Antagonist to Hang It Up After 25 Years, Final Show Announced
For a quarter of a century, metalcore outfit Antagonist has been pumping out socio-politically aware metalcore out of Whittier, California. Yet all that’s coming to an end early next year, as they announced they’re planning one final show that’s likely to take place in February.
News of their eventual split up came yesterday after the band shared statements from guitarist/vocalist Carlos Garcia and drummer Orlando Garcia. Accompanying the posts on social media was an image that’s supposed to look like a tombstone with the dates 1998-2024 etched in it.
They’ve got a discography featuring five full-length studio albums and a whole buncha EPs under their belt ever since the band’s inception in 1998. Their most recent release was Gone Is The Light, which had the dubious distinction of coming out during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
But enough preamble. Here’s Orlando Garcia’s statement in full:
“Not too long after I started my freshman year of high school, I was determined to join a real band, I quickly made some new musician friends, I met a guy who played guitar named Carlos and before I knew it, I was jamming in my parent’s garage with 3 dudes that I didn’t really know that well yet, those people would create the first Antagonist line up, we started writing material from day one and that whole situation changed my life for the last 25 years.
“From pushing my drums in shopping carts to touring across the country in a van, 5 full length albums, numerous line up changes, countless shows and miles traveled, it’s been one hell of a ride, I’m extremely lucky to have been beside some of my best of friends along the way.
“25 years seems like a long time but it’s gone by in a flash, time flies when you’re having fun I guess. The word fun is important and that’s why we started playing music as kids; to have fun. Fun has always been number one, we have never made money from the band so it’s always been a priority to make sure things are fun as much as possible, we have always believed in being honest with our music, our message and most importantly to ourselves, so we want to have a good fun time with everyone one last time and close the book on Antagonist by having a fun show at the venue we grew up playing at for old time sake.
“Thanks to everyone who made the last 25 years possible, Carlos for putting up with me all this time 101, all past members, anyone who filled in for show or a tour, all the friends and family who supported our crazy vision, the fans that became friends over the years, all the promoters, labels, agents, sound engineers, etc that we have worked with for taking a chance with us, anyone who let us sleep at their house and fed us on the road, thank you to everyone we’ve met during this crazy journey, even though we won’t be active anymore the music still lives for eternity and this isn’t good bye forever but more like goodbye for now.
“Who knows what the future holds, for now I will continue to focus on writing and drumming with Zombie Eating Horse and you might see me back on stage with Carlos filling in for System of a Clown here and there so keep an eye out and keep supporting heavy music and your local music scene.”
Likewise, here’s Carlos Garcia’s closing statement:
“Hey everyone, I know it’s been a while but we’ve been waiting for the right time to say something. And honestly there really isn’t a right time so here it goes…
“After 25 years of being a band, Antagonist is officially calling it a day. I know a lot of you are thinking “l thought you guys broke up along time ago?” And I get why you would say that, we haven’t been as active these past few years. But this past November 2023, Antagonist turned 25 which is more than half the time I’ve been alive, and that’s fucking crazy. I really think that’s an accomplishment and we’re all really proud of that fact.
“the last five years or so have been really tough on the band. We put out a full length in 2020. We released “Gone is the Light” during the worst possible time (COVID), but it was finished so we figured what the hell, maybe more people will get to hear it, because everyone will be in quarantine…
“Our last tour was in the early 2010’s, we just couldn’t sustain being on the road any longer. We had been touring at that point for 5 to 7 years, we were in debt, we had just tragically lost a friend to the road, and we were playing to emptier and emptier rooms. It was a huge ego punch and reality check. We didn’t know where we going from there but then we started writing again and we ended up putting out some EPs that we loved and our last full length that, even with a lock down in 2020, people still didn’t hear.
“It’s really tough being in an underground, DIY heavy metal band, and we never really reached the potential we thought we could have. But when I get all in my feelings about it, the thing that makes it worth it are the friends we made along the way and the people who have been so appreciative of what we’ve done, and we are so grateful for that.
“We’ve always put our heart and soul into our music, our entire beings. Not in hopes of becoming “big” (whatever that means), but I hopes that others would connect with it. So I hope you guys took something positive from us, from the music or the lyrics that still often make me cringe when I read them back. But hey, it was all honest and from the gut. We’re just some regular assholes who loved making music together, for whoever was willing to listen.
“Antagonist was our baby, and he’s grown up, and now it’s time to let him go. I’ll miss it so so much. We’ll have one last hurrah to sing and sweat together (announcement coming soon). But for now, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
It’s really a bummer to read that touring became too costly and that things ended up no longer feasible enough to continue. Still, it’s incredibly rare to see such a mature finale come about for a band these days, with most either flaring out or just fading away.
At least Antagonist get to go out on their terms.
