THE HAARP MACHINE’S ROSTER REDUCED BY 75%

• 25 Jan 2013
• by: Disinformasiya
• 2 comments
• Featured Music : Music : News : Recent

[L-R Ollie Rooney, Mike Semesky, Al Mu'min, Alex Rudinger]

More band-related break-up news, this time from UK-based tech group The HAARP Machine. Following on from The Devil’s Blood split earlier today, and The Mars Volta yesterday, today the news that three of the group, named after the U.S. military’s ionospheric research program, have quit the band over irreconcilable personal differences with guitarist and founder Al Mu’min.

A statement hit the web today via our bros at Heavy Blog Is Heavy – that has now made the rounds – from now former vocalist Mike Semesky, drummer Alex Rudinger, and bassist Ollie Rooney – the last surviving member of the original lineup – and although it didn’t go into detail about why, multitude testimonies have pointed to Al Mu’min being incredibly difficult to work with, and so the trio have left to pursue various other musical projects and opportunities.

Indeed, Alex Rudinger – a drummer of some considerable skill and renown – is almost a dead cert to be replacing Lyle Cooper, who left tech-death outfit The Faceless this week. He and Semesky are also in death metal band Ordinance, and both have fingers in a multitude of pies. Rooney’s future plans are less clear, but as a professionally trained musician who has played some pretty technical music (and whose chops are not in question), we shouldn’t imagine he’ll be short of offers.

Anyway, we assume this will put something of a kibosh on the band’s slot on the Born Of Osiris/After The Burial/Monuments European tour that begins in Cologne next month, but undoubtedly it will go ahead without them, so don’t worry on that front.

It’s hard to imagine The HAARP Machine recovering from this, but we expect a statement from label Sumerian Records, or Al Mu’min himself, next week.

Ultimately, the three thanked the fans and the label for all their support, and should you wish to follow their future careers you can do so via their YouTube channels (see below) for regularly updated shenanigans and musical goodness.