Jeramie Kling and Taylor Nordberg Announce Departure from Massacre
“Well this comes as no surprise… I have been Kam Lee’d” is I guess one way to open up a statement. In case you missed it, as of September 10th, Jeramie Kling (Venom Inc., The Absence, Goregäng) and Taylor Nordberg (The Absence, Goregäng) announced their departure from Florida death metal band Massacre. The departure came as a shock to quite a few fans of the band, but also as a lack of surprise based on how the guys carefully worded their statement. The statement reads:
Well this comes as no surprise... I have been Kam Lee’d.
I had been warned by many people and I set aside all of the rumor mill whispers, in hopes of creating quality Florida death metal.
A warning to anyone who may work/associate with him, I would highly consider against it or you will certainly be writing a message similar to this one. I can almost guarantee it.
Official statement from Jeramie Kling and Taylor Nordberg;
It is with both regret and relief that we announce our departure from Massacre. To everyone who warned us a year ago when we joined the band: you were right. It has been a year of severe ups and downs and unfortunately it has become a working environment we cannot be a part of any longer. What was presented as a democracy turned out to be a dictatorship with an excruciating lack of communication. We will not stand by and have our reputations meddled with by childish behavior. We present ourselves as professionals and bring 110% of our beings into all of the projects we have. We wrote and presented 14 songs for the band's new album, provided our contacts in the industry which we have naturally/organically procured through our years of touring, only to be accused of trying to take over the band, which is a paranoid delusion. It is also unfortunate that a certain individual refused to speak on the phone to us to discuss any issue of the band, but we have no choice but to bow out of this unhealthy relationship. We apologize to our fans and the Massacre fans that they will not get to hear the new album we wrote for the band...at least not as a Massacre album. We cherish our time spent with Michael Borders and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Now, I’m no expert in human relations, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t end things on good terms with their vocalist Kam Lee. I mean you don’t start a statement off with “I’ve been Kam Lee’d” if it had nothing to do with that guy. Though really, I don’t believe I’m surprised given the reputation the guy has on him. When the band fired Rick Rozz and Mike Mazzonetto in 2019, Lee and bassist Michael Borders blamed it on “contract infringement violations”, but then continued with “poor performance, incompetence, and lack of professionalism” which says a lot from a guy who followed a professional term like “contract infringement violations” with insulting a band members ethics, but I digress. Maybe they had it coming, who knows.
As of right now, there’s still no comment from Kam Lee other than a post this morning on Facebook that poetically reads “Thanks to trusted mates and friends… I’m blocking spies and cunts”. Granted, this very public post could be related to something else entirely, but there’s no way to tell. We did however get a statement from Michael Borders who posted on HIS Facebook post:
Not here to explain what happens, but let you know we've promised you new Massacre music, and it's still coming , and soon. Not going to let you down. #deathmetal #oldschooldeathmetal
Until we hear more from Kam’s side of things, we’ll leave it at that. But let me know what your thoughts are on this. I might talk more about it in an episode of A Very Metal Week if more information comes up.