Tough luck for bassist Aaron "Bubble" Patrick, who has been hospitalized with pneumonia mere days before he was to join his bandmates in DevilDriver on the Metal Alliance Tour 2012, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles reports. Patrick is undergoing tests and will miss at least the opening show -- a March 15 performance at SXSW in Austin.

Filling in will be Chris Towning, who previously played with Patrick in Bury Your Dead. With luck, Patrick will recover fully and quickly and reconnect with the traveling metal circus before April 21, when the whole shebang wraps in Houston.

In addition to DevilDriver, this year's Metal Alliance features the Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job for a Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, Impending Doom and the Wretched. In between the Texas kickoff and finale, the tour will hit cities across the country and wind through portions of Canada.

More From Noisecreep