Sampa The Great joins Bluesfest boycott over Sticky Fingers

Sampa The Great has pulled out of the April festival two days after Days after King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard cancelled over the appearance of controversial band Sticky Fingers.

Two-time Australian Music Prize winner Sampa The Great. Picture: Supplied.

Sampa The Great has withdrawn from Bluesfest Byron Bay, just two days after King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard cancelled over the appearance of controversial band Sticky Fingers.

In a statement provided to Double J on Wednesday, representatives of Sampa The Great, said the two-time Australian Music Prize winner “started contact with Bluesfest, to inform them of our standpoint within half an hour of receiving the embargoed press release and seeing the remainder of the line-up”.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Picture: Tony Gough

“We then delivered final confirmation to Bluesfest at 7.36pm AEDT on Tuesday 14 February that Sampa was coming off the line-up, in the hopes they would remove her from all materials before they announced the following day,” the statement said.

Following the announcement that Sticky Fingers would play at Bluesfest in April, prominent voices in the music industry such as Jaguar Jonze, Camp Cope drummer Sarah Thompson, and Kira Puru, criticised the festival on the far north coast of NSW.

Proceeded to announce her and profit off her name for a whole week while he doubled and tripled down on supporting the very reason she was leaving. SUSS MY BOY VERY SUSS. https://t.co/ZEFBfuW0VB

— Kira Puru (@kirapuru) February 22, 2023

King Gizzard pulled out of the festival on Monday, citing the signing of Sticky Fingers. “Given this decision by the festival, we have decided to cancel our appearance at Bluesfest,” the band said in statement.

“We are deeply disappointed to be in this position, but sometimes you need to be willing to make sacrifices to stand up for your values. This is, unfortunately, one of those moments.”

“As a band and as human beings we stand against misogyny, racism, transphobia, and violence.”

@BluesfestByronpic.twitter.com/UQRMnin20S

— King Gizzard (@kinggizzard) February 20, 2023

Sticky Fingers have been shunned by the Australian music industry after a series of incidents. In 2016, Indigenous musician Thelma Plum accused frontman Dylan Frost of drunkenly abusing her and her boyfriend outside a Sydney hotel.

Sticky Fingers' frontman Dylan Frost at Splendour in the Grass 2016. Picture: Supplied

Frost later said he was “ashamed” he had made a woman feel unsafe, and “violence against women is never OK”. Sticky Fingers announced they would withdraw from their scheduled appearance at This That festival in Newcastle to avoid dragging the event into controversy.

Bluesfest director Peter Noble doubled down on his decision to add Sticky Fingers to the line-up on Tuesday, saying the calls to remove the band from the line-up were “cruel and unforgiving”.

Bluesfest director Peter Noble has doubled down on his decision to add Sticky Fingers to the line-up. Picture: Tao Jones

“Recently, a band decided to cancel a forthcoming appearance at Bluesfest because Sticky Fingers, particularly its lead singer (who are booked to play at Bluesfest), was involved in an incident with another artist offstage a long time ago,” Mr Noble said in a statement.

“I believe an attempt to victimise this man and his band in the circumstances is cruel and unforgiving. This cruelty and lack of compassion are foreign to my values, as is the attempt to suppress the band‘s artistic expression. I was and remain proud to give the band a chance at rehabilitation.”

He added that “forgiveness is critical to helping people with mental health challenges continue functioning in society”.