WHILE HEAVEN WEPT: CANCEL 2015 EUROPEAN and U.S. TOUR

Virginia, U.S.A. based doom metal warriors WHILE HEAVEN WEPT have announced the band has cancelled plans for a 2015 EUROPEAN and U.S. tour.









WHILE HEAVEN WEPT released "Suspended at Aphelion" 10/24/204 via NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS.







FROM WHILE HEAVEN WEPT:

All EU Dates Cancelled

In 25 years of While Heaven Wept, this is surely the most heartbreaking statement that I’ve had to make, but it is vital that we let all of our friends, fans, and partners know that as of today, all proposed and previously confirmed European dates are cancelled, including the Rock Hard Festival.


Despite all of our efforts, and those of our agents, local promoters, and even past business partners, the numbers simply are not adding up…and the necessary resources do not exist to self-finance. Along with Rock The Nation and several industry friends, I’ve spent 5 months attempting to pull everything together, and though we’ve come very close to making it happen…it’s just not close enough.


Without getting into every last detail, the gist is that when we agreed to accept Rock Hard’s offer, conscious of the fact that it really only accounted for at best, 3 roundtrip flights from the USA, I assumed it would be no problem to arrange enough dates to cover the balance (as we are a 7 piece band - often touring as a 6 piece to reduce expenses), as well as the costs of ground transportation, crew, taxes, tolls, etc.


Around the time of the initial announcement, I was concerned this would happen as progress was slow and expressed this, but Rock Hard had already sent the news to press. Determined to find a solution, we explored everything from hiring surrogate band members to eliminating tour managers/merchandisers/live sound engineers, driving ourselves, and re-routing the dates. This has never been about profit, but we at the very least needed to insure the income covers the expenses, having no resources or tour support, and having invested heavily in the “SAA” album. We needed guarantees and advances to book the flights before the annual rate increases, as well as to secure ground transport.


I had set a deadline of February 1st to have everything resolved, confirmed, and in place…this didn’t happen, and on top of this, we found ourselves losing one key date due to another band booking the same city, drawing from the same audience, on the same date - we even talked to them and their agent about combining shows for mutual benefit, but the local promoter wasn’t comfortable with the added expenses. With two other dates still in limbo, and two more being “door deals”, things were looking rather bleak.


We were asked to give it one last chance, called in several favors, and were 85% “there” as of last Friday…but mitigating circumstances have arisen yet again - another band member having to pull out on account of their job scenario - so rather than waste anyone else’s time or energy, and to allow Rock Hard ample time to secure a replacement, avoid Doomocracy (Greek show support) booking non-refundable flights, and giving the other promoters/venues time to fill the corresponding dates with other artists, we have no choice to take this one on the chin, maintain some semblance of professionalism, and bow out now.


Again, I do take responsibility for this falling through, and I apologize to all of our fans, the promoters, our partners, and everyone who has gone out of their way to try to make this happen. These dates will NOT be rescheduled, however the ProgPower USA Midweek Mayhem show in September remains unaffected. I wish I could say we’ll see you soon over there in the EU, but alas, it seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. At least we were able to commemorate 25 years of WHW at Hammer Of Doom 8 together, right? Thank you for your support over all these years, it won’t be forgotten. Ever. Please accept my sincere apology for this disappointment. - Tom Phillips/While Heaven Wept
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-