At the Metal Hall Of Fame event at the Delta Marriott Garden Grove, California, on January 24, Marc Lopes spoke about the possible end of Metal Church due to Kurdt Vanderhoof’s health issues.
Metal Church recently had to cancel their 2024 tour dates due to an ongoing back problem that Vanderhoof has been dealing with. About the situation, Lopes told The Metal Voice:
“We did this whole tour from May till December, [finishing] in Australia. He’s had a chronic problem with his back for a long time. And I can understand that ’cause I do, too. It’s a little bit different. But he battled through as best as he could always; I mean, he never not did what needed to be done. And it just got to the point where if he didn’t address it, it would just end up being — he wouldn’t be able to play. So, rather than take that chance, it was better off that he go and get it taken care of and then carry on from there.”
Is This The End For Metal Church?
When asked if the band will keep going despite the guitarist’s health issue, the frontman shared:
“As far as I know. [Laughs] I haven’t got that memo [that the band is over] yet. And in all honesty, if it did happen, I would understand. It would suck, but I would totally understand. But we’re not there. So that’s good. But hopefully, we’ll get together and write more.”
Lopes joined Metal Church in 2022, replacing Mike Howe, who passed away in 2021, and played on their 2023 record, ‘Congregation Of Annihilation.’ In December, he mentioned working on new material with the band. Referring to that, he continued:
“We were actually starting to get into that mode of writing the next record. I had a billion ideas ready to go — you know me — so that probably will happen at some point, depending on how [his recovery is].”
All Shows Canceled
The band had a full-year tour planned from March to November. Vanderhoof announced the cancellation of these shows last week through a post on Metal Church’s official social media, writing:
“As some of you may have recently noticed during our live performances, I frequently will disappear to the side of the stage during a set and continue playing while sitting on a chair. This is due to an ongoing back issue that I’ve needed to deal with for a while now. I kept putting it off, and it’s finally caught up with me, so I’m going to get this taken care of so I can continue performing live in the future.”
Hinting at plans to come back, he added:
“That being said, sadly, we will be canceling all upcoming show dates for 2024. I apologize for this, but I need to get this taken care of. Check with your local venues for any refunds. Thank you for your continued support, and I’m looking forward to seeing you in the future!”
Metal Church first performed live with Lopes on June 3, 2023, at the Legions Of Metal festival in Chicago.
