AGENT STEEL Featuring JOHN CYRIIS Pulls Out Of KEEP IT TRUE Festival

The organizers for the 14th annual Keep It True festival — which is set to take place April 29-30, 2011 at Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany — have issued the following update:

"We are very sad to announce the cancellation of AGENT STEEL with [singer] John Cyriis at Keep It True XIV.

"We invested so much time and energy in this project and it is really devastating for us. We knew in advance that it will be a risky and complicated task, but we wanted to do it for all the AGENT STEEL and Keep It True fans.

"I know this is disappointing for many fans, so Juan Garcia and I want to explain what lead to this. After the surprising reunion with original singer John Cyriis, everything went really smooth. They played the Japanese shows and we were really optimistic about everything. The first doubts came up after the singer replacement just for the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise, but even after that we were really looking forward to it. Then, by the beginning of this week we were facing totally new demands from one part of the band, that we, as a still small and dedicated festival, could not meet and really also do not want to meet. This, plus the troubles within the band itself (see Juan's statement),led to the final cancellation of AGENT STEEL with John Cyriis.

"As you are all dedicated Keep It True fans, you know that we really tried everything to do it, but in the end it was too much for all of us.

"Since Juan, Bernie and the rest of the band worked so hard on it, we decided to still have the band under a new name (MASTERS OF METAL) due to legal reasons, with the amazing singer Rick Mythiasin (STEEL PROPHET).

"Rick was supposed to sing for us already last year on our CRIMSON GLORY tribute show but got sick before the show. I am happy that he finally can enter the Keep It True stage. Please give them all the support they really deserve. They are not only dedicated metalheads but also great friends."

Statement from AGENT STEEL guitarist Juan Garcia: "We'd like to clarify false rumors in the press that state that Rick Mythiasin is the new singer of AGENT STEEL; that is not the case whatsoever; Rick filled in for John Cyriis for the inaugural 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise and did a tremendous job.

"When we reunited with original vocalist John Cyriis for Thrash Domination 2010 in Japan, our intention was that as long as things were moving in a positive working direction that we would forge ahead and perform reunion shows in 2011. As of now, we have reached the inevitable fork in the road; having worked unimaginably hard into making this recent reunion a solid reality, a difficult situation has turned much more complicated which has forced the cancellation of AGENT STEEL at the Keep It True festival in Germany this upcoming April.

"As a symbol of dedication to the fans, the music, and the AGENT STEEL legacy alike, we are excited to announce that the organizer of this festival has invited the band members to still perform, but under a different moniker, and singer Rick Mythiasin has been officially invited as the vocalist to join us onstage, once again, devastate all that witness."

The final Keep It True XIV billing is as follows:

* CRIMSON GLORY (first German show with new singer)
* VICIOUS RUMORS (A Tribute to Carl Albert with Geoff Thorpe, Larry Howe, Mark McGee, Tommy Sisco and Kevin Albert - son of Carl)
* MALICE (exclusive German show)
BREAKER
* SATAN (exclusive complete Court In The Act line-up)
* GRIFFIN (exclusive first European Show)
* SACRIFICE (First European Show)
* OSTROGOTH (exclusive German show)
* BROCAS HELM
* DEATH DEALER (exclusive first european Show)
* SLAUTER XSTROYES
* DAMIEN THORNE
* SARACEN (special Heroes, Saints And Fools Show)
* BITCH
* METALUCIFER
* HELLHOUND
* ENFORCER
* VEKTOR
* SIGN OF THE JACKAL