AARON STAINTHORPE On His Exit From MY DYING BRIDE: 'By Kicking Me Out, They Showed Their Cards'

Unceremoniously dismissed in 2025 from the band he co-founded and fronted for 35 years, former MY DYING BRIDE singer Aaron Stainthorpe recently returned with TOWARDS THE SINISTER, a new project featuring three of his ex-bandmates, Calvin Robertshaw (guitar),Ade Jackson (bass) and Rick Miah (drums). The new outfit also features second guitarist Chris Revett, keyboardist Mark Deeks and violinist Emma Allington — all with the intent of faithfully paying homage to MY DYING BRIDE's classic first four studio albums of utterly dark, dreary and miserable doom metal. The band's immediate plans include a handful of small warm-up gigs in their native England, accompanied by European festival slots by the time next summer comes around.

In a new interview with Paul McNamee of The False Face show, Stainthorpe stated about his departure from MY DYING BRIDE (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That doesn't bother me anymore. I've moved on. Obviously, I was gutted when [it happened]... I mean, it was a misunderstanding, which they don't believe that it is what it is. And I tried to prove that it was a misunderstanding. They weren't interested. So I think they wanted me out — I don't know why — a long time before that. Anyway, it happened. I was heartbroken. I couldn't believe it. Luckily, I had HIGH PARASITE [Aaron's other band] to sort of catch me as I fell, which was great. And then Mark Deeks approached me about doing maybe some keyboard stuff, singing MY DYING BRIDE songs. So I thought, 'Okay, it's not necessarily over, me and MY DYING BRIDE music.' So we did a few things together. It was great."

Returning to his exit from MY DYING BRIDE, Aaron continued: "I don't care what they say about me now. We all know why it happened and how it happened. If they wanna spout some bullshit, well, that would be the measure of those people. I'm not getting into any online spat because you will just bury yourself if you do that. Everyone will laugh their socks off, and it's no good for anybody. So, I don't follow any of them anymore. I'm not interested in anything they've got to say. By kicking me out, they showed their cards. If they want to continue to beat me, that's absolutely fine. But I think the more people who see that will realize what kind of a band they've turned into."

Asked how long he thinks the other members of MY DYING BRIDE had wanted him out of the band before the split happened, Aaron said: "Well, God, I have no idea. I remember years ago, [MY DYING BRIDE co-founding guitarist] Andrew [Craighan] would say to me, 'Look, if you're gonna leave, at least give us plenty of notice.' 'I've no intentions of leaving. What are you talking about?' I would never leave MY DYING BRIDE, and I said that right till the end, which is why they had to kick me out. I had no reason to leave, because I've done nothing wrong, despite whatever B.S. they're gonna come out with. But, as I say, I've already moved on. I've got a hatload of exciting things ahead of me.

On the topic of the early fan response to TOWARDS THE SINISTER, Stainthorpe said: "It's been nothing but positive. You always hope, when you're embarking on a new journey, that people welcome you with open arms, but it's no guarantee. So you keep your fingers crossed, and you just hope that you've got all the right ingredients in the right place, the right people, the right music. And you're just never sure. People might think, 'What's the point?' And other people would be absolutely in rapture. They'll absolutely love it. But it seems to be the 'loving it' thing, particularly when we decided that we're only gonna focus on the first four albums and the in-between EPs. Because the rest of the guys, they weren't involved in writing anything after that, and they're not interested in playing anything they didn't help write. They helped write the first four albums, so they want to play the first four albums, so we're going to. And it's something we're all very much looking forward to."

Asked if there as been any discussions at any stage of perhaps expanding that window a little bit and playing a few of the MY DYING BRIDE songs from the later albums, Aaron said: "Well, I've been singing all of them, obviously. So I'm gonna leave that decision up to those guys. They all obviously are aware that I'm going away for a few days, and I've just said, 'Right, you do the T-shirt designs. You work on the posters. You guys do everything, while I do absolutely nothing.' But they're happy to do that. And I will suggest — I thought I may have suggested in the past, but come to think of it, perhaps I didn't, or maybe it was over a beer and we all forgot — maybe they do have a think about doing something beyond the fourth album. But that's entirely up to them. I've been doing all the music for 30 — I think 32 years. So it's up to them if they wanna learn something new… But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I mean, even with the four albums and the EPs, that's a lot of music. And typically, when we announced it, we already had the setlist nailed down. And of course, there's hundreds of people asking for songs that are not on the setlist. But they will be. We intend to get through as many of the early albums as possible. Most of the songs we're gonna try and have a go at. But we obviously we can't do them all. The long songs, some of the festivals we'll only be playing for 40 minutes or something like that, and some other festivals want us for an hour and a half. So we've learned about an hour and 20. And I'll throw in some jokes to flesh it out. And then we'll probably play this setlist — I don't know — for a year, I guess, and then perhaps start introducing one or two other songs. But we will get through the good majority of that early cannon at some stage. But we've gotta learn to walk before we can run."

TOWARDS THE SINISTER brings together key architects of MY DYING BRIDE's classic era to celebrate and resurrect the dark, mournful atmosphere that helped define the death-doom genre. The lineup features Stainthorpe, founding MY DYING BRIDE members Robertshaw and Miah, and original bassist Jackson, performing material drawn primarily from the band's seminal early releases including "As The Flower Withers", "Turn Loose The Swans", "The Angel And The Dark River" and "Like Gods Of The Sun".

Last October, MY DYING BRIDE announced that it had officially parted ways with Stainthorpe. The news came less than a year after MY DYING BRIDE recruited singer Mikko Kotamäki (SWALLOW THE SUN) to front the band for its live appearances in 2025 and beyond.

At the time of the announcement, MY DYING BRIDE stated about the split with Stainthorpe: "Please understand that this decision does not come lightly, hence our initial and painful silence while we gathered our thoughts and carefully considered our response to the disengaged, eerily abandoned state we suddenly found ourselves in.

"Our collective decision to move forward without him is not something we thought we would ever be forced to say, but to ensure a continued legacy for what we hold dear to our hearts, we simply have to move past this. Whilst change can be difficult, we are doing our best to bring this new chapter forward with powerful positivity."

MY DYING BRIDE's latest album, "A Mortal Binding" — featuring Stainthorpe on vocals — came out in April 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Aaron's recently formed band HIGH PARASITE released its debut album, "Forever We Burn", in September 2024 via Candlelight/Spinefarm. The LP was produced by Gregor Mackintosh of PARADISE LOST.

Photo credit: Jonny Hunter