Kylesa have unveiled the roster for their return this year. The sludge metallers previously went on hiatus in 2016 and remained inactive until announcing their intentions to reunite back in 2024. Vocalist/guitarists Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants have since revamped their roster, with bassist John John Jesse (ex-Nausea) and drummer Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour, ex-Nausea, etc.) being the latest recruits.
A newly published interview with Decibel finds the band discussing their return and their new members. Among that discussion it was revealed that their previous drummer Carl McGinley was no longer interested in playing drums and gave Cope and Pleasants his blessing to continue on without him.
As for why the band decided to reunite, Pleasants offered:
“I think we started talking about it around three years ago. We reissued our first album, and I spent a lot of time getting that together. It was then that I realized that I was ready to do Kylesa again. I talked it over with Phillip, and he agreed. Because it’s such a large undertaking to revive an old band, it was crucial to get a proper team together to help launch the reunion.
This took some time but the stars sort of aligned with KW and Mythos when they reached out to me about playing Prepare The Ground. What was going to be a 10-minute conversation turned into a two-hour hang session and I knew we had found a proper partner in crime to crush riffs with.”
In other news, the group have announced a pair of U.S. shows in December, with tickets set to go up this Thursday, February 20th at 10:00am local time. Their live return will take place this April at the annual ‘Roadburn Festival‘.
04/17 Tilburg, NET – Roadburn Festival
04/18 Oslo, NOR – Inferno Fest
05/09 Copenhagen, DEN – A Colossal Weekend
05/10 Aalborg, DEN – 1000 Fryd
05/12 Athens, GRA – Gagarin 205 Live Music Space
05/31 Toronto, ON – Prepare The Ground
06/22 Clisson, FRA – Hellfest Open Air
07/30-08/02 Wacken, GER – Wacken Open Air
07/31 Berlin, GER – Lido
08/13 London, UK – Underworld
08/13-17 Bristol, UK – Fernhill Farm (‘ArcTanGent‘)
12/04 Savannah, GA – District Live (feat. Royal Thunder & The Maxines)
12/06 New York City, NY – Le Poisson Rouge (feat. pageninetynine)
