A Fan Perspective on the Architects Controversy

The British metalcore upcoming EU tour has been marded in controversy before the first show has even started, so I go over what I think

I never want to start the new year talking negatively about bands on this page, however, When there is a problem so bad with a group that fans are cancelling their plans to go and see them on tour costing them hundreds of pounds in flights and hotels, then I feel it's worth talking about. Also, many bands that I listen to have said in the past to call out terrible behaviour in the scene and knowing many of my friends and people I look up to who identify as gay, bisexual and trans, have had to deal with abuse over time, I wanted to make my thoughts clear on the matter and speak about this issue. One of the bands that would inspire me to do this would be Architects who are a UK band from Brighton who over the years have been perceived as a 'left-leaning' band and have always called out people's terrible behaviour in the scene as raised important topics in their music such as mental health and the environment. An example of this would be when the lead singer Sam Carter called out a group of fans at a show for inappropriately touching a woman while they were crowd-surfing. you can see the clip below:

This was my first exposure to the band and I instantly liked what they were doing and when I started listening to them and saw them live, I saw they are a very talented band. I saw that they were touring Europe with Spiritbox and Loathe and it was a lineup I wanted to see. So my friend and I have booked a weekend in Amsterdam to see our first show abroad. While I am very excited about this prospect, some issues have arisen which have unfortunately cast a cloud over the tour.

It came to light that guitarist Adam Christianson has been retweeting some deplorable content on X (formally Twitter ) as well as liking some questionable tweets which can be considered transphobic and homophobic. Considering that I always thought Architects a pretty safe band who would not side with these views, I found this quite a surprise and ultimately, disappointing. For Sure, Adam did not make these tweets but sharing them with many fans is damaging enough to cause people to feel unsafe when it comes to going to their concerts. Adam did come back with an apology which went like this.

"Shit! That retweet was a total accident!! I don't endorse anything that guy says other than fuck Trudeau. Sorry for the panic everyone! complete all- Thumbs moment."

I will be honest, this is a poor apology. To retweet something, you need to press the retweet button and then press either "Reports" or "Quote" So by this logic, Adams's explanation makes no sense whatsoever. Also, the fact that he has liked transphobic and homophobic content before this incident so also throws this statement into doubt.

So many fans turned to the band for a full explanation and clarity but the band stayed silent on the matter. It came as a shock considering the band is so vocal on issues like this. This has led to many fans facing abuse online for their own beliefs on the matter which is never ok. Issues like this will also cause division but people should not face abuse for their sexual preferences as well as their own views. Architects have created something they have once fought against and for me, this was disappointing, to say the least.

Others in their close circle have not stayed silent, however. Lead singer on Spiritbox (the band supports Architects) Courtney Laplante has been very vocal on X about her views on the situation and has been defending people from the LGBTQ+ community which is what Architects should have been doing in the first place.

Both bands played their first show in Paris on the 24th of January and both took the issue head-on with Courtney reportedly making an important statement before the band played their hit song "Holly Roller"

"Bigot are not welcome here, Homophobes are not welcome here, transphobes are not welcome here"

it's clear that the issue has been the the forefront of the band's minds and it is good to see Spiritbox standing up for the fans who have been facing a lot of abuse over the last few days. Meanwhile, Sam Carter made his own statement on stage in the middle of their set.

"No one on this stage judges anybody for their gender, their race and whoever they are in love with. We never have,we never will. That is not what this band stands for and its not what this band will ever stand for. We love ever signle one of you"

For me, a privileged white man like myself, who does not experience any sort of hate and abuse for the people I love should get to decide whether this statement is good enough. That is for the gay and trans people who have been hurt by the incident that took place. I will say however while it is good that this has been addressed on stage, and I do believe that Sam is being genuine, I feel that this should have been done much sooner on a bigger platform so all fans knew where the band stands on this matter, rather than just at their concert. It also doesn't help that this came from Sam all the while Adam is just standing on stage saying nothing. I would also say that I would imagine that discussions must have been had between the band members, their team and also the other bands on the tour as well on the issue to make sure everyone is on the same page on the matter as a band like Spiritbox would simply not tour with a band and let their lead singer come out to perform with them if they did not stand with them on issues of this nature.

So to conclude on this matter, while I still respect Architects as musicians, I have lost a lot of respect for them as people as their lack of action on this does leave me feeling let down by the band as they have caused a lot of hurt to many in their fanbase as well as cause many to feel that their gigs are not a safe place to be which is the opposite to what their music and their show have shown otherwise which is a crying shame. understand as humans we can have our flaws and make mistakes but it's a band's job to make sure that their concerts are a safe place for everyone and in the lead-up to their tour, I feel that the band have failed to do so. To any fans going to these shows, if you see anyone getting any abuse of any nature please call it out and make sure that everyone feels comfortable to be there. No one should feel scared or threatened at a gig so make and we should make sure that we as fans make it clear that these sorts of people who don't respect people's rights to love who they want and be who they are will not be welcomed.

I have left a link below to a charity called Stonewall which works towards equality for LGBTQ+ people and campaigns for change. I you'd like to find out more or donate to them please check them out below.

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/