Brian James has officially announced his departure from the band Fallujah. The guitarist had been playing with the group for five years.
Rumors of James’ departure started to swirl following last week’s announcement that the band would be releasing a new album, Undying Light, in March. James did not appear in any of the promotional materials for the announcement nor its accompanying music video.
On Saturday, James posted a message to his Instagram to clear the air. Noting that he made the decision to leave almost a year ago, he first apologized to fans for not having made the announcement sooner, citing the proximity to frontman Alex Hoffman’s departure as his reason. Of his decision, he said:
“To all this may concern— After careful thought, deliberation, and tons of patience, I am displeased to finally announce that I have decided to part ways with Fallujah. It may come as a surprise to most of you, but come March, it will have been an entire calendar year since this decision was made.
First of all, I apologize for keeping my friends and fans in the dark for so long. I‘m sure that you can all understand the situation, especially with Alex leaving not long before me. While my departure isn’t easy to explain, it mostly had to do with some creative divergences that only grew as my exit neared as well as my desire to pursue other goals in life. Sometimes a fork in your path is presented. Which route is best traveled can become incredibly difficult to decide on in terms of your career and life as a whole. While this case was no exception, I believe that I inevitably made the best choice for myself and the band going forward.
Being part of Fallujah for the past 5 years or so has been a wonderful blessing. I’ve learned so many important lessons from my band mates, my peers throughout the industry, and the countless experiences in which I will gratefully carry into the rest of my life. I want to thank all the fans for the circle pits, the spirit fingers, the circle headbangs, and the generosity, hospitality, and support. I also want to thank my family and friends for putting up with me all that time as well as supporting me when times got rough. Fallujah is a group of good dudes who have love for the craft and just want to put out awesome music. They have a lot of sick new music coming out so get ready.
While it may be a new beginning for me, I will never stop playing guitar and writing music for the future. I’m also planning to open my studio for recording/tracking and mixing/mastering services in Santa Rosa later this year so if you’re in the area, be sure to keep a look out and hit me up.
Thank you all so much. It was a wild ride.”
According to his post, it looks like James plans to continue writing music and opening his own recording studio.
Fallujah’s new album Undying Light is slated for release on March 15 via Nuclear Blast. This will be the band’s first with new vocalist Antonio Palermo. A video for the album’s first single, “Ultraviolet,” was released along with the album announcement. The band will also be heading out on tour starting next month in Europe, followed by an opening slot on the Whitechapel / Dying Fetus co-headling tour in April.
[via Theprp]
