Everyone draws their own line, and that’s completely valid. For me, this band exists within an industry where other bands with complicated pasts still tour and attract large audiences. I am not going to blame artists for doing what they need to do to continue their careers. The person involved is no longer part of the band. There is no ongoing risk to anyone attending these shows. I wish Yellowcard success with the tour and hope it brings them growth. I’ve always appreciated Ryan joining these conversations and offering insight. If this is enough for you to stop supporting them, that’s understandable. Just don’t assume that automatically makes the rest of the band bad people. The situation is more complex than that.
I think he responded the way he did is because a lot of the thread went right into attack mode before reflecting and maybe even giving him a chance to share his side of this.
We literally live in a reality where companies and organizations hire people who have done shitty things and fire people for doing shitty things. Companies will either lose support or gain support. How companies handle these decisions will always affect themselves and the stakeholders. There will always be transitions of ups and downs, yet these companies continue on with both old and new support. It happens everywhere. It’s happened at the company I’ve been with. As music fans, we are stakeholders. Some disagree, some agree, some just don’t care. The same thing happens in our every day lives. Bands like ADTR handled things whatever way they chose to handle it, yet they’re still moving forward with or without us. Thankfully, we have a choice we can make for ourselves based on what we believe in.
Reading all this felt like being at a sleepover at a friends house when they’re getting yelled at by their parents
I'm glad this was brought up. Band members don't come in here as much as they used to in the ap.net days so this is the rare opportunity to directly hear their side. I get that it disrupts the thread and is uncomfortable for some, but seeing that some's immediate reaction is to try to shut it down or downplay it by telling everyone you don't care, making jokes, or just going "well, shrugs, business is business"... that's also not it either. Imagine doing that in any other situation, nothing would ever change.
I'm just excited for the tour schedule to drop so you can all change your tune from complaining about who they're touring with to where (or where not) they're touring. YoU aReNt gOiNg To mY CiTY?!?!?!? Always my favorite part of tour drops.
I know my reaction was kneejerk for sure. It’s getting harder to discern how and who I want to support these days. I appreciate your other responses in this thread, not that you owe them to anyone, and I’ve definitely chilled out on my initial reaction (not that you’re sitting there wondering or worrying about me). I’ve had wrong reactions to accountability stuff with other bands before, and part of my reaction was an overcorrection of that failure on my part.
Your reaction was fine. Don’t question your own personal convictions because a lead singer of a band got sarcastic/snarky. It’s not new news that band members have more info on what happens behind the scenes. It’s an argument/justification that many people on this website have been making for years when trying to post about music from artists that have had any type of connection to these types of issues.
I don't have anything to add to this discourse as I've grown really exhausted by this discussion. My two cents if anyone cares is support bands you want to support, don't support bands you don't want to support and let the cards fall. Who "deserves" to have a career vs who doesn't when we talk about inappropriate behavior is just a never-ending swirl of a conversation.
1. Better Days 2. Take What You Want 3. Love Letters Lost (feat. Matt Skiba) 4. honestly i 5. You Broke Me Too (feat. Avril Lavigne) 6. City of Angels 7. Bedroom Posters 8. Skin Scraped 9. Barely Alive 10. Big Blue Eyes 10.10.25
25 hours til "Better Days" (and "honestly, I"....I think....). Songs sound epic from what I've heard. Can't wait!!
I almost left my own comment about this last night, but I didn't want to throw more fire on the thread at the time. But despite this conversation getting uncomfortable, I think it's wrong to then try to "balance it out" by dismissing and undermining what is a very serious subject and a discussion worth having. It's callous.