So Long, Farewell – 12 Bands Who Sadly Split Up In 2014

Liam Gallagher said goodbye to another band at the tail end of October when he announced with uncustomary subtlety that, after two albums, Beady Eye were “no longer”. Guitarist Andy Bell, meanwhile, admitted that Gallagher’s heart “wasn’t really in it” and then headed back to reform Ride. And so the rumours of a different, supersonic reunion gather fresh speed…

It wasn’t just Klaxons who finally put the nu-rave dream to bed in 2014. Hadouken (now minus their initial exclamation mark because they’re, y’know, serious artistes) also announced that they were going on indefinite hiatus this November after three LPs. Hiatus may not necessarily mean ‘split’, but let’s face it – can you imagine ‘That Boy, That Girl’ pumping out in 2020?

Continuing the bleak mid-winter theme, Essex quintet Morning Parade also disbanded earlier this month. Posting a sad, lengthy explanation on their Facebook, the band explained that they had “been swimming against the tide for a very, very long time now” and could no longer sustain the group without detriment to their “emotional wellbeing”.

One of the bigger shocks of the year came in October, when Alice Glass announced out of the blue that she was leaving Toronto nutjobs Crystal Castles. Having left three records full of feral, vicious noise and a trail of onstage destruction in their wake, the duo are one of the year’s most missed.

The Knife‘s final moments were a far more controlled affair. Announced in August, the Swedish duo capped off 15 years in the game with a final tour that climaxed with one last gig at Iceland Airwaves. “We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun,” said singer Karin Dreijer Andersson.

The quiet route wasn’t an option for Sacramento hip hop trio Death Grips, who announced their split with as much passion as they’d carried out their entire career. “We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over,” they wrote following the release of fourth LP ‘Niggas On The Moon’ in June. “Death Grips was and always has been a conceptual art exhibition anchored by sound and vision.”

Falling firmly and slightly oddly under the radar, meanwhile, were The Rapture, who split up without bothering to let anyone know in April. The break-up was only officially announced after manager Jonathan Galkin was quoted as saying, “Feel free to go to press with this headline: ‘Did the Rapture Break Up and Not Tell Anyone?'”

Stop us if you think you’ve heard this one before… When dance pioneers Orbital hung up their headphones in 2014 it was not for the first, but the second time. Having originally called time in 2004, the group then reformed for a series of live shows in 2009, eventually releasing one last studio album ‘Wonky’ in 2012.

Ohio stalwarts Guided By Voices also announced the second split of their career in September, cancelling all forthcoming shows in the process. “Guided by Voices has come to an end. With four years of great shows and six killer albums, it was a hell of a comeback run…” they said.

Nashville duo The Civil Wars also gave up the ghost in August following two albums and a very open series of public spats. The pair had previously scrapped an entire UK tour in 2012, citing “internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition” as the reason. It was never going to end well, really, was it?