King Gizzard have announced that they have dropped out of Bluesfest, citing “opposition” to the festival’s values as the reason.
The decision comes shortly after the festival added Sticky Fingers to the lineup, whose frontman Dylan Frost has past allegations of violence.
“As a band and as human beings, we stand against misogyny, racism, transphobia and violence. Surprised and saddened to see Bluesfest commit to presenting content that is in complete opposition to these values,” King Gizzard began in a statement posted to Instagram.
It continued, “Given this decision by the festival, we have decided to cancel our appearance at Bluesfest. We are deeply disappointed to be in this position but sometimes you need to be willing to make sacrifices to stand up for your values. This is, unfortunately, one of those moments.”
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Frost has been accused of a string of incidents, including from Australian singer Thelma Plum who back in 2016 called the musician out over his behaviour.
Frost later shared issued a statement on Facebook apologising for his behaviour.
“In recent times my behaviour for a large part has been unacceptable – I’m writing here and now with a heavy heart admitting this, and wish I had faced my issues earlier,” he wrote in the post.
It continued, “I have been dealing with alcohol addiction and mental health issues. Last year I was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and have struggled to deal with that. This is not an excuse, but it hopefully means I can get better.”
King Gizzard’s withdrawal from the event follows in the footsteps of Jaguar Jonze and Camp Cope drummer Sarah Thompson who both shared their disdain of Sticky Fingers being added to the Bluesfest lineup.
Bluesfest announced the addition of Sticky Fingers to the line up last week.
“Sticky Fingers, the bad boys of Australian music, currently on their sell-out UK Tour, will be playing one of their all-too-rare shows in Australia,” Bluesfest founder Peter Noble said in a statement.
“They have only played a handful in the last five years, and Bluesfest is happy to welcome them back.”
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