Those of you who have been fortunate enough to see Sólstafir on tour recently will have noticed the absence of the band’s founding drummer Guðmundur (“Gummi”) Óli Pálmason. Today he released a long personal statement about the reasons for his absence. In a nutshell, the other band members “fired” him from the band before the beginning of the recently completed North American tour, both sides have retained lawyers, and there are obviously some very hard feelings in the aftermath of this split. Most of Gummi’s grievances are directed against the band’s vocalist/guitarist Aðalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason.

I almost decided not to write this post. I have met both Gummi and Addi. I had fairly regular communications via the internet with Gummi over several years as we have covered what is one of our favorite bands on the planet, and I had some long conversations with Addi during Sólstafir’s two recent visits to Seattle. I certainly can’t say that I know either of them very well, but based on the time I spent with them, I liked them both a great deal — and of course I greatly admire what they have accomplished in Sólstafir. So, this controversy is for me a sad occurrence, more so than when things like this happen within other beloved bands whose members I don’t personally know.

Addi told me about what had happened between the band and Gummi after Sólstafir’s show in Seattle in early May, explaining that because of the legal entanglement, the band could not make any public statement. He was very respectful of Gummi when he spoke of him, and seemed very sad about what had happened, rather than angry. It didn’t seem my place to say anything about these events on our site, so I kept it to myself. Continue reading »