TWELFTH GATE Part Ways With Singer, Announce Replacement

Chicago-based power metallers TWELFTH GATE have announced that vocalist Scott Huffman has decided to quit the band. Replacing him in the group is Brent "Red" Erickson.

Commented bassist Rob Such: "This may come as a surprise to some, but it's actually something that Scott's been hinting at for well over a year now....both for creative differences and reasons outside the band. At the time, even though we weren't sure whether or not our latest album ('Threshold of Revelation') would be his last, we made the decision to go ahead as planned...mainly because we had a great album on our hands, and it deserved to be heard the way it was...with Scott singing on it. Then as suspected, once the album was finished at the end of last summer, Scott confirmed his decision to leave the band. However, he did make a commitment to the band and the new album until we found a new singer...to avoid any gap where the band did not have a singer at all. That definitely made everything much less stressful, but we still decided to start looking soon afterwards because we knew that it could potentially take a long time before we found someone we were happy with.

"Of course, with the release of the new album being pushed back to early 2006, the timing couldn't have been worse...but it happens, so we just dealt with it. Also, even before we started looking, we made the decision that our new singer needed to be someone with a different style, but whose voice would also fit the direction that the band was going in. Scott's got an absolutely AMAZING voice, and we knew that trying to find someone who sings in a similar style would just be futile...not to mention that chapter of TWELFTH GATE had officially come to a close.

"Fortunately, we got lucky fairly quick, and found someone [Red] who fit us both musically and on a personal level. Red came highly recommended through a close friend of the band, and everything began to progress quite well after only a few rehearsals together. The only 'final test' was how well we would all perform together live...so as a recommendation from Scott, he thought it would be a good idea to debut Red at the Chicago Powerfest, and then make our final decision. We agreed...and needless to say, after our performance at the Powerfest we decided Red was the man for the job...though we really already knew it even prior to the fest.

"Personally, even though I'm excited about what the future holds for TWELFTH GATE, I'm still a bit sad to see Scott go. Scott and I are very close friends, and have been ever since I joined the pre-SYRIS version of SPIRIT WEB back in 1995. And now, after over 10 years of being in bands together, our musical paths are going in separate directions...although, at least we're fortunate enough to have this happen while we're still all good friends, and everyone's truly happy about the transition.

"All of the guys in TWELFTH GATE and I would like to wish Scott the very best and much success with his new project, MINDWARP CHAMBER. I know it's going to kick ass and I can't wait to hear it!"