Sam Bettley has finally opened up about Ben Bruce and his decision to leave Asking Alexandria.
In a new interview with Rock Sound, the bassist was asked about his former bandmate. He said they had a new guitarist and he was just as good, but that they were still in touch with Bruce too:
“Yeah, as weird as it’s been without Ben, we still speak to Ben every day. So that dynamic is only really — for me, it’s just different as soon as we hit stage.”
He did add that it has been weird and different now that their former guitarist is no longer in the band:
“I don’t know if you noticed, but we run around a lot on stage. So there’s a lot less bumping into each other now that Ben’s not here.”
‘Not A Big Deal For Us’
Bruce announced his departure from Asking Alexandria in January via Instagram stories. He thanked fans for their support over the years and explained that he needed to focus more on his family.
Earlier, Bettley shared his thoughts on Bruce leaving the band in an interview with El Planeta Del Rock. He emphasized the bond among the band members and their focus on family. Bettley described the bandmates as brothers who’ve grown together over the past 15 years.
He explained their communication and said the guitarist’s departure was not a big deal for the band since they ‘already knew’:
“If you’re feeling there’s certain things and reasons that I don’t wanna go into — it’s not my place to go into — but it’s just a no-brainer. He’s staying home just to be with his family for a bit, and we still speak to him all the time, and he’s still like just as much of a brother to all of us, and it’s just not as big of a deal to us, because we’ve kind of known about his feelings of this for a while.”
See the interview below.