Altar of Plagues Have Way More Integrity Than You
If you somehow missed Teethed Glory and Injury, the 2013 farewell masterpiece from Altar of Plagues, then man, I just don’t know what to tell you. Stop reading right now and go listen to it. Wait, read this whole thing first, then stop reading. This is really awesome.
If you follow Altar of Plagues on Facebook, you may have seen the following post:
“As soon as we called it quits, we began to receive the gig offers we never had before, and offers of money we never had.
We still get these offers.
We don’t want any money, but if you have a small room that you want us to perform in, in 2015, then contact us.
We will not be bought for a reunion but will willingly share our music with the right people.
No reunion. No explanation. Just music
altarofplagues@gmail.com”
Let’s be honest everyone, this sort of integrity and devotion to the art is truly rare. Another example that comes to mind is Tom Warrior turning down a massive amount of money for a Celtic Frost reunion, but needless to say, we don’t see the guts to back up a statement like “No reunion. No explanation. Just music” too often. Altar of Plagues mastermind James Kelly has been hard at work writing, recording, and touring across Europe in support of his new dark/electronic pop project WIFE, and I can’t imagine that’s giving him mass amounts of spare cash to throw around. Since the announcement, they’ve also given a promising update:
Thank you to everyone who has been in touch about the possibility of some shows in 2015. We are overwhelmed by the response and will share information as and when we have it.
We appreciate any festival offers we have received but we personally feel that the prevalent culture of festivals buying / acts selling “reunions” is entirely at odds with the spirit of the music that we love, and that Altar of Plagues created. This is why we have proposed to carry out shows that are small and without profit.
and #tbt that time we played in New Orleans…
Metalheads love being able to say they saw their favorite acts in a small, intimate club setting way back before they were famous. Altar of Plagues gives us a dream scenario here: the ability to see a revered band in said setting, but with all the history of the band to make it that much better. Not to mention the entire not-reunion is solely based on devotion to music; nothing more and nothing less than a band wanting to “share music with the right people.” That alone will make any of the band’s performances a truly once-in-a-lifetime event. This sounds like it’s gearing up to be a multi-show engagement, and I hope they at least have the willingness to take enough money to cover expenses so they don’t go home with a gaping hole in their wallets. Whatever the outcome, we can all wait and desperately hope for a nearby show (as much as I’d love to think that picture from New Orleans was posted as a foreshadowing to an American appearance, I’m not predicting that Kelly and co. will be crossing the ocean from Ireland for this one).
If you feel like Altar of Plagues should play in your living room or terrible bar, send them a really good reason at altarofplagues@gmail.com. While you wait for a response, let’s revisit some more of their work.
Do any of you UK flushers want to rub your odds in our American faces? Anyone want to share a fond memory of seeing Altar of Plagues, WIFE, or one of the many bands of drummer Johnny King live? Crank some Altar of Plagues and discuss below.
(Photo VIA)
