
After our first couple of shows Paul has decided that he will end his tenure as the vocalist for SOLSTICE. We're all very sad to lose him, and it's not a reflection of the quality of Paul's voice or his incredible ability as a frontman.
As we get older, we all lose our hearing to a certain degree, and even more so for people like Paul and myself who have had decades of Marshall abuse, and it's this that has caused the problem. Studio work with SOLSTICE is not a problem for him, but the live environment where things can be hit or miss in terms of quality of sound onstage is. Paul's pitching had suffered on these first couple of gigs, and we felt we were all struggling.
In Paul's own words
"It's with sadness that I'm out of the new SOLSTICE project. After 2 gigs it's clear that my voice isn't fitting in. There's no "in fighting" no "musical differences" just common sense. I don't feel 100% and it's not fair on the band to continue trying to blag my way though the hearing and pitching problems I'm having on stage.
I know that Rich Walker and I will remain friends and I'm sure we'll work together again at some point this year. Until then I going to get stuck into the solo album that up till now has only had 50% of my attention. I hope SOLSTICE fans around the world understand the decision that's been made and I can only apologize for the European dates getting cancelled because of it.
I wish Rich, Len, Andy and of course my old friend Rick all the best."
As Paul say's, we intend to collaborate in the summer and make a racket togther, but this time I think it will be more onPaul's home ground where we all know he can excel and hold his own. We four remaining members are fucking pissed off the way things have turned out, but we're all committed to doing the best we can in terms of a live performance. I can't thank Paul (& Ness!) enough for all his (their) hard work, and it has been hard work no doubt about it. There isn't anybody more deserving of recognition than him in my eyes for his work with SCARAB in the 80's/00's and his soon to be unleashed solo outing. We're big boys now, you'll not hear a bad word out of us about Paul, he'll always be a mate to all of us.
And so, we are currently searching for a new full time vocalist. The successful candidate should have the following qualities.
*Powerful and unique voice
*Stage presence, and the ability to talk to an audience
*A love of the loud and heavy
*A black sense of humour
*Be willing to travel in the UK and Europe for shows
*Be willing to get a round in
*Be over 30 years of age.
Interested? Then email NO-SPAMmetalculte@hotmail.com (Removing the NO SPAM part) with your details, audio samples, pics and promises of large amounts of money. Until this is sorted we will continue to rehearse and write new songs for the next album. Tally ho!