Brand New Band • Page 836

What are you talking about?

From Jesse's statement (which wasn't great and didn't get into him grooming underage girls, but nonetheless): "The actions of my past have caused pain and harm to a number of people, and I want to say that I am absolutely sorry. I do not stand in defense of myself nor do I forgive myself. I was selfish, narcissistic, and insensitive in my past, and there are a number of people who have had to shoulder the burden of my failures. I apologize for the hurt I have caused, and hope to be able to take the correct actions to earn forgiveness and trust."

How much more proof do you need that these things happened?

 

That's the thing - back in the day, my friends and I were like "Oh, wow. A song about guy being assaulted? How different!" But knowing the things that women say Jesse did to them, the perspective of the song shifts. Same with "Me Vs. Maradona."

 

How much more proof do I need? None.

But I've also made assumptions when I didn't know the whole story - which is a situation I find myself in now - in which I took the "obvious" path and it turned out wrong.

I guess my point is this: I don't think this whole thing is over with and I'd hate to see the future of this story make the world an even harder place for victims to come forward in.

 

I think people feel a sense of responsibility in Jesse’s case because he was one of us. We loved his bands music. Supported them. As fans we’d meet them after shows. We were part of the same music culture.

To find out what he’s been doing in his personal life is shocking. It makes you feel betrayed. Most of us never knew him personally. Jason did though. Guys like Kevin Devine did. There was a sense of shock and frustration that this could happen. There will always be a bias in the music scene he was part of, positive or negative, as a result. I’d be interested to read something like a New York Times article by someone who didn’t listen to the band. The whole thing is messed up. It’s not part our day to day lives though. As fans we are hurt, but to the victims, and those close, what a crazy thing.

 

It was Emily Driskill that tweeted about multiple journalists interviewing a friend of hers but never publishing anything:

 

Unsurprising there's another victim who went through even worse, but upsetting nonetheless

 

Please shut the fuck up. There's a 0% chance these allegations are untrue. stop speculating on the veracity of these victims experiences because you want to see "both sides".

Just because there's obviously a larger story here (as in, JL has done more and even worse than the unfathomably awful things that have been publicised already) absolutely doesn't mean it's false, or a media fabrication, or a conspiracy. If you're even thinking of coming to that conclusion from the information at hand you can kindly fuck off.
This isn't some kind of game. People's lives were marred by this sleazebag. There's no benefit of the doubt to give him whatsoever and nobody should waste their time playing devil's advocate for that actual piece of human garbage.
JL did these things. You're never coming back from this. What these brave women are coming out with — they aren't "stories". They're reality. They're the horrible, stark reality. Stop with your fake concern about victims coming forward. You even doubting these people's testimonies IS making it harder for victims to come forward, RIGHT NOW.

The reality is that victims open up to the media thinking they could help others but a lot of the time some journalists run with it and never publish it. That's the extent of the sick atmosphere of victim-blaming in those publications, that if there isn't enough perceivable "proof" they won't take that risk. It's just a story to everyone. But it's not. It's people's lives.

In my book, the sooner JL croaks the better for the world. That doesn't have to be everybody's opinion but everyone would truly be better off without his pedo ass if you ask me.

 

I doubt his wife and kid would be better off.

 

Not to be like that but anyone would probably would be better off without a guy who sounds manipulative as hell, is a serial cheater, and has a long and consistent history of violence against women

 

There are enough great bands out there to make me forget about this band.

 

No "shut the fuck up" necessary. I should have more clearly restated my position more directly and more often. I'm communicating my worries, not intending to add doubt.

I don't "want" to see both sides. I think you've maybe read a thing I said (in an admittedly unclear fashion) and went away from the way I'm intending it.

I'm saying I want this stuff to not be true in the same way that I want police brutality to not exist. I'm not a police apologist, I'm saying "I wish this didn't happen." I want the JL assaults on women to have not happened in the first place.

I'm not giving him the benefit of any doubt. You might have missed my other post saying I don't need more proof. My mind is made up. To me, he's guilty.

My use of the word "story" is as a public news item and not in reference to the victims' accounts. I'm not doubting the victims' testimonies.

I hope my not-clear-enough writing doesn't cause you to devote more energy to converting the converted. I agree with you in all of this besides your interpretation of what I was trying to say.

Keep up the work to make this world a better place for women. I will be, too.

 

Whenever a song by them comes on shuffle, I rush to skip it. Then I wonder "how long am I going to be doing this for?" Like, will Spotify eventually create a Block Artist option or will I have to keep reliving that awful period of news and the story surrounding it? Then I begin to think that perhaps one day listeners can look back and reevaluate Brand New's lyrics in this terrible light, and basically study them from the perspective of a dude who was terrible to women and wrote about his demons. It is interesting how we all assumed Jesse was just some sad guy when really he had a very real reason to hate himself.

By the time I'm done thinking that, and the shudder has worn off, the next song plays and I strive to forget giving Brand New more thought than they're worth.

 

so are they just officially done ? and what are the other members doing ? Its bad for them because of his actions.
I've never heard if they just called it quits or what at this point

 

I'm not sure why the word proof is in quotes. There are legal ramifications for news outlets (as there should be) if they publish libelous claims. Journalists have to assume that stories they publish of this type may end up in court and so they need to make sure they have a certain amount of proof the stories are true. This could be in the form of corroborated stories from other people, emails, texts, photos, etc. One person's word is sometimes not enough without other evidence.

That said, the burden of proof in a court of law (or even in the world of journalism) is much higher than the burden of proof in the court of public opinion. Hearing about a singer's poor character and alleged crimes definitely makes me not want to support a band financially (e.g. streaming their tunes), but I think wishing death on someone is a pretty big leap from not supporting a band.

 

Radio silence from the band...

 

One of the reporters Emily tagged in her thread responded to Emily. Guess he writes for New York Daily News and Spin.

Also, I still remember Nicole saying something all the way back in November that a bigger media outlet reached out to her, but never published anything.

 

the band never said shit so fuck em

 

so they cancelled some tours and they are done ?

 

Most definitely.

 

so this last album of theirs was released before the news came out ? if so i can't see that it would have sold well. wonder how the tours were doing ?

 

IIRC, the album was #1 on the Billboard charts and released independently. They for certain made good $$$ from the release. The tours were doing really well (all shows selling out) before the news.

 

The album was out for almost three months when it all came out. It made a ton of money, got a ton of streams, and was massively well-received at the time. I don't know how many preorders were cancelled after it all came out (like I did with mine) but they definitely made out for a while there before the story broke.

 

It would not surprise me one bit if they remained silent until 11:59 on December 31st with a simple #Farewell or #Goodbye tweet.

 

Pretty sure it sold like 60k first week which is solid

 

I highly doubt they ever make a social media post ever again. They'd (rightfully) get zillions of comments bashing them. I highly doubt they're going to subject themselves to that when they couldn't even address the issue in the first place.