HOWARD JONES, WHERE ART THOU?

UPDATE! From Phil LaBonte’s Twitter account:

So it sounds like Howard is just sick. Thanks to Matthew Fieger for letting us know!

Original story after the jump:

We’ve gotten a number of concerned e-mails since it was announced last night that Howard Jones is sitting out Killswitch Engage’s current tour with Dark Tranquillity and The Devil Wears Prada. As far as I can tell, the cause of consternation seems to be the following:

1. That no specific reason was given for Jones’ sitting-out the tour; all the announcement said was that he is leaving “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
2. That All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte is stepping in for Jones, and since everyone knows he lost the KSE gig to Jones when Jesse Leach left the band, people are assuming that this means Jones is leaving KSE forever and LaBonte has the job. (One of you even e-mailed to say you hope this means Jesse Leach is coming back, which is just silly.)

So why is Jones actually off the tour?

I honestly have no idea. Haven’t heard any juicy rumors, and asking the KSE camp for a comment seems like a waste of time, since if there was something they wanted the public to know, I imagine they’d have mentioned it in the initial press release.

Mabye Jones is ill, or has an ill family member? Maybe he needed to go to rehab? Maybe he just didn’t wanna tour with The Devil Wears Prada – hey, who could blame the guy?

Or maybe he is out. That would be a serious bummer, especially if LaBonte really does take his spot – I don’t exactly hate All That Remains or anything, but I’ve seen Jones perform live many, many times, and I’ve seen LaBonte perform live many, many times, and one of them is definitely superior in almost every imaginable way.

But here’s the point of this post, which I’d now like to emphasize for people who didn’t catch it three paragraphs ago: WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, and all of this is just reckless speculation until we do.

So if you’re someone on the inside with the real skinny, feel free to drop us a line. Otherwise, just chill. If you already bought tickets to the tour, go and just have fun pretending that this is an alternate universe where LaBonte really did get the gig in KSE after Alive or Just Breathing. If you don’t have tickets, well, now’s the time to decide how much Jones’ presence in the band does or does not mean to you.

And if we do hear anything, of course, we’ll let you know.

-AR