The Amity Affliction will go ahead with all booked shows this year following the departure of Ahren Stringer this past weekend.
Late Friday (February 14th), the Australian post-hardcore outfit announced that the bassist and clean vocalist “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,” a statement issued by the group read.
“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.”
Management for The Amity Affliction has since confirmed to Rolling Stone AU/NZ that the Cairns-founded band will go ahead with all planned shows this year. This includes a US run that kicks off next week, a European tour later in the year with fellow Australian heavyweights, Parkway Drive, and a set at Darwin’s BASSINTHEGRASS in May. The BASSINTHEGRASS appearance was only confirmed a day before The Amity Affliction announced their split with Stringer.
The Amity Affliction lineup tension has been ongoing for some time. The leadup to their 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.
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Before that, The Amity Affliction and Stringer 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.”
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.”
