Stretch Arm Strong losing founding member

Following twelve years with Stretch Arm Strong, Scott Dempsey, a founding member, has decided to leave the group. Dempsey will play his final two shows with the SAS on March 27th and 28th in Columbia, SC. In case you're wondering, the band will carry on without him. Here's a portion of a statement from Dempsey: "This may have been the hardest decision of my life up to this point. Many will never experience a decision like this. To quit something you have been a part of since day one and to quit something that has shaped your life for many years was hard to do to say the least. I don't think many people understand what it means to be in a band for 12 years. If I think about it, it is longer than I have ever been with any job, longer than I have been in any relationship, alonger than I have been with anything. Twelve years is a long time. I have been blessed to have been in a band with such a great bunch of guys. True friends, and the best you can ask for in bandmates. Honest dudes. Stretch Arm Strong has always been more to me than just a band. For me it has been my life and the shaping of who I am. To simply put it, I don't know life without Stretch Arm Strong and to put it even more simply than that, I have decided at this time in my life I am ready to experience things in my life that to me is pretty much impossible while continuing in Stretch Arm Strong."