Posted by The Growlers have apologised – with Matt Taylor taking temporary leave from the band – following an accusation of facilitating sexual assault.
The band were at the centre of an accusation made by Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde, who posted a full account on Instagram on July 30th.
The musician said that while on tour in Australia she was sexually assaulted by a male stripped backstage following a show; the stripper had been hired by the band without her permission.
de Wilde says the band filmed the incident, in which the man exposed himself to her and pushed his genitalia against her chest.
She wrote: “After reading a lot of other terrible experiences girls had with them years ago, I wanted to write this to let people know that this shit is still happening. While none of the Growlers band members assaulted me directly, they hired someone else to for their enjoyment.”
“Everyone in the Growlers were standing all around me, laughing and taking videos the whole time, no one ever stepped in. Once it was finally over, I ran to the bathroom to collect myself (aka cry) and wash the dick off my face. Everyone was still laughing and rewatching the videos to see my facial expression, talking about how ‘shocked’ I was…”
de Wilde’s story was corroborated by Starcrawler bandmate Henri Cash, who spoke to Pitchfork about what he witnessed in the immediate aftermath of the event.
The Growlers singer Brooks Nielsen – who seemingly paid for this to happen – apologised for the incident in a statement.
He writes: “I apologize for my actions, and for any band members, that have hurt, offended, or damaged any person or made anyone feel less than 100% safe. I take full responsibility and accountability for the behavior of all Growlers’ band members, past and present.”
In addition to this, The Growlers co-founder and guitarist Matt Taylor taking temporary leave from the band, and aims to “awareness and as much money as (he) can” for women’s support organisations.
Read The Growlers statement HERE.
The accusation comes in the light of a number of statements concerning the behaviour of male musicians in indie rock – Burger Records has been forced to shutter, while Avi Buffalo was accused of rape.
Photo Credit: Sam Huddleston