Marcos Leal is Stepping Away from Ill Niño
A little more than a month after ex-Bad Wolves frontman Tommy Vext stood in for Ill Niño vocalist Marcos Leal during the band’s European and U.K. tour, it’s come out that the band’s full-time vocalist is walking away.
In posts on both Leal’s and Ill Niño’s social media accounts, neither party was willing to shed light as to why the split was happening. Instead, both parties emphasized that the decision to part ways was amicable and that they wished each other the best moving forward.
The band announced the change to its lineup with the following statement:
“Hello Ill Niño Familia, we wanted to inform everyone that ILL NIÑO and Marcos Leal both have decided to amicably split, and move forward separately.
As we appreciate all the support of the ILL NIÑO fans, we owe it to all of you to release both IllMortals EPs Volume 1 & 2, before the end of 2024. The EPs will include Marcos’ vocals, plus some well-known surprise vocalists. Change can often lead to new opportunities and growth, and ILL NIÑO is looking forward to continuing our 25-year legacy. Marcos will be updating you all soon, regarding his next chapter.
We are looking forward to seeing our ILL NIÑO Familia representing at the upcoming festivals “Louder Than Life,” “Aftershock,” and Nu Metal Revolution.”
Similarly, Leal posted the following statement about his departure:
“I’m going to keep this short and sweet… It has come time for me to move on from Ill Nino after 4 1/2 years of fronting the band.
“I don’t want to get into the “why’s”. I simply want to state that I enjoyed my time in the band and the music we created.
“I’m extremely thankful for all of the fans who accepted me and gave me a chance from day 1. Even the ones who were skeptical of me, that I had to really work to win over. Even the ones who never accepted me, I always respected all of your opinions (good bad, or ugly) to the fullest and played my ass off every night for you guys.
“While I’ve had some of the best times of my life during my time in this band, I’ve also had some of the darkest moments of my life over the past four years. I lost my dad, I lost my grandma/grandma in-law , both of our 15 year old dogs shortly after & then I lost my father-in-law while expecting our twins. Some of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in my life. I lost a lot of people I loved over my time here, but even on my darkest, most grief-stricken days, you guys always lifted me and helped me keep going. I’m forever grateful for that.
“I want to say to the true fans, the record “ILL MORTALS” , which I poured so much of my heart and soul into, will come out as planned with my vocals and songwriting, as far as when and how moving forward that will be a question for Ill Nino.
“It truly is some of the band’s best work and some of my greatest work as a vocalist/songwriter.
“I want to give huge props to Serafin El Revolucionario, Chris Anger for producing me and this record since day one. This record is one of the only things that has mattered to me over the last few weeks. I’d go as far as to say the last few years. It meant a lot to me to help fulfill the promises we made as a band to you guys.
“It’s something I’m very proud of and I’m looking forward to you all finally hearing it.
My path in music is far from over!“Shattered Sun will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the “Hope within Hatred” album in April 2025 ! We have some cool things up our sleeves for yall shatt-heads ! More info TBA !
“I’m also VERY excited to announce that I will be making my Country Rock Debut with Swim The Current on Oct 18th , out on TLG ZOID/Virgin Music Group !
“I look forward to what the future holds
“Thank you for all the love and support
“With all the love and respect in the world,Marcos“
There’s no news at the moment about what the band will do as a result of this change, but once we know more, we’ll share it with you.
