Byzantine have offered the following regarding their on again, off again hiatus and the current status of their lineup:
“Hey guys,
OJ here. We have been receiving alot of emails and texts lately about a rumor regarding us losing a band member. Well, the rumors are TRUE. First, let me backtrack a little and give you the full story.
After the 3 Byzantine “reunion shows” we had back in March 2010. A couple of us kicked around the idea of not hanging it up. We thought it would be awesome to keep playing, albeit back in the local WV music scene, unsigned and happy as hell. We had 2 major stumbling blocks that we needed to cross first. Skip had moved back to Trafford, PA to pursue a career in the IT field and Tony moved to Charlotte, NC to try his hand at warmer weather.
Skip immediately was on board. We asked Tony and, after some thought, he decided to not return back to playing in Byzantine. We respect Tony’s decision to move on with other musical endeavors just as Tony respects our decision to continue under the name Byzantine. Skip, Wolfe and myself simply are having too much fun to quit for good.
Tony and I started Byzantine 10 years ago. Tonys’ writing style and lead guitar technique are an intergral part of the Byzantine sound. But, over the course of 3 studio albums, we had 3 different writing teams which produced 3 different sounding albums.
In no way are we going to try to bring in another Tony. With that being said, we would like to introduce our newest lead guitarist, Brian Henderson!!! Brian has been an easily recognizable figure in the WV music scene as he currently is the lead guitarist for the Ashland KY based rock band Split Nixon.
Brian will be handling both duties for Byzantine and Split Nixon. We are very honored and excited to be playing with such a great guitarist and an even greater friend! So if you attent a future Byzantine show, buy Brian a beer. He likes beer. Till then!!!”
