Kasey Agosto
They Are Gutting a Body of Water cancel US tour as Doug Dulgarian reveals cancer diagnosis
Philadelphia band They Are Gutting a Body of Water have announced the cancellation of their US tour, as vocalist Doug Dulgarian shares that he will be undergoing cancer treatment.
They Are Gutting a Body of Water were set to head to Baltimore, Maryland on 29 October, with further dates in Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, California, Philadelphia, New York, and more, with the tour planned to run until the end of the year.
Dulgarian took to social media to share the news, revealing that he received the diagnosis last Friday (16 October), the same day that the band released their compilation album KOOL FAITH / LOOSIES II. While all scheduled dates have been officially scrapped, Dulgarian explains in his post that they will keep the Philadelphia and NYC dates as planned in hopes that he'll be able to perform.
"Damn. super bummed to have to talk about this. And super bummed to do this," he writes. "I was diagnosed with cancer last Friday, same day we put out Kool Faith. crazy day, every possible emotion lmao. We obviously can’t do the tour, as I need to get this figured out. I have treatment in a couple weeks. I have a feeling it will all work out. been thru a lot of things in my crazy and (atp) relatively long existence and I'm no stranger to putting my best foot forward and facing some difficult shit.
I wanna make this clear. I'm not seeking pity. I do not want to sway your emotions to feel bad for me. I just want to inform you. I genuinely believe this will work out just fine. There are many people with much worse problems and my life has been so infinitely blessed and privileged & I never lose sight of that.
Also, I don’t think that kind of mindset is beneficial. If I start to believe that I deserve pity from others, I would feel bad for myself, & that’s the beginning of giving up. This ain’t the end of the world. We’re gonna keep the Philly & NYC dates on the schedule in hopes I’ll be able to do it.
Life's so weird man. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Most of the time I don’t understand why at the time, but it always makes sense in the end. I'm sure this situation is no different.
The fact that I got the diagnosis the same day we put out a massive compilation featuring as many friends as i could muster, well that symbolism that is not lost on me. I know I can be real corny sometimes but music and community has given me a purpose in my life that I didn’t have before I found it. You live one time and I haven’t got time to not mean everything I say, or to leave things unsaid.
I love nothing more than making music and seeing my friends & it breaks my heart to cancel a tour. I hope what I can walk away with from this situation is gratitude for another experience. I've been blessed to experience a full spectrum of emotion in my life. Very good, very bad, a whole lot in between. I'm scared and unsure of how this will all go.
The prognosis seems to be pretty good. That's cool. Love y'all. I’ll keep ya posted."
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