Twelve Foot Ninja Release Acoustic Album, Announce Breakup
“So with a collective deep breath and focus toward the horizon, we've decided to lay Twelve Foot Ninja to rest.”
Twelve Foot Ninja (Source: Supplied)
Melbourne heavy metal band Twelve Foot Ninja have officially called it a day.
While it’s sad news, the group aren’t farewelling fans on a sad note, sharing a joyous yet bummer statement on social media and releasing a highly anticipated acoustic album, Mutant Dreams & Face Transplants - An Acoustic Experience.
Formed in 2008 in Melbourne, Twelve Foot Ninja released three albums: 2012’s Silent Machine, 2016’s Outlier, and 2021’s Vengeance, as well as the 2008 New Dawn EP and 2010’s Smoke Bomb!
In December 2021, vocalist Nik “Kin Etik” Barker announced that he’d leave the band in late 2022 after a planned Australian tour. In July 2022, Twelve Foot Ninja announced that they’d gone on indefinite hiatus and cancelled all tour dates for 2023. Last October, they teased the release of Mutant Dreams, dropping a single called Everywhere I Look on Bandcamp.
In a statement posted to Instagram, the band began: “G’day everyone. Our acoustic album is here! No f!@king around! (apart from all the f!@king around),” sharing that fans can listen to the album via their website.
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Mutant Dreams & Face Transplants – An Acoustic Experience comprises 15 acoustic tracks – 12 Twelve Foot Ninja favourites and three new songs. However, only seven songs are available to listen to streaming services.
“This album is a few things… One of them is an album… Which you can purchase digitally (in full) and/or get yourself a limited edition vinyl from our new website,” the band continued. “The second thing this album is; a massive ‘thank you’ to all of our supporters; we’re truly grateful for all of you. Without support, this past 16 and a bit years would have just been us wondering where everyone is.
“The third thing this album is; Twelve Foot Ninja's parting offering to the insatiable Sarlacc of streams, and the self-erected altar of this industry’s avaricious appetite. AKA we’re calling it a day and have decided to jump on jet skis and piss off in all different directions.”
The statement concluded, “We’re all incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved with Twelve Foot Ninja, and we hope our music and videos continue to resonate and be discovered by audiences for many years to come.
“Thank you again. You can keep up with us individually through our website.”
On their website, the band said about seven tracks available to listen to on streaming services, “In lieu of whacking the full album up on all streaming platforms and getting 20cents…We're limiting streaming platforms to just 7 tracks for now, with the full kahuna ONLY available directly from us on release.”
That decision was inspired by feeling “tired” of being “musical martyrs” who have invested “enormous amounts of time and effort with very little to show for it”.
“A lot of younger bands might not understand this move and remain fixated on landing that elusive golden gonad playlist inclusion... And some ‘fans’ might whip out the ol' ‘Get a real job!’ chestnut - and unfortunately, they could be right. This isn't a viable job,” they wrote.
The website statement continued, “The current industry dynamics, coupled with the extensive time required to produce our style of music, make it challenging to sustain careers without compromising our well-being or artistic integrity.
“This is particularly true when continuous touring is not feasible due to family and work commitments necessary to subsidise the demands of the band—a weird, parasitic loop… Now whack on a layer of complicated and often unfavourable industry “norms” onto the viennetta and you wake up one day realising that the squeeze isn’t worth the juice.”
They concluded, “So with a collective deep breath and focus toward the horizon, we've decided to lay Twelve Foot Ninja to rest.”
Twelve Foot Ninja has come to an end, but with a parting gift of a new album and the ability to keep up with individual band members via their website, maybe it’s not so bad.. You can read the full statement regarding the breakup and new album here.
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