Statement by Nienke

Dear all,

Leaving Autumn feels like severing one of my precious limbs; an extraordinarily painful event. As you've read, a mixture of feelings has led to this decision. At some point in the past year, my health seriously abandoned me for the first time in my life. As many of you may know, this forced me to pull out of a number shows. Though it felt horrible having to do this, it did force me to reflect on my life, activities and ambitions.

My life has gone through some serious changes in the last couple of years. Together with my partner, I've brought our studio (Graveland Studio) to a higher level, accelerated proceedings with my own band DejaFuse and started writing material for commercials, motion pictures and other artists. I had never dreamt of doing any of these things in such a way that the two of us could end up making a living off it. More and more, it became apparent to me that I was having difficulty combining all these activities in terms of time, energy and that bit of love you have to invest in them. It dawned on me that Autumn, its fans and all people involved in the band sometimes had to settle for less than the 100% dedicated Nienke that I've always been. This began to frustrate me and could in time end up having a negative effect on Autumn as a band.

"So, after nine years , I am closing my chapter of the beautiful book that is Autumn, hoping there'll be many more chapters to come. I am extremely proud of all we have achieved in the past nine years! We've had to overcome many adversities, but at the same time we've experienced more wonderful things than I'd ever thought possible. With the latest album, Autumn has increasingly developed a unique identity and is currently on a creative high. It gives me great joy that the lads wish to proceed along these lines. All the wonderful compositions these gentlemen have got in store for us, should definitely see the light of day.

"For me, a period in time has now arrived in which I can completely focus on Graveland Studio and Dejafuse. A thrilling, but surely positively exiting time, preceded by this sad decision. I would like to thank my boys (Autumn), Patrick (our tour manager), the crew, the fans, our management, booker, record company and everyone I've had the pleasure of meeting, for these nine amazing years. I will forever cherish all the days and hours we've spent together and all the wonderful memories that spring from these. I hope I will get to hang out with you at one of the two farewell shows next month, before I leave the stage...

"All my love and a big hug and see you in music or in life away from the stage!"

Statement by Autumn:

"We understand and respect Nienke's decision completely! Throughout the years, she has experienced every high and low in Autumn's rollercoaster ride and lived the band to extremes. Her energy has pushed Autumn to great heights, but there comes a time when things no longer generate as much energy as they require from you. Nienke has long resisted this notion and deserves nothing but credit for her unrelenting efforts in doing so. But all six of us recognize that the time has come for her to plot a new course for herself. We wish her all the best in the world in doing this and comfort ourselves with the thought that our paths will cross each other regularly in the years to come!

"We recognize as no other that Nienke is virtually synonymous with Autumn, that her unique voice is and has been one of the most recognizable features of Autumn's sound, in all of our musical escapades throughout the years. And that her charming features are etched on many a retina. Almost any band would have thrown in the towel when faced with the loss of such an icon, and rightly so. Yet, Autumn has always been a peculiarly headstrong band: Gritting teeth and soldiering on in the face of adversity, determined to emerge from a crisis stronger and wiser, no matter what the cost. However, we've never faced a setback of this magnitude before and we can't claim to have all the answers.

"In trying times like these, one can only fall back on intuition and gut instinct. After having been tossed and turned back and forth for a while, things are finally clear to us: disbanding now would feel like the ultimate defeat. A band should quit while ahead and we feel that, through all past setbacks, we've far from developed our full potential yet. Autumn can still grow, has the desire to achieve so much more. Throughout the years, we've gathered a priceless blend of musicians, crew, management, bookers, record label and last but not least fans, around us. And that makes Autumn what it is for us: a vital part of our lives, too precious to give up without a proper fight. And though we realize it's quite a risk to set sail again with a new lady at the helm, we feel we owe it to ourselves (and quite possibly to you reading this) to take that risk and see where this journey leads us.

"Nienke's difficult decision deserves our utmost respect, but so do the opinions and feelings of you, our fans, concerning Nienke's departure and our resolve to carry on without her. Therefore, feel free to comment on our forum, guest book or MySpace page! We sincerely hope to be able to convince you of our motivation and intentions and the new face of Autumn for the future. In short, we hope to keep finding you by our side and to keep our music a part of your life. After all, without you, there is no Autumn."

http://www.autumn-band.com

Source:	autumn-band.com
Band profile:	Autumn