(Photo: Bearded and backpacked forest dwellers share the love.)

In a strange and kinda ironic turn from the boys, Passion Pit have released an open letter to the public talking about why bands cancel shows.

Having had their fair share of experience in the arena of cancelling, the band had to cut shows last year due to the mental illness of band member Michael, the guys talked candidly in the letter which was eloquently titled, ‘Why bands cancel shows (and why it sucks for everyone)’.

Reading like a kind of apology-appeal, the band gives four major reasons for show cancellations including, general illness, mental illness, weather and conflicting schedules.

Whilst we totally get the first three, devastating though they are, we’re unsure on conflicting schedules. A nice title for something more macabre maybe, but generally gives the inclination that these guys should invest in a calendar. The statement is made more suspicious upon the quote; ‘There are many things that happen on the road that are scheduled that are not made public because it is no one’s business’. We definitely wish there was an elaboration on this one.

The letter is wrapped up with an appeal to the masses;

We lose the most. We lose the trust of our fans because of innocent naiveté, an ignorance in regards to how these things are done. WE lose the trust of those who don’t understand how many people are involved in our show, from our touring crew to local crew, how much planning goes on for months and months to prep, how much money is spent to keep the tour rolling, and how much we need to tour to make sure we can afford to put on the show we want to do and still end up being able to pay our bills and continue to do this for a living.

So is the letter a genuine apology or self-victimization? Read the entire letter and see what you think of it here.

[via Pitchfork]