The Ocean has sadly played their last show with longtime drummer Paul Seidel in Madrid. Seidel drummed for The Ocean between 2013 and present day, and was a pretty formidable songwriting force in the band. The Ocean has not announced who will replace Seidel. It's also not shocking that someone left The Ocean considering Mardrid's show was the last in their run that the band noted was "our final shows with the current lineup." Still, it always sucks to see a great musician leave a band.
"Madrid was Paul's last show with The Ocean, and an emotional heavyweight for all of us," wrote The Ocean. "To say Paul's contribution to this band over the past 11 years was important and trailblazing would be an understatement. On the drumming end, his precision, touch and dynamics are unrivaled and made the rhythmical realm of the Phanerozoic's and Holocene shine.
"On the songwriting end, Paul wrote Oligocene, Miocene and 'Holocene' (the song). As a person and bandmate, Paul is an incredible dude, a constant source of positive energy, always looking after everyone's well-being on tour, a trigger of stomach-ache inducing laughs and a resource of great ideas and pragmatic approaches to problems. More than anything, Madrid was a celebration of Paul, who can be seen in this first picture wearing a T-shirt of his own pretty face, brought by fans…"
