Gorguts drummer John Longstreth had been in the band since 2009, dividing his time with them an Origin, a band he’d been in since 2006. Now it looks like he’s got more time to focus on Origin, as Gorguts have announced that he’s no longer in the band. They didn’t have to look that hard for his replacement, as Patrice Hamelin had been filling in for the band. He now joins the band as a full time drummer. Here’s what guitarist Luc Lemay said about the change:
“As far as Patrice being in demand with a lot of different projects, I could have ended up with no drummer available at all to push Gorguts. Patrice and I living close to each other, we can work on music together on a weekly basis and that’s an important factor for me as well. John and I shared on this way before our December tour in 2013 and I really insisted that he played that tour with us since he was part of Colored Sands since the very beginning and I wanted to perform the record live with the original lineup.
“All I can say is that I had a great experience playing and making a record with John. He’s a very creative, curious, polyvalent player and a great person to be around. I will miss our long conversations while driving to New York City to Colin’s place.
“It’s not a question of personality or whatsoever; it’s a question of each of us pushing our individual goals and plans as artists. I want to wish him all the best and in the end, what’s most important for me, is when we’ll see each other in 5, 10 or 20 years, we won’t be talking about not doing a tour together in 2014… we will talk about our friendship through music and how happy and proud we are of having made a wonderful record together.”
Longstreth himself commented on the lineup change, stating:
“I will not be joining Gorguts on the upcoming tours. Luc Lemay has decided to take out Patrice Hamelin for all dates in 2014. I can’t say I am not disappointed, but I respect his decision and it allows me to concentrate on Origin, the [instructional] DVD, other projects and future drum clinics/workshops. I am very happy to say that some Gorguts material will be included on my upcoming DVD.”
