DZ Deathrays Slam “Disrespectful” Behaviour By Fans Towards Support Act Moaning Lisa
The band are currently on tour with Moaning Lisa, and have had enough of their opener being disrespected by a subset of their fans.
Obnoxious, toxic male behaviour is a sadly common occurrence at a lot of gigs — but it doesn’t need to be, and increasingly bands are taking a stand against it.
Case in point: crust rock aficionados DZ Deathrays have called out recent disrespectful behaviour from a subset of their male fans. The band, who are in the midst of an Australia-wide tour, have been alerted to comments directed at their support act for the tour, Moaning Lisa, and they’ve taken to Facebook to say something about it.
“There has been a number of instances where men have been disrespectful to our support act, Moaning Lisa and this is absolutely not on,” the band wrote in a statement. “We have asked them to join us on this tour because we thoroughly enjoy their music and want to showcase a great band to a new crowd. For them to feel unsafe is absolutely unacceptable.
“If you’re caught being disrespectful to anyone at any of our shows you will be immediately removed.”
From there, the statement goes on to describe the heartbreak that the band felt when hearing about the disrespect. But rather than becoming a mere exercise in self-pity, the statement then goes on to offer practical advice, designed to eliminate such behaviour wholesale.
“If your mate is acting up, call them out,” the band have written. “If you see someone being disrespectful or making anyone feel unsafe please let security, staff or us know.”
Artists taking responsibility for ill-behaving crowds is becoming a warmly-accepted new trend. Over in the states, the band Speedy Ortiz have set up a hotline designed to provide immediate help to those in distress, and acts working in all genres are acknowledging the part that they have to play in reducing bad behaviour.
But of course, it isn’t just the job of the artists to solve. At the end of the day, as DZ Deathrays highlight, audiences are as culpable, and if mates start to call out mates, obnoxious gig behaviour has the potential to become a thing of the past. Finally.