After reforming a little over a year ago and making a cross-country reunion tour last March and April, Coalesce has once again decided to hang it up. A statement on the band's message board from Stacy, the band's guitarist:
"It has been nearly ten of playing with the gentlemen in Coalesce in one incarnation or another. But after much contemplation Sean and I have decided to end Coalesce the way we started this thing with a small show and a group of our friends. Our first show was in the basement of Jim redd's parent house, because our show at a club was cancelled. We have always been an intimate setting group, we love or fan/friends. In turn we like to be close to our friends, but as a group of musicians we have other places in our lives that we want to be. I am ready to take the next step with Casket Lottery and make a real go at it. These last two shows [in Kansas City and St. Louis] were our last shows, that is why we played with all local groups and close friends. It was not our plan to end it now, but it felt right. I have put many years and sacrificed alot to pursue this love of mine, so I wanted nothing more than it to work. It simply couldn't. This is my saying goodbye to it once and for all. "The fire that once occupied my eyes," is no longer with us. We are not the same people we were when we started this and we don't want to tarnish anything that we may have built. This is my thanks and now I'll quietly step away from the stage."
Stacy also posted later that he, Sean, and Cory will be starting a new band come January 1st, 2003, while James is heading back to do the Get Up Kids and Reggie and the Full Effect. Stacy will also remain in the Casket Lottery.

Thanks to Burke Van Raalte for tipping me off to this story.