Music

“The Australian” Published A 4000 Word Defence Of Sticky Fingers And People Are Very Confused

"Bad mental health isn't an excuse for abusive behaviour."

by Max Koslowski  9 September 2018
Sticky Fingers The Australian

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“Not so long ago, Sticky Fingers was the most popular rock’n’roll band in the country,” begins a 4,000 feature in The Weekend Australian Magazine published yesterday. “But that was before the transgender rapper Miss Blanks accused them of white supremacy, misogyny, sexism and transphobia; before indigenous activists began inciting people to disrupt their concerts and harass them on social media; before the columnist Clementine Ford declared that they engaged in ‘sexual degradation and humiliation’ of women.”

The piece took an obviously defensive angle on the scandals that have been plaguing the Australian band since they went on hiatus in December 2016, citing “internal issues”.

Allegations of violence, including racist and sexist abuse, have plagued Sticky Fingers lead singer Dylan Frost since before that hiatus.

And every time the band has tried to reemerge on the Australian music scene, those claims have dogged them. When they were revealed as the “secret headliner” for annual Sydney block party Bad Friday back in April, backlash was swift. In response to the push back, Frost published a video that dismissed the allegations of racist abuse as “false” and nothing but “rumours”.

One week later, Sticky Fingers were slammed for their disastrous Triple J interview, in which their use of the line “boys will be boys” was mocked online.

Yet again, Frost made headlines the week after that Triple J interview after being asked to leave a pub in Sydney, following a verbal altercation with transgender model and writer Alexandra V. Tanygina.

In this weekend’s Australian article, interviews with promoters, relatives and others close to the band reinforced some of the claims Frost has made over the past year. The article details how Frost was admitted into hospital after “an episode of self-harm” in early July. One unidentified promoter partly blames backlash against the lead singer for the hospital admission:

“It stinks, to be honest,” the promoter is quoted as saying. “People who crow from the rooftops about being interested in welfare are abusing people with mental health issues without seeming to think about the potential consequences.”

The article goes on to explain that Frost has faced struggles with mental health issues and alcoholism.

The response online was harsh.

Some said that mental health wasn’t an excuse for bad behaviour:

Aussie musician Montaigne criticised Sticky Fingers for failing to apologise, saying in a long Twitter thread that it “is hard to admit you are wrong, but it is much better than what Sticky Fingers are now having to do. Which is quietly announce their shows, seek judgmental, victim-blaming journalists to cover their asses, make weird defensive social media posts, and be despised by many.”

The Preatures added on:

Others argued that Sticky Fingers had not answered their accusers, and that the article failed to detail the allegations at the centre of the scandal.