North Carolina-based metal band Young and in the Way has been dropped by its label and its members have disbanded following allegations of sexual assault leveled by members of Detroit collective the Trumbullplex.
The Trumbullplex issued the allegations through a series of Facebook posts earlier this week, urging festivals to blacklist the band. In one lengthy post, an anonymous member of the Trumbullplex detailed a 2014 incident when the band was invited to stay at their house after a Detroit show.
The post alleges members of YAITW sexually harassed or assaulted at least three separate women over the course of the night. In one instance, the front man is alleged to have walked in on a woman while she was in the bathroom, demanding sex. In another instance, three members of the band are alleged to have followed another woman into the bathroom, where she claims she had to fight them off. A third woman says someone in the band touched her genitals while she was sleeping.
The author of the post says they tried to talk to the band by phone about the incident afterward, but the band initially claimed they did not remember the events of that night and later outright denied the allegations.
According to Brooklyn Vegan, the band posted a now-deleted statement on Monday doubling down on its denial and also announcing it would no longer play any more shows:
"An accusation of sexual assault has been made against members of our band.
As a band and as individuals, we are disgusted that someone was sexually assaulted at an event that we were a part of. We applaud the victim’s courage to talk about it and we support her decision (and right) to name her aggressors. We stand by what we said when we learned about this incident — no member of our band was responsible for this crime. Let us be very clear — our response to this accusation is not an attempt to discredit the victim, we believe her, we’re sorry this happened to her, and we support her. But it was not us.
Victims’ voices can and should be amplified, and we are not sure there’s any decent way to respond to an accusation like this without accepting fault. We can’t accept fault, but we also can’t prove our innocence. That we could even be suspected of such a crime brings us to the end of the road. YAITW is no longer on Deathwish Inc and will not be playing anymore shows. There is nothing left for us to say.
Lastly, do not attack the victim. There is no room for that here."
When asked for comment, the band's label Deathwish Inc. told Brooklyn Vegan:
"In light of the recent allegations against YAITW, Deathwish Inc. has severed ties with the band and is no longer working with them. We’ve spoken with the women who have come forward, and want to make it clear that we stand with the survivors. We hope that sends an echo far and wide that predatory behavior and sexual assault is not and will not be tolerated in our music scene."The Trumbullplex's original post is below:
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