POS – PN09 = SPV
We find ourselves in a state of surreal depression right now. After two weeks of nasty bureaucratic roller coasting and endless hours and days of waiting for people we have never met, we finally had a verdict. In the early hours of June 20, the plug was irretrievably pulled for our participation in the PN09 tour.
Through all these turbulent weeks since SPV (the owners of our record label InsideOut) filed for bankruptcy, we have truly done all in our power to save the coming album and the US tour, and InsideOut have pulled every possible and impossible string to make it work. It is with great sadness and disappointment that we declare failure. Pain of Salvation (or Beardfish, also pulled down in the wake of the sinking SPV) will thus not attend the PN09 tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa.
We want to thank the guys in Dream Theater and their management for having hoped and waited and for being very understanding and supportive despite this unexpected and bad turn of events. We still can’t picture ourselves NOT standing there in Las Vegas at the end of August and play Disco Queen all dressed up as Elvis impersonator impersonators! Luckily, a supportive Mike Portnoy burst in backstage right before our show at Hellfest this weekend to break the vacuum we were in and assure us that this was not by far the last train leaving the station, so we still haven’t lost scent of those Elvis costumes entirely.
Lastly, our apologies to the many fans who have already bought tickets, booked flights and train rides, asking leave from jobs etc. It’s really the liquidator handling SPV’s bankruptcy who should be making these apologies, but we have this feeling he never will (shame on you, you ignorant bowl of oatmeal!) so we simply do it in his place.
But let us end on a higher note; at least we can now all rejoice with the handful of American fans who contacted us and kindly (well, that might be a bit stretched) explained to us that since we were not supportive of the Bush administration, we were not welcome and should cancel the tour. We are always happy to be of service to our fans. I mean, ex fans are also fans, right? 
/Pain of Salvation