Well, we had a fun 48 hours we had speculating as to why Howard Jones was seemingly booted out of Killswitch Engage, but now the former frontman has set the record straight with a statement released through the Killswitch Engage website. And it turns out the “real” reasons are a lot more mundane than anything to do with impregnated porn stars. Boo!

Here’s Howard’s statement in full:

Well, I guess I will shed a little light without going too deep.  As some of you may know, I’ve had a pretty interesting couple of years to say the least battling with some personal issues.  One of the low points being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes that went unchecked for years.  The rest of the band stuck with me through it, and to be honest they are the ones that kept me going.  The whole experience definitely put a scare in me.

Recently we’ve all been in writing mode but somehow I couldn’t get excited about the new album and all the touring that would go with it.  The guys saw it before I did.  In hindsight I now realize that my heart wasn’t in it.  I have had an amazing decade with KSE.  I love Justin, MikeD, Joel and Adam for hanging in there and standing by me no matter how bad it was. I have so many good memories, and those are the ones that I will keep.  Will I be involved in music again?  Sure, I have been in bands for a little over half my life, can’t stop now.  Until then, get the new KsE album, it’s going to be good.  Thanks everyone for letting me try to entertain you, and I wish myself well in my future endeavors.  Gone fishin’ Howard

Seems simple enough, and lacking in any significant drama for us internet shit-stirrers to really get our teeth into. Oh well.

Still, it doesn’t stop us speculating who’s going to step into Howard’s significantly large boots as frontman for Killswitch Engage, does it? With Jesse Leach and Howard’s one-time stand-in, Phil Labonte from All That Remains, both ruling themselves out of the running, we’re open to suggestions – drop us a comment with who you think could step up to front arguably the world’s most popular melodic metalcore act.