Reflections vocalist, etc. Jake Wolf made numerous comments on Facebook recently regarding the decision to scrap the band, as well as publicly addressing the controversy that unfolded earlier this year that led to two members exiting en masse. You might recall that this past January, both guitarist Patrick “Patty” Somoulay and bassist Francis Xayana exited the Minneapolis, MN-based progressive metalcore outfit, with Xayana in particular calling out Wolf for his alleged support of ICE (aka the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on his way out.
Those departures came about amid growing tensions during ICE’s immigration raids of Minnesota, which saw two American citizens killed in ICE-involved shootings. Both Somoulay and Xayana made note of their distaste for ICE amid their exit statements, with Xayana going so far as to label Wolf an “ICE apologist.” Reflections had largely remained quiet since, but this past Friday, July 17th, saw the band surprise drop their final studio album, “Crystal Eyes“.
This new release led to subsequent exchanges on social media from Wolf. Responding to one user who said to Wolf on Facebook, “Maybe don’t be an ICE apologist and your band member’s would have still been… your band member’s? Interesting.” Wolf directly replied:
“What’s funny is, for years internally, every new member of this band found themselves at odds with me because they wanted Pat out of the band because of his laziness, but I refused. To me, the band was always myself and Pat at its core, because we started it.
Josh even started “secret group chat” to excommunicate Pat from future band discussions, but I ignored it and kept using the old one.Only for him to comment “large ooey” on Pats quitting post like he’s some good friend to him. He’d also say demeaning things about his other band mates Carlos and even Elliot. Which led me to realize he was probably doing the exact same thing with me while I wasn’t around.
Logan asked me to kick Fran out so he could play bass. Which I refused. And of course, Charles was desperately trying to show me what was going on even over a decade ago, but I stood on the side of the people I thought were my family. A mistake I’d advise everyone learn from.”
In another exchange captured via Reddit, Wolf delved further into the tensions within the band alongside word of clashes of political ideology and racial tension. Speaking of that, Wolf didn’t deny holding conservative political beliefs, but went on to explain that the representation of his views presented by his ex-bandmates lacked nuance:
“Actually, it’s that I don’t wish to continue carrying a legacy that involves people who’ve tried so hard to put me down when I did nothing to them. Particularly when they haven’t meaningfully been involved since 2016, only showing up when money is involved. 0 contribution to any new writing since 2015 and I’ve spent over half my life trying to build them up.
I have multiple other records and songs written, they just won’t be released under reflections.
You’re more than welcome to have any feelings you’d like about me. But I’d remind you that this all started because Francis was going around online saying he hated all white people, even insulting our fans with derogatory name calling.
Then, one of my ex girlfriends cousins got in his ear telling him I’m conservative (not hiding that, don’t care) which got him to call me in a fit of rage at about 7:30am the next day, where I explained my opinions that I think saying you hate anyone because of the color of their skin is racist and that while what happened in MN with ICE was extremely unfortunate, it doesn’t mean we stop trying to enforce laws. After that he decided to hang up on me go online and spin it as some “Ice apologist” which almost all of you ran with without me even saying a word. I think he did that mostly to get the attention off of him and to ‘justify’ his rants from previous days.
So yall can call me a bootlicker or whatever you’d like. It doesn’t bother me. Because the reality is I strongly oppose a lot of things about our government, and a lot of the people coming at me are the ones doing exactly what over half the government wants them to do.
I have no hate in my heart. Something that seemingly can’t be said for this community at large. Preaching understanding and compassion yet look at how quickly you all tried doxing me, lying about me, coming after my friends and family. All because of a pointed finger.”
Presumably one of the exchanges referenced by Wolf above regarding Xayana is this past post, in which Xayana stated:
“You can be offended all you want by me saying “fuck white people”
I’ll own my shit that my prejudice towards white folks is rising.
I don’t need to explain to the folks that actually get it. I do not give a fuck how insane I sound or how much of a bully you think I may be.
I give no fucks. I give no fucks and will not coddle white feelings on this matter. When I said everyone.
I mean fucking everyone.”
As for Wolf‘s future musical output, Wolf replied to the comment, “If Jake is the only one who really ever wrote music for reflections, why does it have to be the last album?” Wolf‘s response seemed to indicate that his Surgeon project, and potentially others, will serve as the home of his musical output going forward. Here’s what he said in response:
“I have other projects I can write for without all the baggage. Releasing through significantly smaller platforms doesn’t bother me because I care more about music than popularity or an audience.
*and I never said I was the only one who wrote for Reflections, but I did become the primary after 2016. aside from split releases like ‘Silhouette‘ and ‘Shadow‘, which were worked on with Calle.”
