heathenstorm2018-2025
It is a great relief to finally declare my departure from Solstice. Although we went our separate ways last June, I chose to embargo any revelation until the band were good and ready to say it themselves. Nine months later, their Equinox announcement offers opportunity to reflect on the seven years I spent on bass duties.
I joined Solstice in 2018, having left previous band The Enchanted around fifteen years prior. Being a long-time fan since the demo days, the chance to play the songs I grew up on was sufficient to coax me out of retirement. Coming back to the challenge of making music instead of just appreciating it, it took a while for rusty hands to find their form, with weekly rehearsals in Huddersfield essential to getting my playing up to scratch.
Although that year closed as I took tentative steps back on stage in London, it was in 2019 that the journey took stride. Playing to thousands across Europe at Keep It True, Up The Hammers, and Party.San, it was a privilege to share these festivals with highly lauded artists and a passionate fanbase – to whom I always bore my heart in performance.
Starting 2020 strong with shows in Rome and a Belgian castle, any momentum soon crashed to a halt – along with the events industry and world in general. With entire populations placed under house arrest, it was hard to persist under the immediacy of making sense of the moment.
Band members came and went, and others declared their opposition to the age with vociferous conviction – earning enmity for unyielding words. It was a very different Solstice that emerged from these trials three years later…
… and one that never quite gelled with me as it once did. Suddenly finding myself in the firing line for words spoken by others, with dishonourable demands to distance or discredit, I felt doors close far faster than they had opened. The message, and the perceived need to set and be set an example in all arguments, became louder than the music.
Inspired again by the label signing, I continued with a number of high profile gigs through 2024. Ever alert to physical reprisal threatened in forums, the distractions were high and my playing sometimes sloppy, with joyless tension far tauter than any string. Pulling in professional effort before I started my Academy studies culminated in a far more successful September which saw a standout show at Prophecy Fest and a mini-tour across Finland.
With members dispersed across England and Wales, in-person rehearsals were few and far between, and time spent together increasingly bitter as frustrations came to the fore. Unaccustomed to playing remotely and home recording beyond synth-dabbles, I struggled with the new way of doing things and especially not meeting bandmates for months on end.
Balancing the band with studies and weekend work was a challenge in itself, and although I prioritised rehearsals in my calendar, short-notice cancellations and rescheduling took their toll. My final rehearsal with the band was over a year ago, and despite sustaining my availability (to the point of losing work shifts) and practising nightly between assessments, we had no further in-person contact.
It was an untenable situation, draining and unhealthy for everyone. After being presented with an unbalanced ultimatum during assessment week where my attempts to discuss the matter in person were rebuked, I chose to leave.
The relief comes from closure. My life has hardly stopped since last June, with studies and more taking precedence now I can devote my better energies towards them. I will keep the Solstice section up on the website, as to minimise my involvement would be reductive, craven cowardice.
But also I look forward to the long-awaited next album, having played a part in its foundation. There is some magnificent music to come, whenever it comes, and I will eagerly listen with the same spirit as those in the front row who inspired me to continue.
https://heathenstorm.com/2026/03/22/seven-years-of-solstice/ #doommetal #equinox #keepittrue #livemusic #metal #music #partysan #prophecyfest #solstice #upthehammers
The Nwothm
XydobarbasRL
Ian