Accountability in Music • Page 1039

Found this, done back in 2016 when 4 came out.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: The 13 year history of Christian rock band survivors - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

 

imo this comes across as performative. it feels hollow to say two or three sentences that amount to “Fuck Brand New”. it feels like throwing stones from glass houses when you, as an artist that people look up to, could have skeletons in your closet that people don’t know about until years to come, how how BN was for many. not saying they do or don’t, but just pointing out the tightrope that an artist has to be aware of when criticizing someone that was a direct peer. it could be you, or a bandmate, etc. its a bit tone deaf imo bc its someone from a position of that same power using it for mid-set hype

like, i appreciate the sentiment, but that specific dialogue is more effective if its talked about in an interview or a discussion post online, not in front of a stage to get some cheers right before you go into the next song

that being said, yes, sincerely, fuck Brand New

 

When I went with my wife to see them (SF) in Dallas he threw in a quip about Brand New in the middle of other banter and like, obviously fuck Brand New, but regardless it came across like just trying to get cheap cheers/laughs and not like any kind of meaningful talking

But I mean it's a minor thing, some people are annoying and I'll take that over silence about them from people who were their peers

 

I believe the issue was he said all that and just continued touring and living his life like nothing happened. Seemed very like “Yeah, I did it. Sorry! Let’s get on with the show.”

 

Sadly, I'd say like 75% of these bands have some skeletons in their closets from when the scene was exploding Brand New is just the biggest band and the most talked about which makes me feel like when other artists bring it up it is for show... also after reading the "Where are your boys tonight" book I feel like a lot of these bands have some jealousy towards their success even before the accusations broke out

 

it looks like he fell off the sobriety wagon in 2020 when the events went down, came out and admitted what happened, and then didn’t play a show for a year and a half. i wouldn’t call that “yeah i did it sorry let’s get on with the show.” for someone to come out and admit publicly they’re an alcoholic is a pretty big deal imo.

 

I mean, most bands didn’t play a show for a year and a half starting in 2020.

 

albe what the hell lmao admitting you are an alcoholic is not enough, especially when he explicitly downplayed the grooming aspects in his response. thats the same type of thinking from the brand new fans saying jesse did his time by making his response all about sex addiction, but i guess you just dont want to see chris conley pigpiled

 

The guys in the band now told me that Chris has been sober for a few years and doesn’t even smoke pot anymore. That’s a good first step as Chris seemed to think mixing binge drinking and hallucinagins was a good idea. Dude was a garbage disposal for substances. I conject that Chris’s ego and drug usage is an unfortunate reason why the band was never as successful as it could have been, as In Reverie was powered by trippy drugs and could have been more succcesful if they were more focused. I still like that album but that’s just my opinion. One could apply this to his personal life as well as he couldn’t keep band members, friends, and some family in his life either. Dude left lots of damage in his wake.

My above ramble doesnt excuse the creepy shit he did to people, and another artist Chris was producing at the time named Lloyd Vines also said that Chris was abusive towards him.

Side note about Buddy from Senses Fail… Ask him about the San Diego drive thru invasion show 2003 at Soma when he and one of the guys from the early November had sex with two women on the bus and left the windows open so everyone outside (mostly roadies for other bigger drive thru bands and other members of newer drive thru bands I didn’t know much about) could watch and harass the women as they got off the bus. He then got off the bus (randomly with a bagel hanging from his mouth) and got a standing ovation from the roadies and other people that were there talking shit to the women. I was a drive thru street team dork who tried to get high with bands after shows when I was 18 and that’s how I witnessed this. I realized at that point that emo was more of a brand than a state of mind for a lot of these guys as they were just as big of dirtbags as the guys they sang about being better than.

 

I've also heard some rumblings about Buddy and underage girls in the 2000s from casual conversation, but nothing as specific as what you just described, so I fully believe it.

 

They were definitely not underage in this case and there did not appear to be an issue with consent. My issue was more about Buddy putting the women on display for all the other emo bros to hoot and holler at. It was on their bus. I remember Allister’s merch guy or roadie yelling “you’re dad is a better f*ck than you!” at the women as they walked away while other people from the tour whistled at them, called them whores, and/or boo’d them.

I met Kenny from the Starting Line and Adam from Home Grown that night too, and they were so genuine and had nothing to do with any of these antics.

 

My son and I met him at Disneyland with his family a year or two ago, he's the nicest guy. He approached us because my son was talking to his kid on the monorail and they were playing around; he noticed I had a Movielife shirt on and struck up a conversation about music. We split up when they went to get food, but Ronnie was super cool about it and said our kids would have to ride something together if we ran into each other again.

 

Not that I doubt the genuineness of this interaction but I know of several people who would share similar stories of Jesse Lacey from last few years

 

Completely understandable and not trying to minimize anyone's predatory interactions. I'm a 42 year old man with an 8 year old son and didn't get creeper vibes from him or his wife. His son's a little younger than mine, the whole thing was super wholesome (though I'm not about to leave my son with anyone out of my eyesight).

 

Haha I hear ya…and in a similar age and dad boat…aside from the musicians have you seen this movie Speak No Evil? They just remade an American version…you’ll never trust anyone who makes friends with your kids again lol

 

You’re going to ruin Cub Scouts for me.

 

No previous exposure to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus but good on them for that based rant against right wing fans

 

With that, (and I know the "F Brand New" spirit) but from videos of their show last night they were changing song lyrics to fit the NoKings protests

 

BN has always been a left-leaning band, their fanbase is the same. That is consistent throughout the emo genre as a whole. The erosion of democracy in the US is the biggest threat to us all, anyone with any platform of any kind should speak out against it. Fuck Trumpism and MAGA in the biggest way possible.

 

Yeah I wish more bands would speak out like Ronnie did. Gotta give props to him especially as RJA isn't a super huge act that seems like they can afford to alienate fans.

 

It seemed like their MO was to just play the songs and avoid saying anything else about any topics, so this was a bit surprising.

 

i have some other lyrical change suggestions but i don't think they'd like them

 

Really don’t need to post brand new videos in here

 

I think the point here though is for whatever reason, a weird group of MAGA fans have clung to them and think songs like Desert are not satirical. I remember Kevin Devine responding to people on TW who thought the lyrics were serious. It's actually wild.

 

I think the loss of many progressive fans, such as myself and all former fans on here, exposes that group which would otherwise be buried under the weight of a hefty majority. I’ve scanned over responses to that lyric change, and it was largely MAGA conservatives getting dunked on hard but you’re absolutely right, there’s a MAGA minority within their fanbase which is unbelievable but quite funny.