Australian band Ocean Alley found themselves embroiled in an unexpected controversy when its member Lachlan Galbraith was caught shoplifting.
Ocean Alley were in Queenstown to perform hits like “Confidence” and “Knees” at Rhythm & Alps festival when the situation unfolded.
Queenstown Hunting and Fishing, a local outdoors store, took to Instagram to report the theft of a Yeti chug cap. The social media post, now removed, infused a touch of humour with a hint of disappointment. The store extended a light-hearted invitation to Galbraith to return the stolen item.
In response, Lachlan Galbraith took a commendable step towards mending the situation. In his video post to the band’s Instagram Stories, he said, “I have reached out to the team directly and we have rectified the situation.”
@9news “Good to see the fellas in town… unfortunately it looks like there was just a little too much ‘Confidence’ in store today”. #9news #oceanalley #queenstown #newzealand ♬ original sound – 9News Australia
However, fans were unsure what that meant exactly.
Tone Deaf can confirm he personally reached out to the store, not only to apologise but also to return the lid.
Queenstown Hunting and Fishing acknowledged Lachlan Galbraith’s steps to make amends, posting the below statement to Instagram Stories:
Hi Queenstown
Please note that we in no way condone shoplifting nor theft of any kind. It affects our business, our staff and ultimately the community around us. In the same token we are a family-owned retail business; not police, not judges and certainly not executioners.
Someone in the public eye came into our store, took something they shouldn’t have and got caught. As a result and due to social media, they contacted us personally, returned the goods and showed genuine remorse. In addition, they have issued a public apology reaching thousands of people which would not have been an easy thing to do.
We are in no way offering special treatment based on who this person is. They have apologised, owned up and made the appropriate reparations. We in turn deleted the post as we would with anyone who made the appropriate effort to rectify the situation. The embarrassment and aftermath of this particular event would be punishment enough.
We are happy to move on at this point and would encourage both our and their followers to do the same without any further comment.
Thank you and wish you all the very best for the New Year ahead.
Ocean Alley’s 2018-released single “Confidence” is the latest Australian track to climb global charts thanks to TikTok.
Five years after the song topped the triple j Hottest 100 in 2019 and was nominated for the Song of the Year ARIA in 2019, the track has was picked up by TikTok and catapulted up the US and UK charts.
Ocean Alley used a sped-up version to soundtrack a TikTok on November 1 2023, and the track was spun out by creators, soundtracking multiple viral trend clips.
It then debuted at #21 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart and #27 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and #13 Hot Alternative Songs charts in November. It also topped Spotify’s Viral 50 in the US, charted at #6 on the UK charts and jumped to #16 on the ARIA Singles Chart last month.
