Queensland producer Paces has taken to Instagram to go in after being unveiled as part of the Holy Green festival lineup yesterday; one which is being headlined by petulant shitbags Sticky Fingers.
[jwplayer oTLxnTkI]
Paces, real name Mikey Perry, found himself in a difficult position yesterday after the festival’s announcement, claiming that festival management did not inform him that Sticky Fingers were being booked for the show as well.
However, while he distanced himself from both the band and the festival’s decision to book them, Paces also asserted that festival bookings like this can be few and far between for an artist, and thus his quandary here was between taking a stand and feeding his family; a tough situation to be in, no matter how you look at it. Despite this, Paces pledged to donate $1,000 of his fee to an anti-abuse charity, asking fans to suggest one who needs the money.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqYNBUPlRFz/?utm_source=ig_embed
I’ve been booked to play a festival that has a problematic headliner and I feel I need to address this. Someone asked me how it feels to be on a lineup with known abusers. My response was: Honestly, not good.
I only just found out the lineup when it was announced and it’s a really tricky position to be in. I’m absolutely against abusers and naturally I want to distance myself from [Sticky Fingers] as much as possible. On the other hand I have a young child to feed and shows are my only real source of income. Life as a musician is uncertain at best so it’s a big risk for me to cancel a booking, and something that will definitely impact my family.
Also I really want to play for MY fans and don’t want the actions of others to stop me from connecting with my people. Most of my fans are women and heaps are LGBTQ, so I’m always super conscious to make my own headline shows safe spaces and I always tell people that if they’re feeling unsafe, I’ll sort it out and have the offender removed from the venue. I also always book at least 50% female-identifying supports and guest vocalists when it’s my own show, because I’m trying to be the change (as per my previous post).
I want you to know that I care deeply about this and it’s a decision that weighs heavy on my mind. I hope you can understand the factors I’ve had to weigh up and how much I detest this position I’m in. One person suggested I try to mitigate ST’s damage somehow. I think that’s a great idea so I’m donating $1,000 of my appearance fee to an anti-abuse charity.
There’s a number of ways that can be read; some may see it as something of a cop out or each-way bet, others may see it as an admirable spinning of a shitty situation.
The real question in all of this, as always, remains: What in god’s name is a music festival doing booking that literal poison band Sticky Fingers in the first place? The group has shouldered repeated and thorough accusations (we stress, for legal reasons) of racial and sexual abuse, transphobia, and assault. They have continually refused to accept their own responsibilities and show a wilful resistance to doing anything close to atonement; rather, wearing the seemingly unending storm of crap they themselves are the root cause of as a badge of honour, and worse still claiming victimhood in increasingly bizarre displays of infantile dickishness.
Fair enough, they’re certainly entitled to organise their own shows and tours where the audience isn’t forced to make moral decisions based on the presence of one absurdly rotten egg that spoils the rest of an otherwise ok carton by association.
But that the industry cannot wrap its head around the idea that engaging Sticky Fingers on corporately-backed festival stages is an atrocious business decision that attracts nothing but long-linger negative attention truly defies even the most basic of common sense.
Now, to take a big sip of piss and wait for the sage, fatherly feedback to roll in on this one.
