DAN LILKER On NUCLEAR ASSAULT’s Breakup: “We’re Getting A Little Old”

Nuclear Assault quietly broke up in November 2022 by posting a photo of a gravestone on their Facebook, and then deleting their Facebook altogether. Guitarist Erik Burke later confirmed to a fan in a comment that Nuclear Assault was indeed done, and that was that – band over with no real statement.

Now in an interview with That Metal Interview Podcast, Nuclear Assault bassist Dan Lilker elaborated on the breakup. Lilker said the band’s members aren’t getting any younger and that touring isn’t as much fun as it used to be.

“We’ve been trying to hang it up for a while, but people won’t let us go,” said Lilker. “I know that people wanna see Nuclear Assault and everything like that, it’s just that… We’re getting a little old, and — I don’t know — it’s different. I just don’t enjoy touring like I used to. Flying isn’t what it used to be. You get fucked around at airports all the time. And I don’t really have patience. If my flight’s delayed or if [my] bass didn’t make it, for some reason, that shit’s getting old.”

Lilker later explained that Nuclear Assault vocalist John Connelly is a high school teacher and touring around his schedule is difficult.

“It’s hard to explain, because some of it’s stuff that we don’t really discuss outside the band or anything. But it’s hard now, because John, our frontman, he’s a high school teacher. So it’s really hard for him to get away. Obviously, he could get school vacations in the summer, but he’s also got a family. Just because it’s summer and he doesn’t have to teach doesn’t mean he’s gonna run away for a month and not be able to just go do normal vacation shit with his family and everything.

“So it just gets more complicated like that. He’s been doing that for a while now. So, obviously, he has a teacher’s schedule and he cannot take off from that; they have a very strict vacation thing with the New York education system. So that alone is a big reason that it’s really hard to do it.”

As of right now, Nuclear Assault‘s show at the UK Deathfest in London this past September was their final show.