On 1st April 2015 Massachusetts Thrashers LICH KING published a new track entitled ‘I Quit’. It was naturally received as an April Fools joke by their fans and media alike. However on the 2nd April Lich King singer Tom Martin made an announcement that he would in fact be relieving himself of vocal duties for the band from that point onward. You can read Tom‘s entire statement regarding his departure from Lich King below. Lich King are currently scouring the globe for a replacement singer and are pushing forward with plans to release a new full length album in 2015.

Auditions for a new vocalist are currently underway and the band have released the following campaign welcoming applicants to take five shared instrumental Lich King songs complete with lyric sheets from tiny.cc/lkvocals. Applicants should then record their vocals over the tracks and email their audition directly to Andy@evileyeindustries.com or Mail@lichkingmetal.com.

Tom Martin‘s Statement:

So yesterday we put up an announcement in the form of a song, in which I declared I was quitting Lich King, and… April Fools! It was the truth.

These are my reasons for leaving. My reasons are my own, and don’t at all reflect on the attitudes or opinions of the other guys.

Reason #1: Live shows were never my thing. I have bad hearing so at a metal show when you hear the music, almost all I hear is deafening jangled noise.

Reason #2: Bars are the worst. On tour, you’re hanging around in a venue for seven to eight hours every night, and usually it’s a bar. I have no idea how someone sits in a bar for that long and doesn’t want to open their wrist with a blender.

Reason #3: I’m a homebody. I like sitting at home, surrounded by my comfort zone, making stuff. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy touring with Lich King, because largely, I did. I love those guys and discovered I love traveling… but I stopped having a good time when we pulled into the venue every night. I’d dread shows, and during them I’d sit on the bus and fantasize about being home with my stuff.

Reason #4: [redacted]

Reason #5: This is the big one: Money. There’s not much. Thrash bands have day jobs, and I’m not just talking about the small guys. I’d be willing to bet that just about everyone outside of the big four aren’t living off their music alone. In the song, when I mentioned “now a good show means some pizza and 9 bucks,” I wasn’t exaggerating. $9 and food are what I get for devoting my evening to what is considered a good show by our standards.

Some people tell me to be happy to have even that, because most bands don’t, and to suck it up and be professional about it. All I can say is that those people must enjoy the gig more than I do, and good for them, I’m glad… but “professional” is a poor choice of words for metal bands. If you’re in a band but it’s not your primary source of income, it’s not your profession, it’s your hobby… and your hobby shouldn’t eat up two months of your life when you could be hammering at your profession.

Lich King is a hobby that got away from me and started lumbering under its own will, demanding more and more of my time for minimal rewards outside of seeing people enjoy what we made. That’s fine, I’m going to let that beast stomp off and maybe in the future there’ll be lucrative tours or big shows I can jump onto. Maybe it’ll all be worthwhile in the future. Till then, I’m going back to just doing art and giving Lich King the amount of time a hobby deserves.

When Ol Drake left EVILE, he said “I’ve reached a point where I want… a house, a steady and definite income and everything in between, and in regard to my personal preferences, a touring band’s income and uncertainties, in the state that I feel they would continue to be in, has become incompatible with how I feel and what I want/need.” That’s pretty much it.

So… thanks to anyone that ever came out to a show, bought some merch and said they had a good time, because you helped me when I needed it.

If you liked I QUIT, you can get it here: https://lichkingmetal.bandcamp.com/track/i-quit

As for now, I solemnly pronounce thrash metal dead.

Your pal
-Tom