Craig Owens confirms Chiodos split

Craig Owens has confirmed that Chiodos have split up.

Their last studio album was 2014’s Devil, but the vocalist reports that they decided to call it a day as they “just couldn’t stay afloat.”

Owens tells Billboard: “It’s done – it just couldn’t stay afloat. There were just kind of, not necessarily bad vibes, but we came to the realisation that we can’t do it full-time.

“I think it just stopped becoming a passion for all of us, so we said, ‘All right, let’s stop.’”

But while Owens has ended one chapter of his career, he’s started another – announcing new project BXC, aka badXchannels.

He’s been working with Panic! At The Disco producer Erik Ron for the last 18 months, with the band’s debut EP WHYDFML out on November 18. Watch a video for the track One Car Funeral below.

The new material is a radical departure for Owens but he says: “This was the most natural thing I could do. It just feels right – it just feels natural. It’s just the right time for me right now, in my life, to do this.

“I wasn’t sitting around thinking, ‘How can I pivot on everybody? How can I do something to surprise everybody?’ or anything like that. I get that it does surprise people. I find some excitement and joy in that.”

He adds: “We listened to some Frank Ocean and said, ‘Let’s try to do this track that’s reminiscent of that,’ and we nailed out of the get-go and just kept going from there.

“I just kind of chased it. I didn’t know exactly what it was gonna sound like. We experimented all over the place to find this sound.”

Owens says he was “a little scared” at first about the possibility of alienating some of his fans. But he continues: “I think people are embracing it, and they like the fresh vibes. I think I’m at a point where people have some faith in me and will give me a pass to go somewhere new.”

WHYDFML is available for pre-order.

adXchannels WHYDFML EP tracklist

One Car Funeral
You Know I Will
Dottedxlines
Complicated
Same Thing Everyday

Chiodos drop early morning track

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.