The Ocean Guitarist, Drummer to leave band

Posted by on October 29, 2013

the ocean tourJust by virtue of being known as The Ocean Collective, the Swiss/German progressive band The Ocean hasn’t necessarily lent itself to permanence. Yet just as they’re launching a European tour around this year’s impressive Pelagial, both guitatarist Jonathan Nido and drummer Luc Hess have announced that they’ll be stepping down after the tour, which ends late in November. The two decided all the way back in June that they would be ending their run with the band following this tour, with Luc deciding first and Jonathan saying he would leave two days later. Here’s Jonathan’s statement, via his Facebook:

As some of you already know, this upcoming tour will be the last one for me and Luc as members of THE OCEAN. We will both quit the band permanently after the last show of the tour.

June 25th 2013, after careful consideration, Luc decided to let us know that he would not carry-on playing with The Ocean after this European headlining tour. 2 days later, I also decided that it was time for a change and have kindly told the guys that this upcoming European tour will be the last one I will play with The Ocean as well.

An official and more detailed statement from the both of us will be published after the tour. As for now, all I can say is that we both had the feeling it was the right time to take this decision and move-on. There are obviously a ton of reasons for that to happen now. That include artistic divergence, full-time commitment to a project that isn’t 100% fullfilling anymore and other stuff like not wanting to deal with certain aspects/restrictions of what an established/touring act requires for its production and also the way things are generally working, especially on a personal level.

I don’t think we were supposed to announce this anytime before the end of the tour for whatever reason, but Luc and I thought that people that have discovered / enjoyed this band with this line-up during the last 6 years would maybe appreciate to know that this will be the last tour with this line-up instead of just finding out about it when the tour is over. So yeah, come out to any of these shows and let’s have a drink to celebrate whatever is next for both The Ocean and us!

Nido has been playing guitar for the band since 2007, while Hess has been drumming for them since 2008. It should be noted, however, that as a collective, the band have been through 40 members since forming in 2001. It’s a shame these two are leaving, however, since the band’s last four albums, since 2007’s Precambrian, have really found the band gelling. You’ll still have a chance to see the current lineup of the band if you’re in Europe, however. And even if you aren’t, the band’s triple-DVD Collective Oblivion will be out soon, which features multiple camera shoots of three full concerts. See a preview below, and pick the DVD up here.

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