My Dying Bride cancelled all their live appearances roughly two weeks before the release of their latest record A Mortal Binding earlier this year.
My Dying Bride guitarist Andrew Craighan said at the time that there were "some live problems, which we're — how best to say it? — massaging, I would say," while the band themselves would later go on to state there were simply tensions within their ranks. Now My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe is giving a much more frank answer to Devolution magazine.
"We've worked relentlessly in My Dying Bride — without a manager. Me and Andrew managed the band as best we could over the years. We've had people interested in managing, but it's never really [panned out]," said Stainthorpe. "And sometimes when you're doing the admin, it really takes away from the artistic side of things. You've got tax men to deal with and politics and blah, blah, blah.
"And me and Andy, we've argued the toss like a married couple for years and years and years — artwork, lyrics. I normally pretty much get away with lyrics, but artwork particularly. And I think we're both becoming grumpy old men. We've just got a bit loggerheaded like that. We said, 'Let's take a break before we have a massive bust-up.' Even though it's a rubbish time to take a break because the album is just coming out. But everyone just thought, 'You two just take your breather. Take some time away. It happens to loads of bands. And then come back.'"
He continued: "It's a bad time to take [a break]. We'd had gigs booked and everything. And I apologize profusely to people who bought tickets and were coming to see us. But we just needed a break before we blew our heads off. So we're taking a breather."
And while it sucks that My Dying Bride isn't around for the time being, at least they didn't break up. Because that would truly, permanently suck.
