June 18th, 2021

An open letter to the Lotus community,

It is with both excitement and sadness that I am announcing my departure from Lotus. My final performances with the band will take place at the Summerdance Festival in Ohio on Labor Day Weekend.

No words can adequately capture the immensity of gratitude and satisfaction that this musical project of nearly 23 years has brought to my life. At age 18, with a dreamy obsession for improvisational music, I started this band with Luke when we were just freshmen in college. I left college after only a few months with Martin Sexton’s song Glory Bound as my personal anthem: ain’t nothin’ but a pipe dream and my guitar. My commitment to pursuing music was crystal clear.

My experience in Lotus over all these years has been filled with joy, frustration, ecstasy, anger, exhilaration, loneliness, friendship, weariness, adventure, confusion, insecurity, growth, empowerment, pleasure, heartbreak, and above all, Love. It was my foundational commitment throughout these years to simply express Love through my guitar, and I oriented my life on tour around optimizing that potential each and every night. To all of you fans, over all of these years, I offer you my most reverent gratitude. You made my job easy: thank you for dancing and smiling and inspiring my heart’s song. You are so beautiful to me!

While the pandemic was a challenging upheaval for so many people, for me it opened the door to new possibilities and a quieter lifestyle that I had been longing for. My nervous system enjoyed a much needed break. It also afforded me the opportunity to start building a new career for myself in the areas of mindfulness, authentic relating work, and human growth and development. These are areas I’ve been studying and training in over several years between tours. Thus, last year it became clear to me that my love for humanity and my desire to contribute to the evolution of a healthy culture is taking me in a very different direction. I don’t want to live the “rock n’ roll lifestyle” any longer: it is no longer a true fit for the man I am becoming.

I’m excited to let you know that I am continuing to produce my own music, although it will be secondary–for the time being, anyway– to the transformational work I’ve been offering over the last year which includes personal coaching, authentic relating groups, guided meditations, and mindfulness education. I have paused the meditation and group offerings this Summer as I close out this final chapter with Lotus, and plan to resume these projects in October. If you would like to stay updated on my work and the evolution of my musical career, please sign up for my mailing list below. I don’t use social media very often, so signing up for my Newsletter is the best way to stay connected with me.

I want to offer my eternal thanks to my bandmates Luke and Jesse Miller, Chuck Morris, and Mike Greenfield for your badass musical talent, your commitment, and your hard work over all these years. The magic of our collective voice is permanently etched into my soul, and I will miss making music with you guys. So much. I also want to shout out to Steve Clemens, Joel Jimenez, and Andy Parada who were part of the Lotus origin story. I’d like to send huge thanks to the wonderful Lotus crew - Scott Huston, Evan Bates, Padraic McQuillan, Sean Garahan, Matt Almond, Laser, and Marty Cox for being dear friends and making it easy for the Lotus vibes to flow, night after night. Thanks also to everyone at Opus One Productions and Madison House for making all of this possible. Lastly, I offer the incredibly talented Tim Palmieri my best wishes. To be followed by such an adept guitar player is an honor and I wish this next incarnation of Lotus my sincerest blessing. May the musical gods continue to bless you and I look forward to witnessing your ongoing success.

If I’ve calculated correctly, I have 11 sets remaining in my career with Lotus, and I have every intention of making them count. I hope to see you there!

With a humble bow,

-Michael Rempel