Ah, the life of a touring artist.
Travelling around the world, playing to countless adoring fans, experiencing something absolutely unique.
Well, it's not always like that. PAWS are currently journeying across the United States in the company of American fun-time-boys We Are Scientists, and were due to play show at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California.
A twin room venue, Morrissey was scheduled to play in the other room that same evening. Getting wind of this, someone from Morrissey's team attempted to shift the We Are Scientists date to later in the evening.
Somewhat cruelly, this would have meant PAWS sacrificing their support slot. Posting a scathing message online, the Highland noiseniks came out fighting…
Since deleted, it reads (in part): "This is an unbelievable act of complete and utter selfishness that should not be tolerated. This rich, has-been, ego maniac acting like a baby throwing toys from a pram. To satisfy his little power hungry brain. A complete disregard for others and a baffling lack of support/respect for young, hard working musicians."
In turn, We Are Scientists offered the rather more prosaic: "When it became apparent that Morrissey’s set was going to overlap with the WAS/PAWS bill, everybody really did agree that couldn’t work — even though the two venues are separated by a reasonably thick wall, Moz fans wouldn’t have been able to hear a lick of what they’d paid to see. Both bands on our bill play at nuclear volume, triumphant volume, and it goes right through walls. Putting on the two shows simultaneously would be like screening a mumblecore film and a Michael Bay movie in theaters divided by a cotton bed sheet. So we’ve moved the WAS/PAWS show a little later, which will probably come as a nice surprise to our fans, many of whom have had to set their alarms especially early this afternoon in order to make the show."
A few moments ago, PAWS posted another, rather more analytical, posting. "To feel like you’re being demeaned, disrespected and almost bullied by ANYONE feels terrible but to feel like this is happening and that are hands are tied purely because of the perceived stature of a celebrity, seems utterly ridiculous and frankly, unacceptable." "Pissed off and fired up, we jumped out and did our best to kill it for the 30 mins we had in the lights. We burst ourselves trying to bring it, and after ALL that, we came off beaten, sweaty but elated. In our minds, this is over. Fuck this shit."
Read the full posting HERE.
Photo Credit: Martin Barker
