When Sticky Fingers announced yesterday that they would be embarking on an indefinite hiatus following the completion of their upcoming tour dates, fans of the Newtown group were devastated. In a statement, the band cited “internal issues” which had apparently come to a head and caused a fracture in the group. No names were named and no details were offered.
“We have looked for help to try to get through this and will continue to do so. As a result we’re going to try to finish the shows we have booked over New Years to the best of our ability – then the band will be going on an indefinite hiatus. We would like to apologise to anyone that has been affected by this,” the band wrote on their official Facebook page.
In the 24 hours that followed, more details have emerged about just who has been affected by Sticky Fingers’s “internal issues”. As many readers may now know, Australian singer Thelma Plum has accused Sticky Fingers frontman Dylan Frost of racially abusing and attacking her, a claim that follows other alleged incidents involving Frost and Indigenous musicians.
In July, the vocalist of Sydney-based Indigenous protest band Dispossessed, Birrugan Dunn-Velasco, took to Facebook to accuse Frost of disrupting the band’s performance at Sydney venue Red Rattler. “The lead singer of Sticky Fingers among many others began grossly shirt fronting us yelling that we are the ones not listening,” Dunn-Velasco wrote.
In a public post shared to her personal Facebook page, Plum addressed Frost’s alleged history of anti-social behaviour. “Before last night I would have never dragged the band name in but time and time again used his position of power as lead singer of Stickys to get drunk, bully people and is then never held accountable for his actions because he’s ‘had a rough trot’,” Plum wrote.
“Stop drinking if you think u might fight a girl. Don’t play in a band with someone who has a history of violence towards women. These excuses are really damaging and enabling and there has to come a point where you have to take responsibility for your front mans actions instead of playing down/apologising for him (evidence of this in that piss poor interview post Dispossessed gig where other members claimed Dylan couldn’t be a racist against mob because he was ‘Maori’).”
Plum presumably refers to an interview Frost’s bandmates Paddy Cornwall and Seamus Coyle gave to The Music, in which they claimed the incident was a “massive misunderstanding” and explained that Frost is not white but Maori, “so it kinda doesn’t really make any sense”.
Plum who was understandably shaken by the incident with Frost, has made and subsequently deleted several posts on her personal Facebook page addressing the altercation. In one post, Plum recounted how Frost accosted her and her partner, Nick Lupi of One Day and Spit Syndicate, at Sydney pub The Lady Hampshire. Plum wrote how she’d “never been so scared in [her] life”.
According to Plum’s account, as she and Lupi were leaving the venue, Frost approached the couple and began telling Lipi “how much of a shit rapper he was compared to his cousin”. Plum told Frost to “fuck off” and admonished him for his behaviour. It was at this point that “Dylan then got right in my face and started swearing at me and spitting”.
“We then left the pub and went around the corner to have a ciggie, 5 minutes later Dylan came out with his friend and walked up to Nick and I and started trying to fight me again, getting right up in our faces whilst we were trying to leave.” After she and Lupi got inside of an Uber car, Frost “proceeded to come up to Nick’s side of the car screaming, swearing and again spitting. I have honestly never felt so unsafe in my life. I 100% thought I was going to be punched in the face but luckily each time he swung his friend was standing in the middle”.
Plum has since released a follow-up statement to triple j, in which she writes, “There was an incident between Thelma Plum and Dylan from Sticky Fingers on Friday night. It’s worth mentioning that the Sticky Fingers hiatus has nothing to do with Thelma’s relaying what happened and everything to with Dylan’s actions.”
“This was always going to happen and it’s a shame that Thelma has been drawn into what seems to have something that has been a long time coming. Taking responsibility for ones actions had to happen, it’s up to them as a band and people to work towards a solution and Thelma won’t put any more emotional labor into this. Thelma wishes Dylan the best with getting the help he needs.”
In a statement published to the official Sticky Fingers Facebook page, Frost apologises for his recent behaviour and explains that he has been dealing with issues relating to substance abuse and mental health. I’m writing here and now with a heavy heart admitting this, and wish I had faced my issues earlier,” he writes.
“I am realising now a lot of people around me have been hurt by my behaviour and for that I am incredibly sorry. I have not sought to target individuals or groups. All people around me have been affected by my behaviour during these episodes. I have been dealing with alcohol addiction and mental health issues.”
According to Frost’s statement, he was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia last year and has been struggling with the condition. However, as he clarifies in his statement, he does not wish to use his condition as an excuse and will be “attending rehabilitation and therapy in the coming weeks”.
It’s no secret to fans of the band that Frost has a history of anti-social incidents, often involving violence. In 2013, Frost was arrested immediately following Sticky Fingers’s set at Rottofest on Rottnest Island in Western Australia. After climbing on top of the stage roof and jumping into the crowd, Frost was involved in an altercation with security.
A year later, Frost and his band were evicted and barred from the Union Club Hotel in Wagga Wagga after Frost allegedly urinated off the venue’s balcony, trashed sound equipment whilst on stage, and behaved abusively towards security. “They thought they weren’t in the wrong and they could do what they wanted,” venue manager Josh Bradley said at the time.
Meanwhile, Plum has been forced to take down her personal Facebook page after her pseudonym was made public by media outlets reporting on the incident with Frost, including triple j. According to Plum, she had been inundated with bullying messages by incensed Sticky Fingers fans, who have responded to Frost’s personal statement with support and praise.
In the band’s statement released yesterday, they were emphatic about completing their scheduled tour dates, which include appearances at several prominent Australian music festivals. However, if Frost is truly in need of help and struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues, it raises the question of whether the road is the best place for Frost right now?
Frost is admittedly struggling with serious issues of substance abuse and bipolar schizophrenia, something that will likely be exacerbated by touring. With so many studies now showing that life in the entertainment industry is conducive to mental health issues, it’s important to ask whether keeping Frost on the road makes the band complicit in his behaviour.
We must also ask ourselves whether we are complicit in what appears to be the breakdown of Sticky Fingers, meaning the media and the fans. By reporting on Frost and the band’s repeated anti-social incidents and often writing them off as larrikinism and adding to the punky charm of the band, have we encouraged and contributed to what is a human being’s serious mental health issues?
