Former Hatebreed bassist Chris Beattie has newly commented on his November 2024 dismissal from the veteran metalcore band. Hatebreed announced his exit earlier this year, enlisting Matt Bachand of Shadows Fall fame as his live fill-in. Beattie himself briefly commented on the matter back in February, communicating that his exit from the band was not his own decision, but cautioned he was unable to publicly discuss the specifics regarding that.
Beattie was a co-founding member of the band. Now speaking with the The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, Beattie opened up a bit more about the circumstances surrounding his exit, while also confirming that he has some future plans in the works with other metalcore and hardcore luminaries.
Addressing being let go, Beattie described it as being, “completely unexpected. We had just celebrated 30 years. It was awesome. Successful tour. Left on a high note. We did great stuff. And like I said before publicly, it was not my decision to leave the band. Someone saw an opportunity to get me out of the picture, and that’s where I am now.”
He continued:
“Everything went really well that year, but there was stuff going on behind the scenes, and it became a chore to get in touch with anyone. And I was the middle man, basically, for bandmembers and crew members, and that became a chore for me. And I had started asking a lot of questions, and it became problematic. I became a problem within the [organization].”
As for his current relationship with the band, he replied:
“We’re trying to work it out. There’s attorneys involved now. They’re spending a lot of time having to deal with that and all the details of that. And I’ve gone back and forth.
Obviously, when something like that happens, you’re upset. You go through all these crazy emotions. You put 30 years into something like that. But I don’t wanna shit on the legacy of what I did. And I could be that guy. I could come out here and I could talk all kinds of shit, but I don’t want [to]… I don’t wanna be that guy. We made good music. We had great times together. Things changed. Dynamics changed.
It’s hard to be away from your family when you’re touring. Everyone understands that. And the feedback from people when you play, you inspire them, you touch their life, you have a positive, lasting impact on someone, that always kept me in the game. And when shit wasn’t going right in the band and whatnot, you look at that man that’s the realest shit you could possibly get. People would come up to us all the time and be, like, ‘Man, I was ready to kill myself. And your music changed me.’ How do you respond to that? It’s real deep shit.
So I’m just hoping for the best. Hopefully we’ll be able to sort this out. I don’t want us to go down some shitty road. We’ve all seen bands do that, so hopefully it could end on decent terms and be able to move ahead.”
Beattie also ruled out the possibility of ever rejoining the band, offering:
“My time is done with Hatebreed… It’s done. My family comes first. I’ll leave it at that. I can’t go back to that. But there is a legacy. With all the time that I haven’t been in the band now, which, it’s weird to say, but people know me from that band everywhere I go. You can’t shake that kind of shit. The identity is still there. So it’s good. It’s hard to talk about too, but here we are. New doors open.”
Speaking on what he plans to do next musically, Beattie replied
“It’s kind of crazy when that happened [with Hatebreed]. A lot of people hit me up from other bands, big bands, touring bands, friends I’ve had. I’m not gonna name everyone. I respect their privacy and all that. But so much love to everyone that reached out to me. But that aside, my great friend Scott Vogel [Terror] hits me up one day, and he’s, like, ‘Let’s do a band.’ I’m, like, Are you fucking serious?’ ‘Cause I’m not even looking for anything, really. All this shit just happened and I’m kind of sorting it out. And Scott‘s, like, ‘Yeah, you get Sean Martin,’ [ex-Hatebreed, etc. guitar player], and he is gonna get [ex-Hatebreed drummer] Jamie Pushbutton, that played on ‘Satisfaction [Is The Death Of Desire]’. And I’m, like, ‘Get the fuck outta here. This is fucking crazy.’
So he hits up Jamie Pushbutton, and I hit up Sean. And yeah — so that’s one of my new projects that’s in the works. I skipped this week, but I go to Sean Martin‘s house every Friday, man. We’re fucking working on music. And it’s crazy, man. It’s like the door opens. It would’ve never been there. So I can’t wait to jam with these dudes and get us all in a room and do that. It’s gonna be fucking awesome. I am thrilled to announce that and to let everybody know.”
Beattie confirmed another project in the works involves Earth Crisis vocalist Karl Buechner, Anders Löwgren of Akani and Jorge Rosado of Merauder fame. According to Beattie music for that is already written with his bass parts remaining. Beattie also mentioned that he’s been discussing doing something with former Hatebreed drummer Dave Russo as well.
