Nu-metallers BLACKGOLD pulled out of their planned show with CKY in Bristol tonight (November 4), citing the band’s frontman Chad I Ginsburg as the reason.
The band had been supporting CKY on their UK tour and were due to join them again at Bristol’s The Fleece tonight but revealed on social media this afternoon that they felt they had no choice but to pull out of the tour before playing the last of their scheduled shows with the stoner rock trio.
“PEOPLE OF BRISTOL,” they wrote on Instagram. “It hurts to say that we won’t be playing Bristol tonight. Our whole touring crew cannot perform alongside the frontman of CKY. The level of disrespect we’ve been shown by this individual, leaves us no choice but to exit. Don’t be a narcissist, don’t be a dick.. We’ll be back soon with a headline.”
In the video itself, the masked five-piece said they “can not support that type of narcissism” and added, “We want to play for you guys and we do this for fun, but this has turned not fun. We cannot be around that guy.
So unfortunately, we are out. We will be back real soon to play another show. We thought this was gonna be fun, little bit of nostalgia to end the year for us, but it turned out to be absolutely horrendous … fuck Chad.”
CKY’s UK and Ireland tour is set to continue with False Reality, Molly Vulpyne Band and Jools as support, culminating in a show at London’s O2 Academy Islington on November 21.
Sanguine bassist Ross Andrew replied in a comment on BLACKGOLD’s post, “We supported them on tour years ago. Never again,” while CKY were kicked off a joint UK and European tour with Alien Ant Farm almost exactly a year ago.
On November 9 last year, hours before the opening night of the tour’s UK leg at Margate’s Dreamland, Alien Ant Farm frontman Dryden Mitchell claimed that Ginsburg punched him in the face.
He confirmed in a now-removed Instagram post, “Sadly, Chad from CKY hasn’t figured out how to cohabitate with others after all these years. They will no longer be on the Alien Ant Farm tour through the rest of the UK shows after Chad punched me in the face earlier today.”
He continued: “I’ve watched him treat multiple crew members and opening band members like trash through the Europe shows and cause general drama around our camp … Well, he punched me in the face and pretty much ran away like I imagine he’ll do for all of his future problems.
“We have zero hard feelings for Jess and Elvis in CKY and are gutted to see them go, but I will never knowingly put myself in volatile situations so this had to end.”
For his part, Ginsburg claimed at the time that the punch was in self-defence. He said: “Nothing wrong with defending yourself from a bad guy. If you are attacked or feel truly threatened, have no fear and stop the threat however you can.
“I had to protect myself. It was a split-second reaction to a very angry guy muttering then yelling #*%! at me from 10ft away charging at ME, into my personal space! Coming at me. He was attacking me! I felt a physical threat and had I not tried to avoid the attack, I would have been assaulted. For fucks sake.”
Away from touring, CKY released a new song, ‘Can’t Stop Running’, last month ahead of their upcoming sixth album, ‘New Reason To Dream’, which doesn’t yet have a release date. As for BLACKGOLD, they released a new EP, ‘E.P Phone Home’, on October 24.
