SERIOUS BLACK Guitarist Roland Grapow, Drummer Thomen Stauch Drop Off HAMMERFALL Support Tour Due To Illness; FIREWIND And FREEDOM CALL Members Step In
January 21, 2015, 9 years ago
Serious Black, the new band featuring Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween), Thomen Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian), Mario Lochert (ex-Visions Of Atlantis), Dominik Sebastian (Edenbridge), Jan Vacik (ex-Dreamscape) and vocalist Urban Breed (ex-Tad Morose) are currently on the road in Europe supporting HammerFall. Stauch issued the following statement prior to the kick-off show on January 16th in Bremen, Germany.
"Dearest Serious Black fans, friends and business colleagues,This is certainly one of the blackest days of my life and to be honest, I hardly dare to say it. As it is at the present time, Roland and me, both of us, can´t play the upcoming tour with Serious Black for health reasons. It seems, as if we´re followed by bad luck at the moment.
Roland has serious problems with tinnitus since the last Masterplan tour and needs to protect his hearing now to keep any long-term damage, he told us. Thanks a million to Bob Katsionis, who immediately agreed to replace Roland as he got asked. Those of you, who know Bob as Gus G´s band colleague in Firewind, should be convinced by his guitar skills already! So he is a great replacement for Roland, no doubt about it!
Concerning my problem, please read as follows:
Since the video shoot for 'High and Low', I have immense pain in my right shoulder, my back and my right arm, right down to my fingers. The first days of rehearsals simply aggravated the pain, so I immediately had to quit. I first thought of a muscle strain, because of the cold temperatures during the video shoot, but unfortunately it turned out differently than I thought.
The results of the medical radiological imaging showed that I have a herniated disc in the cervical spine, which presses on a nerve. In addition, there seem to be two further discs in my spine, which make problems and lead to a numb feeling in two fingers of my right hand from time to time. Apparently there was already a damage, which I had previously not perceived as extreme, but playing drums for the video shoot at only two degrees may have helped to make the situation worse, the doctors say.
I can promise you that the doctors and physical therapists have tried everything possible to get me somehow fit for the tour start, but the few remaining days just before the tour have not been sufficient as it seems.
Therefore, it is anyway better to use common sense right now and consequently combat the current problems with a regular long-term physiotherapy combined with anti-inflammatory painkillers, before I will probably even risk the upcoming festival shows in summer. My physical therapist is pretty confident that he can get me back in good shape by summer.
As you can imagine, this momentarily situation tears my heart in pieces, but I´m 100% convinced that my band members will play a great, successful tour, anyway!
I know this is disappointing news for most of you, but I hope for your understanding.
A thousand thanks to Rami Ali of Freedom Call, who will replace me on this tour and immediately began practicing the songs when he heard this news! He is more than just a worthy replacement!
Please, support Serious Black and rock the venues with my friends! I´ll be back…. latest in summer for the festivals…..I´ll give my best to recover as soon as possible! In Oberhausen I´ll be watching the show for sure, so I´ll surely also be available at the merchandise desk later for a chat with one or the other of you.
Take care and have fun! Sorry for this bad news! I love you all!"
Fan-filmed video from Serious Black's show in Tilburg, The Netherlands on January 19th can be viewed below:
The band's schedule is now as follows:
January
23 - All Karthalle - Kaufbeuren, Germany
24 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
25 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
26 - Backstage - Munich, Germany
28 - Live Club - Milan, Italy
29 - Ninkasi Kao - Lyon, France
30 - Razzmatazz 2 - Barcelona, Spain
31 - Shoko - Madrid, Spain
February
3 - Trabendo - Paris, France
4 - Stadthalle - Frankfurt, Germany
5 - Garage - Saarbrücken, Germany
6 - Meet Factory Prague - Prague, Czech Republic
7 - Brose Arena - Bamberg, Germany
9 - PPC - Graz, Austria
10 - Arena - Vienna, Austria
12 - Huxleys Neue Welt- Berlin, Germany
13 - Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany
14 - Wartenberg Oval - Fulda, Germany
Check out the official Serious Black Facebook page here.
An album trailer can be viewed below:
