Racism claims push Sticky Fingers off stage

ARIA award-nominated indie rock band Sticky Fingers is going on an indefinite hiatus due to claims of racism.

Sticky Fingers frontman Dylan Frost.

The Australian music industry has been sent into a tailspin after ARIA award-nominated indie rock band Sticky Fingers announced it was going on an indefinite hiatus due to allegations of racism and verbal and physical abuse.

A statement from frontman Dylan Frost informed the band’s 200,000-strong Facebook following that the break-up was largely due to his “unacceptable” conduct.

Frost, who posted he has been “dealing with alcohol addiction and mental health issues”, was “last year diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia”, and apologised to the people who had been ­affected by his behaviour.

Many high-profile musicians, industry leaders and businesses have since condemned his inappropriate behaviour, including indigenous musician Thelma Plum, who has accused Frost of racist abuse.

After Plum and Sticky Fingers performed at Spilt Milk, a new festival in Canberra, last weekend, Plum released a statement saying she was left feeling “very shaken” after an encounter with Frost.

The incident followed a ­complaint made by Birrugan Dunn-Velasco, lead singer of Sydney punk three-piece Dispossessed, who in July described a gig of theirs as a “torturous experience” that became a “circus of hyper-defensive white supre­macy” after Frost, among ­others, began “grossly shirt fronting” the band. Dunn-Velasco described Frost’s behaviour as racist and oppressive.

Troy Mutton, the editor of Australian music/lifestyle website Pilerats, has also condemned Frost’s behaviour, lamenting that such incidents could have been avoided if people in the industry had spoken up sooner.

Sticky Fingers intend to play the shows they have arranged until early next year.