After over 30 years with Hatebreed, founding bassist Chris Beattie was unexpectedly removed from the band in late 2024. In February 2025, Hatebreed announced that Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand would be handling bass duties "for the foreseeable future."
Shortly afterward, Beattie released a statement confirming that he had actually left the band on November 13, 2024, and emphasized that it was not his decision. Now in a new interview with Cassius Morris, Hatebreed drummer Matt Byrne acknowledged Beattie's absence and confirmed that legal matters are being addressed.
"I can't talk too much about it, 'cause there's lawyers involved and things have to be settled. Chris has been in the band since day one. I've been in the band with him for more than half my life, so yeah, this is a major change for me."
Byrne also praised Matt Bachand, the longtime Shadows Fall guitarist now performing live with Hatebreed on bass. "We're jamming with Matt Bachand… He's a great player. He proves it by being the guitar player of a shreddy band like Shadows Fall, and he's jumping over to bass for us. His performance is unquestionable. We're just moving on in a different era of Hatebreed."
While both sides remain cautious due to ongoing legal proceedings, the departure of Chris Beattie marks a significant chapter in Hatebreed's history — and opens a new, uncertain era for the Connecticut-based metalcore pioneers. Beattie also told his side of the story in an interview with New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, essentially saying the same thing in terms of lawyers being 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."
