SPIRITBOX Parts Ways With Bassist BILL CROOK

SPIRITBOX has parted ways with bassist Bill Crook.

Crook's exit from SPIRITBOX was announced earlier today (Sunday, May 22) via social media.

"We are saddened to announce that Bill Crook will no longer be in SPIRITBOX," the group said in a statement. "This decision was mutual and with no hard feelings. We ask that you respect his privacy on the matter and we wish him nothing but the best in the future. We would like to thank Josh Gilbert for giving us his time on such short notice to fill in with us."

SPIRITBOX's debut album, "Eternal Blue", was released last September via Rise Records. The LP charted high in multiple categories on the Billboard charts (No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 in both Hard Rock and Rock) and equally well around the world.

Singer Courtney LaPlante told SPIN that the album's success surpassed her expectations.

"We have really high expectations, high goals for our band and our secret, scary goals that we would never tell anybody [about] as well," she said. "This exceeded all [of] that. We're all shocked, really."

The husband-and-wife duo consisting of LaPlante and Michael Stringer made its debut with an independently released EP in October 2017, quickly building a cult following. In 2018, they found their musical counterpart in Crook and partnered with Pale Chord Music to continue to create and release music in single and EP formats, and in fall of 2020, signed with globally renowned label Rise Records.

Drawing its name from a device that some believe is capable of communing with the dead, SPIRITBOX has a paranormal undertone that runs through everything they do, using EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recordings both at its live shows and within its tracks.

Having toured the world many times over with their previous bands — metal outfit IWRESTLEDABEARONCE (Courtney and Mike) and pop punk band LIVING WITH LIONS (Bill) — SPIRITBOX absorbed the highs and lows of living as working musicians and decided to try a different and more sustainable approach when it came to releasing their music. They took the concept of supply and demand and applied it to their release model, focusing on making fans across the globe by using the social media tools available to them, releasing shorter bodies of music and removing touring from the plan until a demand was built. In doing so they quickly garnered a cult-like online following which has led to sellouts on every physical release and most merch items they've released to date.