Ever since their now ex-vocalist and founding member Duncan Bentley was kicked out of the band for allegedly “trying to kill” the band’s drummer Tom Hughes while on tour in Prague, Vulvodynia has had a huge vacancy behind the mic. There were questions surrounding the band about how they’d ever continue after such a dramatic and high profile incident.
Well, as it turns out, the band thinks it’s going to be just fine. Earlier today, they took to social media to announce that guitarist Lwandile Prusent was taking over.
“We’re extremely excited to finally announce our new vocalist, Lwandile Prusent! Lwandile joined Vulvodynia as a guitarist, but has now made the jump to vocals and we couldn’t be more stoked!
“Check out this video of him showing off his skills, as well as a sneak peek at some new music. We all hope you’re just as excited as us for the future of Vulvodynia! Vocal recording has begun for our new album, and it’s sounding incredible!”
Prusent has been with the band since 2020, so far only contributing to Praenuntius Infiniti. In the band’s announcement, the guitarist said he was excited to take on the additional responsibility to help the band continue on.
“Hey everyone, so I’ve become the new vocalist of Vulvo, and it’s been a challenging transition, but I don’t plan on letting the people who support us down. I am still the guitar player of this band, and always will be. It just might take a while before you see me with one on stage again. Peace and love.”
Now, it’s important to note that Bentley released a statement shortly after he was ousted from the band apologizing for what happened. He also vehemently denied that his intent was ever to kill Hughes.
“I owe the band, our crew, and Tom an apology. An apology seems so small in the face of what happened, but I need to offer it. I’m so sorry for what happened in Prague. We’ve shared so many stages, so many good times, and I never wanted our story to end on a night like that. I regret that our disagreement turned physical, and I take full responsibility for my part in it…
“To clear up any misconceptions, I want everyone to know that I’ve been sober since March 30th. I never ‘tried to kill’ Tom like all the headlines are saying…”
His statement also outlined what he said preceded the fight with Hughes, which he says stemmed from him being blamed for drinking and misusing band funds even though he claims to have been sober at that time.
Regardless of what went down, Hughes was severely injured in the altercation and Bentley was let go. All of that’s now firmly in the past, with the rest of the band simply looking to move forward.