The Australia post-hardcore band breaks its silence on the situation with the talismanic bass player and clean vocalist, by way of a carefully-worded statement detailing a “completely broken down” relationship.
“Ahren will no longer be touring or recording with The Amity Affliction,” reads the message posted Friday night, February 14th to the group’s socials.
In the message, signed off by continuing band members Joel Birch, Dan Brown and Joe Longobardi, The Amity Affliction insists that the problems are beyond repair.
“We acknowledge that we have all had our fair share of issues over the years. But sadly, over time the relationship between Ahren and the band has completely broken down while he has been dealing with challenging elements of his personal life,” the statement continues.
“The band have had to cancel tours and pass on many opportunities in hopes of supporting Ahren, but moving forward we find it impossible to continue to tolerate certain behaviours that have been directed at ourselves and those close to us. Ahren has made it very clear on numerous occasions that he does not enjoy or want to continue touring.”
It’s a sad divorce, announced on Valentine’s Day.
For fans tracking the band, those issues have been impossible to ignore. The leadup to the chart-topping Gympie, Queensland act’s 2024 European tour was anything but steady, with Stringer initially insisting he was in the touring camp, when he had earlier been sidelined. It turned out, he was benched.
Both parties spoke on the situation, though the separate versions of events didn’t match up.
Prior to that, AA and Stringer, who has battled with substance abuse and mental health issues, had abruptly parted ways whilst touring North America, with True North’s Tim Beken recruited into the group as cover for their remaining dates.
Stringer dropped a heavy hint last month when he wrote that his solo career was about to get underway. “Way better music and it’s all written by me,” Stringer wrote on social media. “Debut album coming real soon, and by soon I mean real soon.” The 38-year-old musician is credited as co-songwriter and composer on many AA works.
On January 30th, Stringer fired off another missive, pointing out that “I’m not touring with the band I started, ‘the Amity Affliction’. I asked the band to advertise to ya’ll that I ain’t gonna be there. Apologies to everyone that was not communicated by the band.”
AA is one of the most popular acts in their lane. Last October, The Amity Affliction blasted to No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart with Let The Ocean Take Me (Redux), a 10th anniversary re-recorded version. The original spent one week at No. 1 in 2014, one of their four leaders alongside Chasing Ghosts (in 2012), This Could Be Heartbreak (2016) and Misery (2018).
The band is booked for another tour of the United States, a month-long run kicking off February 28th at San Diego’s SOM. Earlier this week, The Amity Affliction was announced to the bill for Darwin’s BASSINTHEGRASS festival, set for May 17th.
Read The Amity Affliction’s full statement below:
We are aware our fans have been waiting for us to comment on the situation between Ahren and the band.
This will be our only statement.
We have been choosing to stay silent until now, as we wanted to handle this privately with respect to all involved. Unfortunately, it has become clear to us that this is no longer possible and we owe it to you, our fans, to comment.
Ahren will no longer be touring or recording with The Amity Affliction.
We acknowledge that we have all had our fair share of issues over the years. But sadly, over time the relationship between Ahren and the band has completely broken down while he has been dealing with challenging elements of his personal life.
The band have had to cancel tours and pass on many opportunities in hopes of supporting Ahren, but moving forward we find it impossible to continue to tolerate certain behaviours that have been directed at ourselves and those close to us. Ahren has made it very clear on numerous occasions that he does not enjoy or want to continue touring.
We still have a lot to give as a band and we’re excited to continue touring and sharing new music with you. We also understand that we need to prove ourselves to you all, and thank you for sticking with us.
The music we’ve created with Ahren will forever bind us and we are thankful for the good times we had together. We wish Ahren all the best in his personal and professional future.
