"As you might have noticed, AFTER FOREVER experienced a lot in 2007. A new deal with Nuclear Blast and The Entertainment Group, the release of a new album, gigs in Europe and the U.S.A./Canada, all thanks to your support.
"Unfortunately, 2007 also had a negative side. Sander [Gommans, guitar] experienced the symtoms of a burn-out and had to stop playing with AFTER FOREVER for a few months.
"AFTER FOREVER did a good job doing the scheduled gigs with mainly George (ex-ORPHANAGE) as grunter, making possible the album could still be promoted.
"After that, a European and an American/Canadian tour followed, with Sander this time, and his condition seemed to be OK.
"Unfortunately, just recently, Sander fell victim to a seizure attack in an airplane, and after research that attack seemed to be stress-related.
"The doctors think this is a very serious matter, and they strongly advised him to not be involved with any AFTER FOREVER activity for at least a year, to prevent a worse health situation.
"Because Sander is one of the founders, songwriter and co manager of AFTER FOREVER, an AFTER FOREVER without him is no option.
"The band has been able to solve his absence in 2007 live, but another year full of compromises would not be positive for the quality AFTER FOREVER wants to offer.
"AFTER FOREVER is a band that wants to give 100% and that's just not possible now.
"With pain in our hearts, we had to decide that AFTER FOREVER has to take a break of at least a year and hope you will all repect that.
"It's terrible not to be able to do all the great gigs and activities we were planning, but it's even worse for AFTER FOREVER to do those things with a compromise.
"We highly value everything the band has achieved, and we don't want to lose that.
"We also realise we ask a lot of our fans since we know what our gigs and music means to them.
"However, we will all still be active in the music scene. Because of this break everybody gets the chance to focus on projects.
"On our site and myspace sites we'll keep you updated about those projects.
"Not a very good start of the year, but thanks a lot for all your support and understanding, for now, for the future, but also for the past year.
"We won't forget you and hope to meet you again if AFTER FOREVER returns in full shape!!!"
I think this is truly a good decision, though I admit I had hoped for perhaps a tour in 2008 (Though I didn't see how any of their U.S. dates went for attendance so I wouldn't know how possible this would have been if this hadn't happened to Sander). We all got to experience the band with Sander at ProgPower this year and they were one of the best performances of the weekend, IMO. Not sure what it'd be like without him involved. So, it's a shame that After Forever has to take the year off, but it's for the best.
Hope Sander gets well soon.
"Unfortunately, 2007 also had a negative side. Sander [Gommans, guitar] experienced the symtoms of a burn-out and had to stop playing with AFTER FOREVER for a few months.
"AFTER FOREVER did a good job doing the scheduled gigs with mainly George (ex-ORPHANAGE) as grunter, making possible the album could still be promoted.
"After that, a European and an American/Canadian tour followed, with Sander this time, and his condition seemed to be OK.
"Unfortunately, just recently, Sander fell victim to a seizure attack in an airplane, and after research that attack seemed to be stress-related.
"The doctors think this is a very serious matter, and they strongly advised him to not be involved with any AFTER FOREVER activity for at least a year, to prevent a worse health situation.
"Because Sander is one of the founders, songwriter and co manager of AFTER FOREVER, an AFTER FOREVER without him is no option.
"The band has been able to solve his absence in 2007 live, but another year full of compromises would not be positive for the quality AFTER FOREVER wants to offer.
"AFTER FOREVER is a band that wants to give 100% and that's just not possible now.
"With pain in our hearts, we had to decide that AFTER FOREVER has to take a break of at least a year and hope you will all repect that.
"It's terrible not to be able to do all the great gigs and activities we were planning, but it's even worse for AFTER FOREVER to do those things with a compromise.
"We highly value everything the band has achieved, and we don't want to lose that.
"We also realise we ask a lot of our fans since we know what our gigs and music means to them.
"However, we will all still be active in the music scene. Because of this break everybody gets the chance to focus on projects.
"On our site and myspace sites we'll keep you updated about those projects.
"Not a very good start of the year, but thanks a lot for all your support and understanding, for now, for the future, but also for the past year.
"We won't forget you and hope to meet you again if AFTER FOREVER returns in full shape!!!"
I think this is truly a good decision, though I admit I had hoped for perhaps a tour in 2008 (Though I didn't see how any of their U.S. dates went for attendance so I wouldn't know how possible this would have been if this hadn't happened to Sander). We all got to experience the band with Sander at ProgPower this year and they were one of the best performances of the weekend, IMO. Not sure what it'd be like without him involved. So, it's a shame that After Forever has to take the year off, but it's for the best.
Hope Sander gets well soon.
