As It Is parts ways with longtime guitarist

If you’re a fan of As It Is, then you may notice that someone will be missing from the stage during the group’s last set to tour dates. On Monday (Oct. 9), the British band announced that they had parted way with longtime guitarist Andy Westhead. News of Westhead’s exit began when a fan took to Twitter to make sure the musician was okay after not being present at a recent show.

Westhead responded to the inquiry with “I guess the others didn’t think you guys were worth an explanation either – I wish the others would allow me to be there.” A few hours after the post was made public, the remaining members of the group (Patty Walters, Patrick Foley, Benjamin Langford-Biss, Alistair Testo) released an unofficial press statement about Westhead’s abrupt departure. According to the letter, the band wanted to reveal the news to their longtime followers, but they were hoping to “make one with Andy’s full involvement and approval.” That ended up not being the case when Westhead went forward with his response to the fan’s question.

According to the statement, issue between the band members and Westhead began in August when they realized that they could no longer work with Westhead. As the letter goes on to explain, “feelings and differences had been building up for at least a year” and even though they tried to make things better, things did not improve. According to the group, they constantly conversed with Westhead, reiterating that the reason for them moving forward without him all stemmed from the same issue and were surprised when Westhead took to social media to throw the other band members under the bus. As It Is’ full statement about Westhead’s exit can be read here.

As It Is is currently in the middle of Neck Deep’s “The Peace and the Panic” UK/ European tour. After wrapping up their time on the tour in late October, As It Is will join Waterparks on their “Made in America” tour which will find them performing across North America during the months of November and December. Earlier this year, As It Is released their sophomore album, Okay.

Spencer Smith Officially Leaves Panic! at the Disco

For anyone who has been to a Panic! at the Disco show over the past two years, they would instantly notice that a key and original member of the band was no longer sitting at the drums, but now, that absence has become permanent.

Today, now former-Panic! drummer Spencer Smith took to the band’s website to reveal that he has officially left the band. In a lengthy post, Smith writes to fans how grateful he was to be in the band, to be with his “family” and all the things that came with it, but felt it was the right time to leave especially since he is still recovering from the addictions that had plagued him.

Back in 2013, the band had unveiled that Smith had been battling alcohol and prescription drug addiction and would be missing their arena tour for their latest release, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die. In the post, he writes that he has now been “two years sober from prescription medication” and is now “working on a year sobriety from alcohol.”

Read a small portion of the post below or click the link under to read the full letter.

A MESSAGE FROM SPENCER…

To our fans…After 10 years of being a part of this unbelievable journey it saddens me to say that I will be leaving Panic. This was not an easy decision to come to, but after a lot of thinking it became clear that this is what’s right for me and the band. I love this band with all my heart, and getting to see it grow from 4 kids in my parents garage to what it is now has been incredible. I loved it all. But, at a certain point, I realized that I wasn’t able to be there for the band the way I wanted to be, and more importantly, the way they needed me to be. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been surrounded by the people I have been all these years.

To read more click here.