Attack Attack! vocalist Caleb Shomo has quit the group. Shomo has been replaced by I Am Abomination frontman Phil Druyor.
Shomo addressed his departure in a statement released Tuesday, stating he suffers from “horrible clinical depression.”
“As you may have heard from my speeches I gave during about the last 6 months or so of my touring career with AA, I have been suicidal since middle school. I’ve struggled on and off with eating disorders, self image problems since i was announced as the frontman a few years ago, and various substance abuse and addictions for about the past year. Having thousands of people tell you your a ‘fat piece of shit’ isn’t exactly the easiest thing to deal with at 17, and i could imagine ever.”
“Starting about a year ago I started to really go into a downward spiral mentally. Having panic attacks, mental breakdowns, cutting myself off from the world for weeks at a time, writing insanely depressing songs, not too fun. I had a lot of stress in my life/demons haunting me and in no way wanted to face it head on and deal with it. As you may have guessed this doesn’t help problems in the least. 2012 has easily been the darkest year of my life overall. It’s had some of the most amazing things happen (getting my life together toward the end along with getting married to my lovely wife Fleur) but generally filled with a lot of pain and attempts to cope with them. I left on good terms with everyone and they were very supportive of my decision. It wasn’t easy, but trust me, if you have known me for the past year you’d be understand as well.”
Shomo says he will continue to make music, and is currently at work on a hardcore project called Beartooth.