One of the Merritt Electric Mountain Music Festival’s headline performers, Gorillaz Sound System, has cancelled its North American tour and its Merritt appearance with it.

DJ Kofi, the man behind the Gorillaz Sound System, announced on Monday that due to scheduling conflicts, he would be cancelling all Canadian and American shows.

The group was scheduled to play at the first-ever Electric Mountain Music Festival and was expected to be a major draw there.

Regime Entertainment, one of the festival’s promoters, expressed regret when announcing the group’s cancellation.

“As I’m sure you can imagine, we at Electric Mountain are extremely saddened and disappointed to hear of this unfortunate news,” said Regime’s communications director, Meghan Edmondson.

“However, we know that when you are working within the landscape of the music business, you always risk being faced with matters of this issue.”

The festival is set to continue as planned with the time-slot previously set aside for Gorillaz Sound System now sitting open.

Just who will be filling the open spot has yet to be announced.

“We are definitely going to replace the Gorillaz Sound System,” explained Edmondson.

“We have a few acts in mind, acts I can’t name at this time, and are currently working hard to fill that spot.”

The festival will take place on Labour Day Weekend. Event organizers expect to sell between 1,500 to 3,000 tickets for the three-day concert.

Among t h e ar t i s t s scheduled to perform are Tito Deville, Hot Pink Delorean, Junior Sanchez, Downlink, Lazy Rich, Kissed with a Noise, and Mat the Alien.

Festival organizers say the artist lineup will be confirmed through the end of August.