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Multiple members of As I Lay Dying, the metal band whose frontman was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill his wife a decade ago, have quit within days of each other.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, guitarist Ken Susi announced that his “time playing with As I Lay Dying has come to an end today.”
“I jumped into the AILD camp with full knowledge of the heightened dramatic history but had a drive to just play great music with great friends,” Susi wrote. “Unfortunately, my personal morals have recently been tested to a breaking point, and it’s now the saddest ending to what could have been the greatest second chance for this band.”
Drummer Nick Pierce also revealed a departure from the metalcore outfit in a separate Instagram post the same day, writing, “This is far from being the ending I anticipated, and I feel I need to distance myself from the band in an effort to retain my personal health and integrity.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for As I Lay Dying for comme
The pair of announcements came after bassist Ryan Neff shared on Friday that he was leaving the group. “This choice comes after much reflection, and I believe it is the right step for my personal and professional journey,” he wrote.
In Susi’s announcement on Thursday, the former AILD guitarist said Neff is “receiving a lot of backlash for stepping down first, and I regret not sharing this decision sooner and standing confidently with my friend.”
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The departures come as the Grammy-nominated band gears up for the release of its eighth studio album, “Through Storms Ahead,” on Nov. 15. A European tour was previously scheduled to kick off on the album’s release date, although as of publication, no tour dates are listed on the band’s official website.
Susi, Pierce and Neff all joined As I Lay Dying in 2022, eight years after the band’s founder and lead singer Tim Lambesis pled guilty in 2014 to attempting to hire an undercover sheriff’s detective to kill his wife.
What happened to Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying?
Lambesis was arrested in California in May 2013 on suspicion of soliciting murder, according to the San Diego Reader and BBC News. He was accused by authorities of enlisting an undercover detective — posing as a hitman — to kill his then-estranged wife Meggan Lambesis.
In February 2014, Lambesis pled guilty to the charge after initially pleading not guilty, The Guardian and NBC News reported at the time. He was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison, according to Radio.com, per Rolling Stone.
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Lambesis was released from prison in December 2016 and discharged to the Division of Adult Parole Operations, a representative from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed to Alternative Press at the time, per Rolling Stone.
