If there’s one thing you can say about Brazil, it’s that they aren’t afraid of change. Even if that change comes by way of disbanding, normally the breaking point of a band’s life. The evolution of a band is not so different from evolution in the natural world. It’s all about adaptation.

You’ll be surprised at the amount of change that adaptation requires. Sometimes adaptation requires changing what you are altogether, and so it went that this past June, Brazil’s lead singer, Jonathon Newby, surprised everyone in the band when he announced he would be leaving the band after their last five booked shows.

Newby has this to say regarding his decision: “The mental and emotional effort of trying to keep six band members, half a dozen team members, a fan base and a road crew on the same page year after year had taken a very heavy psychological toll. If I had continued much further … Zoloftville. Population: me.”

Needless to say, this left the other members of the band asking themselves the classic Darwinian question: evolution or entropy?

“[We] took the next six weeks to search for an answer to the question of whether to continue on,” bassist Philip Williams says of Brazil’s decision to disband and reform in the future. “We asked lots of friends in the industry for advice … Ultimately, though, it was our decision.

“It’s very exciting that I get to now create new music with my best friends, meanwhile quietly sidestepping our ‘national act’ status,” Williams continues. “At this point in our careers, most of the band just really needed things to get back to the fun of playing music.”

As with every creative endeavor, it’s not change that’s to be feared, but rather, stagnation.