America's doom-pop masters, in addition to being heralded the world over for having released one of the year's best album's (huge thanks to Decibel, Paste, Terrorizer, Mojo, Pitchfork, MetalSucks, Crustcake, and the rest, you know who you are, we're just not allowed to put your name here yet), TORCHE has also been tapped by none other than Mike Patton and The Melvins, to head to the UK this weekend and perform at their very own All Tomorrow's Parties.

This event serves as a particularly special one, as it will mark the last time guitarist Juan Montoya will join the rest of the band on stage. Perhaps you've heard the rumors... all of them justifiably juicy, no doubt... but now it's official, TORCHE has parted ways with their guitarist of many years. In a statement prepared by Juan, he had this to say:

"The ATP / A Nightmare Before Christmas show on December 5, 2008, will be my final show with TORCHE. I'm very proud of the music we have created together over the past 4 years. I have been blessed to tour the world and meet amazing people and will be seeing you all soon enough. I am very inspired and will be collaberating with many of the talented friends I have met in my travels. Look out for new material early next year and a tour to follow. I wish TORCHE all the best and I thank all the fans for listening and being a part of this amazing experience."

TORCHE singer/guitarist Steve Brooks had this to say about the split:

"He's no longer with us due to ongoing personal reasons."

Just as they did for the final dates of their month long stint with label mates Clouds, Steve, along with drummer Rick Smith and bassist Jonathan Nunez will continue as a three piece moving forward, including their support dates with Isis in the UK. The band will be writing and demoing after the holidays and throughout January for their upcoming third full length.

Before the band's recent line up change, they finished recording two new bonus tracks for an upcoming 12" on Hydra Head. The 12", for the Meanderthal tracks "Healer" and "Across the Shields," will coincide with the debut of videos for both.... but more on that in January.

Around All Tomorrow's Parties, TORCHE will also be performing a handful of dates in the UK supporting Isis, full tourdates below.

* Look out for a new TORCHE 12" and two new videos for tracks off Meanderthal coming soon!