Σαπουνόπερα..
Drummer Craig Blundell, who's been a member of Steven Wilson's live band for almost two years now, and also performed on a portion of tracks on the man's latest EP "4½," has confirmed he'll be performing on Steven's upcoming fifth solo studio album.
About two months ago, Steven's previous drummer Marco Minnemann revealed that their relationship has gone sour. As you can see from Marco's FB note below, Steven apparently hasn't informed "half of the band" that 2013's "The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)" and 2015's "Hand. Cannot. Erase." went Gold. These are also the only two SW albums Marco's played drums on.
Minneman's note reads: "I'll try to keep it brief: Yes, some of the people involved in these productions had to learn through social media that these albums went gold. I seriously had no idea, so thanks for letting me know. What can I say - at the end of the day they're SW's albums and he decides whom to share the success with.
"From what I've heard, some gold awards were given to one half of the band and the other half was excluded and not notified (very likely because of our decision for other band and touring commitments [this very likely refers to Marco and Guthrie Govan's obligations with The Aristocrats]).
"But nevermind, we were all involved and played in the studio and live as a band and I'd like to believe that our musical contributions somehow at least to a certain degree shaped the vibe and style of these albums. Most important thing is that YOU appreciate and value the playing and contributions. So, thank you very much. Happily moving on, come to see the Aristocrats 'Tres Caballeros' world tour."
The drummer then added: "To be honest, 'Raven' and 'HCE' are the only gold awards in [Steven's] catalogue, aren't they? And excluding us, just because we cherish our own band The Aristocrats and refuse to ass crawl, is kind of a dick move... Take your gold records and shove it."
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/up ... album.html