We Are Scientists has just announced that it is canceling a series of upcoming tour dates -- including a scheduled set at LouFest -- due to lead singer Keith Murray's throat issues. The band's full statement can be found below.
LouFest, meanwhile, took to its official Facebook page to say that an "awesome replacement" will be announced soon. At least this time, a band cancelled a month ahead of time instead of days ahead of time.
LouFest will be held this year on August 25 and 26 in Forest Park, featuring headliners the Flaming Lips and Girl Talk. Hacienda was also on the original lineup and is no longer. The current -- very strong, we might add -- roster is this:
LouFest 2012 Lineup
The Flaming Lips
Girl Talk
Phantogram
Dinosaur Jr.
Dr. Dog
Son Volt
Dawes
Cults
Cotton Mather
Little Barrie
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
THEESatisfaction
King Tuff
We Are Scientists
Sleepy Kitty
The Pernikoff Brothers
The full We Are Scientists statement:
Friends & Fellows:We're saddened and annoyed and pissed off and, to be honest, a little embarrassed to announce that we have to cancel a few of our upcoming shows. In recent weeks, during recording sessions that have mostly been thrilling and optimism-inducing, we've learned that Keith -- our fearless, warm-hearted, iron-lunged frontman -- is suffering from singing-throat issues that, while totally curable and not long-term-scary, have put some temporary restrictions on the use of his voice. (Rest assured that Keith's talking-throat functions and eating-throat functions remain as robust as ever.) The fine doctors who are treating Keith have told us in no uncertain terms that the schedule for our upcoming UK tour must change if his voice is going to last the course. So we've made the decision to cancel four of our shows. The hardest part about this process was in *not* simply choosing to cancel the four places we disliked the most, or the four places where we'd had the nastiest taxi drivers, or the four places where we'd accidentally ordered something we hated at a restaurant because pride kept us from asking the others at our table if anyone knew what "ris d'agneau" stood for. Instead we had to choose four places we love -- Bristol, Portsmouth, Manchester, Glasgow; some of our favorite spots in the United Kingdom; places, all of them, that have shown us incredible audiences, late late nights stumbling into morning, raucous, insane concert-goers... We've made the choice, in the end, based on giving Keith's throat consistent breaks, and in order to make sure that the honorable people we cancel on can get a refund for their ticket -- something that would be out of our hands with festivals. To those of you who bought tickets to the Bristol, Portsmouth, Manchester, & Glasgow shows, we offer a sincere apology, and a sincere promise to make it up to you.
Full refunds are available at point of purchase for the affected shows. We'll be on Twitter and Facebook to answer any of your questions.
