Monuments Drummer Mike Malyan Announces Departure From The Band
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Monuments has announced the departure of their drummer, Mike Malyan. Consequently, the progressive metal group will be canceling their summer festival appearances. However, they are still set to embark on their scheduled North American tour with Leprous and Fight The Fight.
The band issued the following statement:
“After countless tours, beautiful memories, and many great songs written, it is with heavy hearts that we must announce the departure of our great friend and drummer Mike Malyan.
Mike has been with Monuments from the earliest days of the band and we are eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to create and play music alongside him.
Throughout all the ups and downs, Mike’s unwavering dedication, talent, and spirit has shone through as a beacon of inspiration to us all. We will never forget the love, positivity, and sacrifices he’s made for us and the fans that are so dear to our hearts.
As fun and rewarding as the band lifestyle can be, our paths in life naturally diverge and shift over time. We fully support Mike’s decision to step down and put his family’s and personal well-being first. From the bottom of our hearts, we love you Mikey, thank you for everything.
In light of this, our summer festival plans have been postponed to 2025. We will be taking this time to recalibrate, write, and focus on the next chapter of Monuments. Our upcoming US/Canada tour with Leprous and Fight The Fight will still fully go forward as planned. More info on that later.”
Malyan shared a separate personal statement:
“I’ve decided to step down from Monuments, this time not because of my physical health, but my emotional health.
I love my bandmates, and I love the groups aspirations, successes and everything in-between. However, the pursuit of this has left me feeling quite hollow inside for a long time. I hope you’ll allow me a moment of your time to explain this in more detail.
I joined Monuments at age 17, and it was everything I dreamt of as a kid. I was taken in by truly dedicated and supportive members Browne and Neema in the fallout of Fellsilent, one of my favourite bands.
We toured the world and made some really sick noise both on and off the stage. It really was my true calling.
However, the journey I went on through my injuries and through COVID had me discovering both the joy of varied adventures and the joy of home and family stability.
These 2 things brought me so much more deep and meaningful peace than I ever imagined, and the more I accepted what I loved about them, the more Monuments tore me away from that.
I had to come to terms with this, and I really fought with it for 2 years, even starting to dread hitting the road again.
For me, leaving this band is like an amputation. Cutting off one part of me so the rest can grow. I’ve been living with that decision for many months now, and I’ve discovered peace and wellness during that time that has made the pain of leaving justified.
However, I can’t speak for your pain, anyone reading this, either my beloved bandmates or my adored fans.
You all showed me endless support and love whenever I faced a career-ending injury. I have been truly touched every time any of you have asked me how I am and wished me such wellness and happiness, especially in light of me re-joining.
So this is really my apology to all of you, that me taking this decision and direction is going to rob you of continuing to experience what we achieved together.
And this is the really hard part, because I know that the level we hit together is so much higher than I ever anticipated. I truly got to be in the best darn band I ever could have hoped to have been a part of.
But there is just no argument worth making against the deep unhappiness I was experiencing with the reality of steering the ship, making it happen, and travelling all the time to do it. I was dreading the next cycle while my bandmates were getting amped up and excited, and I realised it was time to leave.
I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but right now, I will just continue to go where work takes me, where occasional performance and composition opportunity becomes reality. I want to make myself open to the beauty of that process with many more musicians, while I retain control of my schedule & commitments, so I can make sure I don’t bite off more than I can chew in the future.
For Monuments, and for the ambition of chasing the sounds that draw us all together, I wish that you’ll continue to support Browne, Andy and Werner in their ongoing journey. I do believe in all the things left for the band to say, and I will be right there cheering them on with all of you.
Thank you for reading, I am endlessly grateful to all of you, and I hope to still see as many of you on my future endeavours as possible.
–Mike Malyan“
