The Armed cancel US tour: “The finances of an indie band across the board are quite tenuous”
The Armed have announced they are cancelling their scheduled US tour this year.
In an Instagram post shared today (August 21), the band shared the full details behind the decision, which they acknowledged was “incredibly painful to do”.
“The domino effect of some cancellations beyond our control (weather, health, etc) in combination with some personal emergencies had forced costly, drastic pivots over the summer,” the statement reads.
“This led to a financial situation that we were hoping to quietly outmaneuver in the background over the last couple of months. However, as the tour moving into pre-production has called for resources we simply do not have, we’ve had to face facts that our current scenario is simply untenable. We cannot, at this moment, bring you the show.”
They lamented the loss of co-headlining with Ho99o9, who also announced to their fans the cancellation on Instagram.
“As y’all know we take our live shows very serious,” they write. “We’re focusing on making that a better experience for y’all & currently finalizing and focused on our third album. Bummer we won’t be able to cross paths this fall. Truly appreciate your patience.” The two bands were slated to tour with opening acts DJ Haram and Kumo 99.
The Armed continue: “Please note that while this sucks shit, this is basic operating order and common behind the scenes stresses for bands like us. The finances of an indie band across the board are quite tenuous, and often dealt with in the aggregate. And one (or in this case, several) things going wrong often has consequences down the line.
“We seek NO extra sympathy. We apologize to you for the inconvenience. Countless peers are in very similar situations constantly—often handled quietly by a lot of elbow grease and cleverness. This is the unfortunate one that just pushes a bit past the breaking point.” The band maintains that they will still honor the festivals where they’ve been booked. “We are going to perform at them with the fury of a hundred billion suns,” they state. “Seriously. Get ready to catch the most insane 3 pm side stage sets of your fucking life.”
In recent years, artists have had to cancel their US tours in light of escalating financial costs. “This is the tough reality of the music industry, whether you’re signed or independent,” said Rachel Chinouriri yesterday after announcing the cancellation of her US dates. Other artists like Little Simz and Hard Life (FKA Easy Life) also admitted similar challenges in attempting to tour North America.
Earlier this year, at a Featured Artist Coalition panel chaired by NME, Hard Life frontman Murray Matravers spoke about the band’s decision to cancel their planned tour dates: “We had to cancel them both [US and Europe tours] at the last minute because we were going to be losing tens of thousands of pounds.”
“I’m actually talking with the band and management about our next tour, and we’re having to think about it in a whole new way because touring just isn’t financially sustainable at all,” he continued.
New artists aren’t spared from financial woes either – last year, The Chemical Brothers revealed that they skipped the US because “the costs have gone up so much.”
“I’m apologetic to the people who do want to see us that it is increasingly difficult for us to get to America because we have had the times of our lives playing there.”
The Armed released their fifth studio album ‘Perfect Saviors’ last year. Prior to its release, in an interview with NME, lead singer Tony Wolski spoke on the band’s modus operandi of “radical inclusion”.
“The people who identify with the deepest sub genres are the people who tend to create some sort of identity for themselves that’s rooted in some superior version of authenticity,” he says. “The point of these albums is to emphasise that it’s silly to find authenticity in any of this, because all it ultimately is now is superficial gatekeeping.”
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Daniel Peters
NME
