Swedish metal heavyweights, THE CROWN, have officially called it quits despite having completed the re-recording of their 2002 album, Crowned in Terror. The official announcement from drummer, Janne Saarenpää, reads:
“We give up.
“Today, the 7th of March 2004, we, the dudes of THE CROWN, have decided to call it quits. I’m sure every member in the band can still come up with 10 reasons for continuing and 10 reasons for giving up, but after some heavy consideration we have decided to finally find out what life is like without playing in THE CROWN.
“It’s been a blast writing/performing together all these years, taking this band to levels that we never even knew of. Also getting to know other people in other bands on the road has been amazing. Seeing new places and getting to see and hear new, great bands has totally blown us away - we sure had our share of fun!
“Too many tours gone bad due to not at all professional tour arrangements is maybe the main reason for giving up. (We do indeed have stories about tourmanagers/agencies and the business in general, the best ones would surely make a bestselling book…) Coming home from tours with empty pockets, equipment falling apart and having a pile of bills on the doorstep is simply ‘horns down’. Paying the bills with tour memories and floorscores is just not possible. We do love standing on stage but we don’t know much about the business part, and that’s a bad combination. Trust me on that one.
“The timing for giving up now is both good and bad: Bad because Possessed 13 is an incredible album that deserves some decent touring, but I guess all professional booking agencies have their hands full as it is. Good because we decided to not sign a new deal with Metal Blade, and now that we finally have Crowned in Terror ([re-titled] Crowned Unholy!!!) sounding like it was supposed to, the timing is superb.
“We made 6 killer albums, we did stuff our way, and we sure as hell paid our dues. Or as we say to conclude usual setbacks: ‘We came, we saw and we fucked up!’
“So we want to thank our fans for the support: you people made it last for 14 years! Thanks to Metal Blade, thanks to all bands that we’ve shared the stage with. Our apologies to the festivals that had us booked for the summer of 2004. And last but not least: thanks to our girlfriends for putting up with us through the rehearsals, gigs, studio sessions and tours!”