Black Country, New Road are one of the most buzzed-about bands from the last couple years, and this Friday they’re releasing their sophomore album Ants From Up There. But today the band’s frontman Isaac Wood has announced that he is leaving the band, though BC,NR will continue on without him. Due to the circumstances, they are cancelling all upcoming tour dates, which included stops in the US and UK.

Here is Wood’s full statement, which ends with a quote from Futurama:

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.

“So that’s what things would be like if I’d invented the fing-longer.” – Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, Anthology Of Interest I

“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,” the rest of the band wrote in their statement. “In fact, we’ve already started working on it.” They continue:

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 I’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 certainly has 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.

Black Country, New Road’s new album Ants From Up There is out 2/4 on Ninja Tune.