There have been a spate of sickening assaults at gigs recently, both sexual and otherwise, or at least the assaults that have occurred have received increased visibility thanks to artists who have spoken out incredibly strongly about the disturbing behaviour, including Luca Brasi calling out the “piece of shit” who groped fans at their gig, and Spiderbait hunting for the “fuckstick” who urinated on a member of the crowd.
Urthboy is the latest artist to take a stand, Fasterlouder reports, addressing a letter to his fans following a sexual assault at a gig of his in Hobart in June, where a female fan was allegedly groped by a man in the crowd.
As detailed in a letter she wrote to Urthboy following the incident, the woman confronted the man and his friend before complaining to security, who apparently “took the offender aside, only to be seen him laughing with him”.
In an open letter to his fans and the wider community, Urthboy condemns the behaviour and affirms that in future he’ll “be more explicit about doing what I could from stage to prevent that harassment. It’s sexual assault.”
“There were some gigs I almost barked at men in the crowd to join me in making sure that the venue was a harassment free zone. I wondered if I went too far and turned some of them on me, but every night they’d yell in agreement.”
While it’s vital for artists to take a stand like this, and call out this behaviour when it occurs, the sole responsibility can’t fall on them to prevent this sort of behaviour at their gigs. In this case, security appear to have mishandled the incident, but the responsibility ultimately falls on the perpetrator and nobody else.
“The problem isn’t solved from stage – sexism runs so deep in our society – in ways I’m still only getting my tiny head around. In ways that I know I’ve been guilty of in the past and ways that I’m trying my best to address in how I behave now. It shouldn’t be about ‘somebody’s sister’, ‘somebody’s mother’, ‘somebody’s daughter’ – it should be about mutual respect, nothing more, nothing less.”
Urthboy’s letter is below, in its entirety.
I wanted to tell a story from my recent tour. A person emailed me in June about being groped during my performance of ‘Little Girl’s Dad’ in Hobart. She confronted the guy but was not only laughed off by him, but also his female friend. She went to a security guard and complained, who then took the offender aside, only to be seen him laughing with him. She then told her friend, who sympathised, but then cracked a joke about it showing that the guy liked her. The sentiment of the song was not lost on her and I wrote back to her saying that I’d be more explicit about doing what I could from stage to prevent that harassment. It’s sexual assault. From then on, before I performed the song I told audiences that I wanted my shows to be the kind of place that my daughter would feel safe at. There were some gigs I almost barked at men in the crowd to join me in making sure that the venue was a harassment free zone. I wondered if I went too far and turned some of them on me, but every night they’d yell in agreement. The problem isn’t solved from stage – sexism runs so deep in our society – in ways I’m still only getting my tiny head around. In ways that I know I’ve been guilty of in the past and ways that I’m trying my best to address in how I behave now. It shouldn’t be about ‘somebody’s sister’, ‘somebody’s mother’, ‘somebody’s daughter’ – it should be about mutual respect, nothing more, nothing less.
Going back to the song for a moment, I took an unintended break from touring and releasing music when my daughter was born. It stressed me out wondering if I’d be lucky enough to continue making music in this cut-throat industry. It plagued me, but fuck I loved being a new dad. In retrospect it was a blessing, I enjoyed her first few years uninterrupted by tours and time away. I was luckier than I could’ve known
Thanks for reading.
