It seems like only yesterday that Dead and Divine drummer Ryan “Legs” Leger replaced Mike “Ratboy” Novak of Every Time I Die. OK, actually, it was in 2009. Now, Leger himself has departed from the band. In his place, Every Time I Die has recruited former Norma Jean and Underoath drummer Daniel Davidson. The band elaborated via a post on their Facebook page:
“Sadly, Ryan ‘Legs’ Leger is no longer with us. he’s not dead, he has just voluntarily ended his involvement with ETID in order to spend more time with his family and hopefully one day earn that coveted #1 Dad mug he’s heard so much about. we wish him nothing but the best and we will all miss him dearly. but the show must go off. enter Daniel Davison. See you soon.”
Shortly after this posting, the band then followed up with the following statement from Leger himself, proving that the split was amicable:
“After 5 years of heavy touring and recording for Every Time I Die I have decided to call it quits. I would like to thank everyone for all of their love and support over the years, especially my 4 older brothers who have taken care of me and showed me sides of the world I only dreamed about when I was touring and recording in Canada.
“Big thanks to all of their friends and family who took me in when Buffalo became my second home. This will not be the end of my musical endeavours, but for now I will be making up for a lot of lost time with my family. I offered Daniel Davison the opportunity to become full-time father to my children and after giving it some thought he decided he’d much rather fill the role as ETID’s drummer.
“Best of luck to Daniel, Keith, Jordan, Mitch, Andy ‘Big Man’ Williams and all the die hard ETID fans I’ve had the pleasure of smashing a beer with.
“See ya’ll at the Buffalo Xmas shows!”
