Thursday, July 19, 2007

Band of Horses: Taking the high road

I was contacted on Friday by Pitchfork and they asked me if they could link to my blog regarding the Cane's show and the "incident" and I actually asked a few friends their advice about it... I mean of course a link on Pitchfork is huge, but I wasn't sure I was ready for the onslaught of hate I would receive. "All press is good press," my friends assured me.

I mean there was the actual incident, then there was my 4 a.m. drunk rant that night on MySpace, then a couple days later, I posted it on this blog where most of my audience are still friends of mine and for the most part supported me. I did acknowledge my whiny rant:

"...resulted in a 4 in the morning rant on my MySpace. In hindsight, I'm less pissed about what went down and the truth is that in reading my rant was chock full of expletives which then makes me no better than the guy I'm calling a whiny bitch. He was doing what he does, I was doing what I do."

But people will skim through that and take from it all what they will. I figured Pitchfork would talk to Ben to get his perspective and all, and of the nearly 1000 posts I have, I'm a little bummed that this was the one to get attention. I mean, it's one thing to rant on a MySpace bulletin, where I know my friends have my back, and then even here on this blog where most people, at least those who've bothered to comment, like what I'm doing here, but it's another thing entirely to have Indie Nation reading here and pitching in their two cents on something that they didn't witness and didn't experience. Worse is that they are only going to read one post, and in that, just the "juicy" shit where I rant like I'm in junior high.

Anyway, they did an
extensive interview with Ben Bridwell about all of it and I don't know what to say except I feel like shit about all of it. I know plenty of people who no matter what, will think I'm an asshole, that I'm a thief, that I'm a bitch, whatever. Awesome. I will not censor any of the commentors who link to this site from P4K and hate me. But I did want to thank Ben. Because mostly behind all my rage and anger about what happened, the truth is that it just really hurt my feelings. He could've launched right back at me, because I'm sure he's read my rant (courtesy of P4K), but instead, he took the high road and sounds like he actually cares about what happened and that he's really sorry about the way it all went down. I could go on defending my position about everything, but all of this makes me really just wanna put the whole thing behind me.

So that said, thanks to Randall, because the follow up removes any of the sour I had. Thanks to SubPop for the e-mail and for not demanding that I kill the YouTube. I'll keep the new stuff for myself. Thanks to Pitchfork for the hype. Thanks to my friends for having my back. And again, thanks to Ben for being more of a man than most men would be in this situation.

7 comments:

lyn said...

from reading the interview on pfork, i'm still thinking he is a douchebag.

Unknown said...

I admire that you allowed Pitchfork to link to your post. You stood behind what you wrote, and what's cool is Ben'sperspective and ability to show some humility (I swear I'm not trying to rhyme) on to subject, as well. Are you getting a million new hits now?

Viz said...

Wow what a ride.

zombie squirrels said...

Howdy - I was at the show, and I found your blog via the Pitchfork link. I was looking forward to that show and was really disappointed by the whole atmosphere at Cane's (security and PB knuckleheads - someone next to me literally yelled "Let's get drunk!!" during the middle of the show. Yikes.) that Bridwell mentions, which I think really had a lot to do with the whole situation. I sometimes get frustrated with all the phones and cameras at shows, but that's just a personal opinion and I understand that it's a fact of life these days and many people want to capture the concert experience. And although I can understand Bridwell was frustrated with a lot of things that evening, he should be a little more appreciative of the fact that people do want to hear his song, and he should get used to the fact that, unless they're specifically restricted, cameras and such are a fact of life at shows now.

Anyway, glad to have found your blog - good stuff.

Reelmandy said...

I remember reading Troy Johnson's interview with this guy a few weeks back, and he used to live in San Diego! He mentions in the Pitchfork article that he had been to Cane's before as a parton and noticed its joke-y, weekend warrior vibe. Why play a show there, then?
The Decemberists played there a few years back and appoligized for not being able to play the Casbah. As a young band, with 1 damn album and all new people backing you up, Im sure you still have a little control over your tour and where you play, especially when you've lived in the city before. Uggh, this guy is just diggin a hole deeper and deeper for himself.

Next time play a venue that does not allow cameras, like House of Blues-Im sure you'll see neigh a douchbag there!

catdirt said...

he sounds a little spoiled to me

lyn said...

idolator just picked this up....

http://idolator.com/tunes/hey-asshole/band-of-horses-singer-not-too-thrilled-with-the-cameraphone-era-280149.php