Hi all,
We want to update you on the current situation regarding Jimmie Strimell.
In doing so, we want to be completely honest and transparent.
When we gave him a second chance to once again enter the band as a full time member, our only demand was that he would be totally clean from his drug abuse.
The very drug abuse he himself has written about, and talks quite openly about in general. We reached a mutual agreement on zero tolerance against drugs and alcohol, accordingly.
Additionally, this would only apply on shows when we are to perform as Dead by April. As it is of course up to him, or anyone else, to make whatever choice in life they’d want otherwise, obviously.
The last couple of months there has been several occasion where we have caught Jimmie both high, and drinking alcohol. In fact, the very first tour he did with us as a returning member — he drank alcohol on the tourbus. So he has had multiple chances.
The last two shows on tour, Jimmie actually left us just a few hours before stage time. That’s insane!! 😳 Without saying anything to anyone. That’s so disrespectful towards the DBA fans that bought their tickets to enjoy the show. The rest of us actually stayed to perform the shows as we refused to cancel.
If anyone of you here on AA have any experience what it is like trying to communicate, have a relationship with, or even help (lending money, organizing, just being there when needed the most) with an addict — you’d know that it can be a complete nightmare…There are so many lies, paranoia, manipulation attempts, false accusations, it’s ridiculous. And there is literally nothing you can do.
We cannot be his emotional punching bag for whenever he chooses to use or drink. It’s extremely exhausting, tumoultus, stressful, and incredibly destructive…
We also don’t want to be his enablers and constantly give him new chances regardless of his behavior as he always promise us that this time — is the last time he is gonna use or drink.
As you can probably understand - we have no other choice but to let Jimmie go.. And we can only hope that he will make future choices that will put him on the right path in life. This is beyond our control, and we wish him all the strength, luck, and best we possibly can.
Note: we have a replacement ready. This will be updated in a separate post later today. #dbaforever
35 comments
@ÖSTRA: Thank you for the information. Hopefully that program can help Jimmie recover from his opiate addiction.
Sedan en tid tbx är Jimmie inskriven på substitutionsprogrammet för sitt opiatberoende och det är bara att hoppas han lyckas bryta missbruket denna gång.
@NONE: And it’s pointless to blame the band for Jimmie’s actions. I’ve been communicating with DBA for 7 years long enough to know they would only be truthful about this. They took him to counselling, lent him money, tried to be there for him, and gave him a second chance at being in the band and he broke their trust all over again by drinking and using while on tour. If they didn’t care about him, they would not have done any of that for him. So they really tried their best to help him. Stop blaming the band for Jimmie’s choices.
@NONE: Well based on what you said he told you, if he wasn’t guilty of what he did in the first place, he would never have mentioned feeling guilty. Of course the band wanted to know where he was or what he was doing out of CONCERN for his safety. They tried everything they could to help him and he let them down too many times. Someone from the band said during a show in Spain last year, Jimmie admitted to using heroin. He told the whole band plus two of their crew members Emil and Fredrik. I posted a screenshot of this proof under the band’s post about Jimmie. He literally TOLD them. I understand you’re his friend wanting to protect him but obviously you have not seen the side of him that he showed the band and their crew. The evidence is right there in that screenshot.
https://www.facebook.com/deadbyapril/photos/a.147033512961/10158074948787962/?type=3&theater
This so shity to imply that Jimmie does heroin. He is a close friend to me and the thing that makes Jimmie drink or take xanax (only thing he uses) is the fact that every DBA member always distrust him and after his ass all the time like Gestapo. Jimmie has always been an silent and humble guy in nature so having the band always in disbelieve in no matter what he says and does is the MAJOR cause of him to use pills or drink. Imagen being on tour with 5-7 other people, the ones that actualy should be your friends and close ones, always look at each and every move you make and question it. Who would not, if they already had alcohol or pill abuse not do drugs? I remember 3 summers ago, already then, he felt panic attacks on our walk talking about DBA and he actualy started to cry and said: I feel guilty when I use the bathroom for to long because when I open the door, someone will always question what I did in the bathroom. It was not jimmie that disappointed the fans- it was rest of the band giving jimmie such a hard time so he had a mental breakdown and left before going on stage! Because even after performing, the other DBA members only gave him negative criticism of his performance on stage. This the truth about Jimmie and DBA. Era jävla idioter
😢😢 i miss him !
Realmente espero que Jimmie mejore…
Yes, drug addicts must not be tolerated. It’s so easy to say “I have problems, I am lost, etc.” Sad for Jimmie, cuz he is great singer and things that dba was doing from the past was wonderful.
To the person below who asked, by saying “I have been there”, in that instagram caption, Jimmie implied he knows what it’s like to be addicted to heroin and write songs about it. I have contact with DBA and I’ve just been told by someone in the band they can confirm that it’s true. I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in, everyone is sad and angry about this. But Jimmie seriously needs to accept the help he clearly needs. Two Faced, which he wrote himself, is also literally about heroin addiction.
Does the instagram post proof Jimmie himself is/was a heroin addict though? I don’t think so, all it said really was “I know what it’s like to be lost in hell (due to drug addiction)”, not necessarily “I know what it’s like to be on the very same drug”. That’s how I interpreted it?