This past Saturday, Skeletonwitch played the Decibel Magazine 10th anniversary party in Brooklyn with one notable band member missing… their vocalist, Chance Garnette. At the time, the four-piece played instrumental saying that Garnette had to go home to deal with a personal matter.
We assumed it was a one-off situation, but I guess the issue was serious enough where the band had to issue an official statement:
“Lately there have been a lot of rumors, speculation, and assumptions, regarding Skeletonwitch. We want to set the record straight.
Unfortunately, Chance is unable to finish out the tour as he has some serious personal matters to attend to. We ask you to respect his and our privacy regarding these matters.
This obviously left us with a very difficult decision to make and we’ve decided to finish out the tour as a 4-piece.
We made the assumption that Skeletonwitch fans attending the shows would rather see 4 of us ripping through our songs, than a piece of paper on the door announcing our cancellation. If the first 2 shows were any indication, we assumed correctly.
You have our sincerest apologies for not being able to bring you the full show, and for canceling the stop in Albany.
We thank everyone for their understanding and their support now and in the future.
Please come out to the remaining shows for riffs, beers, and hi-fives with us. At the risk of sounding too sentimental, music is equally important, if not more so, during rough times as well as the good.
Skeletonwitch is not going anywhere. See you soon.”
What's interesting is that at no point did the band confirm or deny that Chance is out of the band, just that he's dealing with a personal matter. Of course, Chance started the band with his brother Nate who plays guitar. Our thoughts are with Chance and hopefully he can get whatever issues resolved so he can get back on the road and kicking ass.
ThePRP has found some footage of the band performing their all-instrumental set, and it still crushes:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksKlLDFXndM[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYn01kmiFpo[/youtube]
The 'witch is currently out on the road with Amon Amarth.
