TRAVIS RICHTER OUT OF THE HUMAN ABSTRACT?

Something must be in the water; metal bands are losing vocalist left and right.

A few months ago we heard rumors that The Human Abstract and vocalist Travis Richter had parted ways. Being the occasional good journalists that we are, before running said rumors as truth we contacted the dudes in the band who quickly got back to us and essentially said, “Nope, it’s BS. Things are fine with Travis.” The band made good on that promise by going out and kicking ass on tour with him in May and June.

So when this piece surfaced last week claiming that an “anonymous source” says Richter and the band have parted ways, we were instantly suspicious and once again contacted various authorities for comment (including not only members of THA but their manager). Only this time no one responded to us.

The natural assumption here would be that Richter is indeed out of the band. Which would suck, because he was a rad dude, a talented vocalist, and seemed like a great fit personality-wise with the rest of the guys. But until we get some kind of official confirmation this should still be treated as a rumor. The Number of the Blog’s source claims that ex-Periphery screamer Chris Barretto was on the short list to replace Richter, but the band settled on “an unknown kid from San Diego.” Whoever the replacement is — IF one is needed, of course — they better figure it out right quick, because their tour with with Periphery, Textures and The Contortionist is less than two weeks away.

The Human Abstract have been through a number of lineup changes over the years. Hopefully this time they can settle on one that sticks.

-VN