Grouplove fans have taken to the band’s forums to ask what the situation is with drummer Ryan Rabin and why he isn’t on tour.
Ryan, the son of Trevor Rabin (Yes, The Buggles) has been MIA from the Grouplove line-up since mid last year.
“Before this big Imagine Dragon’s we did last Fall in The States he strangely wrote us this email saying ‘I don’t want to go on this tour,” Grouplove singer Christian Zucconi tells Noise11.com. “I’m not saying I don’t want to be in the band anymore but I don’t want to go on the tour’, (he wrote). It’s a weird thing to say and express because to be in the band you need to go on tour”.
Rabin is an original member of Grouplove, forming the band with Zucconi, Sean Gadd, Hannah Cooper and Andy Wessen in Los Angeles in 2009. Gadd left in 2013 but Grouplove took nearly a year to confirm it.
Grouplove recently toured Australia without Rabin but Zucconi says he has not left the band (well, yet). “With Ryan, we want it to work out but we want him to be happy,” he says. “We wish him the best. We had a great run together. The future is unwritten. We are just going with the flow and right now and having a really good time”.
Ryan performed a dual role with Grouplove. He is also the band’s producer. “He has always had another producing team,” Christian says. “He writes for a lot of pop artists with his partners. I think that is a big part of it. He is sick of the road, he is married now, he lives in L.A.. Maybe he just wants to stay home and produce.”
Meanwhile Benjamin Homola has taken up drummer duties for the Grouplove live shows. “It was weird but we found someone who is an absolutely awesome dude. He is a great drummer. He is with us now,” he says. “He is from the Manchester Orchestra camp down in Atlanta. He has been playing with Andy Hull in Manchester. He did some Bad Books shows and albums with Kevin Devine. He was playing drums for Dashboard Confessional for a while. He is with us now, we have been rolling it. Whatever happens, happens”.
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