While hard rock and heavy metal supergroup Adrenaline Mob never officially broke up, the band has understandably been inactive since a 2017 tour vehicle collision left bassist David Zablidowsky dead and the other band members seriously injured. Tour manager Janet Rains died weeks later as a result of burns sustained in the crash.
Now, four years later, Adrenaline Mob vocalist Russell Allen (also a singer with Symphony X and Trans-Siberian Orchestra) has admitted his doubts about the group getting back together. Although wavering on the finality of the statement, the singer revealed as much on a recent (June 19) episode of the podcast Breaking Absolutes hosted by author and musician Peter Orullian.
“Nah, I don’t think it’s ever gonna be able to continue,” Russell said of Adrenaline Mob. “There might be something where… I wouldn’t mind revisiting some music ideas that maybe we can do something… I’m never gonna say I’ve closed the door on making music again in that style.” [via Blabbermouth]
He continued, “There’s just so many things that were supposed to happen with Dave and that group that I just don’t see myself being able to do that in a live sense in terms of touring and stuff without having to… I’m just not there yet.”
However, directly after making that statement, Russell changed direction slightly and, pointing to his upcoming work outside of Adrenaline Mob, admitted that a reunion might be possible after those projects. “Let’s see how it goes after I get this other stuff going and see where I’m at,” he said, “and maybe I can think about that.”
In 2018, Adrenaline Mob guitarist Mike Orlando (now of Stereo Satellite) shared a similar outlook on the band’s future with Loudwire, underscoring another vehicle crash that hampered the band in 2014 as well as the death of former Adrenaline Mob drummer AJ Pero the following year.
“There’s so much pain, just too much,” Orlando said. “You’ve gotta remember man, Adrenaline Mob, this wasn’t the first incident. We’ve had so much heartache and pain from the accident on the Avenged Sevenfold tour to AJ Pero passing on the bus, and he was my best friend of 20 years to this. You never thought it could get worse and it did, like 100 times worse. So on this last year of losing Dave and Janet and the whole accident, it’s hard for me to even look back. I just can’t right now and I don’t know if I ever could.”
Regardless, the crash and its fatal aftermath is a “lifelong scar for me and something I’m gonna have to wear,” Russell added on the podacst this month. “I’m very conscious of the effect that it has on the families of those that we lost and what that means for them and what the band means to those people. And I’m very, very aware of that, and that’s something that I’m not gonna dishonor anybody’s memory by doing something that I feel might upset that. So it’s gotta be something that everybody’s cool with, and mostly me.”
But that’s not all that gets covered in the lengthy podcast interview. At seven hours long, the chat covered a host of other topics related to Allen’s life and career. Watch the whole interview below.
Russell Allen Appears on Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian – June 19, 2021
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