Sólstafir - Release Statement About Split With Drummer
Here is the statement fans have been asking for from Sólstafir in case you have been following what is going on in the band. Iceland's unique act Sólstafir have now announced that they have officially parted ways with their long time drummer Guðmundur "Gummi" Óli Pálmason as a result of conflict between the band members. A few days ago, the drummer claimed he was forced out of the band. Now here we have the other side of the story but they are mostly keeping it to themselves.
Official statement via their Facebook page: "It is with great pain but quiet respect, that we are making this official statement to inform you that for personal reasons beyond reconciliation, Sólstafir and Guðmundur "Gummi" Óli Palmasson have parted ways indefinitely. There are always two sides to every story. No one knows the whole story other than those directly involved. As is the case in any relationship, all parties play their roles in creating and ending it. Both parties have their versions, and often at times, the point gets lost along the way, buried in emotions.
"The bottom line is, Guðmundur is no longer in the band, because of a deep personal conflict that involves all three remaining members and cannot be solved. He is well aware of this. The decision to part ways was absolutely not something that happened overnight, and we are genuinely pained by the way things have turned out. If the three of us had felt there was any way of mending the damage and moving forward with Guðmundur, then of course we would have - and we did make genuine efforts to do so. That is the reason for our silence. Waiting so long to make a statement was wrong on our part, and for that, we apologize. There are so many personal levels to this split. It has been very difficult to find the words while still respecting our individual privacy, Guðmundur's included.
"Despite what we have read that appears to have been written in anger, bitterness, and seemingly spite, we continue to hold no ill will toward Guðmundur and sincerely want to thank him for all of his hard work and being such a huge part of the band for all these years. We acknowledge this fact every day and of course, he will receive his fair share. There was never any intention not to do this. We will never forget his role in Sólstafir, which is why we remain silent about the reasons now and in the future. We can only hope you respect and understand this. Sólstafir will continue as a three piece with a session percussionist, just as we have since January of this year. We hope to see you all on the road and can only ask for your continued support. With much love and respect, Sólstafir."
Guðmundur has been behind the drum kit since the early days of the band back in 1995. For now, they will go on as a three piece and a session percussionist. Who knows what the future will bring.
Official statement via their Facebook page: "It is with great pain but quiet respect, that we are making this official statement to inform you that for personal reasons beyond reconciliation, Sólstafir and Guðmundur "Gummi" Óli Palmasson have parted ways indefinitely. There are always two sides to every story. No one knows the whole story other than those directly involved. As is the case in any relationship, all parties play their roles in creating and ending it. Both parties have their versions, and often at times, the point gets lost along the way, buried in emotions.
"The bottom line is, Guðmundur is no longer in the band, because of a deep personal conflict that involves all three remaining members and cannot be solved. He is well aware of this. The decision to part ways was absolutely not something that happened overnight, and we are genuinely pained by the way things have turned out. If the three of us had felt there was any way of mending the damage and moving forward with Guðmundur, then of course we would have - and we did make genuine efforts to do so. That is the reason for our silence. Waiting so long to make a statement was wrong on our part, and for that, we apologize. There are so many personal levels to this split. It has been very difficult to find the words while still respecting our individual privacy, Guðmundur's included.
"Despite what we have read that appears to have been written in anger, bitterness, and seemingly spite, we continue to hold no ill will toward Guðmundur and sincerely want to thank him for all of his hard work and being such a huge part of the band for all these years. We acknowledge this fact every day and of course, he will receive his fair share. There was never any intention not to do this. We will never forget his role in Sólstafir, which is why we remain silent about the reasons now and in the future. We can only hope you respect and understand this. Sólstafir will continue as a three piece with a session percussionist, just as we have since January of this year. We hope to see you all on the road and can only ask for your continued support. With much love and respect, Sólstafir."
Guðmundur has been behind the drum kit since the early days of the band back in 1995. For now, they will go on as a three piece and a session percussionist. Who knows what the future will bring.
[Also thanks to Fallen Ghost for sending in this news!]
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| Band profile: | Sólstafir |
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9027  |
Sounds like damage control
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
Basically, not saying anything but there is this: "he will receive his fair share". So, it seems they will pay him and he should shut up.
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| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684  |
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9027 |
"5 hrs · Stockholm, Sweden" The band is in Iceland, this was written FOR them, not by them.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Vombatus Potorro Posts: 2390  |
Written by RaduP on 05.06.2015 at 20:19 The drummer usually wrote stuff on social media, so they must have found someone else to do all the non-music related things of the band. I understand they don't want to go deep into details (for personnal reasons or just to hide they acted like dicks, who knows), but this looks quite underwhelming compared to the detailed message delivered by Gummi. Disappointing attitude by the rest of the band.
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| HaaskAksaaH Posts: 80  |
Written by RaduP on 05.06.2015 at 20:19 their band manager (Erin Lynch) is living in Stockholm, Sweden. She is apparently the one behind most of the problems occurred between these guys.
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| Mechaniacal Posts: 107  |
Incredibly vague and may not even be written by Solstafir themselves = this is worthless. The whole thing reads like damage control. I'll have to side with the more detailed statement.
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593  |
Is that all what are they going to say? Well, whatever. As long as they do more glorious stuff like Ottá, I'm fine.
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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| D.T. Metal Staff Posts: 4193  |
Written by HaaskAksaaH on 05.06.2015 at 21:43 and your knowledge about this comes from where? The internet? There has been stuff going on within the band for years now and just because their manager wrote the press release doesn't mean she is the culprit of the break-up.
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086  |
Written by D.T. Metal on 05.06.2015 at 22:30 If you check out the facebook post, it is said the location from where the post was made. And it is not from Iceland, but from Sweden. While I do agree that we do not know if the manager is behind all this (mere speculation that even Gummi did not mention), the post was indeed not made by the remaining band members.
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 724  |
http://i.4cdn.org/mu/1433511714588.jpg That shit over there is seriously bad..
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| ixsetf Posts: 23 |
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| D.T. Metal Staff Posts: 4193 |
Quote:Written by TheMAGAmvm on 06.06.2015 at 00:34 my reference was to that it's her behind what's going on with the band and not where the post was posted from  And it is quite normal that a manager posts on behalf of the band; nothing suspicious there at all. But I don't understand all the hate on FB toward the 3 remaining members. It's a band - it's a business - the music still is good and I don't know how involved Gummi was with the song writing.
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 724 |
Not sure how involved he was with the songwriting, but according to himself, he ran Solstafirs Facebook and MySpace page, he promoted the band, and he folded and sent every t-shirt people have ordered from them. So he had a really huge role in the band if statement above is true
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Quote:Written by D.T. Metal on 06.06.2015 at 16:56 And I think that it is sad if we only think in terms of business when it comes to music bands. That is the same way Kerry King described the situation of the current Slayer, all for the money, not for the passion to make music. Gummi invested a lot of time and effort to promote this band and he surely did lay his touch on the bands outputs. That does not excuse the rest of the band to just fire him like that (being a founding member as well) and even trying to get the name of the band for themselves too. And the fact that the band has avoided tackling this issue, and letting the manager doing damage control leads me to believe that Gummi has a point here. In such a serios issue, you do not let the manager do the talking for you, because that shows the level of the credibility you own in front of your fans. You do the talking, if you have another version of the story. What was posted here wasn't even "the right to reply" or that latin expression "audiatur et altera pars", because there was nothing worthy of tackling at all. "We know the situation, we are sad to see its development, we are doing the best we can to meet the ends and we will continue moving forward", this is the whole idea behind that message. Nothing of substance, nothing that can considered a counterargument for what Gummi has presented. When you are faced with accusations such as these, you do not just avoid making a statement and pretending that "the smartest resigns first".
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9027 |
This is so gonna be Drama Of The Year
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| D.T. Metal Staff Posts: 4193 |
Written by TheMAGAmvm on 06.06.2015 at 18:15 All true - and not saying that the passion for the music isn't there anymore, but at the end of the day once you become more popular as a band unfortunately it IS about the money. It is (to a small extent) about the album sales, it is about which festival or tour you are asked to play on, it is about your marketing as a band. Nobody denies Gummi's devotion to the band, but as they grew things prolly changed. We really don't know what happened behind the scenes and his statement is just that ... HIS point of view on what happened. Not saying it didn't happen like that but we really don't know WHY - there had to be a pretty darn good reason on why the band decided to get that route. And in regards to letting their manager make the statement ... do you really think that other bands who have a manager or press rep post their own statements on social media? You would be surprised on how many bands don't even have the log-in to their social media pages since it's run by manager/label or who knows who. It's nothing out of the ordinary and rest assured, the band was in the loop and sanctioned what was posted by their manager. I get it; the fans are upset. But to be honest, this is an internal matter of theirs and shouldn't be dragged out over the internet. Since, if Gummi wouldn't have made his statement (6 month after the fact) nobody would have blinked twice and chalked it up as ... oh, they have a new drummer. True?
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| Vombatus Potorro Posts: 2390 |
If the rest of the band are correct, they should write a message proving the drummer's version wrong. It's common sense. Cuts off the shitstorm in a second. But no, drama is better : 
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Written by D.T. Metal on 06.06.2015 at 18:38 You make some good points, but you avoid the main point. The manager does not own the band name and the manager did not fire Gummi (even though some speculate it). When confronted with accusations such as attempting to steal the band name or even threatening a former band member with court action, having your manager do damage control pretty much reveal the amplitude of the situation. This band has more than a single social channel, and according to Gummi the rest of the band members did post on their official FB page from time to time to promote something. In such cases your credibility is at stake. Indeed, we do not know what really happened behind the scenes, however, the evasive postion of the current band members gives Gummi's postion an incentive. Gummi made some points there that were not countered by the band members, not even by the manager. I know that other members have their managers, or other people update their social networks with new posts, but I also know that in cases such as these, the band members usually step up to clear things as their credibility is at stake, first and foremost. I know what has been going on, on their facebook page and things do look ugly. These kinds of internal affairs does have repercussions over the fan-base. Sure, there will always be yes-men that would stick with you even when you're proven to be the bad guy (oh god, Blake Judd comes unwillingly in my mind), however, another part of the fan-base will not turn a blind eye to these faults, especially if the estranged band member was more appreciated both as a musician and as a human being.
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| D.T. Metal Staff Posts: 4193 |
Written by TheMAGAmvm on 06.06.2015 at 19:02 the main point of my post was that, and sorry to be so blunt, the band doesn't owe an explanation at all and I am pretty sure the only reason they made a statement (good, bad or indifferent) is because of the shitstorm after Gummi's blog post. Like I said, we really don't know what let to his dismissal; maybe he did some shady stuff and that's why they wanted to secure the band name, or maybe the rest of them are assholes. WE.JUST.DON'T.KNOW Yes, sometimes the bandmembers step up and clear things up, but not all the time. And maybe the rest of the guys feel this issue is a mood point (for reasons not known to us) and decided to go the route they did. Again, I do get the disappointment of the fans, but there are so many unknowns on what really happened prior to him being let go. And the statement by the band (or their manager) does reflect this IMO and also stated that Gummi was well aware of the circumstances of his dismissal and the decision to do so was not done over night. Time will tell if this move lost them a big junk of their fanbase; I honestly doubt it.
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| Risto Wandering Midget Posts: 1115  |
Written by D.T. Metal on 06.06.2015 at 19:41 This chain of events indicates the band weren't honest from the beginning. They indeed seemed to have fired their drummer before the tour, which means a statement was long overdue and they definitely owed one to their fans. Being fired is not the same as "not joining on tour for personal reasons". This situation is downright pathetic and smells like money all over, whoever's story is closer to the truth.
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Written by D.T. Metal on 06.06.2015 at 19:41 The lost more than just that... credibility and reputation.
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| D.T. Metal Staff Posts: 4193 |
Written by TheMAGAmvm on 06.06.2015 at 20:16 well, if you read their statement it tells why they waited that long and that there is always two sides to every story and that he was well aware of what's happening. Credibility - I doubt the general music lover who will encounter them at some festival or tour this summer will give two shits about this whole thing. They will play their set - the people will like it - and those who see them for the first time might even pick up some merch or their latest album. If credibility and reputation comes to play ... God help Slayer 
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Written by D.T. Metal on 06.06.2015 at 20:22 When I hear one side and the other one is evasive in countering the other side, I tend to believe that someone wants some details to remained hidden as much as possible. And seriously, Slayer has a legion of fans because of the things they've done in the past, as today they are not relevant anymore for the metal scene, not even for the thrash scene. The sole reason for its existance is because it is not a "band" anymore, but a business, in other words, a cash cow. Slayer is a popular, well established band, that no matter what harsh publicity it encounters will have its legion of fans kneeling before them. But its bad reputation comes from none other than Kerry King. That even a fan that buys their merch knows it. However, for a band that is not Slayer, that is not so well established, that did not inspire new generations of bands, the backlash for such events is much harder to control or to let it pass as if nothing happened.
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| Alex F Posts: 3519  |
That is a completely insincere follow up to what Guðmundur wrote. They don't directly address any of the accusations he put forth, and given the complete lack of detail I simply have to believe what Guðmundur said is true. Very disappointed that so much internal strife can exist in one of the bands which I respect so heavily.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Guðmundur left out quite bit of essential information. The real reason is a toal soap opera kind of reason.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Alex F on 07.06.2015 at 19:11 Funny how people Always believe the person that is kicvked out even when they don't tell the entire truth.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Risto on 06.06.2015 at 20:08 They don't need to give a statement at all why they fired the drummer and don't owe that to their fans at all. If you divorce your wife (if you are married of course) you don't owe any of you relatives and friends an explanation either. What's so hard to understand about that?
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Vombatus Potorro Posts: 2390 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 08.06.2015 at 01:51 That's because he is the only one providing facts, true or not. Btw, do you have additional info? Since you said: Quote: And of course the band does not owe any explanation to anyone, but by airing the internal shit, the drummer made the situation public which harms the band if they do not counter reply. I think it would be in their interest to do so, if they have their fair share of reason.
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5266  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 08.06.2015 at 02:01 I disagree. The fans are the ones who pay the bills. Without the fans they make no money.
---- rekt
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