Local indie bands dropped from gig lineups over allegations of sexual misconduct

A local band has been dropped from the lineup of a gig this weekend and another saw its invitation to a music festival withdrawn after a student-activist took to Twitter to air allegations of sexual misconduct against them.

Vandals on the Wall, organizer of bi-monthly live gig The Rest is Noise PH, announced on Wednesday that it has dropped indie pop band Jensen and the Flips from the lineup of its November 25 show.

The organizer made the decision after sociology student Adrienne Onday tweeted screenshots of messages—from an anonymous source—detailing an account of the band’s guitarist and backup vocalist forcing himself on her.

Jensen and The Flips whomst’d’ve???? This is like attempted rape right??? pic.twitter.com/n3QpvTJUtB

— MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR TUTA MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR (@_tapsilog) November 21, 2017

This was soon after confirmed by the band member himself.

Yup. Ako to.

I am really sorry sa mga taong na-offend ko at na-disappoint sa akin because of this post and because of what I did. I respect yall's opinions. I know this ain't enough but again, I am really sorry. https://t.co/ijfPbZAhsc

— sarcasam (@SamuelValenia) November 21, 2017

“We are reaffirming our position: we do not and will not condone, tolerate or enable any vile or reprehensible behavior that exploits and abuses women,” their statement said.

“We stand by them and hope that with this action, we can help get their voices heard and stop normaliz[ing] this behavior,”  it added.

Meanwhile, the organizer of the annual music festival at the University of the Philippines (UP Fair) said it has withdrawn its invitation to indie rock and jazz band Sud to perform at the 2018 UP Fair over allegations that its frontman, Sud Ballecer, got inappropriately “touchy” with a gig-goer, among other accusations of sexual misconduct.

UP Babaylan, an advocacy group for the LGBTQI+ community, invoked its pro-women’s rights leaning when it announced that Sud will no longer be invited to perform on its February 14 show next year.

Both Jensen and the Flips and Sud have released statements concerning the issue.

Jensen and the Flips apologized and said they were grateful “to the people who shed light on the matter.”

“An apology will never be enough to make up for all the things that have been done in the past. We know the things we did wrong; rest assured we have, and will continue to work on being better individuals moving forward to ensure that such situations will not happen again,” it said in their statement.

Sud, on the other hand, said:

“We are sorry. It was never our intention for our actions to come across the way they did. We recognize that we have no say whether they were violated by our actions and we put them in a position they were not comfortable in, and for that we will accept the repercussions of what we did.”

GMA News Online has sought further comment from both bands.

Meanwhile, Onday, the Twitter user who started the conversation which has since gone viral and started a conversation on questionable actions in the local band scene, said her intention was to “talk about misogyny, sexism, abuse, and manipulation in the scene,” and is frustrated by the reaction and the backlash that resulted from it.

“The conversation was to open up the different kinds of discomfort, harassment, and abuse women experienced inside it [local band scene]. It just so happened that when I told my stories, people wanted to expose those who had done them wrong,” she told GMA News Online.

Read the full thread below:

I want to talk about misogyny, sexism, and predatory/manipulative behavior in the local independent music scene in my experiece.

— MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR TUTA MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR (@_tapsilog) November 21, 2017

— LA, GMA News