Features Splitsville 2013 - Who Called It A Day This Year?

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Another year almost over – and another year littered with band casualties that didn’t quite make it to the end of the advent calendar of rock before announcing they were no more. Here’s our round-up of some of the most significant acts who called it a day in 2013.

Tribes
Perhaps not the most surprising split of 2013 considering their second album ‘Wish To Scream’ was an overblown, under-achieving let-down, the loss of Tribes was still a shame. Led by singer Johnny Lloyd, the Camden band promised much with their tune-packed debut album ‘Baby’ in 2012, but it was a case of classic second album syndrome when they tried to follow it up. Still, we’ll always have ‘Corner Of An English Field’.

Swedish House Mafia
SHM were at the peak of their powers when they announced they were to be no more, and like JLS they had a long run-up to their end. Announcing their break-up in 2012, they kept releasing tickets and touring until March this year, playing their last gig at the Ultra Music Festival in Florida.

S.C.U.M.
Achingly cool/contrived Londoners S.C.U.M. came across like a bunch of style over substance hipsters right up until the release of their 2011 debut album, ‘Again Into Eyes’. But the depth and quality of that synth-smeared record surprised many – although singer Tom Cohen’s profile would soon eclipse the band’s when he appeared in Hello! magazine alongside his wife Peaches Geldof. Since the split, Cohen has released some low-key solo work since while three of the band’s original members have formed a new project, Astral Pattern.



The Mars Volta
Although the experimental rockers had enjoyed a somewhat shifting line-up over the years since their formation in 2001, they still chose to make a statement this year announcing they were entering a hiatus, effectively ending the project for the foreseeable future. Founding members Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala have formed a new project, Bosnian Rainbows, while the latter has also formed Zavalz with fellow ex-The Mars Volta member Juan Alderete.

My Chemical Romance
The break-up of Gerard Way’s theatrical rockers was one of the more surprising musical events of the year, considering that they had still enjoyed a good level of success in the fallout of their 2010 album ‘Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys’. They announced the end with a statement that didn’t address rumours of tensions in the band, saying, “Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing.”