Alter Bridge Attacks

[Steve]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Agent D)

The frontman of this Swedish band...

Just a note: the band is not from Sweeden. They are from St. Louis, USA which makes them even more assholes than they are already portrayed to be.

[Ana4Stapp]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mrprophetman)

This is all over VH1 and MTV....Strange that its not posted here.

From MTV and VH1 . com
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1534...r_bridge.jhtml

Living Things Say They Were Attacked Onstage By Alter Bridge, Band's Crew

Singer says band — which features three ex-Creed members — threw flag at drummer, trampled guitarist.

by Gil Kaufman

Living Things singer Lillian Berlin is used to people taking issue with his Bush-bashing stage patter. Hell, three years ago at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, he got pistol-whipped and nearly shot by three men outside the club because of his comments.

But the provocative band's singer thought he might be safe from attack onstage, especially in the bastion of neutrality that is Switzerland. 'Fraid not, Lillian.

The 26-year-old singer/guitarist said his brother, drummer Bosh Berlin, 21, and the band's touring guitarist, Corey Becker, were attacked and beat up onstage Wednesday night during a show at the Rohstofflager club in Zurich, Switzerland, by the crew of the band Alter Bridge and at least one member of that band. The Alter Bridge camp is refuting those claims.

"We were in the middle of our second song, and I had some stuff to say about the current administration and the way they're handling the Iraq war," Lillian said. "The Swiss were all behind us, and the crowd was cheering me on. I was talking about this letter I got inviting me to a Democrat-bashing dinner at the White House. And we went into our fourth song, and some goon from that Creed band [Alter Bridge features three former members of Creed] came out swinging an American flag and then threw it at our drummer, Bosh."

Lillian said he thought the interloper was an excited member of the audience so he ignored him, but then on the other side of the stage, Becker was being "trampled" by two Alter Bridge crew workers and a member of the band, whose name Lillian said he didn't know.

"I was still unaware at this point that these weren't crowd people, so I started screaming for security to get them offstage," Lillian said. "The only reason I knew it was a guy from that band was because I met him backstage, and he had some sports team's ski cap on."

Alter Bridge are the band that was formed by three former members of Creed — guitarist Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall — and ex-Mayfield Four singer Myles Kennedy after Creed's dissolution in 2004.

A spokesperson for headliner Alter Bridge — who recently parted ways with their label, Wind-Up Records — denied the Things' version of the incident. In a statement issued Thursday night (June 15), the band stated, "Alter Bridge was not happy that this band chose to deliver anti-American statements to their audience.

"However, no Alter Bridge bandmembers were onstage, and their crew was in their designated working areas during this supposed incident. Alter Bridge thinks this is just a weak attempt by the opening band to drum up press for themselves. Alter Bridge will have no further comment on this as they are finishing up their extremely successful European tour and returning shortly to the U.S. to start work on their second album."

A source close to Alter Bridge even said it was the Living Things who started the fight backstage.

Lillian said the Living Things were forced to abandon the gig less than halfway through. As his band walked backstage, Lillian said, Alter Bridge and their crew yelled, "We love America," at the bandmembers, and a woman in their entourage said, "I love where I'm from, and you are shameful." According to Lillian, Bosh has a black eye and an injured left hand that made it difficult for him to play during the band's gig in Austria on Thursday, and Becker has black-and-blue marks on his neck from being choked, a black eye and a swollen nose.

Lillian has made a habit of speaking his mind during the band's shows, burning pictures of President Bush onstage using a pistol-shaped lighter and pretending to flog women in dominatrix gear while wearing a Bush mask (see "Living Things Make Political Point With Guitars, Blow-Up Dolls"). The group's 2005 Ahead of the Lions album is also full of incendiary songs like "Bombs Below" and "Bom Bom Bom," but Lillian said he never imagined another band would attack him onstage for "exercising our freedom of speech."

The two groups shared a bill again on Thursday at the Nova Rock Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria, but Lillian said he did not see any members of Alter Bridge all day.

Calls it publicity....to both bands....

[nagpo]

idiots..all of them.

[eusebioCBR]

Quote: (Originally Posted by nagpo)

idiots..all of them.

celebrities are!

[Agent D]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Steve)

Just a note: the band is not from Sweeden. They are from St. Louis, USA which makes them even more assholes than they are already portrayed to be.

Whoa, my mistake then. I must've misread the article. That makes it even worse.

[Dogstar]

This is really sad if people are kicking the crap out of others for their opinions.

[Creed7352]

i'm sure there was more to it than just opinions...maybe the dude tossed them an american flag after the comments and the drummer or whoever had the flag thrown at them talked shit? we don't know all of those details just yet, and may never know.

[Robin101]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mrprophetman)

This is all over VH1 and MTV....Strange that its not posted here.

From MTV and VH1 . com
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1534...r_bridge.jhtml

Living Things Say They Were Attacked Onstage By Alter Bridge, Band's Crew

Singer says band — which features three ex-Creed members — threw flag at drummer, trampled guitarist.

And we went into our fourth song, and some goon from that Creed band [Alter Bridge features three former members of Creed] came out swinging an American flag and then threw it at our drummer, Bosh."

Lillian said he thought the interloper was an excited member of the audience so he ignored him, but then on the other side of the stage, Becker was being "trampled" by two Alter Bridge crew workers and a member of the band, whose name Lillian said he didn't know.

"I was still unaware at this point that these weren't crowd people, so I started screaming for security to get them offstage," Lillian said. "The only reason I knew it was a guy from that band was because I met him backstage, and he had some sports team's ski cap on."

If it was a member of AB, who do you think it was?

[Wylde-Tremonti]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Steve)

Just a note: the band is not from Sweeden. They are from St. Louis, USA which makes them even more assholes than they are already portrayed to be.

Mother F***er... That Makes me even more angry... Just goes to show you how Crappy the music scene is here in St. Louis... It's all a bunch of Gay emo bands and Idiots... I'm horribly ashamed that they're from here... damn... Makes Me Want To Kick Some ASS!

[titan9]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Robin101)

If it was a member of AB, who do you think it was?

My first thought was Brian. It's a crazy thing to do, and I think Brian would be the one to go out on stage and do something about some idiots bashing the U.S.

But when I read the part about a "team skull cap" on the head of the member who supposedly attacked the lead singer of this other band, I thought it might be someone else. Maybe Tremo or Flip? I'd be shocked if it's Myles.

Of course, I'm just speculating as we do not know for sure that everything went down as this singer says. Like others in this thread have said, there is a good possibility that Living Things' lead singer is just trying to drum up some publicity for his rather unknown band. Who knows if a member of AB was even involved? Maybe it was just the crew.

Still, this whole thing gave me, well, a good chuckle. I'm used to reading about this sort of stuff regarding Stapp, but Mark, Flip, Brian and Myles? It's certainly different, lol.

All of this aside, if everything mentioned in the article actually happened, I don't know whether to be disappointed that AB attacked, or proud of them. Personally, if I were in their shoes, I would not have attacked the other band physically. I would have went out on stage and got on a mic and gave them a piece of my mind. I am proud, though, that AB stood up for their country and their beliefs. I would have done the same myself, just not physically attacked the idiots.

And for the record, I am a fan of Pearl Jam's new album.

[Chase]

Alter Bridge fights for my rights as an American! Yay!

[Ana4Stapp]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Chase)

Alter Bridge fights for my rights as an American! Yay!

Using violent methods??? Oh....but for someone who support wars...its normal...k

Sorry...but I couldnt resist

[Chase]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Ana4Stapp)

Using violent methods??? Oh....but for someone who support wars...its normal...k

Sorry...but I couldnt resist

Alter Bridge didn't use violence according to Mark's brother.

[Ana4Stapp]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Chase)

Alter Bridge didn't use violence according to Mark's brother.

Oh... I see....but seriously... I wasnt there ...ok?

[J-Man]

Ana, if you are going to post information and speculate - get your facts right. I know this was posted, but Miss Ana missed out.

A letter from AB found on Alterbridge.com

The Opening Band

As some of you may know, claims have been made that Alter Bridge band members and crew attacked an opening band on stage during their set in Zurich, Switzerland the night of June 14, 2006. That is simply not true. Anyone who knows or has worked with the Alter Bridge band members or crew members knows that these allegations are preposterous. Alter Bridge regrets that we have to give this matter any attention at all since we view this as an obvious attempt to gain publicity by a band trying to manipulate headlines for their own gain. Therefore, we will not mention the name of said band but will instead call them “The Opening Band.”

On that night, the fine line between artistic freedom and misdirected ignorance was crossed and as Americans and musicians, the members of Alter Bridge are both offended and embarrassed. Alter Bridge fully supports every American’s right to free speech. We are not happy that this band chose to spew such unintelligent drivel to our fans, but we do support their right to freedom of speech. If any band chooses the stage to address their political views and to take shots at the current U.S. Government that is their right. However, it is not their right to slander our country and its people in the process. With freedom also comes responsibility – to the truth and to freedom itself. We believe that if you choose to make a political statement, at the very least you have an obligation to be intelligent and informed. When a person speaks from ignorance, that person diminishes the very message he or she is trying to convey and tarnishes the very freedom he or she supposedly supports. We believe The Opening Band spoke from ignorance that night, and has subsequently lied and embellished the events in support of that ignorance while doing interviews about this incident.

We apologize that we must explain further, but we feel it is necessary in order to properly put this whole ordeal in context. During this so-called “political statement” The Opening Band repeatedly yelled “Fuck America! Fuck America! I Hate America!” and their singer eventually digressed further to shouting “America can suck my cock!” Regardless of anyone’s political views this is simply ignorant, offensive, and unacceptable. Alter Bridge and our crew stood up for America that night, and we will stick up for ourselves now in explaining this situation.

A fight did happen on stage that night, though no Alter Bridge band members were involved. The band members were in their dressing room, thankful to have a few feet of concrete between their ears and The Opening Band’s music. For many years, Mark Tremonti has draped his guitar rig prior to shows with an American flag cover. When The Opening Band went into their anti-American diatribe that night, one of Alter Bridge’s technicians pointed at that cover with pride. Upon seeing this, members of The Opening Band immediately charged him. To be clear on this, our crew member was attacked for pointing at a symbol of the very freedom that allows free speech! It is ironic and sad that a band who claims to be making statements against war while hiding behind freedom of speech is so quick to commit violence against someone else simply exercising that same right. It is tragic that war exists, but we believe that activism is about trying to motivate change in order to better whatever cause you support. Are we to believe that The Opening Band actually expects to change the world for the better by demanding that an entire nation perform fellatio on them?

After The Opening Band members charged, our crew member was forced to defend himself. Another member of our crew was forced to protect Alter Bridge’s equipment, as one of the Opening Band members went straight for Mark’s guitar rig in attempt to pull out cables and render the equipment incapable of playing the show that night. Classy move, did they ever stop to think of the audience? Obviously not, as we can also see from their singer’s statement that when the melee ensued, “I was still unaware at this point that these weren’t crowd people [on stage], so I started screaming for security.” Even the singer could not claim that anyone in the audience was a fan of The Opening Band, but “crowd people?” We believe that quote speaks volumes about who this band is. We also dispute his claim that, “The Swiss were all behind us and the crowd was cheering me on.” The crowd could not have cared less when The Opening Band took the stage, nor did they care when they left the stage early. What is true is that a member of The Opening Band was screaming backstage “I guess now we’ll have to sue you,” leading us to wonder if this whole sordid stunt was pre-meditated. It is also true that during the incident, a member of The Opening Band was heard on stage shrieking, “My hair!!! Oh no, not my hair!!!” Last, we have read that the drummer for The Opening Band has a black eye and a sore hand that effected his playing at the next day’s show. That is simply not true, but then very little of what The Opening Band has reported is true. We know it is not true because we saw him at the festival the next day. From the accounts we have heard, the drummer was not even involved in the incident. Don’t just take our word for it though. If anyone would like to see first-hand accounts of the incident, please visit the message boards at www.alterbridgeband.net.

The Opening Band’s singer was quoted in an article as saying, “Some goon from that Creed Band came out swinging an American flag and threw it at our drummer,” which begs the questions: Are you so arrogant, ignorant, and self-absorbed that you do not even know what band you are opening for? Creed broke up nearly 3 years ago. Or have you already figured out, so early in your career, that you have no hope of becoming successful without these type of antics? How long did it take you to work the word “Creed” into your draft as an attention-getting technique before you repeatedly called MTV News in attempt to create controversy for your own gain? Are you that desperate to be a rock star? Alter Bridge has some news for you - that’s not “Rock & Roll.” That’s a cheap parlor trick you can learn in any remedial marketing class. It has become obvious to us that almost every article written about The Opening Band discusses controversial incidents yet very few actually mention their music.

In closing, we ask that no one try to take any of this too seriously, as it only plays to The Opening Band’s desire to manipulate the facts and the press to create controversy and we would hate to see such cheap attempts actually succeed in getting them any ink. Alter Bridge has always chosen to conduct our business in a somewhat private manner, in a way that is unobtrusive to our fans and to our music. To us, music is about the emotions it inspires and its ability to bring people together not the negativity it can spread or the ways it can drive people apart. And we try to remind ourselves that every band is entitled to a few Spinal Tap moments. We do find humor and irony in the fact that “The Opening Band” is from St. Louis, U.S.A., yet chose Switzerland, the most neutral country on Earth, to spout international political rhetoric as a segue into starting a fist-fight!!!!

- Alter Bridge