The band releases a statement on the departure of former frontman Richie Heavennz
February 28, 2010, 09:23 PM
Heaven’s Basement have prepared this statement on the departure of former frontman Richie Heavennz:
“Hi guys, writing stuff like this is never easy so we'll just come right out with it.
Unfortunately, Richie has decided to leave Heaven's Basement. This will probably come as a surprise to most of you (as it did us) but to be honest we've seen signs in Richie over the last few months that suggested there was something wrong. He first told us about how he felt when we regrouped for some writing sessions in the studio last month. Richie was upfront with us all about his doubts in continuing. He feels he can no longer keep up with everything that goes along with being part of Heaven's Basement. He's written a message for you all, so here it is.
"After 18 months of amazing highs and amazing experiences, I feel that the lifestyle and constant touring has taken its toll and its time for me to move on to different pastures! In short guys, I'm afraid I will be stepping down as the lead singer of Heaven's Basement.
I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this amazing time in my life. I also want to thank my brothers in HB for their understanding and friendship! I would like to thank all the fans of Heavens Basement for all their love and support over the last 2 years! You've all made my life a brighter place!
I wish the guys all the luck in the world for their future.
Love ya!!"
It goes without saying that we'll miss him, Richie will always be an important part of the band's history as one of the founding members. It's not even two years yet since the first Heaven's Basement show but during that time we've had some amazing times together which we'll never forget. We've all become great friends over the past few years and he was a very important part of what makes the band chemistry work. We wish him all the best for the future, we're sure he will go on to do well in what ever path he chooses.
I guess you will all be wondering about what we're going to do about the upcoming tour dates we have. While we initially thought that Richie would come out and play these tours with us until we found ourselves a new frontman, that's not going to be the case anymore. As you know, we're not the kind of guys to let a small thing like not having a singer get in the way, so we're happy to say that they will all be going ahead as planned! Us guys thrive of being on the road, it's what HB is about. We pride ourselves on being a live band. We've been through our fair share of sticky situations in the past and always managed to pull through, obviously losing your singer a couple of weeks before a two month tour is a new thing for us but if there's a way to make it work, we'll find that way. We're lucky to have met and played alongside some great musicians over the past few years which have fused some great friendships, this has led to our saviour for these dates, our good friend Johnny Fallen. Johnny's been working hard with us for the past few days on our set, he's doing a great job at learning the stuff at such sort notice. Learning an hour long headline set in a week is no easy task! Lucky for us his own band theFALLEN have a break in their schedule so he's able to stand in for us on the upcoming dates. Massive thanks to all the guys in his band....we're very grateful for this and we owe ya's one!!
Johnny’s really excited about coming out on tour. We've told him all good stuff about you guys and we know you will all give him a warm welcome when he takes to the stage with us!
Aside from all this, the search is now on for our future full time singer. Obviously we're keen to get someone in as soon as we can, as we already have a lot more tours and festivals booked and this year will be our busiest yet. We're lining up auditions as soon as we return from the Theory Of A Deadman tour. Anyone interested should email us at info@heavensbasement.com with the subject title "singer", some samples of them singing (either a myspace link or attachment), photos and a bio that covers basic info such as age, location etc..
So, as clichéd as it is, a new chapter begins in our history, one thing you all should know is that us four guys are as fired up as ever, we know people naturally become concerned whenever a band loses a member but we're not going anywhere! We're so glad that we're able to keep on the road despite this situation and we have no doubt that we'll look back on this in the future as another obstacle that we turned into a positive!
Anyway, its time for us to get back in the rehearsal room with Johnny! We hope you lot have all got our lyrics down to give him a hand over the coming weeks if he needs it!
