ATHEIST PART WAYS WITH TONY CHOY

Florida's legendary progressive extreme metal band ATHEIST have announced that bassist TONY CHOY has left the band.
FROM ATHEIST and VIA LABEL SEASON OF MIST:
It is now official: forefathers of progressive extreme metal ATHEIST
parted ways with bassist Tony Choy. Freshly done with the recording sessions of
long-awaited fourth studio album "Jupiter", the band wrote the following
statement:

"First we would like to extend sincere apologies
to all ATHEIST fans around the world. We have been silent on the matter of a
former member being dismissed for some time, but we were entirely focussed on
recording our new album "Jupiter". Therefore, we did not want to get sidetracked
on an issue, which, quite honestly, was far less important to us than it might
appear to some looking in from the outside.


"When we came together to write again, it was an
obvious choice, for several reasons, to try and continue in what has been our
touring line-up. We've had such a great time together on the road for the past
four years. We're all great friends, and all of us were working peacefully
towards the completion of the album. Therefore it hit us very unexpectedly when
Tony called one day and informed us that he would not record with us. What's
worse is that this happened only four weeks prior to our confirmed studio date.
This left us in a very unfortunate position and without a choice.


"Although we are quite angry with him for this
extremely late, and inconsiderate, change of heart, we have no desire to let
this become personal or start some public feud. We simply want to be sure the
facts are out there so we can get on with writing and playing music. While this
might come as a surprise to some, we simply shrugged our shoulders and continued
on, un-phased, for one simple reason: Tony was never instrumental to ATHEIST's
sound in the first place. The true genius behind the technical bass lines of
"Unquestionable Presence" was co-founding member Roger Patterson. It's not well
known to today's fans that Roger actually wrote all the bass tracks just prior
to his ultimately sad and tragic death and deserves the credit. Tony simply
played what was written. However, the public perception has become distorted
over the past two decades. It was the trio of Steve, Kelly and Roger who helped
to bring ATHEIST alive - and continue to do so today - without Roger of course.
Tony had no influence on the band's original sound.


"It was that one young, gifted kid, Roger
Patterson, who inspired subsequent generations of bass players to delve into
technical metal and bring their instrument to the forefront. Yet unfortunately
Roger has not always received the credit due to him. With all due respect, most
of the credit has been misplaced on Tony. It was actually following Roger's
terrible accident that Tony joined us, after Doug Keyser from WATCHTOWER
declined our offer to join for personal reasons. It must be said that nobody can
deny Tony did a good job of playing the parts written by another musician. We
will never stop being thankful for Tony to step in and help us out at that most
difficult time. He remains a great friend. Apart from that, however, Tony's
contribution to the sound of ATHEIST consists only of his participation as a
fifth contributing member in writing "Elements". We leave it to CYNIC and
PESTILENCE to tell their own stories, if anybody feels the need to hear
them.


"Those who are close to us know we do not like to
discuss band business publically. We prefer to keep those things internal, as
they have nothing to do with the music. Yet this story must be told for a
variety of reasons - primarily to honour Roger!


"Thus, with this very brief glimpse into our
history, we hope people understand why we handled things like we did and why we
were able to react quickly when Tony left us in the lurch just before the
recording of "Jupiter". As with previous classic ATHEIST material, Tony had not
contributed to the writing of "Jupiter" in any significant way, so we did not
have to start over. Also, we had no intention to accept any further delay caused
by Tony, especially since there was already an extremely talented young musician
in our ranks: Jonathan Thompson (guitar). Not only did Jonathan do his intricate
guitar lines flawlessly on "Jupiter", but as a huge fan of Roger's work, he also
wrote and performed the very impressive and original bass lines on this album as
well. That is quite a story in itself. Tony may tour with ATHEIST, but for now
it shall suffice that rather than settle for some random guy, we went with the
best and kept it in the family.


"Now that our work on what we hope will soon
become another classical technical metal masterpiece is nearly finished and the
news of Tony Choy's removal has already reached the public, we feel the need to
have our story heard instead of letting the false legend, rumour and speculation
perpetuate and persist in replacing truth. ATHEIST are alive and well and
"Jupiter" will prove us to be stronger than ever!"


Kelly Shaefer and Steven Flynn on behalf of
ATHEIST.
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-