Sick Of It All were scheduled to go on tour in Europe in July and August, but recently cancelled the shows. Vocalist Lou Koller has shared a new video where he says that the outing was cancelled while he receives treatment for a tumor in his esophagus. “As you may or may know,” he said, “we had to cancel our full European tour this summer. There’s some rumors going around as to why and we’re here to set the record straight. But we wanted to wait til we got all the information before making an announcement.”
“The reason it is canceled is because they found a tumor in my esophagus that goes into my stomach and I’ll have to be getting treatment all summer,” he continued. “And of course with full support of the band, as soon as they heard it they said ‘Forget the tour, just get healthy.'”
“You know, we’re not happy about it, seriously,” Koller continued. “Like I said they’re all behind me staying home and us staying home. We really feel sorry, I feel sorry for the fans. All of our crew was banking on, you know, another fun summer together, all the promoters, but everyone who knows has been very supportive and now everyone knows. So that’s the reason, no other reason you heard is the truth, this is the truth. So yeah, just thanks for all your support and hopefully we beat this thing and we see you at the end of the summer, or maybe the winter.”
We’re pulling for you, Lou. You can watch his video statement below. UPDATE: A GoFundMe has also been launched to help pay for his medical treatment.
Sick of it All are also scheduled to support NOFX at their first of three Los Angeles shows, on October 4 at Berth 46. Hopefully they’ll be able to make that.
They also have a Miami show scheduled on September 19 at Gramps Wynwood, celebrating 30 years of 1994’s Scratch the Surface.
Lou features on Stretch Arm Strong‘s new EP The Revealing, their first new music in nearly 20 years, which you can pick up on cloud white w/ green/orange splatter & silkscreened B-side 12″.