Following an appearance at this year's SXSW, Toronto hardcore alchemists Fucked Up wrote a rather insightful piece on their blog, Looking for Gold, about the relationship between bands and SXSW/the music industry in general.
In it, lead guitarist Mike Haliechuk (aka 10,000 Marbles) expounded on the ways that the music industry has turned its focus - both financially and mentally - away from musicians and too often treats artists as a means to ends. One example he used was the energy drink company Thriller Energy Inc., Fucked Up's 2010 showcase sponsor, which Haliechuk claimed has "mostly gross ads" trying to sell "some of the most vile stuff you can put in your body." He closed the paragraph about Thriller by concluding that "we can say with force that Thriller Energy Drinks is a bullshit company and we won't be working with them ever again."
Obviously, Thriller was none too happy about this, and in a Fucked Up blog post today (April 1) titled Just Why, Haliechuk revealed that the energy drink company is suing the band for defamation.
"It's not a big case so it's not a huge deal," he said, "but it is a chilling reminder of what can happen when artists speak out about certain issues. We can't obv talk about it on here that much, but you can feel free to email the company yourself thx: thrillpill@thrillerenergy.com"
The band have made the claim available to see here.
In his claim, Thriller CFO Nick Fenstle complains that Fucked Up "inflicted negative attention and libel on reputation of the Plaintiff and the company Thriller Energy."
Know what else gets your reputation negative attention? Filing cases against well-loved bands, news about whom spreads like wild-fire across the blogosphere and Internet in general.
Fucked Up have already set up a Facebook support group, which you can join here. We really hope this is all an April Fool's joke, but we have a sick feeling it's not.
UPDATE: All right, April Fool's Day is basically done, so we have to say good bye to Fucked Up's sweet-ass prank. Yes, it was fun. We had a good time imagining some corporate douchebags pulling another Camel on Fucked Up, and giggling at the fact that they started this whole thing over a week ago with their now-questionable and "enlightening" SXSW post (which was reported on by everyone from CBC Radio 3 to Pitchfork to The Daily Swarm). We wonder if NME has figured out this insanely elaborate prank yet. Shit, we wonder if Mac is just messing with us too.
Well played, Fucked Up. Well played.
In it, lead guitarist Mike Haliechuk (aka 10,000 Marbles) expounded on the ways that the music industry has turned its focus - both financially and mentally - away from musicians and too often treats artists as a means to ends. One example he used was the energy drink company Thriller Energy Inc., Fucked Up's 2010 showcase sponsor, which Haliechuk claimed has "mostly gross ads" trying to sell "some of the most vile stuff you can put in your body." He closed the paragraph about Thriller by concluding that "we can say with force that Thriller Energy Drinks is a bullshit company and we won't be working with them ever again."
Obviously, Thriller was none too happy about this, and in a Fucked Up blog post today (April 1) titled Just Why, Haliechuk revealed that the energy drink company is suing the band for defamation.
"It's not a big case so it's not a huge deal," he said, "but it is a chilling reminder of what can happen when artists speak out about certain issues. We can't obv talk about it on here that much, but you can feel free to email the company yourself thx: thrillpill@thrillerenergy.com"
The band have made the claim available to see here.
In his claim, Thriller CFO Nick Fenstle complains that Fucked Up "inflicted negative attention and libel on reputation of the Plaintiff and the company Thriller Energy."
Know what else gets your reputation negative attention? Filing cases against well-loved bands, news about whom spreads like wild-fire across the blogosphere and Internet in general.
Fucked Up have already set up a Facebook support group, which you can join here. We really hope this is all an April Fool's joke, but we have a sick feeling it's not.
UPDATE: All right, April Fool's Day is basically done, so we have to say good bye to Fucked Up's sweet-ass prank. Yes, it was fun. We had a good time imagining some corporate douchebags pulling another Camel on Fucked Up, and giggling at the fact that they started this whole thing over a week ago with their now-questionable and "enlightening" SXSW post (which was reported on by everyone from CBC Radio 3 to Pitchfork to The Daily Swarm). We wonder if NME has figured out this insanely elaborate prank yet. Shit, we wonder if Mac is just messing with us too.
Well played, Fucked Up. Well played.
