Whitechapel have pulled out of their planned touring with Thy Art Is Murder in Mexico and Latin America this fall. Phil Bozeman, vocalist of the Knoxville, TN deathcore outfit, has opened up regarding the cancellation of those tour plans, which will now see Thy Art Is Murder going it alone.
As Bozeman puts it, he is in the process of properly weaning off of decades of using the antidepressant Zoloft to treat his mental health issues. Due to some complications with the process, he has found himself needing time to adjust to the side effects of withdrawal and readjusting to life without the aid of the medication. In a text statement issued today, November 26th, he offered:
In a newly shared video statement that accompanies it, he stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“What’s going on everyone, Phil from Whitechapel here. I was wanting to make this video — this unfortunate video — to address our Mexican, Costa Rican, Colombian, Chilean, Brazilian and Argentinian fans. We unfortunately will not be embarking on this South American tour that we had planned.
And a lot of you may know, I have had a traumatic childhood; I’ve been on mental health medications since I was a teenager. I started to come off of them because I wanted to. I wanted to try to not rely on medication months back.
And it has had a very bad effect on me. I [have] been having mental health issues. I’ve been on Zoloft ever since I was a teenager. For those of you that don’t know, the childhood I’m talking about is my dad passing away when I was 10 years old, and then my mom passing away around five years later from drug abuse and…
Yeah, and from an early age, I was put on Zoloft. And that basically numbed me for 30 years. And I had tried to come off this medication before, and that didn’t go well. I tried to stop to cold turkey, and that just did not work at all. But I tried to do it again recently, and I did it the right way. I tapered off.
And, yeah, it seems as if… It it’s not making me necessarily worse, but I’ve just haven’t felt… because I’ve been numbed for 30 years, and coming off of it like the way I have, has been the healthy way, but it’s also come with consequences.
And I have not felt things that I should have felt in those past 30 years. And it [has], you know, really affected me [I’m] very, very emotional. And I’m gonna try not to choke up on you guys here.
But I don’t want to make this too long winded, but in a nutshell, yes, I’m just dealing with some mental health issues, and I just need time to to correct all of this.
And to all our South American fans and Mexican fans and, yeah, getting on a plane and traveling over and over and over every day just seems like hell to me right now. I’m just coming to you as just a normal person. I’m just a normal person, just like all of you. And yeah, I just… With the love and support of all the guys in the band, my family, my fiancée, I’m going to correct this.
And [I] want to get better for not only myself, and my family, and friends, but also for you guys, so that I can continue to perform at the level that is expected of me. And, yeah, it’s, you know, in this metal community, we, a lot of us, found metal because of, you know, having our own mental health issues, and that was the same for me.
And yeah, it’s, it’s a real thing. And I encourage all of you who may be dealing with stuff like this —or whatever mental health issue that you’re dealing with — is that you, you do seek help, you do talk to people you don’t just keep it in. I’ve made that mistake a lot, and just don’t make that mistake.
Talk to people in your life, professionals. Mental health is the foundation of our life. It is what dictates our quality of life and the overall well being of, of life in general. And yeah, I don’t want to sit here and lecture you guys on everything.
I’m sure you guys already know. It’s just, I just think that you guys in Mexico and South America as a whole deserve to understand and know why that we aren’t coming down there. And just to everyone around the world that are fans of us, that you know what is happening right now.
And I appreciate all your guys’ support, and we’ll get through this. And thank you guys so much for the support. It’s just… it’s on the top of my pedestal as to what I appreciate, you know.
So, yeah, I don’t want to take up any more of your time, [I’m] just gonna go through a mental health journey right now and get better. And [I] appreciate you guys. Love you guys. And again. Just, just talk to someone, if you need to, and don’t ever hide it or hold it back. It’s not worth it.”
In a heartwarming display, the comments of the below video he shared on social media are filled with supportive replies from not only from his family and his bandmates, but also numerous peers from the metal scene.
