Girl Band Cancel 2015 Tour Dates Due To Health Issues
Abrasive Dublin post-punk quartet Girl Band (Band To Watch alums and, more recently, part of our list of 50 best new bands of 2015) just announced via Facebook and Twitter that they are canceling their remaining 2015 tour dates due to health issues within the band. Their Facebook statement reads:
We are extremely sorry to announce that we have to pull all of our upcoming European and North American tour dates in 2015. This is due to health issues in the band. Refunds will be available at the point of purchase. We would like to thank everyone who has purchased a ticket, and we hope to see you in 2016.
On Friday, the band cancelled a show in Utrecht in the Netherlands and posted this statement on their Facebook:
Apologies to everyone last night in Utrecht for the late cancelation. But due to health reasons we were unable to perform. Unfortunately we will also have to cancel all our upcoming shows in The Netherlands. We are really sorry to be missing these shows and hope to be back soon.
This isn’t the first mention of health issues within Girl Band. Over the summer, vocalist Dara Kiely told NME that their September album, Holding Hands With Jamie, lyrically dealt with his mental health issues:
It’s a weirdly personal album, even though it’s not obvious. I had a messy break-up which led to a psychotic episode and a breakdown where I had to take a year off college and get better. And just went through depression and thought I couldn’t write again. It took me a year to feel good within myself again. The whole album is those emotions I went through; the phases of depression and the rehabilitation.
The band also told NME that Kiely’s behavior “became erratic” with bouts of happiness (“[he] thought he was God and could control the weather”), and then bouts of isolation (“there was a spell where he moved into a tent in his garden and refused to leave”).
It’s unclear whether the current health issues are related to Kiely’s prior mental health struggles, but whatever’s going on, we wish the members of Girl Band a swift recovery.