SOILWORK Drummer Explains Guitarist PETER WICHERS' Departure

Earlier this week, Metal Sucks conducted an interview with SOILWORK drummer Dirk Verbeuren. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Metal Sucks: Why did [SOILWORK guitarist] Peter [Wichers] leave the band? Did he quit, was he fired, or was it mutual?

It was mutual. Peter couldn't be a part of our 2011 U.S. run with SYMPHONY X. That was maybe six or seven months after "The Panic Broadcast" came out. We were on a roll then, but out of solidarity and respect for our bandmate and friend, and because we really felt like we had the ultimate lineup, we cancelled that tour. The whole idea back then was that Peter would tour with us again soon. But then the summer festivals came along, and he progressively said "no" to those too. We couldn't just keep cancelling stuff, so we hired David Andersson, who had filled in for us before. After that, touring kind of came to a grinding halt. The rest of us didn't know what to do. It was just kind of rough to be in this position all of a sudden, with a great album and no tours to support it and a shaky lineup. Less than a year earlier, we were all stoked about our future together, you know? We talked and tried to figure things out, and in the end, long story short, Peter couldn't commit to what the rest of us feel is mandatory for SOILWORK. Here's the thing: whether we like it or not, we have to tour. There's just no two ways about it. Playing shows, a lot of shows, is vital if we wanna have the slightest chance to survive as a band. That's why moving on was really our only option.

Metal Sucks: What did Peter mean when he cited "creative differences?"

I don't know, man. My take on it is… I guess that's another way to say "artistic disagreements." But honestly, we never had issues with making music or playing together. We're all pretty free to play what we want in this band. There's no musical-dictatorship type of bullshit happening, we're not that kind of band. We always respected Peter's creative input and he respected ours. "The Panic Broadcast" felt to us like one of the best things we'd ever done, you know? We still feel that now, and I'm pretty sure Peter feels that, too. So, I don't know exactly what he meant by that. I'd have to guess that some resentment may've built up. If I were to describe it, I'd probably have used the word "personal" rather than "creative."

Read the entire interview at Metal Sucks.