Headbangers Ball Blog can exclusively reveal that singer Tommy Cummings has been fired from Divine Heresy. The move came after Cummings flew into a rage during a show on April 26 in Poughkeepsie, New York when the other players wouldn't let him end the set early.

"He gave us 10 different reasons why we should stop ? 'My microphone doesn't work, I got diarrhea, the monitors are f-ked up' ? whatever he could think of," Cazares told HeadbangersBlog.com. "And we decided that's not fair to the fans. We wanted to give them a full show."

In part, the other members of Divine Heresy decided to finish the gig because they didn't think Cummings was being honest about why he wanted to cut the set short. "We felt that he wanted to end the show early to go hang out at the New England Metal Fest, which we were supposed to be performing at the next day," Cazares said.

But when Divine Heresy blasted into the next song, Cummings became unglued. He tried to pry the drumsticks from Tim Yeung's hands, then he shoved Cazares, knocking him down. "The venue has a weird step onstage, and I hit the step and fell after he pushed me," Cazares said. "He just caught me off balance. It was extremely unprofessional, and, in my head I just knew it was over with him."

The Poughkeepsie incident was the final straw in a relationship that had grown increasingly strained over time. From the start, Cummings' hardcore and hip-hop background clashed with the rest of the band's brutal death metal orientation, and as the lead singer, he seemed to see himself as the leader of the group even though the band was formed by Cazares. "He's a big, intimidating guy and he knows how to use that to his advantage," the guitarist explained. "We didn't agree on a lot of things and we thought it was better that he left."

After the onstage confrontation, Divine Heresy canceled their April 27 headline show at the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest and returned to California. Currently, the band has auditions scheduled with four other singers and will definitely be onboard when their tour with Arch Enemy and Firewind launches on May 9 in Philadelphia.

"Even if we have to go as a three-piece we'll be there because Joe sings as well," Cazares said. "Sometimes it's a bit difficult for him to do both. But even if I have to sing ? which you don't want to hear ? we'll be there."

As stressful are circumstances are at the moment for Divine Heresy, Cazares said the shakeup with Cummings was inevitable and for the best. "There were a lot of things that were leading up to this," he said. "Tommy's a great singer and a great frontman. We just didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. I know Tommy has another project that he's working on and I hope his is able to make it work for himself with another band. We have no ill will towards him, we just weren't on the same page."

Source:	headbangersblog.mtv.com
Band profile:	Divine Heresy