South African deathcore outfit Vulvodynia have revealed the firing of their vocalist, Duncan Bentley, after an alleged violent altercation with their drummer, Thomas Hughes, during their European/UK tour. Hughes was reportedly hospitalized as a result of the incident, which the band claims was one of several violent outbursts exhibited by Bentley. The band released the following statement yesterday (7th):
“So we are sure you’ve all been wondering whats going on and you deserve to know. Due to recent events and recurring uncontrollable violence from Duncan Bentley. We can no longer have him in the band. This has been something we have been considering even before this tour but had to just continue and try our best because the financial losses would have been too devastating. He threatened and tried to kill our drummer Tom. Tom ended in hospital and sustained various injuries including a badly broken nose. This is also not the first time he’s attacked Tom and displayed this type of violence. Its been a recurring problem for a while. We thought it was alcohol related but we now know its just who he is. We will be continuing the tour without him. We are going to try make plans to get some friends who are vocalists to help us out on the way and still bring you the best show possible. Tom is absolutely destroyed and in pain but he’s willing to try finish up the tour and we will do our best. As many of you might know the cost of touring is insanely high and we would like to finish the tour to help us cover our costs. We hope you guys all understand and we are heart broken to bring you this news. Please do not trust Duncan. He is a manipulator, psychopath and compulsive liar. He will try take us down after this and we just need you all to know the truth. *Duncan somehow still has access to our Facebook and is deleting posts.”
Hughes further explained:
“Just want to say thanks to everyone who has reached out personally and through messages . I’m doing ok other than being in a little pain and we just want to try to continue the tour and make the best of this awful situation. We were not in any sort of drunken brawl. We had an amazing night out with friends after the show and towards the end of the night started noticing changes in his behaviour with him becoming irratic and irritable and unnecessarily mean about people and towards homeless people around so when we got back to the hotel I asked him if he had been drinking at all and he absolutely snapped. I literally said “Duncan as a friend I need to know if you have been drinking tonight” and he absolutely lost it. This is not the first time this has happened at all, had to deal with a very similar situation in the Philippines just over a month ago when he was late for lobby call for our flight and I went to his room to wake him and when I did he snapped and attacked me punching me multiple times, breaking my ribs. We had been considering telling him to leave the band since then but he’d assured us he would quit drinking and had been seeking professional help. Tours are planned months in advance and I had been the one responsible for signing surety on merch orders and many of the financial things that allow us to tour. If we missed the tour I will have been financially ruined for life so we decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and continue with him and his promise to not drink at all. This latest situation just proves that it was never the alcohol at all that sets this off and is a much darker mental issues. After this situation I’d sent him multiple links to AA and other alcohol treatment programs as well as psychologists and tried to be there for him. I also tried with the help of our Manager to help him get a sponsor who comes from our scene and understands the music life and it’s issues and wasn’t just gonna push god on him as treatment. He never once reached out to that person. We did not abandon Duncan in a random country with nothing. He was about to be arrested for his behaviour but the police had said that we would have had to wait in Prague for weeks of court dates and as much as we wanted to we we’re not in a position to do so. With this the police removed him from the hotel and escorted him away from us telling him to leave him. Even after all this and spending most of the day at the hospital when we got to our accommodation I still reached out to his wife Cathrine yesterday evening checking in on him and letting her know how to change his flight home as well as sent him money to be able to get to where he needs to be to catch his flight home against the wishes of everyone else involved as I didn’t want to leave him stranded. I hope he is able get the treatment he needs and get better. He will never be in the band again but I hope that he can get treated and sort his life out. I do not wish any violence against him and hope he can get his life sorted.”
Despite all obstacles, the group continued to make it to their next show on May 7th in Dresden, Germany at Puschkin:
“The show must go on! Thank you Dresden! After all horrific recent events and our van breaking down. We made it back to the tour minutes before our show! Nate our merch guy and Zdenek from Lacerated Enemy records stepped in on vocals and we made it work. Thank you everyone for all the support. We are going to come back stronger and better than ever. This is not the end of Vulvodynia. This is a new beginning. See you tonight Berlin!”
Remaining Tour Dates:
05/08 Berlin, GER @ Cassiopeia
05/09 Copenhagen, DEN @ Stengade
05/10 Hamburg, GER @ Logo
05/11 Mannheim, GER @ MS Connexion Complex
05/12 Oberhausen, GER @ Kulttempel
05/13 Rotterdam, NET @ Baroeg
05/14 Gentbrugge, BEL @ Asgaard
