by Lobster

Staring Back has announced that singer Matt Evans has left the band after five years of service. The band has already secured a replacement singer, only identifed by the name of JR. Matt posted a statement on the band's message board, which can be viewed below.

The band has two shows in California scheduled this week, one of which with Slick Shoes [who recently underwent their own lineup changes]. No word on who will be fronting the band for those two shows, information on which is also posted below.

ok, so I'm sure that you guys are tired of hearing this, but staring back will soon be minus one more current member. that's right, I'm leaving the band to go back to school and study music. hear is an abridged list of all of the other things I'm going to do or learn how to do:

- ride my bike to northern california (about 400 miles one way) with my friend devon.
- write big band jazz music and find a way to fuse it with metal. (seriously hard, but think about how rad it would be!!!!)
- pay my mom back the money I owe her.
- move out of my parents house (see above)
- teach myself how to fix or replace every part of my bike.
- get better at guitar
- play guitar in a funk band (not like metal funk, REAL james brown funk)
- play guitar in any band at all
- learn to play guitar while singing
- just play a lot of guitar
- not suck so badly at drums
- exploit the musical and recording equipment at the college to record an album of my songs by myself.
- learn to play the piano
- etc……

with all of these goals in mind, it's easy to see why being in a full time band would not be the best thing for both the band and myself. I can't truely devote myself to the lifestyle involved with being in the band, and that can only hurt staring back in the long run, we're i to remain in the band.

but fear not loyal staringbackians!! there is this guy named JR. he's been a friend and fan of ours for years, and I'm happy to say that he will be picking up where I leave off. this can only be a good thing, I know it, and I trust that he will be a boone to the band, most likely more so than myself at this time. this might be hard for some of you to comprehend, and I'm totally here to answer any questions at all. all you have to do is email me at frankybank@hotmail.com and I'll gladly respond with an answer.

for all of you who live in the southern california area, we're going to put togeather my last show in the next month or so somewhere in santa barbara, so keep checking the tour section of the website for details. this has been the best experience of my life. I'm sorry to see it go, but thrilled to see what new challenges are offered to me. bye!!!!

UPCOMING SHOWS
1/23/04 Solvang, CA - Solvang Veterans Hall with Epileptic Hero, Awkward Silence, Chapter Four
1/30/04 Hollywood, CA - The Knitting Factory with Slick Shoes, Anthym, Eleventeen