Riverside thank fans for support

Riverside
(Image credit: Kara Rokita)

Riverside have praised their fans for supporting them following the death of guitarist Piotr Grudzinski last month.

He passed away after suffering a heart attack in February aged 40.

As a result, the band cancelled all live shows this year and recently revealed they’d release a collection of ambient and instrumental music in honour of Grudzinski.

And while the group are on hiatus for the remainder of 2016, they’ll say they have “individual plans” and will release their long-planned biography later this year.

They say in a statement: “Our biography has been in the making for over two years and it will be published towards the end of this year – we just didn’t expect that it would contain an additional chapter and that its character would change.

“We’ve always been like a family, we have stuck together and always taken care of that bond both on and off the stage. We have also said many times that we have the best fans in the whole world.

“Our band wouldn’t exist without you, without your commitment and all the emotional links that have been created between us over the years. Your reactions and support we have received from you have surpassed our most daring expectations. We’d like to thank you for that from the bottom of our hearts.”

They say they’ll “do everything” to keep the band going, and add: “In this world full of cynicism and hypocrisy, constant instability and changes quicker than our thoughts, we’d like to create something solid and meaningful that’s based on the most important values.

“We would like to create it with you and for you because, as it turns out, our family is much, much bigger.”

Further details on the book and album will be released in due course.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly 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.