Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley issues lengthy statement on breakup
On Monday (1/17), all members of Every Time I Die except frontman Keith Buckley issued a statement stating that the band had broken up, and they wrote, “There has been no direct communication with Keith, because it’s either impossible for direct communication with him solely or we’ve been cut off to any and all communication by him himself.” Keith responded at the time by posting a screenshot of a cease and desist he had been sent that ordered him to not use the band name, logo, or intellectual property, and now Keith has told his side of the story in a lengthy statement posted to social media.
It reads in part, “[The other members’ statement] is how I found out the band I started when I was 19 years old was publicly over. In posting that without prior conversation, without legal consultation, without any personal sense of honor for the band we built, these men took away my ability to say goodbye to 20 years worth of sacrifice. That is one of the hardest things to stomach. After half my life in a van I don’t even get access to an IG page worth of memories. That, coupled with the incongruous stories that are being told to manipulate and blur the narrative for anyone that might one day look back on this, are to me a wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
“My Truth is that the pandemic changed me. full stop,” Keith continues. “I looked at my life and I realized not only was I unhappy, I was exhausted from pretending I wasn’t. So I stripped everything back until I found what I Loved. Then I worked to nurture that Love and set boundaries around it. Any growth that has transpired after that has been, to me, miraculous.”
He later added, “There are a lot of reasons this break up happened, but it could not have resulted in any other conclusion. This was inevitable. In all off it’s ugly confusion and negativity and rumor, our own deep familial dysfunction manicured it perfectly. Our problems with each other go back decades. We should have broken up in 2014 to be honest. But we didn’t, for our own reasons. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I continued beyond that point for no other reason than to connect with other people through my lyrics and live performance. In hindsight, I’m so thankful I stuck it out. FPU, Low Teens, and especially Radical are important records that I feel needed to be made. I still sense Radical gaining importance, but the firm spiritual and political stance I took on that record became an insurmountable point of contention between Jordan and I. I, however, make no apologies for a single word.”
He also adds, “This is the beginning of a new road, I promise.”
Read Keith’s statement in full:
You can read the other four members’ statement here.
UPDATE: Bassist Steve Micciche told his side of the story in his own lengthy statement.
We also penned a tribute to the band: Every Time I Die, RIP – a transcendent, trailblazing, cathartic band till the very end.
https://twitter.com/deathoftheparty/status/1483721043562975233
