock, Welcome To Rockville and Carolina Rebellion! For more information, please head on over to the respective festival websites. The lineup for the 2017 Fort Rock lineup is finally here and the internet is stirring with excitment, and slight bewilderment. Like most festivals, it did follow suit with the Rock On The Range lineup, which was announced the other day. However, it had its own twists here and there. Fort Rock will be happening on April 29 and 30, 2017 and will be headlined by Def Leppard on Saturday and Soundgarden on Sunday. Supporting them are bands such as Chevelle, A Perfect Circle, Papa Roach, Seether, Three Days Grace, Alter Bridge, In This Moment, The Pretty Reckless, and many, many more. You can see the full lineup below. The first level of tickets go on sale tomorrow (December 6), and just like past years will slowly go up in price. Prices can be found on the Fort Rock website, and we recommend getting your tickets sooner rather than later. Currently weekend prices are running at just under $90 right now but will be going up to $150 steadily. VIP starts at $250, and goes up to $285 steadily. For more information, please be sure to head on over to the Fort Rock website and please stay tuned to Immortal Music because we do have a handful of things planned for promotion of this festival. Speaking of what we have planned, did you see we took guesses just the other day at the lineup? If not, head on over to the creator's blog (or just click here) to read it. We also are going to be posting our thoughts on the coming year's lineup. You can also find that over on the Creator's blog. Mental issues are not a light matter, yet somehow they're constantly treated as such. The other night, while on stage, Five Finger Death Punch's Ivan Moody had a very real, human moment and unfortunately broke down. Some people have not been very kind to him, even though he needs the support more than ever right now. We're not sure what's going on exactly in his head, and we may never know. That's his business, but we're certainly hope he can find some peace and comfort very shortly in a safe and healthy manner. His band mates, Shinedown, and Sixx:AM are all being supportive of Ivan right now in his time of need. His demons are getting him down, just like they do any of us and he has done the responsible thing and dropped off of their current headlining tour. Phil Labonte of All That Remains will be stepping in for the remaining eight dates of the tour to lend a hand. When asked about this, "I got their six and stepped up right away. I'm honored to be able to help Five Finger Death Punch to finish their tour and give Ivan a chance to take care of himself. I did the same for Killswitch Engage years ago. I was humbled to get the call and get a chance to play in front of such a great audience." Founder, and guitarist for the band Zoltan Bathory spoke up with nothing but well wishes for Ivan. "Ivan is our brother and we fully and wholeheartedly support him taking care of himself so he can get well as soon as possible. We discussed possibly canceling the remaining shows but the responses from the other bands on the tour were so overwhelmingly supportive that we decided to move forward and deliver the great night to the fans that they expect.” Even James Michael, who is Sixx:AM's front man spoke up to not only wish him well, but speak in favor of Phil. "All of our hearts are with Ivan right now hoping for a speedy recovery. Phil is an excellent frontman and vocalist who stepped forward in solidarity to Ivan without a moment of hesitation. Fans are in for some special treats and surprises. I'm really excited about the show tonight." Once again, we wish Ivan all the best on finding some peace, and hope he is alright. As for the rest of the band, and Phil, good luck with the rest of the tour! We urge fans to be kind through this, mental illness is nothing to joke about, and unfortunately so far, it appears as though people have been less than poliet regarding this. He's only human, and people tend to forget that. These people who tour the world may live extraordinary lives, but they're still people just like everyone else. Starting to day, Ben Bruce of Asking Alexandria is getting his own show! Its a webshow that will be uploaded to Ben's YouTube channel. The show is called The Daddy Diaries and will feature his girlfriend, Ciara and his adorable baby girl, Fae Holley. At the time of this post, he had yet to upload any of the episodes, but if you go subscribe you will know when they're uploaded instantly! This should prove interesting. Yesterday it was announced that Guns N Roses will be going on a brief tour around Japan in January 2017. Its a five date tour, and tickets go on sale Christmas Eve (December 24). Their support is the interesting part! Supporting Guns N Roses on this Japanese tour is Babymetal, the three piece trio that somehow mixed metal with pop, and has taken the world by storm within the last year. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone quite like Babymetal, which is probably why this tour came to be. The tour begins January 21 in Osaka, Japan and the concludes on January 29 in Saitama. Below are all of the tour dates, and you are able to get the tickets once again on December 24 through Guns N Roses. Tickets are going to be about 15,000 yen, or about $131! They'll be available here very soon! |
What's this?These are just some of the happenings in the music world. There will always be something that Immortal Music did not cover, but here are just some events. Archives
April 2020
|