Aaron Heard Explains Jesus Piece Breakup: “Those Men Are Not My Friends”

In the past few days, the great Philadelphia hardcore band Jesus Piece has come apart in dramatic, contentious fashion. About a month ago, the Arizona festival One Big Party unveiled its lineup, which features “JE$US PIECE” high up on the bill. Earlier this week, Jesus Piece frontman Aaron Heard reposted the lineup, writing, “that’s me and the homies.” Twenty minutes later, Heard’s Jesus Piece bandmates David Updike, John Distefano, and Luis Aponte shared a joint statement, claiming that the band has broken up and expressing their frustration that Heard would launch another project under what’s basically the same name: “Anything you see associated with this name or similar, playing our music and using our art, is not related to anything we worked for over the last 10 years… To try and continue that without us or in spite of us, is a mockery of what we’ve done and tried to do.” Now, Heard has offered his response.