Earlier today Chris MacKinnon issued the following statement as he announced his departure from Kaine.

Having sat at the computer screen for nearly 30 minutes now without being able to find the correct words to say, I’m just going to be blunt about this.

A few weeks ago I came to the conclusion that I no longer wanted to continue as a member of Kaine .

As complex as the situation feels in my head, it is actually a very simple reason – finances. I’ve been with the band for almost 6 years, and have devoted countless hours to its progression, yet always at the expense of myself or my other bandmates.

I wish I could devote the same level of commitment that Rage, Saxon and Stephen bring to the band, and have always tried my hardest to ensure that things were done with the utmost professionalism, whether that be learning the material for recording or simply knowing that saying ‘Yes’ to a show date means it is set in stone. However, it seems that I’ve reached a point where I’m standing on a thin wire and a final choice had to be made.

Regrets, I hear you ask? None. This band is my baby, and when I joined in November 2012 I was simply a 17 year old emo who liked to play Funk Rock with anyone who would have me. I never expected that the band would turn out touring 3 times and playing enormous show’s like HRH Metal. I have adapted and evolved enormously as a drummer and as a person, and looking back on my time in the band I can’t see a single thing I would have changed, from recording the entire Waystone album in one 9-hour session to sitting down with my guitarists for hours on end discussing harmonies and other musical nonsense.

Kaine remains, and this is just my time to move on to the next thing in my life, whatever that may be. Rage is still the most devoted, hard-working and outright decent bloke I’ve ever met. I’ve racked up a fair amount of debt with the guy over the years from my own inability to pay for expenses, and he has never made it into an issue, as he of all people understands how hard money-troubles can be. He’s a rare breed of person, the kind of guy that we need more of in this twisted world.

Stephen and I played for years in Drop Dead Fred – Band, and when our time there came to a close, we focused our efforts into Kaine and were able to create an album that I’m incomparably most proud of. Steve is an absolute monster as a musician, and also a genuinely incredible bloke with the most hilarious sense of humour you will ever find in another human. His songwriting ability is also second to none, as he somehow has the ability to constantly come up with new ideas. Did I mention he can talk bollocks for hours on end?

Saxon deals in absolutes. He is a musical Sith-lord, powered by Modes and Semiquavers, and in the 4+ years I’ve known him I’ve only ever seen him use the toilet once, and that was to flush a barbie. He’s quiet, but he’s also a bloody loony and I will sorely miss being on stage with him. In fact, I will sorely miss playing with the whole band, as this is a life decision I’ve never made before. (I normally just wait to get fired from bands, I’ve never quit one before lol).

These guys are my Brothers, and they’ve seen me, and helped me through more situations than they probably even realise.

For my own part, I’m very thankful I was given the opportunity to play for the band and experience the wonderful world of music, as grimy as it can be at times. The weird and wonderful people that I have met along the way will remain with me forever, it really has been a journey through and through.
I will be joining Kaine on every date I agreed to, until a replacement is found, and ultimately I intend to press my interests towards working further in the music industry and will be trying to access work on more tours now that I have a stronger understanding of how the touring industry works.

Still. I wish the band every success in the world, and will support them as though I were still with them. If you’ve read all of this, and don’t yet own our album, go buy our album.

Peace. – Chris

The remaining members of the band spoke late last Thursday night about the situation moving forward after Chris had told them his intention was to leave by the end of the year provided no replacement was found beforehand. Rage then made the following statement after Chris’s announcing his leaving of the band.

“Losing Chris just a few months into the release of A Crisis of Faith has been a massive blow to the band. Chris, for the better part of 6 years has been a very active and contributing member of Kaine having appeared on our last two albums and a live album, featured during the bands only two major tours and of course the bands career highlight playing Hard Rock Hell just a few months ago. It’s not unfair to say we were devastated by his decision to leave us.

Chris has been our friend and bandmate, we as a four rallied together after a turbulent 2015 to rebuild the band into an exceptional live act and to deliver an album that we hoped would launch to band to the next level. Chris was a huge part of this process, working with us to structure the songs as well as contributing two full songs and lyrics to the album spending literally hours in rehearsal rooms to get everything right. Chris prepared the ghost tracks for the album, organised the studio sessions directly and the results speak for themselves.

Ultimately the album did not take the band to the next level, and a tough financial decision had to be made by Chris. Despite the album being available for £3, it’s not been a strong seller and without the number of record sales or large gig attendance we simple do not generate an income from Kaine and Chris has been caught between a rock and a hard place and had to find a way out to be able to progress his life.

It’s a decision we fully understand as we’re all equally in a very bad position financially as things stand following the release of the album, and with the upcoming gig schedule where we are in fact promoting the majority of our own shows, without the bodies through the door and the merch we’re making a loss on those too and it’s a loss Chris could no longer afford to make. There is no major label, tours of festival offers on the table at present either, meaning all the work and financing of the band is entirely on us.

We concluded that we were still obligated to see out the A Crisis of Faith release on the road, and while so far the band has struggled to break through to the next level, but equally we’re not going to be able to sell any records or merch sitting at home and thus will be auditioning new drummers from Thursday this week and preparing the write the fourth Kaine album over the coming months.”