SKELETONWITCH FANS: I’VE GOT SOME BAD NEWS, AND I’VE GOT SOME GREAT NEWS FOR YA

The bad news is that drummer Derrick Nau has left the band, although apparently under amicable circumstances — in a statement, the group says that Nau “is returning to art school and does not wish to be a musician anymore.” C’est la vie.

The great news is that the band has already named a replacement for Nau, and that replacement is Tony Laureano, who, the statement says, “will be playing drums on our April tour, new album, and for the foreseeable future.”

If you don’t know who Laureano is, I’m assuming you’re new to metal, so I’ll fill you in: motherfucker has played with EVERYONE, from Dimmu Borgir to Nile to Angelcorpse to Malevolent Creation to God Dethroned to 1349 to All That Remains (yucky but still) to a million other bands I’m forgetting right now. He just seems to be one of those dudes, like Gene Hoglan and Kevin Talley, who a) everyone in the world wants to jam with, and b) is only too happy to oblige. So I don’t mean to knock Nau, but Skeletonwitch may very well have traded up in this situation.

Skeletonwitch are going on tour with 3 Inches of Blood (there’s a killer line-up) starting April 7, so the world will get to see how this combo works very soon. You can get tour dates here. In the meantime, as Chance Garnette would say, drink beer, smoke weed, eat pussy, ride a motorcycle, and listen to metal!!!

-AR