My Dying Bride: Aaron Stainthorpe's 2025 Silence
The My Dying Bride Aaron Stainthorpe story turned public in 2025 when word spread that the band's Istanbul show had moved to November with a guest vocalist, and the singer and guitarist Andrew Craighan traded blame over communication. For three decades Stainthorpe's deep, mournful voice was the sound of Yorkshire doom, so hearing that voice absent from a My Dying Bride stage landed hard on the fans who built their listening lives around it. What began as a scheduling note about one concert grew into a very public airing of a long partnership coming apart.
The account going around says My Dying Bride's 2025 Istanbul concert with Rotting Christ was pushed to November, with a guest vocalist standing in for Aaron Stainthorpe. In that same telling, Stainthorpe and guitarist Andrew Craighan each blamed the other's side for poor communication, and the band's future with its longtime frontman was left uncertain.
- The circulating story says My Dying Bride's co-headline date with Rotting Christ in Istanbul was rescheduled from its original 2025 slot to November.
- A guest vocalist, named in the account as Miiko Kotamaki, was said to handle vocals at the rescheduled show in place of Aaron Stainthorpe.
- Andrew Craighan reportedly gave an interview describing communication problems with Stainthorpe as central to the situation.
- Stainthorpe is said to have responded publicly, disputing the account and placing the communication failures on the band's side.
- Stainthorpe has also been connected, in the same account, to an outfit called High Voltage, while My Dying Bride's plans around a new album remained unsettled.
My Dying Bride's Istanbul Show Moves, and an Ankara Date Appears
Here is where it gets strange. On 31 July 2025, a fan account reported that My Dying Bride's 24 May 2025 Istanbul concert had been pushed to 9 November 2025, and that a second Turkish date in Ankara had quietly appeared on the calendar for 8 November 2025. According to that same account, Rotting Christ was set to co-headline both nights. None of these dates or the billing has been reliably confirmed, so hold the schedule loosely.
What makes the change worth a second look is the name at the center of it: My Dying Bride Aaron Stainthorpe. The British doom/death metal band built its identity on Stainthorpe's deep, mournful growl, a voice so tied to the group's sound that it is hard to picture the songs without him. So when one postponed show turns into two, and the frontman is the question mark, people start paying attention.
The report did not stop at dates. It claimed that Stainthorpe would not appear at the rescheduled concerts, and that Swallow the Sun's vocalist would tour as a guest vocalist in his place. Neither point has been confirmed, and the singer's name as printed in the account appears misspelled (the Swallow the Sun frontman is normally written Mikko Kotamäki). Take them as reported, not proven.
Still, the story gives you a sense of how strange this stretch has been for the band: a spring date that slid into autumn, a brand new city added to the map, and a co-headliner carried over to both. Whether the November nights in Istanbul and Ankara unfold exactly as described is the part nobody has nailed down yet.
No Aaron Stainthorpe: Miiko Kotamaki Steps In
According to the original account, My Dying Bride's rescheduled concerts will go ahead without frontman Aaron Stainthorpe, with Swallow the Sun's Miiko Kotamaki reportedly stepping in as guest vocalist. The name as circulated appears to be a misspelling of Mikko Kotamäki, the Finnish singer who fronts Swallow the Sun. Either way, the arrangement is the detail that has fans talking, and it remains unverified.
The band's side, as the story goes, is that the decision to perform with Miiko was made collectively. Andrew Craighan reportedly framed it in plain terms: the group wanted to play live, and with Miiko they had someone willing to stand at the mic. Picture that stage, a doom metal crowd waiting through the slow, heavy build of a song like "The Cry of Mankind," and the voice carrying it belongs to someone else.
For anyone who has followed the band for years, the absence lands hard. Stainthorpe's low, aching register is stitched into My Dying Bride's sound the way a name is cut into a tombstone. A guest singer can hit the notes. Matching that particular darkness is another thing entirely.
None of this has been confirmed by the band's official channels, so treat the guest-vocalist plan as an account that is still circulating rather than settled fact. The one point worth flagging plainly: the singer's name is normally spelled Mikko Kotamäki.
Two Interviews, Two Versions of the Same Silence
Picture two men in the same band, giving interviews weeks apart, and somehow describing two completely different realities. According to the original account, Aaron Stainthorpe sat down first and insisted he had not left My Dying Bride. He just could not work out what was happening around him. Concerts had been announced, a new album was reportedly going into the studio, and none of it, he said, came with his knowledge. Nobody picked up the phone. Nobody wrote. No reliable record of that interview has surfaced, so it stays in the reported column.
Then the microphone passed to Andrew Craighan, and the story flipped. In a later interview, as the account goes, Craighan said the band had heard nothing from Stainthorpe since April 2024. Their updates on their own frontman came from social media, the same way a fan would get them. He reportedly added that they tried reaching out around March of this year and got silence back. With a new record already out, they wanted to play live, so the group reportedly chose to move forward with Miiko at the mic.
Same Room, Different Memories
Line the two versions up and the shape of the problem gets almost funny. One man says no one contacted him. The other says they tried and he never answered. Two people, one band, and a gap wide enough to park a tour bus in. Both sides, in the end, are pointing the same finger: you did not communicate.
The details here come from the original reporting and have not been independently confirmed, so treat them as the story as it was told rather than settled record.
What makes it sting is who is missing from the room. Stainthorpe's voice is the thing fans hum in their heads, that low, wounded growl that has defined the band's sound for decades. A lineup can survive a change at the drums. Losing that particular throat feels less like a swap and more like a hole in the wall.
High Voltage, Unfollows, and What the Source Doesn't Prove
Here is the part where we slow down. The account that started all of this chatter also reports that My Dying Bride's Aaron Stainthorpe is working on a new band called High Voltage. No reliable information confirms a Stainthorpe project by that name. Worth noting the title lands right on top of a famous AC/DC song, which makes it feel a little too neat, a little too on the nose. Treat it as a rumor with a good hook, not a press release.
The same account says the band and Stainthorpe do not follow each other on Instagram. Again, reported, contested, and honestly the kind of detail that tells you more about fan frustration than about the actual relationship between a singer and his bandmates. Social media silence is not a court record.
Reported, not proven
- A new project called High Voltage
- No mutual Instagram follows
- A guest vocalist touring in Stainthorpe's place
What the source does say clearly
The account has the band moving forward with a guest vocalist while the singer's status stays murky. Everything sharper than that is the writer's reading of the situation, not a verified fact.
One piece of this is pure opinion, and the original writer says as much: losing a vocalist so deeply woven into the band's sound would not bode well. That is a fan's gut feeling dressed up as a verdict. It might be right. It is not evidence.
Every specific claim in this account is flagged as unconfirmed in fact-checking. So read the whole thing the way you would read a friend leaning across a table: the account says it, and the account could be wrong.
That is the honest place to land. The dates, the guest vocalist, the silence between two parties, all of it sits in the same bucket of reported but unproven. If you repeat any of it, repeat it with the caveat attached. The story about Aaron Stainthorpe and My Dying Bride is still being written, and nobody has shown us the final page.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Aaron Stainthorpe not performing with My Dying Bride in 2025?
According to the account that has been going around, Stainthorpe reportedly is not on the bill for the rescheduled shows. The same account says the band moved forward without him, with a guest vocalist taking the mic. No official statement from the band or from Stainthorpe himself has confirmed this arrangement, so the reason behind his reported absence remains unclear and contested.
What did Andrew Craighan say about Aaron Stainthorpe's absence?
As the story goes, guitarist Andrew Craighan gave an interview saying the band had heard nothing from Stainthorpe since April 2024 and had been learning about his current activities through social media. The same account claims the band tried to reach him around March and got no reply. This interview has not been reliably verified, so it should be read as a reported claim, not a confirmed quote.
When was My Dying Bride's Istanbul concert rescheduled to?
Reportedly, the Istanbul date originally set for 24 May 2025 was pushed back to 9 November 2025. That new date has not been reliably confirmed. Fans following the story should check the band's own channels and the venue's official announcements before making travel plans around it.
Who is Miiko Kotamaki and why is he singing for My Dying Bride?
The circulating account names "Miiko Kotamaki," vocalist of the Finnish band Swallow the Sun, as the guest singer touring with My Dying Bride. The name is normally spelled Mikko Kotamäki. The guest-vocalist arrangement itself has not been verified, and the reported reasoning, that the band chose to play the shows with him, comes from the same unconfirmed interview.
What is Aaron Stainthorpe's new band High Voltage?
The source account claims Stainthorpe is working on a new project called High Voltage. No reliable information about a Stainthorpe band by that name exists, and the title happens to match a famous AC/DC song, which adds to the doubt. Until Stainthorpe or a credible outlet confirms it, file this one under rumor.
Did My Dying Bride and Aaron Stainthorpe stop following each other on social media?
The story claims the two sides no longer follow each other on Instagram, offered up as evidence of a rift. Social media follow lists are a flimsy way to read a relationship, and this detail has not been confirmed. It is worth noting only because fans have latched onto it as a clue.
What happened with My Dying Bride's Ankara concert in 2025?
Reportedly, an Ankara show was added for 8 November 2025, the night before the rescheduled Istanbul date. That addition has not been reliably confirmed either. If both dates are real, the reported plan pairs them with Rotting Christ as co-headliner, but that billing is also unverified. The through-line for anyone trying to follow the My Dying Bride Aaron Stainthorpe story: every specific claim here traces back to a single fan-written account, not to the band. Watch the official channels, and hold the rest loosely. Editorial note: details of the dispute rest on public statements from those involved as reported, and any facts that remain unconfirmed are presented here as such rather than as settled fact.
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