Just because some punks choose to retire their amps and loud guitars for acoustic music doesn't necessarily mean they've gone soft. Take, for example, former Avail front-man Tim Barry, who has recently enjoyed a solo career. When a heckler was harassing him at a show in Ottawa earlier this month, Barry invited him onstage and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
In interview with ThePunkSite [via Punknews], Barry explained the situation:
I was standing onstage and I was saying that I wrote this song ("Wait at Milano") with my buddy Travis in mind because he is chronically depressed and I wrote it for him before he passed away and never told him it was about him. And I was quickly explaining that this song is about now and living lightly and more kindly in ways that perpetuate good so that there are things left for the people coming after us and as I'm trying to explain this the fucking guy just keeps heckling me brutally, so I invite him onstage. I said no one can hear you so I gave him a microphone. So I said now that you have had your say I'm going to explain to you again what this song is about. So I repeated my words "My best friend Travis killed himself" and he replied, "Well, he doesn't sound like much of a friend," and I just beat the living shit out of him onstage. And I am not at all proud of that because I tried deeply not to be the person I used to be because I used to fight a lot. It's not healthy. I just snapped, you know. I still don't know what he meant. But he certainly couldn't envision what was going through my head when he said that.
Despite breaking his hand in the fight, Barry decided to finish the show before heading to the emergency room. If nothing else, hecklers should see this as a warning before they mess with acoustic-wielding punks.
Tim Barry released an album called 28th & Stonewall in January.
In interview with ThePunkSite [via Punknews], Barry explained the situation:
I was standing onstage and I was saying that I wrote this song ("Wait at Milano") with my buddy Travis in mind because he is chronically depressed and I wrote it for him before he passed away and never told him it was about him. And I was quickly explaining that this song is about now and living lightly and more kindly in ways that perpetuate good so that there are things left for the people coming after us and as I'm trying to explain this the fucking guy just keeps heckling me brutally, so I invite him onstage. I said no one can hear you so I gave him a microphone. So I said now that you have had your say I'm going to explain to you again what this song is about. So I repeated my words "My best friend Travis killed himself" and he replied, "Well, he doesn't sound like much of a friend," and I just beat the living shit out of him onstage. And I am not at all proud of that because I tried deeply not to be the person I used to be because I used to fight a lot. It's not healthy. I just snapped, you know. I still don't know what he meant. But he certainly couldn't envision what was going through my head when he said that.
Despite breaking his hand in the fight, Barry decided to finish the show before heading to the emergency room. If nothing else, hecklers should see this as a warning before they mess with acoustic-wielding punks.
Tim Barry released an album called 28th & Stonewall in January.
