We just received an e-mail from drummer Adam Bennati announcing his departure from perennial MetalSucks faves Early Man “due to an incident that happened 2 weeks ago;” he says that bassist Tim Rampage “left the band a couple of days later.” While Bennati didn’t give us any further details regarding the cause of the split, he did give us this official statement:

Hey there everyone,

As you may or may not know, I am not accompanying the band on the US tour with Bonded by Blood and Evile in support of our new release, Death Potion. I had every intention of going on our headlining tour to support the record, but due to recent circumstances, this has become impossible. I’ve dedicated living my life as a member of Early Man for the last 7 years but I won’t be a part of the group’s future. Despite the sadness in that, I feel very optimistic and am looking forward to moving on to new endeavors. Though the group had to take an uphill road (in many senses) to make our second album materialize, I feel that Death Potion was worth the wait. I’m very proud of this record. From the experience, I take with me a lot of good memories of writing music, traveling, drinking beer and hanging out with Mike [Conte, guitars/vocals], Pete [Macy, guitars] and Tim, and other members in the past. I wish the guys the best in the future. I hope they find success and happiness. Thank you to all the cool people I’ve met along the way, all the friends I’ve made, all the people who have worked hard for the band, and all of the great musicians we’ve performed with. Thanks to anyone and everyone who supports or appreciates the group’s efforts.

Adam Bennati

We love Early Man, and Death Potion, so there’s no doubt that this a bummer; Bennati has been in the band longer than any other member, save for Mike Conte.

The flipside is that we also love Conte (full disclosure: he’s written for us in the past), and we feel confident that as long as he’s around, Early Man will continue to kick ass. And it’s good to see Adam being a mensch about the split, despite whatever “incident” caused him to leave. Hopefully Bennati’s “new endeavors” are as exciting as his old ones.

Get Early Man tour dates here.

-AR