The Rapture, who will soon be in Australia for Parklife, have announced the departure of bassist/vocalist Mattie Safer. It’s not all bad news as the band plan to continue and keyboardist, Gabe Andruzzi, has a message for their Australian fans.
“I am very pleased to announce that the people of the great continent of Australia will be some of the first to hear some of our new material live, when we arrive late September for Parklife festival.”
Safer leaving the band goes a long way to explaining the lack of new Rapture material, besides the impressive single No Sex For Ben, from the GTA soundtrack. What the Rapture will sound like without Safer is anyone’s guess, however their pre-Safer, rock EP, Mirrors, probably isn’t the best indication. The last time the Rapture were in Australia, for the Good Vibrations festival, they debuted some new material that had the band in full synthesisers mode rather than the usual guitar based approach, so it should be interesting to see what sort of show the Rapture will be putting on.
You can read Pitchfork’s article on Mattie Safer’s departure here. Find further information about Parklife in Heads Will Roll’s Parklife write up here.
The full text of Gabe Andruzzi’s announcement is below.
Dear Fans and friends,
I’ve been meaning to catch you up on what’ s been going on in Rapture world. First off, I’m sad to say that at the beginning of April our buddy Mattie Safer decided to leave the band. We are sad to see him go but it seems it is the best for all of us. Since then Luke, Vito and I have been on a creative tear. We’ve been working out of our little Brooklyn make shift studio, writing, demoing and jamming. I’m pretty damn excited to share the fruits of our labor with you. But its still gonna be a minute before we hit the studio for real. On the other hand, I am very pleased to announce that the people of the great continent of Australia will be some of the first to hear some of our new material live, when we arrive late September for Parklife festival. In the meantime, keep an eye on this blog and another on your neighborhood dance party, who knows maybe we’ll be spinnin’.
Lotsa Love,
The Rapture
