Psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard have announced they are pulling out of performing at Bluesfest after Sticky Fingers was added to the festival’s line-up.
“As a band and as human beings, we stand against misogyny, racism, transphobia and violence.” the band said in a statement on Monday. “Surprised and saddened to see Bluesfest commit to presenting content that is in complete opposition to these values.”
“Given this decision by the festival, we have decided to cancel our appearance at Bluesfest. We are deeply disappointed to be in this position but sometimes you have to be willing to make sacrifices to stand up for values. This is, unfortunately, one of those moments.” the band said.
Sydney rock band Sticky Fingers have released five albums of material but became pariahs in the Australian music scene after a series of controversial incidents. In 2016 the band went on hiatus after lead singer Dylan Frost was accused of being abusive towards several musicians.
Indigenous musician Thelma Plum accused Frost of drunkenly abusing her and her boyfriend outside a Sydney pub. There have also been reports of the band members being involved in incidents allegedly involving racism and transphobia.
Dylan Frost has previously made multiple apologies for his past behaviour; highlighting challenges with alcohol and mental health.
Bluesfest director Peter Noble has defended the decision to include the band in the festival, issuing a lengthy statement. Read the statement below.
As is well known, I am and always have been the Director of Bluesfest.
Over the years, Bluesfest has been the promoter of music festivals which allowed diverse artists to exercise their freedom of artistic expression and have afforded the Australian public access to their works.
In the course of doing so, Bluesfest has been proud to give prominence to indigenous artists and to promote diversity in the music industry.
Recently, a band decided to cancel a forthcoming appearance at Bluesfest because Sticky Fingers, particularly its lead singer (who are booked to play at Bluesfest), was involved in an incident with another artist offstage a long time ago.
There has already been a lot of social media traffic about this decision. I think one commentator well reflects my feelings, as previously stated:
“That whole situation happened 7 years ago and the lead singer of Sticky Fingers has been extremely apologetic and open about his bipolar schizophrenia and substance abuse during that time and is also Māori. They’ve done the work to try and make amends and took a long hiatus to fix things.”
I believe an attempt to victimise this man and his band in the circumstances is cruel and unforgiving. This cruelty and lack of compassion are foreign to my values, as is the attempt to suppress the band’s artistic expression. I was and remain proud to give the band a chance at rehabilitation.
Bluesfest hopes that the public will understand, respect, and hopefully, on reflection, agree with the position my company and I have taken. Forgiveness is critical to helping people with mental health challenges continue functioning in society.
It has been suggested that because of the listing of Sticky Fingers, Bluesfest and I endorsed the lead singer’s ancient troubled behaviour. That suggestion is deplorable, untrue, and actionable as being defamatory.
OIP Staff
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