Discovered recently that Electric Wizard were kinda dicks back in the day. “At the time, we were pretty bad people. I got arrested for arson of a car, outside a police station. Tim [Bagshaw] went to nick a crucifix off a church roof so we could use it onstage…”
R. L. Burnside killed a man “possibly at a craps game.”
Varg of Mayhem Burzum burned a couple churches and killed a bandmate.
I could list other examples, but would like to hear from other people and other music genres.
Justin Sane, frontman of punk rock’s Anti-Flag, was recently accused of “predatory behavior, sexual assault, and statutory rape.”
Allegedly he’d eyefuck girls from the stage during shows in a very “That’s right, I’m a rockstar, lookin’ at you” kind of way, and somehow get them invited backstage later.
His bandmates disbanded after the news broke. Bandmates say they weren’t aware, that they stand with the victims, and they condemn his actions.
I saw Anti-Flag at a small venue years back and it makes me wonder if it happened to fellow concertgoers that night.
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This one gets to me. Not because I liked them that much, but because Justin has always been a dick and I could just write it off as “yeah they were a bunch of dicks but they put on a good show”. An Anti-Flag show in the 2000s, here at least, was one of the few times a punk show wasn’t in a basement somewhere, so it was absolutely THE place to be if you were in the scene. They also frequently had great bands with them so it always made for a great time.
But after the accusations came out it left a real bad taste realizing that he’s probably much more than “just a dick”.
I haven’t listened to a ton of Anti-Flag in recent years, but they were a big part of me getting into punk decades ago and this one sucked to find out.
I just saw them with Flogging Molly. Must have been one of their very last shows. They’re new album is so good, but they’re dead to me.