Billy Talent Cancel European Dates After Loved One's Death

Posted on Jan 18th 2013 2:00PM by Jason MacNeil
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Billy Talent have been forced to cancel eight dates on their European tour after a death in the band's inner circle.

"I have 3 things tattooed on my forearm. Friends, Family and Music," singer Ben Kowalewicz wrote on the band's site. "They are the 3 most important things to us. We have lost someone who was very close to us and it's been the most surreal week we've ever experienced. We are not the type of band that cancels shows and never have been in our 20 years together but we feel under the circumstances, that we have to pull out of the remainder of this tour.

"It's a very hard thing to do for us as we don't like to ever let our fans down but we honestly feel that right now we have to be with our friends and family to get through this. We will make it up to you all we promise. We have the most loyal fans in the world and we always stand by you as we hope that you will stand by us in our time of need."

The tour dates -- which the band are trying to reschedule -- were set to begin in Luxembourg on Jan. 27 and run through a Feb. 6 show in Warsaw. Other dates cancelled include Strasbourg (Jan. 29), Paris (Jan. 31), Utrecht (Feb. 1) Eindhoven (Feb. 2), Budapest (Feb. 4) and Cracow (Feb. 5).

The group -- who were forced to cancel some European dates in 2012 as drummer Aaron Solowoniuk underwent heart surgery -- are touring in support of their new studio album Dead Silence. Billy Talent will still tour Australia as part of the Soundwave Festival in late February and early March. The band launches a Canadian tour with Sum 41 in Vancouver on March 14.

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