As it turns out, As I Lay Dying won’t be finding a new singer to replace Tim Lambesis. Instead they’re going on hiatus and the remaining members have started a new project with Oh Sleeper guitarist Shane Blay. And wait… there’s more.
As I Lay Dying put out a long statement today addressing the issues of the past year involving Lambesis’ murder-for-hire plot. Apparently they haven’t been a Christian band for a while.
Tim was not a Christian at the time of his arrest, nor was As I Lay Dying a Christian band in 2013. It hadn’t been for some time and, to the best of my knowledge, only one of the people playing in the band even claimed to be a Christian at that time. The changed view had been written about it in a handful of As I Lay Dying songs and Tim’s later atheistic view had even been documented in court records.
So why the hiatus instead of finding a new singer?
As I Lay Dying was originally founded/owned by Tim and then eventually the ownership was shared with Jordan about six years later. As the only official members, neither would like to move forward at the moment regardless off the upcoming sentencing time (which is still yet to be determined / not 9 years). There has been enough communication to establish some differences in opinion about what to do in the distant future. That keeps AILD’s future in limbo. The hibernating version of the band is just the official band owners, which means As I Lay Dying is Tim & Jordan.
As the future unfolds, it doesn’t look like Lambesis will be performing anymore full time, though he’s expected to release new material sometime in the future. In regards to the new group featuring the remaining AILD members, rumors around the web are saying the new band is called Worshipper, but so far there’s no confirmation. They’ve recorded a new album that’s expected out on Metal Blade sometime this year.