M83 support act kicked offtour: "It cost us hundreds ofdollars. It was humiliatingand unfair.”

Tue 7th Feb, 2012 in Local News

You never know what kinds of strange stories are going to emerge from the world of touring, and today our mates at Mess & Noise are reporting on a very strange one. Melbourne rock band Teenage Mothers have hit back at dreamy soundscapers M83 after being unceremoniously dumped as support for their St Jerome’s Laneway festival sideshows.

The band, who have been recording their debut album with Bad Seeds drummer Jim Sclavunos, was set to play dates in Melbourne and Sydney with the French troupe led by Anthony Gonzalez, but their duties were cut short following an incident at the first show at Melbourne’s Prince Bandroom.

As Mess + Noise writes: ‘According to guitarist Raph Brous, M83’s management was unhappy with the on-stage antics of lead singer James “JK” Kennedy who, among other things, inhaled nitrous oxide in the form of over-the-counter soda bulbs during the gig. Brous said M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez and management were made aware of Kennedy’s preference for inhalants (which he says are legal) prior to the show, but booted them off the tour during soundcheck the following afternoon.’ Gonzalez allegedly labelled Kennedy a “junkie” as means of explanation.

“Thirty minutes before our set, we were suddenly kicked off the entire tour,” Brous told Mess + Noise. “Under orders from M83’s tour managers, the venue staff literally pushed us onto the street. Our guest list was cancelled and our friends were kicked out too (some of them had travelled a long way to the gig). Security guards barred us from entering the building. It cost us hundreds of dollars. It was humiliating and unfair.”

As ever, there’s a flip-side to the tale. Some punters who were at the Prince Bandroom gig observed that Teenage Mothers set a speaker on fire during their set with an errant sparkler – which could be the kind of behaviour to get you kicked off a tour.

Brous claims that attempts at a compromise were knocked back. “I promised that in Sydney, JK would not bring any nitrous oxide onstage. But that wasn’t enough for M83. They wanted to punish us. So M83 kicked us off the Sydney show too. They knowingly made us waste 10 airline tickets (return airfares for five people). We had been advertised on the Laneway Festival website and streetpress. A lot of people were expecting to see us.”

By making the incident public, Brous hopes to expose what he terms “abusive conduct” from M83’s tour manager and Gonzalez himself. “I truly respected Anthony Gonzalez,” he said. “M83 should have chosen a boring DJ as their support. Playing with them is our worst experience as a band.”

You can read the full interview over at Mess & Noise.