GODFLESH's JUSTIN K. BROADRICK Explains U.S. Tour Postponement

Justin K. Broadrick of reformed U.K. industrial metal pioneers GODFLESH has released the following statement regarding the postponement of the band's U.S. tour:

"Unfortunately we have to now officially announce that the GODFLESH mini tour of the U.S. is now postponed. The rescheduled dates will be announced shortly. The dates will now be in April 2014. We cannot yet confirm if tickets can be retained for the new dates, but we have information that this is in the process. The venues are the same besides one show. This will be confirmed over the next few days. We also hope to have exactly the same roster of supports — PRURIENT, NAILS and HOUSE OF LOW CULTURE.

"The reason for all this is once again visa issues; as is often the case with U.K. and European artists wishing to work/perform in the U.S., it is a laborious process, and it was stalled by the U.S. immigration office, the USCIS, that reviews and processes these visas.

"Clearly, and before the accusations come in, and I have already been made aware of several kneejerk reactions to this news, we, as a band, are not at the helm of this process — we have an reputable and professional agency in the U.S. that worked this tour, and an U.S.-based legal team who work on achieving the visas, in tandem with our agency, all done within an extended timeframe which allows for any such problems. The issue here is quite simply that the USCIS stopped responding entirely to our legal team. Regardless of how much our team relentlessly taxed the body for the petition/visa response, no response was forthcoming, irrespective of all efforts; the process had ground to a halt — they would not respond to us at all anymore. We had reports that the U.S. government closedown was the final nail, but this is unconfirmed. So, once again, we are now going through the process, with even more time at our legal teams disposal to go through this all again and hope for the best.

"Please, understand this — it's bureaucracy to blame here, not the band or it's agent / legal team, we all wish for the band to perform. Otherwise, why indeed would we even bother to invest time, energy and money into establishing this tour? Nor is it related to the ridiculous suggestion/assumption of my not wanting to tour. I do not wish to do large, extended tours. I already am, and have been doing, small tours. This was a small tour. GODFLESH did a small tour of Europe earlier this year, and we, and I, have performed consistently throughout the world this year. I, as both JESU, GODFLESH and JK FLESH have performed twice in Moscow in the last six weeks, for example, besides countless other performances in many countries globally. So, please do not be ignorant and narrowminded about this situation, and understand that we obviously want to perform, and will perform.

"We will announce the new dates within the next few days. The tour will be followed by the new GODFLESH album in May 2014."

GODFLESH released its first new recording in over 12 years through Decibel magazine's Flexi Series. A cover of the track "F.O.D. (Fuck of Death)" by legendary death thrashers SLAUGHTER (Canada) was included in the subscriber version of the magazine's November issue (streeting October 5).

You can now stream the track at this location.

In a recent interview with the French radio station Le 106, Broadrick stated about the band's forthcoming album — which is tentatively titled "A World Lit Only By Fire" and due in May 2014 — "It will be [musically] similar to the first two or three [GODFLESH albums]. I just think, like we're playing these shows, we feel very pure about we're doing and honoring the initial intentions with what we originally set out to do. Which, I think, like most bands and musicians and all the rest of it, by the time you get on to your fourth album, it's somewhat of a dilution going on to what you initially tried to achieve. It will definitely sound aggressive and it probably won't sound like any of the other records we've made, but it will have the minimalism of the first few records."

Added GODFLESH bassist G.C. Green: "It won't sound like the first two record; it will be more the spirit… When you make records over the years, you change as people, you change as musicians, you progress, you develop and you take other styles on, but I think, having had a break from it and come back to it, it seems that we've gone straight back into what the essence of it was originally, and that's why it feels good."

Continued Justin: "It's getting straight back to the core of what this is all about. And I think having a break from it has probably even more inspired… It's like refocusing and obviously, we're somewhat older and wiser. It's gonna be a really interesting record. It's extremely minimal and very, very brutal — a fairly unforgiving record, really, I think."

GODFLESH photograph copyright Carl Byron Batson. Not to be reproduced without the photographer's prior consent.