Following speculation that Death Grips had disbanded, they’ve responded with a short but sweet statement on Instagram.
It confirms that the band are still active and is signed off by vocalist MC Ride – real name Stefan Burnett – and producer and drummer Zach Hill. There’s no signature from Andy Morin, producer and keyboardist, who co-founded the group alongside Burnett and Hill in 2010, however.
“Despite rumour and hearsay, we remain active as Death Grips,” Burnett and Hill wrote, the statement taking the form of a piece of artwork with the message written in permanent marker.
This comes after a private message from Morin was leaked online in February suggesting the end of the band. In the message, he said: “Yeah it’s over, Stefan doesn’t want to do any more. But truthfully none of us can ever predict what will happen with the group.”
With Morin’s name excluded from the statement, it appears as though Death Grips will be continuing as a duo.
Since releasing their debut album ‘The Money Store’ in 2012, Death Grips have released a further five albums, but their most recent, ‘Year Of The Snitch’, came out in 2018. They then dropped an EP, ‘Gmail And The Restraining Orders’, the following year. In 2023, they released standalone singles ‘True Vulture’ and ‘The Bug Death Grips FULL MIXX’.
It was in 2023 that they last performed together, too, at Austin City Limits, which also contributed to the rumours that they’d split up. That same year, fans noticed that frequent collaborator Nick Reinhart played a show with them in place of Morin, too.
Their last UK shows were in June 2023, when they played in Glasgow and London either side of a co-headline slot at Outbreak Fest.
NME saw the group at Pitchfork Paris in 2012, meanwhile, writing: “Ride presses play on the computer and starts to stretch. Hill squats behind his kit and hammers a few bars. The crowd look worried. That’s because Death Grips’ music has a physical effect on your body. They grab you in the gut with churning gutter-synths, and the offbeat drums hurt parts of the brain you never knew existed.”