Edsel Dope has shared an open letter directed at former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach after the singer inserted himself in a dispute between Falling In Reverse‘s Ronnie Radke and radio DJ Eddie Trunk regarding the band’s withdrawal from a festival after their laptops went missing.
Upon learning about Falling In Reverse’s festival set cancelation, Trunk reiterated his disdain for rock bands’ reliance on and/or utilization of (in certain circumstances) backing tracks while performing live. It has long been a point of contention for Trunk, who has singled out individual artists numerous times when griping about bands who don’t play 100 percent live.
The practice is a common one in rock and metal and with bands from all eras, though only a select few have been publicly criticized by Trunk. Once Radke fired back at the veteran DJ, Bach entered the fray and the whole ordeal unraveled from there, descending into some pretty ridiculous back and forth exchanges.
In an attempt to ease tension on all sides, Edsel Dope, leader of industrial icons Dope (and, as was recently revealed, one half of the electronica duo Drama Club) has called for a truce.
Addressing Bach directly in a lengthy post shared on social media, Dope attempts to offer some clarity about Falling In Reverse, openly wondering if Bach has “ever actually listened to” the band. He notes their sound is a “total hybrid” that blends heavy rock elements with “ultramodern” electronic elements that are “equally as important to the band’s musical compositions and to the identity of the band’s sound.”
Dope also clarifies he’d be more sympathetic to the complaints of both Bach and Trunk if they were rooted in a vocalist lip synching or a band intentionally deceiving an audience.
About the missing laptops, he relays that a band can’t simply take the stage and deliver the sound their fans expect, especially when there are “sound files unique to the bands [sic] songs.”
To level the playing field, Dope challenges Bach to consider the equivalent being him playing the pounding Skid Row classic “Slave to the Grind” without amplifiers. “It’s totally possible to play the song on acoustic guitars, with no distortion, but that’s obviously not how it is meant to be heard live, nor would it be the preferred way to hit the stage at a festival with 50,000 people waiting to go crazy.”
Ultimately, Dope feels Radke and Bach can find common ground as they both share some similar personality traits.
Read the full statement in the Instagram slideshow post directly below.
Earlier this year, Dope released two new songs, “Believe” and “No Respect,” in tandem with an announcement that Blood Money Part Zer0, their first since 2016, will be released on Feb. 24, 2023. You can also catch Dope on tour next year with Static-X, Fear Factory, Mushroomhead and Twiztid at these dates. For tickets, head here.
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