“Asking Alexandria is back to the way we started with the original fucking members,” guitarist Ben Bruce has announced in a Facebook live event, confirming rumours that have been swirling around cyberspace for the past few weeks.
OG frontman Danny Worsnop is officially BACK behind the mic, replacing his replacement Denis Stoff AKA Denis Shaforostov.
“We didn’t kick Denis out of the band, he stopped talking to us,” Bruce revealed in the live chat, alleging that the ex-Make Me Famous vocalist had been stonewalling the band because he wanted more cash.
“Asking Alexandria does not exist unless I get what’s owed to me,” the axeman claims Stoff told them, but they wouldn’t let it be the death of them. No, they refused to let it bring them down.
Bruce confirmed that he and Worsnop had also mended fences recently, following a lengthy period of estrangement after the frontman quit Asking Alexandria at the start of 2015, and this opened the door to a musical reunion.
“Obviously over the last few months we’ve rekindled our relationship with Danny,” Bruce explained (via Loudwire). “What happened in the past sucked and it hurt us and obviously I said things and Danny has said things — that happens. It was in the past and it was shit, but at the end of the day we’ve been best friends for a decade and that’s why this is the move that’s right for us — right for us as a band, right for us as people and friends and right for Asking Alexandria.”
“Asking Alexandria is back to the way we started with the original fucking members. The reason that we’re all here today is because of the five guys that started this band… and those five guys are back in the room together again.”
Worsnop himself has since commented on the big reunion, posting a lengthy statement to Instagram.
“Rumors and speculation of recent events have circulated long before even their inception,” the singer writes. “But in an ironic twist of fate or foresight have come to fruition.”
He continues: “Two weeks ago I was approached with a question, that as to if I would consider touring with my former band, Asking Alexandria for their upcoming tour 10 Years In The Black. Now, keep in mind that outside occasional ‘Hey man, how’ve you been?’ texts, Ben Bruce and I hadn’t spoken since my departure.
“I took this last year off from playing and touring to find myself (pretentious) and re-evaluate my life (cliche), which I NAILED (badass). So, now, after almost two years, I shall be going on tour again with Asking Alexandria. We have spent the last week honing the show and the set to be the best it can be, and best it has ever been, and I hope y’all enjoy watching it as much as we have creating it.”
Meanwhile, the whole thing has not gone down without some drama. Shortly after Bruce posted the video confirming AA’s reunion with Worsnop, the band’s label owner, Sumerian Records’ Ash Avildsen, posted a cryptic tweet reading: “As requested, I’ll release a video further clarifying what happened with AA. If Denis denies the truth, Emails and texts prove everything.”
As requested, I'll release a video further clarifying what happened with AA. If Denis denies the truth, Emails and texts prove everything.
— Ash Avildsen (@ashavildsen) October 22, 2016
Soon after this, Stoff’s former Make Me Famous bandmate, drummer Dusty Boyles, posted on his own Facebook page: “For anyone who keeps messaging me or tagging me in comments about the Asking situation, yes I’ve know about it for a while now and all I can say is. I TOLD YOU SO.”
As Alt Press reports, Boles claims Stoff demanded “millions of dollars” from his old band, and that he’d warned Asking Alexandria drummer James Cassells about this before they hired him “and it all came true”.
Bruce even addressed Boles’ warnings in his Facebook video, explaining that AA decided to give Stoff “the benefit of the doubt” anyways:
“When Denis first joined the band a year, year and a half ago, people within the music industry and fans alike, they all told us these different things about Denis’ past, and we got many warnings and we said, that’s his past forgive and forget, we don’t know any of that side of things. So we gave him the benefit of the doubt and you know, there’s no smoke without fire and I guess we found that out the hard way.
Do I regret the last year and a half I spent touring the world with Denis? Absolutely not. Do I regret releasing and writing “The Black“? Absolutely not. Do I go back on anything I said? Absolutely not. “The Black” was a very honest and open record and that is I felt at the time, how we all felt at the time. We’ve moved on, we’ve moved upwards.
I’m not gonna sit here and talk shit on Denis, he came into this band and he was amazing for us at the time. We had a blast with him, we had the best time ever. As far as we could see everything was going great, obviously it wasn’t. There’s not really anything we can do about that. We once again have been left in a rather shitty situation and we’ve picked ourselves up off the floor and we’ve continued going. Asking Alexandria is back to the way we started with the original fucking members.”
Stoff’s old band Make Me Famous broke up shortly after he walked out on them back in 2012, and the remaining members issued the following statement on the situation at the time (via Alt Press):
“We four members were never treated like equal musicians to Denis Shaforostov. According to Denis, he was the only member in the band and he treated the rest of us as unpleasant as humanly possible, it was not fun being in a band with him… Denis would also expect to keep a larger portion of any band income, in return he would treat us disrespectfully and give everyone in the band and the bands team an everlasting negative attitude… In summary, Denis has some issues and according to Denis, the fault to his issues is everyone and anyone but himself.”
Asking Alexandria last toured Australia with Stoff back in April of this year. But with a bit of luck, it won’t be long until they bring their 10 Years In The Black reunion tour with Worsnop Down Under as well.
While we play the waiting game, you can catch Ben Bruce’s live Facebook announcement video below.
