Vocalist Ed Gibbs has announced he will be leaving Devil Sold His Soul following the bands upcoming festival appearences at Hit The Deck and Slam Dunk.
Gibbs posted the following message:
“This is the hardest and saddest decision that I have ever had to make, but I am parting ways with Devil Sold His Soul. This has nothing to do with any lack of love for the music or my brothers in the band, but I just don’t feel that I can commit 100% to our band anymore and that I need to start looking to the future. This band has been the biggest and most important thing to happen in my life and I wouldn’t be the same person right now if it wasn’t for it. Over my 9 years in the band we have overcome so many hurdles and hardships together that these guys truly feel like family to me and it really does hurt to know that I won’t be playing shows with them again, but I know that we will always be close. I would like to thank everyone that has ever supported our band along the way and helped us do all of the things we have achieved so far, without you we could never have made it this far. I wish the guys the best of luck for the future and whatever it throws at them! I have had some of the most incredible experiences over the years and I wouldn’t change a thing. Peace out! Ed”
In addition Devil Sold His Soul posted the following message:
“Today we have to announce that our friend and brother, Ed Gibbs, has decided to leave Devil Sold His Soul to pursue a career outside of the band.
Like many of you, we are shocked by the decision but we understand that it is not an easy one to make. We fully understand and support the reasons why Ed has decided to leave and although we are saddened by it, we are happy and grateful to have been able to share almost 9 years with Ed in the band. He will always be a huge part of this band, no matter what. We have shared some of the best times of our lives together and we will never forget that. And of course he has given so much to this band, we are sure you will not forget it either. We hope that you will all share our feelings about this and realise that sometimes these things happen and that everything happens for a reason. We still have the same outlook and we will keep moving forward.
So now we look to the future. We are extremely happy to say that we have already found a new vocalist. Paul Green, whom many of you will know from The Arusha Accord, will be taking over vocal duties and we feel very lucky to have found someone who we deem to have an amazing voice and energy that will add a new dimension to DSHS. We hope that you will all welcome him into the band with the same positive and open-minded spirit that we have.
We are extremely optimistic about the future. We have already started writing new material and we will have more news about that very soon.
But for the immediate future, Ed’s last shows with us will be:
Hit The Deck – Nottingham – April 21st
Slam Dunk Festival – Leeds, Hatfield, Wolverhampton – May 25, 26 & 27th
We hope that loads of you will come out and support him and us at these shows, it is going to mean a lot to us!
Thank you for your support, it means the world to us.
See you in the pit!
Rick, Leks, Jonny, Jozef, Paul
DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL”