With the exception of lead vocalist Mark Hunter, Chimaira has been a revolving door of members since 2001, the year their first album came out. Earlier today, Emil Werstler announced that he was leaving the band, after having played rhythm guitar, bass and lead guitar with the band in some aspect since 2009. Turns out he’s not the only one, as the rest of the lineup with the exception of Hunter have announced they’re leaving the band as well. Guitarist Matt Szlachta, keyboardist/vocalist Sean Zatorsky, bassist Jeremy Creamer and drummer Austin D’Amond released a statement to Theprp.com stating the following:
“In light of recent news, the rest of the band have decided to part ways with Chimaira. For us this was a great stepping stone, and an honor to play these songs live, and fulfill an incredible legacy. This was an an excellent platform to help continue playing music, when our collective bands either ended or went on a hiatus. Chimaira was an amazing experience and we look forward to future music endeavors with eachother.”
This is somewhat surprising, although it would be hard to call it a total shocker. That lineup of Chimaira had only been with them since 2011, with Szlachta joining from Dirge Within and Creamer joining his former Daath bandmate Werstler. The band’s departure from Hunter comes just two days after their monthlong tour ended. It might have come as a surprise to Hunter, since he hasn’t publicly commented on it yet. However, a cursory glance at his Twitter feed features the following quote, which was left on Sunday:
“If you don’t like what you’re doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.” – Timothy Leary
— Mark Hunter (@chimairamark) August 31, 2014
Having a whole band quit can’t be easy, though. It’ll be interesting to see if Hunter continues on with Chimaira under a whole new lineup or dissolves the band completely and goes off and does his own thing.
