AARON STAINTHORPE On MY DYING BRIDE's Concert Cancelations: 'We Needed A Break Before We Blew Our Heads Off'

In a recent interview with U.K.'s Devolution magazine, vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe of English doom metal pioneers MY DYING BRIDE was asked about the recent revelation that he and his bandmates were canceling all of their previously announced 2024 tour dates, including an appearance at this year's Maryland Deathfest. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've worked relentlessly in MY DYING BRIDE — without a manager. Me and [guitarist] Andrew [Craighan] managed the band as best we could over the years. We've had people interested in managing, but it's never really [panned out]. 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."

Aaron went on to deny that his involvement with his HIGH PARASITE side project had anything to do with MY DYING BRIDE's decision to take a break.

"I know some people are going to say, 'Oh, is it because of HIGH PARASITE?' Well, HIGH PARASITE has been going for three years. So how can it be HIGH PARASITE? It's not HIGH PARASITE," he said. "MY DYING BRIDE have huge gaps in the things that we do — three years between albums, 12 shows a year. I can fit three or four more bands in those spaces, no problem whatsoever. So HIGH PARASITE's got nothing to do with it whatsoever. We're just taking a breather because if we don't, MDB will be over. When we come back — we don't know yet. We will be coming back. I just don't know when. But weirdly, the timing is almost perfect for me because HIGH PARASITE, it's like one door closes, another one opens. And it's just, like, this is amazing. I've got more breathing room than I expected I would have."

Aaron acknowledged that "it's a shame" that MY DYING BRIDE was unable to tour in support of its latest album, "A Mortal Binding". "As I say, we had live gigs booked for MY DYING BRIDE," he said. "That's not fair on the fans, but I'm afraid it was either save the band or lose the band. So we decided to save the band. So I've now got some breathing space, so I'm shoving HIGH PARASITE in and the poetry reading. And this could be an exclusive — myself and Mark Deeks, the songwriter from [U.K. doom band] ARÐ [pronounced 'Arth'], myself and Mark are looking at forming a band between us. So I'm gonna be very busy in the next couple of years. And when MY DYING BRIDE comes back into it, MY DYING BRIDE will always get priority. You can't dismiss 33 years of — they're so well established, they're so legendary, you can't say, 'Oh, this is more important than that.' And so I suspect the next maybe 10 years are gonna be the busiest years of my entire career, which I think is really exciting — slightly nerve-racking, but super exciting. And it's allowing me to do things… As I say, I didn't realize I wanted to do them until someone's given me the opportunity. 'Why don't you have a go at this?' 'Oh, I'm not really sure.' And then friends and family have said, 'Do it, because you'll kick yourself if you don't do this later on.' So I'm now open to other ideas and I'm doing these things and thoroughly enjoying it."

In a recent interview with Brazil's Headbangers News, Craighan was asked when MY DYING BRIDE fans can expect to see him and his bandmates on tour in support of "A Mortal Binding". He responded: "I'm sorry. I really, really don't have a real answer for that. To try and give you some understanding that MY DYING BRIDE is not a full-time band. We all have very much normal jobs and sadly that drags on our time, as you can imagine. And, obviously, it means we have to ask permission to leave work and all those kind of things. So that's one difficulty. And also the distance, because we would need more than one gig for the promoters to make it make sense and all those kinds of things. So the sad and real answer is I don't have an answer. But on the plus side on this, if there is a light at the end of this well, we do think about it. We do try, and our agent does listen to various promoters and tries to get things going. But like everybody else, we're at the mercy of how it all works and how our professional jobs keep us sort of — not necessarily held back, but it's all got to align."

He added: "I mean, we have some problems to sort out. Some people have some personal problems that we need to sort of overcome. It's not insurmountable… I know people are concerned because obviously people, they care for the band in ways that we didn't expect. But I reckon we'll be okay. Everything's a little bit messy right now. We have some things that we have to organize and iron out, let's say, but it's not insurmountable."

This past April, MY DYING BRIDE issued an official statement regarding cancelation of all of their previously announced 2024 tour dates. The band said: "The production of this latest album was arduous and challenging to such an extent that it has revealed fractures within the band. These tensions had already been observed during the creation of the previous 2 albums and were only exacerbated during the Covid period. Over the past few months, they have intensified, causing a profound sense of discontent among the band members. The resulting stress and the pervasive feeling of burnout, along with the physical and mental malaise it creates, necessitated a period of time off which unfortunately impacts on live shows.

"The reason for the lack of an official statement until now is because the band has truly hoped to resolve these internal issues and perform some shows this year while trying find a resolution in time to satisfy all parties involved. Sadly, this resolution is yet to be found.

"Regrettably, a lack of understanding and poor communication from our professional partners has resulted in an untimely and chaotic mess from which a recovery is challenging. However, the promoters have now been officially contacted and it is hoped that steps can be taken to minimise the impact on you all.

"We apologise for keeping you in the dark, but these are indeed challenging times."

The follow-up to 2019's "The Ghost Of Orion", "A Mortal Binding" came out on April 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.

MY DYING BRIDE hired "The Ghost Of Orion" studio wizard Mark Mynett to produce, mix, and master "A Mortal Binding". The group holed up at Mynett's Mynetaur Productions (PARADISE LOST, ROTTING CHRIST) in Manchester, U.K., where they tracked the album consecutively from July to September 2023.

MY DYING BRIDE is:

Aaron Stainthorpe - vocals
Andrew Craighan - guitars
Lena Abé - bass
Shaun MacGowan - keyboards, violin
Neil Blanchett - guitars