Shit doesn't hit the US fans

The cancellation of ShitDisco's US tour hasn't exactly created a great cultural shudderin. Joel's illness sounds pretty unpleasant, though, judging by the management statement:

On Sunday afternoon, Joel became violently ill. An ambulance was called & he was kept in hospital overnight for tests, the doctors unsure of what was wrong. The next day he was discharged and went back to Newcastle to recuperate, but on Tuesday it started again and he was taken back to hospital.

This has happened before and everytime the doctors have been unable to pin down the cause. In the past it has been written off as nervous exhaustion, but this time the doctors think there might be something else and they're trying to figure it out. He has been moved to another hospital and today underwent exploratory surgery.

Unfortunately all this means we are left with no option but to cancel our North American tour. We are deeply sorry to anyone who was planning to come and see us, we'd been looking forward to this one for awhile and its a damn shame this had to happen when it did. Hopefully the doctors can figure out what is going wrong this time so Joel can make a full recovery.
Our thoughts are with his family.

It's actually quite scary when they're doing surgery without knowing what they're looking for, so lets hope they find a reason. It's a pity one of the few British acts to actually manage to get a US tour visa have still had to cancel.

Shit hits their plans

Shitdisco's UK tour has been axed following Joel falling ill. Their statement explains further:

Joel became seriously ill in Aberdeen on Monday, went to hospital and was kept in overnight for tests. Aberdeen was cancelled. Joel discharged himself in the morning and travelled down with his bandmates to Newcastle where his condition deteriorated and had to go back to hospital. He's now stable but is in no state to play, doctors plan to run more tests in the next few days as they're still not actually sure what is wrong with him. Unfortunately then Shitdisco have had to pull the rest of the UK dates, Hull on 25th, London Kings College 26th and Manchester 27th. Joel and the band hope to be 'OK' for their European tour which starts early May.

We're always amazed when we hear people have discharged themselves from hospital - it's the NHS, for god's sake, they're not exactly known for keeping people in their beds unless there's some bloody good reason.