Native Construct Have Broken Up
Prog metallers Native Construct have announced that they’ve broken up.
The band posted a message on Facebook announcing the sad news. Don’t worry, though, everything’s fine between the members: the decision to hang it up (they’re using the term “indefinite hiatus”) was based on the realities of adult life creeping in and the needs of the members — who were in college when their first album came out, when times were “much simpler” — to support themselves in ways that being in a metal band likely never would. All the band members are still active with music in one way or another, and the band hasn’t closed the door entirely on Native Construct album #2 eventually seeing the light of day.
Here’s the full statement, penned by guitarist Myles Yang:
“Hey folks,
“It’s finally time for us to give a definitive update on the status of Native Construct. *tl;dr at the end*
“First, I want to acknowledge how long it’s taken us to do this. Our intention was to make sure everything was 100% certain and worked out behind the scenes before making any official statements, and the timeline on that got way out of hand. You were all left hanging and wondering and speculating for far too long, and I honestly feel awful about that. Maybe we should have been more open about what was going on with us in real time. It’s still hard to know what the optimal approach would have been, but this has definitely been a learning experience.
“Anyway, I’m telling you today that the rumors are true: Native Construct is on an indefinite hiatus.
“I know this isn’t the news many of you wanted to hear, and I know this may be surprising considering all the teasing we had been doing for the second album. For whomever may be interested, I’ll try to explain as clearly as possible how we arrived here.
“We made the first Native Construct album while we were in college, when life was much simpler. Since then, we graduated and entered the real world. We started the second album during a time of great uncertainty in all our lives. We originally intended to dedicate most of our time and energy to NC #2, but it turns out that was pretty naive. To put it lightly, Native Construct was never a cash-cow for us. As recent college graduates, we were facing the realities of needing to pay the bills, start developing reliable careers, build savings, etc. As Native Construct got pushed lower and lower on the list of priorities, we gradually came to the realization that dedicating our lives to this band was a bad move, nor was it what we wanted.
“We changed a lot as people and as musicians during these transitional years, and to be honest, most of us became less interested in metal music. The material we were working on for the second album is completely different from Quiet World. It sounds like a different band. So, another factor in the decision to put NC to bed was the realization that we were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by pulling such a dramatic left turn with the musical direction of this project.
“The good news is that we’ve all found other things to focus on for the time being, and are doing well! In case anyone’s interested, I’ll give a brief description of what all the band members are up to:
“-Poh Hock is teaching guitar, and has a killer solo album coming out TOMORROW (March 8 ). You can also hear more of his shredz with a band called Replacire.
-Max is working in the game industry as a sound designer.
-Rob is also pursuing a career in sound design, along with private vocal instruction. You can keep up with him on his (WIP) website here: rwedens.wixsite.com/website
-Jake was drumming all over the world on a cruise ship, and just recently moved to LA to continue his career as a drummer, playing with various artists. @jakedickdrums on Instagram if you wanna keep up with him.
-I, Myles, am focusing on teaching music theory/composition in private lessons and as a YouTuber: MusicWithMyles.com. I’ll be putting out original music in the future, too (some of this unreleased NC #2 stuff may even see the light of day in some form).“Anywhoosles…I just want to talk for a sec about how wild of a ride this has been for us. It would have been completely crazy for anyone to expect the amount of love we were to receive after putting out one little album recorded in my bedroom. The whole Native Construct phenomenon has been just astonishing. Truly. We’ve gotten to meet and work with some awesome people, tour with some of our favorite bands, and see tons of cities across North America. And most importantly, we’ve gotten to hear from countless strangers who have found some genuine joy in our music. It’s an incredible thing. We’ll never forget all the love you nerds have given us. To anyone who has ever listened to one of our tunes, worked with us, or supported us in any way: we love you, and we thank you.
“ttfn
-NC“tl;dr: the band’s dead, everything is fine, thx 4 the memories <3”
It’s always sad to see super-talented bands break up — especially those that show as much promise on their debut album as Native Construct did — but them’s the breaks, as a career in metal is certainly a rough lifestyle. Best of luck to everyone in the band in their future endeavors.
