This past September, Dopapod announced they will be taking time away from the band and will head into a hiatus year for 2018. The band’s final show before the break was a three-set New Year’s Eve celebration in Boston.

Today, Dopapod keyboardist Eli Winderman shared a note about the hiatus, touching on the band’s hopes and fears going into the experimental time off, along with the love he and his bandmates feel for the fans that support them.

“One of the things that we were worried about before heading into this break was whether or not we would still have any fans when we came back,” Winderman writes. “This was a risk I knew we were taking and the truth is I don’t really know how this will all play out. Going into the unknown like this is extremely scary for many reasons, but I think it is one of the most necessary things people need to do every once in a while just to shake things up and not get too comfortable. It forces you to rethink everything you’ve worked for in your life and in turn it hopefully gives you a whole new perspective.”

Read the full note below.

A message from Eli:

Now that it’s been a little less than a week since NYE and I’ve been able to really process my thoughts, I just wanted to write a note to our all of our family, friends, and fans. This year has been an insane roller coaster of emotions. Being in a band is like a brotherhood (or sisterhood, not trying to leave out the ladies here). The other members of Dopapod and our crew has literally been like my family for the last 7+ years, so you can imagine that making the decision to take some time off from the road was super scary for us. It was something we knew we needed to do, not just for our health and sanity, but for the life and artistic scope of Dopapod.

One of the things that we were worried about before heading into this break was whether or not we would still have any fans when we came back. This was a risk I knew we were taking and the truth is I don’t really know how this will all play out. Going into the unknown like this is extremely scary for many reasons, but I think it is one of the most necessary things people need to do every once in a while just to shake things up and not get too comfortable. It forces you to rethink everything you’ve worked for in your life and in turn it hopefully gives you a whole new perspective.

What I do know is that Dopapod has truly touched and transformed a lot of people. I’ve spoken with many of our fans that have literally grown WITH this band. We’ve all been on this journey together and through it we’ve all seen beautiful changes and growth that has helped shape the destiny of our lives. Many of the people that have worked with Dopapod over the years have gone from basically no career in music to a very promising future following their dreams. I just can’t get over how cool that is. It gives me an amazing sense of pride and accomplishment.

The last show on NYE went as well as I could have ever hoped. You could literally feel the love in the air and there were several moments that I couldn’t hold back getting choked up and teary eyed just thinking about all of this. It was a night that I will never forget and I’m so grateful that it went that way so that now we can all head into this “unknown” with no regrets and positive memory of this thing.

Thank you so much for all of the support of the years. I can’t wait to see what happens with all of this, but in the meantime, I am just so grateful for everything that has happened. All of us have our side projects that we’ll be performing with so come and see us! I hope this all inspires you to follow your dreams and to take risks in your life to achieve them. I’m pretty sure that’s the only way it happens. Only time will tell! Thank you for reading this.