The Huntress Break-Up Announcement Was Caused By Jill Janus’ Mental Illness
We recently reported that Huntress broke up, due to a pretty decisive Facebook post by vocalist Jill Janus declaring her departure from the band due to pain from surgery, mental health issues, and “noise and trolls.”
But that post has since been taken down and replaced with the following, posted by guitarist Blake Meahl:
Which… wow. Which is pretty intense, in its own way.
What this suggests is that there are some issues in the Huntress camp that need to be ironed out. First and foremost, if your lead singer is dealing with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, she shouldn’t have access to your band’s Facebook. No shade to those with mental health problems, but seriously, if your band is a nationally-touring act, you can’t be worrying about whether or not someone in it didn’t take their meds in time or had an especially bad attack.
More so, if someone in your band is having serious problems with their health–mental, physical, emotional, whatever — should they be touring the country? Janus’ post didn’t SOUND unhinged initially (though re-reading it after this more recent announcement, that does make sense), it just sounded like the statement of a musician who wanted out of his or her band. So maybe that’s what Janus needs to do. Maybe instead of touring with Black Label Society, Huntress needs to take a break while Janus gets a better grip on what’s ailing her.
Finally: this is not a good look for Jill Janus. Mental illness is very real and very powerful, and shouldn’t be treated lightly… but you know every dickhead and creep in the metal world is now going to chalk anything she says or does up to “going crazy” or “having a meltdown.” It’s a shame, because as I said before, Janus seems like a funny person who gets metal. It’s going to be hard for her to come back from this.
We’ll let you know if this story develops any further. Once again, we wish Huntress and Jill the best with whatever their future holds.
[via Metal Underground]
