Black Country, New Road singer Isaac Wood leaves band; tour canceled
Black Country, New Road singer/guitarist Isaac Wood has left the band citing mental health reasons. The announcement came via the band's socials, with a statement from Wood:
Hello everyone, I have bad news which is that I have been feeling sad and afraid too. And I have tried to make this not true but it is the kind of sad and afraid feeling that makes it hard to play guitar and sing at the same time. Together we have been writing songs and then performing them, which at times has been an incredible doing, but more now everything happens that I am feeling not so great and it means from now I won't be a member of the group anymore. To be clear: this is completely in spite of six of the greatest people I know, who were and are wonderful in a sparkling way. If you are reading this maybe you have seen some of that. It has been a great pleasure and I would like to say the words 'Thank You' to everyone.
The news comes just ahead of this week's release of Black Country, New Road's anticipated second album, Ants From Up There. The band's upcoming tours for the album, including North American shows in April, have been canceled but they are continuing on without Wood.
"Although Isaac won't be part of the group any longer, the rest of us will be continuing to make music together as Black Country, New Road. In fact, we've already started working on it," the band write in their statement. "The things we'll miss about working with Isaac are too many and various to list here, but by listening to the music we made together l'm sure you'll understand at least a few of them. It'd be difficult to overstate how much our experiences as a group have affected us. In fact it's difficult to say anything at all coherent about what we've managed to do. But it has certainly been the greatest privilege to do it all together, as seven friends. As mentioned before, the rest of us are working on new Black Country, New Road material going forward. We hope to update you all on new music and everything that goes along with that (shows included) pretty soon. Thank you to everyone who has ever supported us, and to those who continue to do so. Here's to love and friends and the future."