Another Day, Another Messy-Ass Breakup – JESUS PIECE Guitarist JOHN DISTEFANO Addresses Former Frontman AARON HEARD’s Statement

Apparently, the new moon was last Saturday, and Cradle of Filth and Jesus Piece took what astrology considers to be a time of ‘new beginnings’ to a whole other level throughout the week as frontmen publicly feuded with previous bandmates. You can check out the whole Cradle of Filth recap (so far) here.

Now, Jesus Piece wants a piece of the action after frontman Aaron Heard abruptly left the band, leading to the disbandment of the group after nearly a decade together. Heard took some shots in his departure statement, and his former band members haven’t taken lightly to that.

Here’s what we know so far.

August 26th – Jesus Piece Announce Their Breakup

The hardcore group officially announced their breakup on August 26th in an official statement posted to their socials. Signed by remaining members Luis Aponte, John Distefano, and David Updike and behind a photo of the three of them with the text, “JESUS PIECE IS DEAD,” the statement was brief and alluded to some issues regarding others trying to pose as the hardcore band. Jesus Piece said:

“Jesus Piece has been dead for some time. A member quit abruptly for personal reasons and we felt wrong continuing without him.

Anything you see associated with this name or similar, playing our music and using our art, is not related to anything we worked for over the last 10 years.

We are proud of everything we did and it changed our lives forever. To try and continue that without us or in spite of us, is a mockery of what we’ve done and tried to do.

Thank you all for everything!
– Lu, John, Dave”

August 26th – Aaron Heard Announces JE$US PIECE

According to Lambgoat, on the same day as Jesus Piece announced their disbandment, less than an hour before the band posted their statement, former-Jesus Piece frontman Aaron Heard also posted a festival lineup in which an act name “JE$US PIECE” was listed with the caption, “That’s me and the homies,” and changed his Instagram bio to say, “Proud papa & vocals for JE$US PIECE.” And, what was the original Jesus Piece touring management is now JE$US PIECE‘s touring management.

27th August – Aaron Heard Issues A Statement About JE$US PIECE,

The next day, after posting the lineup for One Big Party Fest in which JE$US PIECE was listed with no context, Aaron Heard took to his Instagram stories to issue a series of stories that tied together to create one larger statement. In it, he quite candidly addresses what he believes to be the issues that left to him leaving the band, citing incidents in which Heard claims Jesus Piece tried to replace him on numerous occasions and was told by them, “Thanks for inviting us to your son’s birth, but is has nothing to do with us.”

“I didn’t feel a need to explain anything but since I’ve got a bunch of random people relentlessly commenting on pics dating back to 2016 and messaging me heinous shit I’m going to tell you straight up. Yes it’s been 10 years but those men are not friends and they haven’t been for almost the entirety of us being a band. Just because we’re a band doesn’t mean we are best buddies. I’ve got love for Lu [Aponte] but that’s really it.

In regards to their oddly worded statement: To say they didn’t feel comfortable continuing when they threatened to replace me on the sepultura tour twice for wanting to spend Halloween with my son is what real mockery is in this. Tried to replace me when they left me at the border on the Show me the body tour. Tried to replace me in the past. Bullshit.

Throwing the birth of my son in my face during an argument. Saying my son is ruining things for the band? Fuck that. ‘We appreciate you inviting us to your son’s birth but he’s got nothing to do with us.’ Would you want to work with people who think this way? Would you say that’s friendship? These people don’t respect me or my family and they never really have. I gotta draw the line somewhere. I pray one day when they start families of their own they look back on these moments and see how wack that is.

I’ve just sat through it because I loved the music we’ve made. To me it was easier to smoke and pack it away. But after that last bit I was done. Do I think I’m the only person that matters? No. They are undeniably great musicians. Just tired of dealing with the bullshit and I’m sure they were too.

I love the people and friends I’ve made through this shit. I Love the feeling of connecting and sharing such raw emotions with y’all. I will play a couple and if you’re upset by this as a fan I’m sorry and you do not have to come out nor listen. You are entitled to your opinion. But I just won’t ever work with them again.”

According to Lambgoat, Lu Aponte commented on the stories, pushing back against Heard‘s claims. Aponte did his best to avoid disclosing too many details:

“Was really trying to avoid to be personal but, 
– first of all no one can or wants replace you in this band…ever
When you said you quit, you said we could move on without you and none of us wanted to.
We were happy to let it rest in peace.

– second, you and I both know Never in my entire life would I ever ask you not to be with your son, for any circumstances. I’m still proud of the video I made for you and him when we were there the night he was born.

– the fact of the matter is you were dishonest to me and us. You told us you were done to be with your son, then went behind our back with the label/money to do this and make a quick buck.

I just wanted the band to end on the legacy we created together and we could’ve left it there.

But if people wanna support what you’re doing right now, more power to them as well.”

A fan responded to Aponte‘s comments saying that they were “so confused with [the] problem,” to which Aponte replied with, “So much more to be said. But that’s no one’s business but ours.”

*It should be noted that most of these posts do not exist anymore and only screenshots exist.

August 28th – Jesus Piece Guitarist John Distef Also Responds to Heard’s Statements

After Aaron Heard said that the only member he had “love” for was Lu Aponte, Jesus Piece guitarist John Distef also took to his Instagram stories on August 28th – two days after the initial statement – to address what Heard had alleged in his original statement. Distef rebutted with stories of his own to prove Heard‘s initial claims, stories along the lines of:

“That’s sad to hear you got no love for me anymore despite 10 years of JP and a couple years of HTP together.

Can you remind me about the time we tried to replace you when you got held at the border and I drove back 3 hours to get you at 4am on no sleep?

And I guess none of us have any family or loved ones we sacrificed from being on tour either. I just have a dog, I know. I wish every band that asked us to tour with them took [holidays] and birthdays into consideration too. Anyone that’s ever been in a full time touring band wishes the same.

I actually remember having a conversation last year with Dave where you told me we should be touring more? Didn’t you also mention we should find a replacement for Lu now that he’s in France?
I figured the family aspect of the break up would be your only angle because it hits the hardest with people. Now that you lied about all that it’ll forever be disputed regardless of what I or the other guys say.

Still confused as to why you quit to take care of them and decided that a month later you were going to continue the band without us.

I guess when a label dangles money out there it’s hard to say no. It’s funny because you probably could’ve started a new band and gotten bigger than us but you chose to run with the same name.
It’ll forever make me sad the band went down this way. That’s the worst part about this. We probably would’ve even done something new together.

See you around Philly, man.”

From what we can tell, nothing else has been said by Heard in response to either Aponte and Distef since his statement three days ago. However, the night is still young, and this isn’t nearly as intense as the Cradle of Filth drama.