METAL CHURCH has issued the following update:

"Yesterday we put up an announcement stating that drummer Jeff Plate had incurred an injury at the Nashville show and due to that some shows would be cancelled. The announcement was put together very quickly because we wanted to get the word out to the ticket holders in order to avoid as much inconvenience for them as possible; however we did not have all the facts at that time.

Here is a statement from Jeff himself explaining the circumstances behind the cancellations:

"As much as we did not like making the decision to cancel shows, I personally am also upset at the vague explanation that was posted about my situation.

I did not injure my back the other night. I have had a herniated disc in my upper back since 1994, which I did to myself hitting golf balls one day in Buffalo on my first Savatage tour. This flares up once every couple of years, and unfortunately it decided to rear its ugly head now.

The disc swells and pinches the sciatic nerve in my left arm, which causes more pain when I'm not moving than it does when I'm playing, and unfortunately not playing is the only way it heals. My doctor has always recommended against surgery, and a traction unit to relief the pressure and time off is the only way to help this.

And, not to make excuses, but I've been drumming now solid for four months straight: TSO rehearsals, the tour and now the Metal Church tour. This tour has beaten us all up. The schedule has been crazy to say the least, the weather has been terrible, problems with the bus, no heat, arriving late to the venue and helping unload and setting up my drums, no days off... it all caught up to me, and everyone else for that matter. Let's face it, I'm not a kid anymore. This sucks, trust me.

I cannot honestly say when I'll be able to play at this intensity again, but it is generally several weeks. I have some work with Mark Wood at the end of February, but it is not nearly as demanding.

There are many people involved in putting this tour on and it obviously affects everyone.

Once again, sincere apologies to everyone."

As previously reported, in regards to the show scheduled for this Saturday night, February 3rd in San Antonio, TX at White Rabbit, support act DIVINE RUINS recently announced, "First off we want to wish Jeff a speedy recovery and we wish him all the best we hope everything turns out well with him. We have decided to still go on Saturday night as planed and give the fans a great show."