On Friday, the Pink Floyd/Talking Heads/Phish-hybrid tribute band known as Pink Talking Phish announced they are parting ways with guitarist Dave Brunyak. The statement on the lineup change shared to their social media outlets on Friday morning comes just a few days after the band announced an upcoming two-night run at New York City’s Brooklyn Bowl scheduled for April 26th and 27th. News of the band’s lineup change also comes a little over a week after the band mysteriously canceled a pair of Florida concerts scheduled for March 1st and 2nd without explanation.
A statement from the band shared on Friday regarding the departure of Brunyak reads,
“Change is a part of life and we have some big changes happening in the world of Pink Talking Fish. As a band, the four of us have collectively decided that Dave Brunyak will be moving on from PTF. We are thankful for Dave’s friendship and his contribution to the band. We wish him well in his new project DB and any other new ventures on his horizon. We are thrilled to welcome Cal Kehoe as the new guitarist for Pink Talking Fish. Cal’s first show will be Thursday 3/14 in Harrisburg PA at Club XL Live. Please join us in welcoming him to the team and get ready for exciting adventures ahead in the next chapter of PTF!”
In conjunction with the announcement, Brunyak also delivered the following statement to L4LM:
After careful thought and consideration of my future as a musician and as a loving human being, it is through a bittersweet smile that I announce my time as a member of Pink Talking Fish has ended, indefinitely. Through my years with PTF, I have grown both personally and professionally and it is in the spirit of this continued metamorphosis that we separate at this fork in the stream. I place priceless value in the relationships that I have formed with Eric, Rick, Zack, and the rest of the PTF family and I have the utmost confidence that they will endure, no matter where the current takes us. In the wake of this change, I am very excited to commit myself to writing and performing new music with my family of friends in DB. We all have such limited time on Earth to follow our dreams and I feel now that I have never been more ready to bring new music into the world. For those of you that have come to know me as a faithful Trey Enthusiast, fear not! I will continue to express my appreciation for Phish, their culture, and their music by rendering love-filled renditions of Trey Anastasio Band songs on many occasions. It has been my life’s journey to spread joy through music and I have no intentions of stopping now. Transitions like this require time for adjustment so, while we all get our bearings, let me leave you with an anecdote that moors me in these times of turbulent water. Upon returning home from many a trip across the country, I would walk through the JFK display that shines before the exit to baggage claim at Logan Airport. I leave you with a quote from his speech that plays on repeat at this display which, time and time again, has served to bring me courage: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win…”
The band’s 2019 spring tour is set to continue with the next performance scheduled for March 14th with a show at Club XL in Harrisburg PA. The show will be the first time in which fans will experience the band with their new guitarist in Cal Kehoe.
Fans can head over to Pink Talking Fish’s website for ticketing and more information on their upcoming run of shows.