Hatebreed split with founding bassist Chris Beattie back in February, and recruited Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand "for the foreseeable future" in terms of live shows. According to a statement from Beattie at the time, he left Hatebreed on November 13, 2024 and clarified that it wasn't his decision to leave the band.
Now in a new interview with The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, Beattie opened up about his exit from the band and called it "completely unexpected.":
"We had just celebrated 30 years. It was awesome. Successful tour. Left on a high note. We did great stuff. And like I said before publicly, it was not my decision to leave the band. Someone saw an opportunity to get me out of the picture, and that's where I am now."
Beattie continued: "Everything went really well that year, but there was stuff going on behind the scenes, and it became a chore to get in touch with anyone. And I was the middle man, basically, for bandmembers and crew members, and that became a chore for me. And I had started asking a lot of questions, and it became problematic. I became a problem within the [organization]."
On his current situation with Hatebreed post-split, Beattie simply noted that there are lawyers involved: "We're trying to work it out. There's attorneys involved now. They're spending a lot of time having to deal with that and all the details of that. And I've gone back and forth.
"Obviously, when something like that happens, you're upset. You go through all these crazy emotions. You put 30 years into something like that. But I don't wanna shit on the legacy of what I did. And I could be that guy. I could come out here and I could talk all kinds of shit, but I don't want [to]… I don't wanna be that guy. We made good music. We had great times together. Things changed. Dynamics changed.
"It's hard to be away from your family when you're touring. Everyone understands that. And the feedback from people when you play, you inspire them, you touch their life, you have a positive, lasting impact on someone, that always kept me in the game. And when shit wasn't going right in the band and whatnot, you look at that man that's the realest shit you could possibly get. People would come up to us all the time and be, like, 'Man, I was ready to kill myself. And your music changed me.' How do you respond to that? It's real deep shit.
"So I'm just hoping for the best. Hopefully we'll be able to sort this out. I don't want us to go down some shitty road. We've all seen bands do that, so hopefully it could end on decent terms and be able to move ahead."
And no – there's really no chance that Beattie goes back to Hatebreed. Or at least that's how he feels about things right now: "My time is done with Hatebreed… It's done. My family comes first. I'll leave it at that. I can't go back to that. But there is a legacy. With all the time that I haven't been in the band now, which, it's weird to say, but people know me from that band everywhere I go. You can't shake that kind of shit. The identity is still there. So it's good. It's hard to talk about too, but here we are. New doors open."
