Due to the recent escalation in violence and military action within the country, SHINING have been forced to cancel their plans to play in Turkey. The two gigs, scheduled to take place in Istanbul and Ankara on November 15th and 17th will be rescheduled at a later date.

In a statement issued today, Shining frontman Niklas Kvarforth had this to say: “I would personally like to apologise to the fans in Ankara and Istanbul for the cancellation. We have always received a lot of correspondence from Turkish fans asking us to play in their country, and we know that this must be a disappointment for them. It’s a big disappointment for us too. I would, however, like to stress that the decision to cancel was most emphatically NOT taken by the band. We have never been political, and we are not taking sides with anyone. Had it been down to us we would have played - violence or no violence, and I think people who know the band, know this to be true. Unfortunately the booking agency, and others involved with the tour, were not prepared to let us go ahead and play in a country where people were being killed, as they considered it too dangerous for both the band and the audience. We held out as long as we could to see if the situation would ease, but the matter was always completely out of our hands. We will definitely try to reschedule as soon as we can”.

Shining will undertake a 19 date European tour with Maniac’s SKITLIV and Austrian black metallers HELLSAW during December.

Tracks from the band can be found on the official Shinig MySpace page at this location.