Alter Bridge has released the following statement regarding the incident involving the opening band at the June 14th show at Rohrstofflager, Zurich, Switzerland
The Opening Band
As some of you may know,
claims have been made that Alter Bridge band members and crew attacked an
opening band on stage during their set in Zurich, Switzerland the night of June
14, 2006. That is simply not true. Anyone who knows or has worked with the Alter
Bridge band members or crew members knows that these allegations are
preposterous. Alter Bridge regrets that we have to give this matter any
attention at all since we view this as an obvious attempt to gain publicity by a
band trying to manipulate headlines for their own gain. Therefore, we will not
mention the name of said band but will instead call them “The Opening Band.”
On that night, the fine line between artistic freedom and misdirected ignorance
was crossed and as Americans and musicians, the members of Alter Bridge are both
offended and embarrassed. Alter Bridge fully supports every American’s right to
free speech. We are not happy that this band chose to spew such unintelligent
drivel to our fans, but we do support their right to freedom of speech. If any
band chooses the stage to address their political views and to take shots at the
current U.S. Government that is their right. However, it is not their right to
slander our country and its people in the process. With freedom also comes
responsibility – to the truth and to freedom itself. We believe that if you
choose to make a political statement, at the very least you have an obligation
to be intelligent and informed. When a person speaks from ignorance, that person
diminishes the very message he or she is trying to convey and tarnishes the very
freedom he or she supposedly supports. We believe The Opening Band spoke from
ignorance that night, and has subsequently lied and embellished the events in
support of that ignorance while doing interviews about this incident.
We apologize that we must explain further, but we feel it is necessary in order
to properly put this whole ordeal in context. During this so-called “political
statement” The Opening Band repeatedly yelled “Fuck America! Fuck America! I
Hate America!” and their singer eventually digressed further to shouting
“America can suck my cock!” Regardless of anyone’s political views this is
simply ignorant, offensive, and unacceptable. Alter Bridge stood up for America
that night, and we will stick up for ourselves now in explaining this situation.
A fight did happen on stage that night, though no Alter Bridge band members were
involved. The band members were in their dressing room, thankful to have a few
feet of concrete between their ears and The Opening Band’s music. For many
years, Mark Tremonti has draped his guitar rig prior to shows with an American
flag cover. When The Opening Band went into their anti-American diatribe that
night, one of Alter Bridge’s technicians pointed at that cover with pride. Upon
seeing this, members of The Opening Band immediately charged him. To be clear on
this, our crew member was attacked for pointing at a symbol of the very freedom
that allows free speech! It is ironic and sad that a band who claims to be
making statements against war while hiding behind freedom of speech is so quick
to commit violence against someone else simply exercising that same right. It is
tragic that war exists, but we believe that activism is about trying to motivate
change in order to better whatever cause you support. Are we to believe that The
Opening Band actually expects to change the world for the better by demanding
that an entire nation perform fellatio on them?
After The Opening Band members charged, our crew member was forced to defend
himself. Another member of our crew was forced to protect Alter Bridge’s
equipment, as one of the Opening Band members went straight for Mark’s guitar
rig in attempt to pull out cables and render the equipment incapable of playing
the show that night. Classy move, did they ever stop to think of the audience?
Obviously not, as we can also see from their singer’s statement that when the
melee ensued, “I was still unaware at this point that these weren’t crowd people
[on stage], so I started screaming for security.” Even the singer could not
claim that anyone in the audience was a fan of The Opening Band, but “crowd
people?” We believe that quote speaks volumes about who this band is. We also
dispute his claim that, “The Swiss were all behind us and the crowd was cheering
me on.” The crowd could not have cared less when The Opening Band took the
stage, nor did they care when they left the stage early. What is true is that a
member of The Opening Band was screaming backstage “I guess now we’ll have to
sue you,” leading us to wonder if this whole sordid stunt was pre-meditated. It
is also true that during the incident, a member of The Opening Band was heard on
stage shrieking, “My hair!!! Oh no, not my hair!!!” Last, we have read that the
drummer for The Opening Band has a black eye and a sore hand that effected his
playing at the next day’s show. That is simply not true, but then very little of
what The Opening Band has reported is true. We know it is not true because we
saw him at the festival the next day. From the accounts we have heard, the
drummer was not even involved in the incident. Don’t just take our word for it
though. If anyone would like to see first-hand accounts of the incident, please
visit the message boards at
www.alterbridgeband.net.
The Opening Band’s singer was quoted in an article as saying, “Some goon from
that Creed Band came out swinging an American flag and threw it at our drummer,”
which begs the questions: Are you so arrogant, ignorant, and self-absorbed that
you do not even know what band you are opening for? Creed broke up nearly 3
years ago. Or have you already figured out, so early in your career, that you
have no hope of becoming successful without these type of antics? How long did
it take you to work the word “Creed” into your draft as an attention-getting
technique before you repeatedly called MTV News in attempt to create controversy
for your own gain? Are you that desperate to be a rock star? Alter Bridge has
some news for you - that’s not “Rock & Roll.” That’s a cheap parlor trick you
can learn in any remedial marketing class. It has become obvious to us that
almost every article written about The Opening Band discusses controversial
incidents yet very few actually mention their music.
In closing, we ask that no one try to take any of this too seriously, as it only
plays to The Opening Band’s desire to manipulate the facts and the press to
create controversy and we would hate to see such cheap attempts actually succeed
in getting them any ink. Alter Bridge has always chosen to conduct our business
in a somewhat private manner, in a way that is unobtrusive to our fans and to
our music. To us, music is about the emotions it inspires and its ability to
bring people together not the negativity it can spread or the ways it can drive
people apart. And we try to remind ourselves that every band is entitled to a
few Spinal Tap moments. We do find humor and irony in the fact that “The Opening
Band” chose Switzerland, the most neutral country on Earth, to spout
international political rhetoric as a segue into starting a fist-fight!!!!
- Alter Bridge
Links regarding the above statement may be found at the following locations:
http://web.mac.com/alter.bridge/iWeb/Alter Bridge/Tour News.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1534675/20060620/alter_bridge.jhtml?headlines=true
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=53901
http://www.pr-inside.com/creed-stars-accused-of-fighting-anti-american-rockers-r8427.htm
http://93x.com/blog.asp?id=232840&SBID=4444
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/06/17/former_creed_members_attack_the_living_t
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2006/06/1608.cfm
http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=231926
http://www.tmz.com/2006/06/22/alter-bridge-stand-up-for-america/