DESTRUCTION Back On The Bill For 'Chris Witchhunter Tribute Concert'

After a "long and intense conversation" with his "old buddy" Thomas "Angelripper" Such (bassist/vocalist of veteran German thrashers SODOM),DESTRUCTION vocalist/bassist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer has announced that his band is back on the bill for the "Chris Witchhunter Tribute Concert", which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, Germany. The event will honor late SODOM drummer Chris Dudek (a.k.a. Witchhunter) and will feature additional performances by SODOM, TANKARD and ASSASSIN, among many others.

Commented Schmier: "If this phone call would have happened earlier, all this painful confusion would have never taken place. SODOM and DESTRUCTION have both been on tour lately. I guess that did lead to a couple of misunderstandings that are all solved now!

"There was never any intention to argue about this event in any case! Tom and myself have a friendship since 25 years. The lack of communication via third parties did lead to some turbulent misinterpreting.

"I would like to point out, that we have moved our North American anniversary tour to play at this event. It was always very important to us. We have confirmed our participation already in late 2008. As some may remember, Chris toured with us before on the 'Eternal Devastation' tour in 1986 when our drummer Tommy left the band. Since that day we were real mates!

"I hope that now, in behalf of this important event, all rumors and speculations will stop and we can pay tribute to a great lost friend.

"Sorry about the confusion. I guess we have all learned once again how important good, educated communication is.

"I need to thank Tom from SODOM and Rob from ASSASSIN for their encouragement.

"See you at the show, folks!"

Chris Dudek reportedly died on September 8, 2008 around 6:00 a.m. due to vital organ failure.

SODOM bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such previously stated about Dudek's passing, "As we recorded 'The Final Sign Of Evil' [2007 LP featuring re-recordings of the material from SODOM's classic first EP, 'In the Sign of Evil', plus bonus tracks], I noticed that Chris was in a very bad condition. It took more than 18 months to finish the recording for this record.

"After Chris had left the band, we didn't meet very often. If you take a look at the 'Lords Of Depravity' DVD, everybody realizes that Chris was really ill and confused. You can also understand why Chris and I didn't have much contact during the last few years. His sickness was a slow process and everybody saw what happened — but Chris never took a helping hand from anybody else. All of Chris' friends will tell you so. The worst thing was that Chris himself never realized the situation he was in and that it was important to accept help from others.

"I hope that all of Chris' friends will help his lovely mom and support her in these dark times. In the beginning of our friendship, she was like my own mom to me. . . I hope that we can arrange a big show for Chris with a couple of friends to give him a special farewell and to make some money for his mother."