Australian musicians Kira Puru and Montaigne are calling out Aussie band Rancid Eddie for problematic lyrics and comments alluding to misogyny.

Last week Rancid Eddie were awarded the prestigious top spot for Spotify’s New Music Friday with their song ‘Dry’.

Kira Puru then took to Twitter to post screenshots of the lyrics to the song. Some of the lyrics of the song read, “Sex don’t feel very nice/When the feeling is dry” and “I can’t get it up when I’m all out of love/And I’m always drunk ’cause I hate you so damn much.”

She captioned the post, “here’s the lyrics to the song @SpotifyAU has picked for top spot on NMF this week”

Puru pointed out that the lyrics can be triggering for people who have experienced domestic abuse.

“It doesn’t matter what the song’s about or whether the band identify as misogynists. The lyric ‘I’m always drunk ‘cuz I hate you’ unapologetically hints at the type of behaviour that anyone who has been in an abusive relo knows well and shouldn’t be normalised let alone promoted,” she posted on Twitter.

Puru then went on to allege that she’s received messages from women who’ve had “experiences” with the band.

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“I’ve already had women in my dms about irl experiences with this band. I wish I could say I’m surprised. Watch the local industry lap them up regardless,” she wrote.

She also included a cropped screenshot of an anonymous comment on an unmentioned post. The original comment read, “still calling women sluts is reeeeeally embarrassing lmaooooo”, to which Rancid Eddie’s official Instagram account replied, “some of em are”.

Rancid Eddie publicly addressed the matter of being called “misogynists” online in relation to their song ‘Dry’.

“Hey guys,

“Wanted to address something publicly here to make it clear where we stand. We’ve seen some comments online calling us misogynists. We want to be very clear that although we explore the dark sides of relationships in our lyrics (and we understand that these lyrics can be problematic for some), we oppose hatred or violence of any kind against women. Men who abuse women are pathetic and we don’t tolerate it.

“Earlier this year we posted acoustic live videos of song ideas as we were in the midst of writing to get feedback from our fans. We know that some of those went too far for some people, and we took those videos down. ‘Dry’ was never one of those songs. It’s about falling out of love and becoming bitter toward someone while you’re still in a relationship with them.

“You’re allowed to not like the song (we’re already getting sick of it too), but we’re overwhelmed by the people who are supporting it.

“Thanks for being along for the ride,” they wrote in an Instagram post”.

Despite their statement, Australian singer Montaigne backed up Kira Puru and pointed aim at triple j for playing their music.

“I’m wrestling with whether or not to post about these guys bc I know all my followers are just choir I’d be preaching to but. i just…I just don’t understand how this kind of behaviour can still fly in the music industry, esp with ppl like @btgcmvmt existing.

“I’ve heard of a few acts that are runaway successes and untouchable even though they are misogynists or abusers etc…no one can touch them bc they have all the money in the world to litigate & labels that protect them.
“I’m still always in disbelief that labels protect these guys, bc labels, or radio, or streaming services are still peopled by individuals with the capacity for conscience…is the money machine really so all-powerful that these people forget that platforming these sorts of acts is harmful? perpetuating a sick culture that hurts many?
“I want to know what those people think of this right now. I get the fan response — of course, there are listeners that sympathise with or share their attitude or beliefs. it’s disheartening to know they exist but in the music industry, they don’t have corporate power. what do the folks at @triplej think? it doesn’t look like they’re signed with anyone right now, and I’m wondering how many labels are queueing to offer huge contracts to them bc their song is blowing up?,” she finished up the lengthy Twitter post.

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