Black Country, New Road frontman, Isaac Wood, has announced he is leaving the band.
The Mercury Prize-nominated experimental rock group announced in a statement that Wood’s departure is effective immediately and that they will be continuing on as a six-piece.
The band also announced that all upcoming shows have been cancelled.
Wood said in a statement: “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.”
The statement continued: “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.”
He concluded by saying that the split had nothing to do with his bandmates: “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 would have seen some of that. It has been a great pleasure and I would like to say the words ‘Thank You’ to everyone.”
In their own statement, Black Country, New Road said: “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 starting working on it.”
Their statement went on to pay tribute to Wood and his contributions to the group: “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 has certainly been the greatest privilege to do it all together, as seven friends.”
The group’s debut album, For the First Time, was last year nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize but lost out to Arlo Parks.
As well as receiving critical acclaim, the album charted in the top five in the UK.
Black Country, New Road’s second album – Ants From Up There – is scheduled for release this week on 4 February.
