Why As I Lay Dying’s Classic Lineup Reunion Fell Apart

Why did the As I Lay Dying classic lineup reunion fall apart? Singer Tim Lambesis has some thoughts on the matter that he shared during his recent appearance on The Jasta Show podcast.

About the As I Lay Dying Reunion

As I Lay Dying reformed in 2018, with singer Tim Lambesis joining guitarists Nick Hipa, Phil Sgrosso, bassist Josh Gilbert and drummer Jordan Mancino in the band following his release from prison after his 2014 conviction for attempting to hire a hitman to kill his estranged wife.

Upon Lambesis sentencing, the band members spoke out publicly against his act and eventually forged ahead with a new band Wovenwar. While in prison, Lambesis did his best to turn his life around and he was eventually released from jail in 2017. Finding contrition, the band members decided to move forward with Lambesis, releasing the 2019 album Shaped By Fire while facing the uphill battle of overcoming Lambesis' tainted history.

But, over time, Nick Hipa exited in 2020 and Josh Gilbert and Jordan Mancino followed in 2022, leaving Lambesis and Sgrosso to reshape the band with Ken Susi, Ryan Neff and Nick Pierce in its current form.

Why Did the Classic Lineup Members Leave?

While watching his wording carefully, Lambesis feels that emotional hurt of his past actions created an atmosphere that was too much to overcome.

He explained to Jasta, "I can just speak matter of factly that I think that sometimes when you’ve created enough hurt, so the very thought of me or sight of me, to some people, is a traumatic trigger and brings a high, high level of emotion to the surface."

He spoke specifically about Hipa, stating that upon their reunion, he felt there was a "heightened level of emotion" in their interactions that made even the simplest of actions seem to be under scrutiny.

"I’m not saying that he was even giving me a hard time, but I’m just saying as an example, all of a sudden this weird overthinking comes into everything, ’cause it’s, like, ‘Does this person have nefarious intentions in every single thing that he does,’" says Lambesis.

The singer says the band even employed a therapist to help work through their communication issues.

Why Tim Lambesis Went Forward With As I Lay Dying Reunion

Within the chat, Lambesis says he was told by many that a reunion would not work. "When I first got released from incarceration, every manager I talked to was, like, ‘Do not do the band with those guys, because what will happen is’ — not all of them, but a couple of them — ‘is that you can tell just speaking to them for five minutes, the amount of emotion around this topic, they’re gonna be able to get past it for a certain amount of time, and then without proper, actual healing and therapy, dedication to these kinds of things, it will fall apart and they will leave. And then people will think you were the bad guy. You’re the reason that they left,'" recalls Lambesis.

"And so I had to actually just say — I said to multiple managers, ‘I don’t care about that. I just wanna do it anyways. Even if it hurts me in the long run, I just wanna do it.’ And I forced a square peg into a round hole for those dudes to all come back together."

The singer says he was aware of the risk, but reuniting the classic lineup was something he wanted to do.

Tim Lambesis Credits Exiting Band Members

Delving in further to the mindset and why things didn't work out, the As I Lay Dying singer is quick to credit the band members who left for giving it a try.

"I think what they did was a very sincere effort," says the singer. "Like, ‘I think I can make this work.’ They tried it. They got into the nitty gritty of, like, ‘Wow. I feel triggered every day on a regular basis. This is not sustainable. I probably don’t wanna do this, actually.’ After a year or 18 months or whatever it was of just trying to push this thing to happen, it is completely understandable that they’re, like, ‘Man, I don’t feel as good about this as I thought I maybe would be able to grow to do.’"

Reflecting further on the experience, he added, "Man, I’m super thankful that they like gave it a shot at all, and I knew that it could potentially hurt me, and it did, just as everybody behind the scenes like predicted with me and they said, ‘Don’t do this ’cause this is exactly what’s gonna happen.’ All those things happened, and I still don’t regret it, ’cause it’s, like, you know what? I got a chance to know beyond doubt that I tried my best and they tried their best and now we don’t have to wonder, like, ‘Oh, I wonder what would happen if we tried to all get back together.'”

READ MORE: Tim Lambesis Says New As I Lay Dying Members Will Contribute to Next Album

As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis Guests on The Jasta Show