The members of Jesus Piece have said the band “has been dead for some time” and a new iteration started by frontman Aaron Heard under a very similar name is “a mockery”.
Remaining members David Updike, John Distefano and Luis Aponte confirmed in a statement on Instagram that the project had ended some time ago after 10 years when Heard quit. However, Heard has since started a new band called JE$US PIECE, who are playing One Big Party in Phoenix this October.
Heard reshared a month old post from the festival on his Instagram with the new band’s name, writing alongside it, “that’s me and the homies”. His Instagram bio also mentions the band.
Just after the post went live, the remaining band members wrote: “Jesus Piece has been dead for some time. A member quit abruptly for personal reasons and we felt wrong continuing without him.
“Anything you see associated with this name or similar, playing our music and using our art, is not related to anything we worked for over the last 10 years.”
“We are proud of everything we did and it changed our lives forever,” it continues. “To try and continue that without us or in spite of us, is a mockery of what we’ve done and tried to do.”
They also responded more directly to Heard’s new project on their Instagram story, writing: “We never accepted this fest. No idea who JE$US PIECE is.”
Jesus Piece formed in Philadelphia in 2015 and released two albums together, 2018’s ‘Only Self’ and 2023’s ‘… So Unknown’.