Saint Vitus' Wino deported from Norway

Saint Vitus are to continue their European tour without frontman Wino after he was deported from Norway for drug possession.

The doom metal outfit say in a statement that singer Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich has been sent back to the US with no prospect of returning to Europe for the remaining two dates of their 35th anniversary tour alongside Orange Goblin.

They’ll play tonight’s show in Osnabruck, Germany, and tomorrow’s gig in Jena, Germany, with guest vocalists.

Saint Vitus say: “We would like to regretfully inform all of our European fans that our lead vocalist Wino was detained by the Norwegian police and immigrations officers for possession of illegal substances since Sunday, November 9.

“As of 4pm yesterday, we were informed by his Norwegian defence attorney that he would more than likely be released that same day and be able to continue the remaining dates of our European tour. This morning we received notification that Wino was being deported today back to the US with no hope to remain in Scandinavia or anywhere in the EU.

“Our sincere apologies to all of our fans, the promoters, booking agents and especially our Norwegian fans and promoter for the cancelled show. David Chandler and Henry Vasquez, along with a few surprise guests, will take over vocal duties and this will be a rare opportunity to see Vitus with main songwriter David Chandler vocalising his tormented tales of pain, heartache and Doom.”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.