King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard recently pulled out of the Australian festival Bluesfest, and some people’s responses might have you believe that the sky’s falling in. The band withdrew from the festival after the addition of the controversial reggae five-piece Sticky Fingers, who joined the likes of The Doobie Brothers, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, and many more on the line-up.
King Gizzard’s withdrawal statement is not a call to action. Instead, it simply announced their opposition to Bluesfest’s values and the band’s presence. In response to the band’s decision, Sticky Fingers shared a picture of South Park’s PC Principal inserted into a photo of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
So why did they decide to withdraw? Sticky Fingers’ band members have a long list of on-record controversies. This includes lead singer Dylan Frost’s altercation with Indigenous singer Thelma Plum, where he was accused by Plum of physically threatening her; an altercation with trans model Alexandra V. Tanygina; mid-range and high-range drink driving (which nearly stopped them from getting into the US before now-PM Anthony Albanese stepped in); and an in-band punch-on resulting in criminal charges.
Since King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard announced their withdrawal, Sampa The Great’s team revealed she’s also pulled out of the festival, having withdrawn prior to Bluesfest’s latest artist announcement (which featured both Sticky Fingers and Sampa The Great). According to a statement provided to Double J, Sampa’s team revealed they’d been seeking to have her removed from the bill since February 14.
The statement reads, “We started contact with Bluesfest to inform them of our standpoint within half an hour of receiving the embargoed press release and seeing the remainder of the line-up. We then delivered final confirmation to Bluesfest at 7:36pm AEDT on Tuesday 14 February that Sampa was coming off the line-up, in the hopes they would remove her from all materials before they announced the following day.”
I’m not particularly interested in re-litigating the band’s series of controversies; there’s much discussion on this already. But as a former superfan of the band (and someone who actually interviewed them back in 2016) I can’t help but notice that there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding from some commentators using this situation to smash the “cancel culture” button.
As a former superfan of the band … I can’t help but notice that there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding from some commentators using this situation to smash the “cancel culture” button.
Their responses posit that Sticky Fingers are underdogs in the Australian music scene, which simply isn’t the case. Have a read of Bluesfest’s bio for the band: “Affirmed as one of Australia’s biggest bands, they’ve delivered three straight Top 5 albums, earned ARIA platinum and gold plaques, eclipsed a billion streams, and sold out the continent’s most hallowed venues”. The band also toured nationally in 2022, playing in venues like Melbourne’s Festival Hall (the same venue they played at on their 2016 tour), Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion and Perth’s HBF Arena. And they’ve just sold out a 10,000-capacity show at the Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) in London.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard will no longer play at Bluesfest. Photo by Jason Galea.
Meanwhile, ‘Australia Street’ came in at 15 in the triple j Hottest 100 of the Decade in 2020. Not bad for a band that’s apparently been ravaged by “cancel culture”. People forget just how beloved the band was prior to their public incidents, and they’re still doing just fine. So why do Sticky Fingers, their fans and industry supporters seem to be so determined to paint them as underdogs?
How Can Sticky Fingers Be The “Bad Boys Of Australian Music” And Reformed At The Same Time?
Bluesfest director Peter Noble’s choice to include Sticky Fingers in the line-up speaks to a culture that feels rife in the Australian music industry: if it sells, promote it. Who cares what the backstory is? There’s no doubt in my mind that having Sticky Fingers’ name on the bill will sell tickets — their continued success on the live circuit attests to this. But shouldn’t we be aspiring to create a safe space for all at some of the music industry’s biggest events? Every decision is an active choice to either make a space more inviting or more exclusionary. Several of Sticky Fingers’ peers clearly don’t want to go to work alongside them — if this was any other type of workplace, it’s likely that people would be a lot more understanding of their decision to withdraw.
If we’re being truly honest with ourselves, the backlash isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Bluesfest. Bluesfest has dominated the music news cycle since the announcement, and even pieces that criticise the booking are increasing public awareness. Every official statement made about the band’s continued presence on the line-up is making music news, and for some, it’s just become the hottest ticket in town. What’s the saying about no publicity being bad publicity? Course, this doesn’t mean that holding them accountable is the wrong thing to do — quite the opposite, I think, as it shows those affected that they are supported.
Everyone is entitled to a second chance, but that doesn’t entitle you to a coveted and lucrative spot on one of Australia’s premier festivals. Sticky Fingers have been left to play their live shows, and that they have done. Why give these guys one of few very valuable spots on a premier festival line-up that could be given to another group whose members haven’t been embroiled in controversy or convicted of criminal behaviour?
Peter Noble’s since responded to the line-up backlash. After describing the band as “the bad boys of Australian music”, Noble went on to say that Bluesfest would be one of the band’s “all-too-rare shows in Australia”, without any sort of context as to why that may be the case (and also ignoring the fact that they did in fact go on a national tour in 2022, and played in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne).
Peter has since described the attempts to hold Sticky Fingers accountable in a statement as follows: “I believe an attempt to victimise this man and his band in the circumstances is cruel and unforgiving. This cruelty and lack of compassion are foreign to my values, as is the attempt to suppress the band’s artistic expression. I was and remain proud to give the band a chance at rehabilitation. Bluesfest hopes that the public will understand, respect, and hopefully, on reflection, agree with the position my company and I have taken. Forgiveness is critical to helping people with mental health challenges continue functioning in society.”
What Does Accountability Actually Look Like?
Anyone who’s passionate about Australian music in any capacity (which, judging by the commentary around King Gizzard’s withdrawal from Bluesfest is just about everyone) should want to actively strive to create a safer scene for all. When people talk about artists that are making the scene unsafe, reformation is the goal. This starts with acknowledgement. Peter Noble doesn’t actually get to decide whether Sticky Fingers are reformed, nor does the band themselves. Those who Sticky Fingers have wronged are the ones that get to decide whether there is a genuine sense of contrition, and they are not obligated to be part of that process.
No amount of pithy Instagram comments pretending not to know who King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are will change the fact that they and Sampa The Great have put principles over profits.
The status quo protects those that are content in their behaviour, and King Gizzard’s withdrawal represents a type of allyship that should be applauded, not condemned. No amount of pithy Instagram comments pretending not to know who King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are will change the fact that they and Sampa The Great have put principles over profits. This is a stance that’s harder than ever to make in an industry where touring is becoming prohibitively expensive, even for acts as big as Animal Collective and Santigold. In a statement released on her socials, Santigold wrote about a cancelled 2022 tour, saying, “As a touring musician, I don’t think anyone anticipated the new reality that awaited us. After sitting idle for the past couple years, [musicians] rushed back out immediately when it was deemed safe to do shows.”
“We were met with the height of inflation, many of our tried-and-true venues unavailable due to a flooded market of artists trying to book shows in the same cities, and positive [COVID] test results constantly halting schedules, with devastating financial consequences… Some of us are finding ourselves simply unable to make it work.” Touring has never been more difficult, or more precarious, which is why decisions like those taken by Bluesfest organisers to include Sticky Fingers in their line-up hold even more weight.
Where To From Here?
Judging by everything that’s been said publicly to date, Sticky Fingers are set to take to the stage as part of Bluesfest. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Sampa The Great are not. Allowing for the most generous of interpretations, involved parties clearly didn’t expect that booking Sticky Fingers would raise the ire of so many, and have had to rush to justify their position following the decision. Continuing to double down means they are further wed to the band’s presence at the festival.
Sampa The Great also withdrew from the Bluesfest line-up.
Music is inherently political, and trying to separate the art from the artist strips away part of the beauty of the craft. I’m somewhat blown away by the suggestion that musicians should, essentially, shut up and play. As artist Jaguar Jonze recently shared on Twitter, “everyone has a duty of care to ensure safe and respectful environments in their work”. No one deserves to be criticised for not wanting to work in conditions they don’t deem to be safe. We owe it to ourselves and others to push for change and accountability, and to celebrate those that go against the grain when it’s not easy to do so.
The easy choice here would have been to say nothing, and to perform while ignoring the elephant in the room. Here, artists speaking out, like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Sampa The Great, Kira Puru, and Jaguar Jonze have pushed for an Australian music scene that protects everyone, not just those deemed worthy by those in charge. It’s something we should all push for every time we involve ourselves in any community, publicly or privately. Otherwise, what are we all doing?
This is an opinion piece written by Ben Madden, a Melbourne-based music writer. You can follow him on Twitter at @benmaddenwriter and Instagram at @benmaddenwriter.
Editor’s note: Junkee reached out to Sticky Fingers’ management team for comment, and did not receive a response by our deadline. Since this piece was filed, artists including The Soul Rebels, GZA and Talib Kweli, and Big Freedia have confirmed they are not playing at this year’s Bluesfest.
Hero image credit: Getty.