Drummer Darren to Leave !daft!

We are sad to announce that our great friend and drummer, Darren, will be leaving !daft!. His last planned gig with the band is this New Years Eve at Smokey Joes, Maidenhead.

Whilst this may seem short notice we have been aware for past couple of months and have been busy working away in an effort to try and fill the inevitably large hole that Darrens going to be leaving behind.

Darren joined !daft! as good as 10 years ago and in that time has played 600+ gigs with the band and has rightfully become an incredibly valuable and loved member of the group. He has always been known for his hard hitting, power rock drumming style and he has unquestionably contributed to helping !daft! become one of the most well known and popular cover bands on the Thames Valley circuit. And for that we will be forever grateful.

There are no hard feelings at all in this split and it’s all incredibly amicable. Darren has simply decided that the time has come to take a break from the relentless schedule of gigging and live music to instead focus on work, his lovely wife Melissa and some other personal projects.

If the transition to our new drummer is successful then we expect that New Years Eve will be Darren’s last gig with !daft!. If you would like to see him in action one last time and perhaps shake his hand then you need to get along to the Bier Keller, Bracknell on 17th December 2011 or to Smokey Joes Roadhouse on New Years Eve.

Darren will always be in our dep pool and it’s very likely we will get to perform with him again in the future but for now there is nothing I can say on behalf of the band other than a massive, massive “thank you” to Darren for a decade of good, honest, loyal and quality service to !daft!. It’s been absolute pleasure old friend, we will miss you immensely.

Click here to read about !daft! new drummer Phil James.