SO WHICH MEMBER OF NEVERMORE HAS A DRINKING PROBLEM?
Ever since Jeff Loomis and Van Williams — a.k.a. “The Important Members” — split with Nevermore back in April, Nevermaniacs around the world have been wondering: “What the fucking fuck happened?” The band’s statement regarding the parting of ways was vague, blaming the decision simply on “internal struggles and ongoing issues within the band,” which answers absolutely zero questions about what actually went down.
Now Warrel Dane — who announced last week, via Twitter, that Nevermore will go on with Loomis and Williams (But WHY?!?!) — has given an interview to ProgPower USA, in which he attempts to explain a little more about what caused the rift. And it ain’t pretty: he declares Nevermore to be “the greatest band that alcohol ever ruined,” and says that “those guys [presumbaly Loomis and Williams] decided that they didn’t have as bad of an alcohol problem as I did.”
So, one might naturally deduce that the divorce was caused by Loomis and Williams drinking too much, right? I mean, there’s really no other way to interpret that statement.
Thing is, I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell Dane is talking about.
For one thing, Nevermore have a pretty legendary reputation for being hard drinkers. ALL OF THEM. Not just Loomis and Williams. Anybody read this review of Nevermore in Austin last October? Here, I’ll give you the highlights:
“Jim Sheppard looked terrible. Emaciated, run down, tired, sick, drunk, etc. I almost didn’t recognize him. It was sad to see. Warrel looked pretty worn out as well. During the set the 2 of them were having words. It was pretty wacky to see. A few shoves, middle fingers and words and Jim ended up standing behind the mains for much of the set, just hiding and acting like a little kid. He was obviously out of his head for the show. It was sad. At one point as a song ended he walked off stage and went to the bar after asking people in the crowd to buy him a drink. It was pretty pathetic to watch, Jim Sheppard, wasted away again… especially coming from a band that I always regarded as being pretty professional. In the final song Jim just stopped playing halfway though, handed his bass to someone in the crowd and walked off stage, out the door and onto the bus.”
AND THOSE ARE THE DUDES THAT ARE STILL IN THE BAND.
Meanwhile, a small group of us actually went drinking with Loomis last year, and he probably imbibed less than everyone else at the table. Someone in our party ended up drinking so much that they spent a portion of the night crawling around the bar on all fours, playing hide-and-seek with a kitten, and it wasn’t Loomis. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Loomis doesn’t have a drinking problem, but it would make him the most in-control-around-lots-of-free-booze alcoholic I have ever encountered.
So is Dane full of poo? It’s interesting to note this tweet from the singer, sent out after the interview was published:
So presumably Loomis will be giving his side of the story very soon. I can’t wait to hear it.
-AR
[via Metal Insider]
