In a surprise email to fans this morning, Kasador announced the departure of founding member and guitarist, Will Hunter, and his replacement, none other than Jonas Lewis-Anthony, long-time lead singer and founding member of The Wilderness. "It was midway through our 2020 tour when Will decided to share with the band that he was thinking about stepping down," explained the band in this morning's announcement. "Our plan was for Will to 'phase himself out' of the performance parts of the band, but remain part of the project as part of the behind the scenes work. We had also planned to finish the Brood & Bloom tour with Will...  Obviously COVID had different plans for us." As to why Kasador hadn't announced Hunter's departure until now? "We made the decision as a band not to announce Will's departure until we knew who was going to be filling his shoes." That someone was revealed today to be Jonas Lewis-Anthony. "We started writing with Jonas, and things just clicked... it truly was a natural progression from writing together, to jamming together and having a blast," stated the band.

Shocking news... in a good way

For Kingston music fans, the news may be somewhat shocking. Founding member, Hunter, was a pillar of the four-piece indie rock band from the start. In fact, prior to Kasador's formation in 2015, the band was known as the Will Hunter Band. Additionally, Jonas Lewis-Anthony's band, The Wilderness, has been on an upwards trajectory these past few years, and just marked their return to live performance at Back to the Farm 2021 and as opener for The Blue Stones at MacKinnon Brothers' Live at The Grandstand series. In their announcement, Kasador clarified, "Jonas is still the singer for The Wilderness. However, he is also now a member of Kasador. That's rock n roll baby." "What started as a passion project, and a way to make my unscholarly days at Queen's a little bit more meaningful, turned into something bigger, better, and more significant than I could have ever imagined," explained Hunter in a statement to fans. "It has been a privilege to make music alongside my bandmates. They pushed this project to what it is today and I know their best days are ahead." In addition to the email, the band also released the video statement below.

Posted: May 3, 2023 Originally Published: Sep 7, 2021