Animals As Leaders Cancels Australian Tour Due To Drummer Sustaining Serious Injury

Animals As Leaders have announced that they will be cancelling their upcoming tours due to drummer Matt Gartska sustaining a serious arm injury.

Animals As Leaders have had to cancel their remaining 2025 dates, including an Australian tour following following an injury sustrained by the band’s drummer Matt Garstka. This cancellation will also impact their upcoming shows in Mexico and South America.

The instrumental progressive metal band shared a statement via social media this morning which reads:

“To our fans in Mexico, South America, and Australia,

We have some unfortunate news. We’re going to have to cancel our upcoming tour dates.Matt sustained a serious arm injury that requires surgery, and there’s no way we can perform without him.

Rather than leave things up in the air, we’re calling it now and putting our full focus into writing the next Animals As Leaders album. New material is already in the works, and we’ll have more to share soon.

We know this news sucks – especially for those of you who’ve been waiting a long time to see us live. Canceling isn’t something we take lightly. Thank you for sticking with us. We’ll make it back to your cities with new music and a set that hits even harder.”

Gartska also shared an update later in the day, revealing that he’s now on the other side of surgery, but will need two-three months until he can play drums again. “I’m really apologetic we have to cancel these tours for Australia, South America and New Mexico,” he shared. “We’ll make it up to you guys in some way, and I appreaciate everyone being so understanding.” Gartska would follow the announcement up with a quick joke, sharing, “I guess I’ll be working on some double bass,” the drummer joked.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMwIne7OJiG/

Animals As Leaders were set to tour Australia, visiting Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth throughout September.