What happened to John Browne? Monuments cancel tour, go on indefinite hiatus amid guitarist's health scare

Monuments were set to tour across North America with Leprous and Fight the Fight in September and early October of 2024. The band has now, however, canceled their appearance on the said tour after guitarist John Browne was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthiritis that affects the spinal cord.

The condition has no known cure and requires around the clock physiotherapy and other assistive medication to manage. The guitarist's condition and the cancelation of the tour was announced by the band via a post on their official Instagram page on August 9, 2024, with band members John Browne, Andy Cizek and Werner Erkelens stating:

"Dear friends, fans and supporters. It‘s with great sadness that we must announce that we will not be able to play the upcoming US tour together with Leprous and Fight The Fight. We are also halting the songwriting process for M5 for the time being."

The statement continues:

"As some of you are aware, Browne was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis a few years ago. To get his condition under control and in the right direction he’ll be spending a bit of time to make it more comfortable to live with. For now, we’ll be on indefinite hiatus until it’s under control. Please keep the MONUMENTS flag flying high until we return."

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More on Monuments tour cancelation and hiatus

While Monuments themselves will no longer be performing in the Leprous tour, the tour itself is currently set to continue as planned. Leprous is bringing along emo rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die and Earthside as replacements for Monuments.

While no further explanation has been provided as to the reason for the complete hiatus, John Browne's health condition and consequent inability to perform his band duties comes just after the band parted ways with their drummer Mike Maylan, leaving just two active and healthy members.

Mike Maylan's departure was due to family commitments, as explained in the announcement of his departure from the band in a official Instagram post on April 16, 2024:

"After countless tours, beautiful memories, and many great songs written, it is with heavy hearts that we must announce the departure of our great friend and drummer Mike Malyan."

The statement continues:

"As fun and rewarding as the band lifestyle can be, our paths in life naturally diverge and shift over time. We fully support Mike’s decision to step down and put his family’s and personal well-being first. From the bottom of our hearts, we love you Mikey, thank you for everything."

Mike Mayland had first joined the band back in 2010, remaining with them through all four of their albums. John Browne, meanwhile, is one of the founding members of the band.

With the band going on hiatus, their current catalog consists of four studio albums and two demos. Of these, the band made their debut with the demo ...And It Will End in Dissonance in 2006, followed by the second demo in We Are the Foundation.

Their debut album, Gnosis, was released on August 28, 2012 via Century Media Records. The debut faced considerable issues during recording, with the band having to re-record all the tracks with Matt Rose as vocalist after the first vocalists Neema Askari and Greg Pope left the band due to disagreements.

Monuments achieved chart success with their third studio album, Phronesis, released on October 5, 2018. The album charted at number 70 on the German album chart.