Pallas fires lead singer

Aberdeen progressive rock band Pallas has "divorced" lead singer Allan Reed yesterday, January 27th 2010. After receiving a phone call from Graeme Murray, Allan Reed posted a letter on the Pallas yahoo-group that he had, in effect, been fired from the band.

Allan writes:

It is with great regret that I must tell you that I am no longer a member of Pallas.

This is not a situation of my desire or choosing. I have been unceremoniously informed that the other members of the band have unanimously decided to sack me. This has happened without prior warning or discussion. (...) I can only express my sadness that I will no longer be part of the Pallas story. The new album was/is shaping up to be a good one, and I was looking forward to participating fully in it. (...)

I can't begin to say how angry and hurt I feel at the way this has been done. (...) However, I am not and never have been vengeful, and perhaps in the fullness of time we'll speak again.. But this is a betrayal that is not easily forgiven.

Following this, Graeme Murray wrote back on the yahoo-group and on the Pallas website:

Today is a sad day. Playing in a band is like being in a marriage, only there are five partners instead of two. It is complicated. No one goes into a marriage expecting to get divorced. Alan has been a member of Pallas for many years, but the sad inescapable truth is that Alan, and the other members of the band have slowly drifted apart over the last couple of years. (...)

It is partly due to the geographical problems of living at opposite ends of the UK. Alan has been unable to attend a Pallas rehearsal in the last five years, and writing music together when you are 500 miles apart is difficult. (...) We are all very sad, and I, and the guys, knew how hurt Alan would be, understandably, but the fact is the relationship had broken down, to a point where we wanted a divorce.

(...) We were not enjoying the fact that the relationship had broken down. I don’t propose to discuss the breakdown its not appropriate, it just happened. It’s sad.

Pallas will continue. We continue to work on XXV, and it will come out later this year. We will be touring, We will be playing at Progeny, We look forward to seeing you all and hopefully to your ongoing support.

We wish Alan well. There is no ill will on our part and we are sure that Alan will be fronting another band before long, and we look forward to that. (...)

Allan then replied directly to the fans via the newsgroup:

Seems you will all still get your new album after all.. despite denying this
when I asked the question directly it seems the band has already been working
with a new singer for some time. I'm told he/she is exceptional and that
everyone's very excited about their new direction. I'd be stretching the bounds
of credibility if I said I wished them well, but at least you lot still get some Pallas.

I can understand Allan being mad and all, but acting like this is a bit beyond me. I feel sobber second thought would have been appropriate. While I am deeply saddened by this state of affairs, Pallas has survived a change of lead singer before, and I believe they will again. I wish both parties the best in the fulness of time.

Frank