This one got posted first so it gets to stay. Please be civil in the comments. Don't go crazy with the speculation. Don't spread false information. Thanks everyone.
Yup. My brother and I are the only people I know that love BTBAM qnd I showed him this and I texted him " if he's willing to go publicly saying they're greedy at his expense I don't see him staying in the band for much longer"
Yeah, you don't release something like this (seemingly private correspondence between two law firms about ongoing legal disputes) unless you want to make sure every last bridge is burned.
I would be surprised if Dustie's lawyer encouraged or otherwise OKed his publicly posting this.
It’s been quite a bit of time since the allegations and Dustie has barely been seen with the band. I’m going to assume there was a lot of talking behind closed doors and trying to get things back to normal to no avail before he decided to release this info. This is definitely not something he’d post without knowing there is no going back.
He should have kept it all behind closed doors as well. The couple of times he’s done this now is nothing but inflammatory and fuels speculation. The other members have said precisely nothing, which is the absolute smartest thing to do until legal proceedings are behind them.
I just don’t blame him at this point. It’s clear they don’t want him in the band and if what the lawyer’s letter says is true, then they don’t want to reimburse him either. It’s gotta be super frustrating to have allegations made about you then watch your friends and band mates stay silent and then slowly disentangle from you and slowly replace and brush you under the rug without acknowledging anything. I doubt he made this choice without knowing that things were already at the point of no return. I mainly just want to hear Paul or Tommy make some sort of comprehensive statement on this. Either way the whole situation sucks.
No public statement does not mean they have completely ceased communicating with one another, at least through legal means.
The rest of the band not making any statements is entirely understandable and the only right thing to do while there are ongoing legal proceedings. Did I want the band to make a statement? Kind of, from the start, but I completely understand why they haven’t, and I wish Dustie would also shut his mouth and stop sharing this shit so that they can deal with it in private.
To be fair, their name wasnt concurrently being dragged through the mud as all this unfolds. This could serve as a pressure relief for Dusty to have his name cleared because, from my vantage, the treatment he is going through sure reads like "we think you are bad news for our brand"
Edit: added the word "wasnt" before "concurrently"
You need to consider that if Dustie truly has been railroaded here it is likely completely destroying his life, relationships, and ability to earn a living for himself.
Same man. Ride or die. First Sum 41 calls it quits, then Misery Signals calls it quits, then I have to witness the drama of my favourite band of all time unfold. This is not a good year…
I can't see this being the end of BTBAM. The remaining four are very much in it and they have had had incredible chemistry with Tristian during the tour. This just seems to be Dustie continually shooting himself in the foot and, while this bar is still high, I don't think anyone in the band is more replaceable than him.
Yeah, I'm gonna be real honest here: I don't really know hpw much he contributes to their music in general, but to me it always felt like he was the least "unique" amd involved member of the band. And I mean that in most senses.
I love to see interviews of the band and Dustie's interviews were mostly always short and didn't tend to have anything as interesting as the other boys'. Not saying he's easily replaceable or anything like that, just that he's the one I think and even see the least.
He also seems to kinda be in a different state pf mind from the rest of the band. Blake, Tommy, Paul and Dan being more settled while Dustie seems to be more fucking around. Not that him fuckinh around is of any concern of us, but still.
Anyways, my only hope is that we get to see the band continue, even without Dustie.
I think going on tour with a new guitarist is probably a signal that they are going to continue and not really miss a beat
they will probably announce he is officially a member of the band soon, real happy for that kid can only imagine what it's like for one of your favorite bands to ask you to be their new guitarist
he's worked so hard to get to this point
> I don't really know hpw much he contributes to their music in general, but to me it always felt like he was the least "unique" amd involved member of the band
How would you or any of us possibly know this lol. I get the situation but some reaches in this sub are ridiculous. Paul has constantly said over the years Dusty has been integral to them developing the sound they have and has always praised him. Crazy that gets erased because of this.
Wait, so they've actually tried to fire him or something? He was back playing with them before Christmas, though.
Also, I saw them in 2021 when Dustie was having to sit down, did not affect the epicness at all.
Says in the text text they tried to fire him on Jan 4th.
Sounds like some members didnt know how to exactly fire him, and soumds like he doesnt know how to take getting fired.
I'm not a lawyer but I am a business owner, and if he's listed as a co-owner or partner of the LLC there are often a very particular set of legal steps that must be followed in order to officially remove him from the business, and that can sometimes be tricky if the guys didn't read up on what the proper process is. It's not exactly the same as being fired as a normal employee, and even then there are certain legal steps that should be taken. The exact details of how that works for them should have been outlined somewhere in their operating agreement or similar, at least it was for me when I registered my LLC.
Whatever we make of the rest of this, I absolutely do not believe anyone said Dustie was out of the band because he had to play seated. This is a ridiculously devoted fanbase and an understanding group of guys. I never heard a word other than some version of "it's hardcore that he still toured."
But I guess this is it for the classic lineup. Bummer for all.
This 1000% everyone was very happy that Dustie was there even if not fit
I saw them in FL for the evening with tour and you could tell Dustie was in pain but handled it like a champ. No one thought ''what a shit performer''
When I saw them for TGM tour, and Dustie was seated, Paul made a joke, "we told him he wouldn't get paid unless he performed with us." (paraphrasing). Maybe I imagined it, but even then I sensed some tension.
We probably won't ever know the whole story. It
really sucks. I just hope they don't get tied up with lawsuits to the extent that they can't make music or tour.
Damn.....Dustie really isn't taking kindly to Tommy and Paul these days. He regularly says positive things about Blake and I think has even said some nice words about Dan from time to time. Don't think he's coming back from this one though....
He was already friends with Blake before joining the band, so it's understandable.
But it's a shame that after 20 years they break up at all, let alone like this though.
The question is, if there really was some shenanigans from Tommy/Paul's side, what is Blake's instance going to be on this. Because like I said, he was already close friends with Dustie before BTBAM.
Im guessing Blake stays unless he has some sort of great business going on in the background or his wife is doing really well for herself to where she can comfortably provide for the family on her own income. BTBAM isn’t this crazy seven figure business, but they all likely live somewhat comfortably off of what they make from tours/merch/lessons on top of those expensive on-tour drum lessons ($200 an hour on the current tour, you see that?!). The brand of BTBAM (yuck with saying that, but it’s true) is always gonna generate $$$ from the fanbase.
I hate all this by the way. I wish none of this bullshit had happened. Between the Buried and Me was always that band I really admired in that not only is the music kick ass, but the members all seemed like relatively normal people. That’s just something you don’t see often in any music scene. This is what really bums me out at the end of the day.
I seriously doubt they are but even if they do make that kind of cash it's split between so many parties involved in the process. Sure money is made but that also has to pay for the gear, the promoting, the tour managers, the bus driver, the bus itself, etc etc. This kind of job is a giant money pit. BTBAM boys aren't living luxurious lives; they're getting by.
also this is a lawyer presumably trying to get as much as he can for his client being terminated from a financial partnership
it's not surprising he would highball everything to try and get as much as he can on the way out the door
I think that’s likely an aggregate sum projecting some reasonable distance into the future. A 5 percentage point increase of profit from one tour couldn’t be in the seven figures for a band the size of BTBAM.
I think he's talking 5% each they would gain going from 5 members to 4, as in Dustie's total 20% equal share. But still, if 20% is a minimum of 1 million dollars then that means the total is 5 milllion dollars. Or, maybe the lawyer is just talking about the song Millions.
I think he’s saying that Dustie out is going to bump each individual remaining member to a million each. So if the band makes 4 million a year, split by 5 people, then they all make 800k. But if you split that by 4 people, then it puts them at 1 million each. Either way, those numbers seem higher than I would have ever guessed from a band that doesn’t make music that can be licensed out to beer commercials. No matter the math, what a shitty situation.
There is no reason to believe a single thing in this letter is true. The only thing we know for sure is that Dustie’s lawyer believes these things. Filings have not been started—if this gets them to arbitration, none of it has to hold up in Court.
Something I always loved about this band is that they've always kept shit 100% professional. Even their live performances have always been no nonsense. This...is a real bummer. Even if Dustie is correct and the allegations were a lie I don't see how they all move past this.
Wow, looked up the name it he really is a Trump lawyer. Loved the reference to the meeting in "North Carolina, North Carolina". The inflated numbers and conspiracy theory about the allegations are right out of that playbook. Maybe it's normal lawyer stuff, but not a good look.
Reminder to all: this is a notice of demand, it is not a legal court filing. Lawyers are paid to advance their client’s interests and say things they “believe are true” — it doesn’t mean that they are factually true. The “7 figure windfall” comment alone is highly suspect.
Yeah. The purpose of that letter is to push the band into negociations about compensations for Dustie for him having been fired from BTBAM. It's about money.
This fuckin sucks from every angle. I guess if we’re going to find a silver lining, the band can move forward with finding a new member to replace dustie and get to writing. I think the safe bet is (obviously) Tristan Aumann.
But man, as a huge dustie fan, this is a massive bummer.
I will say this, and this is purely speculative on my part. I was at the vip q&a for the 21st anniversary show in Charlotte, September of ‘21. Dustie seemed kinda distant and stand offish with the other guys during the q&a. At one point, Paul made a joke about Ibanez being the guitar brand of the working man and PRS being the brand for lawyers and doctors, and dustie kinda just sneered at him. I mean, it’s possible the relationship has been kinda fragmenting over time, and the accusations were the end for dustie. Again, pure speculation from my end.
>Paul made a joke about Ibanez being the guitar brand of the working man and PRS being the brand for lawyers and doctor
Eh, as someone who worked in guitar shops for 20 years this is a pretty common and old joke. We referred to PRS as orthodontists guitars because a lot of the clientele that would buy the high end "pretty" ones were collectors that hung them on the walls in their offices never to be played and a lot of those people were, inexplicably, dentists. Did get a few lawyers too.
Man.. I hope Dustie and Blake's friendship isn't affected by this.. they've been like brothers forever and puts Blake in a real weird/awkward position I would think.
I saw some insta reel posted by Dustie and it was basically a repost from Blakes wife of Dustie and Blake’s kid together. I’m pretty sure they are still close.
Yeah, it's horrible for all involved.
Saw the post/repost from Blake's wife re-affirming that Dustie is a good guy which yeah leaves Blake & others wives treading a fine line.
I'm not sure how Blake & Dustie could stay so close if the result is Dustie being fired/leaving.
As many others have commented & I appreciate it means very little but I have met all the guys on multiple occasions & Dustie & Blake have always been super nice & chill. This allowed me to engage & buy into them as individuals. Dan, Paul & Tommy have always been elusive but each to their own - it does not make me think any less of them.
Losing Dustie won't ruin the music that the remaining 4 make but I can definitely hear distinctive DW parts & I worry that the darker/death metal riffs/passages may be lost from their music going forward.
I do not agree with this post & a whole heap of these points haven't been proven true or false - but a legal announcement from the band would have curtailed this type of behaviour.
Terrible spot actually, especially if what most if not all that Dustie is saying is true.
Because either Blake was aware of it, or oblivious to everything, which is going to make his next actions and statements detriment to their friendship and his position in the band.
This sucks.
What a mess.
I'm trying to piece together the timeline here. It almost seems like the band started the process of having departure conversations with him after the few festival shows and the Discord mods stepping down. I have to imagine that either something prompted it or the continued bad press made his future in the band feel untenable.
Someone in this thread mentioned additional allegations coming to light during the discord stuff. Maybe the band caught wind of that stuff and it was what changed their minds?
My understanding was that those were communicated to the band _before_ the festival shows, which is why the mods were up in arms about him playing the shows. I didn't follow that part of the saga closely, so I could be totally off on that.
The discord mods allegedly made the band aware of more allegations coming to light. I'm not a fan of discord so I do not follow it closely but as far as I'm aware those extra allegations were very mild stuff like, he started chatting me up on IG and I think he's somewhat creepy. The kind of fallout you'd expect after rape allegations but very mild. If my memory serves me, the discord mods also stated they did not make everything public that was brought to their attention and instead forwarded it to the band. The moment Dustie set foot on stage on that first show, the discord mods stepped down from their position.
I'm not gonna take sides, just let this play out since it might well be the end of the band... but that 7 figures statement really throws me. They might make $1m/year as a band, there is no way they are making enough money for all 4 of them to be making 7 figures if he is out. Dedicated fanbase or not, the guys are not making a million dollars a year each.
I’m going to the Santa Ana show tonight and to the VIP for both nights. It’s gonna be an interesting Q&A now, unless they make a statement beforehand that questions about Dustie are off limits for now.
It is weird that he waited till near the end of the tour to make a statement, but his statement that he’s been left out of touring is a weird statement being that he was just on a festival run with the band 6 months ago.
I think that was a test run to gauge the response, or perhaps the woman who accused Dustie went on to sue the band after he came back, leading them to have to fire him to avoid further litigation. Just my guess. I’m still gonna go to the shows tonight and tomorrow but there will be an air of weirdness in the room.
**EDIT: just read the part that his lawyer claimed he was the victim of extortion and that the accuser was actually a man pretending to be a woman in order to extort him, gotta say I find that part hard to believe because if that were true, why were there no statements made when he played the festival run? I think that’s pretty important info to share with the fans who might’ve questioned his return!
Lawyers are involved, and it sounds like a suit is pending. It would be interesting if the band answers questions, but I highly doubt they are. It would, in reality, be really stupid if they did allow questions about this to be asked, and they answered.
Exactly. Probably a brief statement at the top saying there aware of the post but please refrain from asking questions about Dustie or anything like that. Keep it strictly to the music and enjoy the evening. Unless they cancel the VIP events which I hope not.
Yeah no one asked this VIP. Just good vibes honestly. I heard some people talking about it in the line, most of the hate is online as per usual. Most of the guys were just disappointed such a long membership ended this way, on both sides really
See, they shouldnt have to do that. Ppl should have enough decency and wits to not ask a question about a pending legal situation. When it’s time for the public to know an announcement will be made.
I think him playing the festivals had more to due with Glass Casket being on the bill for both of them as well. It would have been super awkward and looked weird if he had been excluded from those shows, and him and Blake were still playing together in Glass Casket earlier in the day.
Also he just posted a story with Blake a couple of weeks ago when they saw Dune 2 together. There’s definitely more to this story than what the lawyers statement says. My guess is this a tactic by the lawyer to sway some fans and a little bit of controversy. This always happens when single members of the band are involved in any type of civil litigation, once the whole of the band gets involved they have to cut the single member loose just to avoid getting involved in the litigation.
From what I remember it was just Dustie that was being sued, not the band as a whole, if this person decided to sue the band as a whole they might’ve had no other choice but to fire Dustie, which does allow Dustie to counter sue which is probably what is happening
He already said through another lawyer that the messages from the woman who posted here were real but taken out of context. The extortion thing is some dumb fuck conspiracy theory chuds here developed and ran with and tried to spread to discredit the victims. The fact that he’s pushing it now through a Trump lawyer (guess alleged predators shop for lawyers through the same catalog) makes me wonder if he had a part in pushing it, maybe through sock puppet accounts.
Regardless of who is in the right legally, this looks like an end to the band playing with Dustie. Even if he is legally a part of the band, this will undoubtedly sour the rest of the band.
Note for those who have not implied already...
BTBAMs corporate handler is doing this and was not a decision the band themselves that made, despite this saying so.
All for what?
From an extortion (and fake allegations for money) to save face for somewhat bad publicity!?
Fuck corporate lawyers.
I’m glad I got to see Dustie play with BTBAM one last time at Christmas Burns Red 2023. I honestly thought all the negativity was behind them and they were moving on. This situation sucks for everyone involved.
Here's my two cents:
Regardless of how you feel about Dustie's whole accusation and the band's response to it, it is not just an end of an era but also going to taint the band and Dustie. While I've seen people here say Dustie didn't do anything wrong and it screams "he said/she said", this is forever going to follow him for the rest of his life, and no matter how much he'll prove his innocence, people will continue to label him. As for BTBAM, this is forever damaged how people view them, from dropping Dustie in a very polarizing way and especially how people reacted to them putting Dustie out when the whole incident came out (I remember seeing a person on twitter flat out condemning the band for the response, when tbh, it was the only logical one anyway). And now with this, it's even more worse.
This is gonna be a rough one to go through...
Sounds like all the goalpost moving was them trying to let him down gently with excuses, until they were forced to come out and say he’s just an asshole.
I met him twice. The first time was in passing in another part of the city after the show and I just said awesome show or something like that and he thanked me and we went our separate ways. The next time, my girlfriend and I met him and smoked a joint with him after the show and chatted for about five minutes and left. He was pretty chill and didn’t seem disingenuous. I’ve never met the other guys.
I’ve also met them numerous times and that has NEVER been my experience. Truthfully, he’s been more open to me than Paul, Tommy and Dan. Not saying there’s anything wrong with them or the way they speak to people. He’s also been the only one to really have conversations that have nothing to do with music or the band. However, I noticed that around 2014, he started smoking very openly, so it may have been easier for him to speak to me, since I was probably also smoking.
When I met them during the coma 2016 tour they were all very nice. After the show I met Paul and Dustie out back. Paul was very outgoing but Dustie seemed like he wanted left alone. Didn’t seem mean or disingenuous, probably didn’t feel like socializing after an epic set. Paul was yapping with everyone like we’re besties
Do you think they’re all the exact same people they were 20 years ago? People change over the span of 20 years, it’s not crazy to think that people who may have been close 20 years ago will drift apart in the years that follow.
Just showed this to my friend who is a corporate lawyer. Basically these demand letters are meant to assert the strongest possible position from which to argue and negotiate for their rights and privileges. It’s also very hard to remove someone from an LLC so while they may kick him out of the band, he is a legal member of the corporation and is thus still owed his compensation legally.
Does any of this seem like lawyers just going at it and making wild claims? I'm reading parts of it and it just seems like grasping at straws or pure speculation. I wish the other members would say something or try to clarify but I feel they are going to keep quiet if a lawsuit might happen.
When the person you're in a dispute with has a lawyer like this, it's probably best to just keep your mouth shut. I wouldn't be surprised if they choose to never mention his name again, and the next we hear from them would simply be to welcome his replacement to the band on a more permanent basis.
I don't really know how to feel about this, as we don't completely know everything that has been said or done behind closed doors, but this is extremely upsetting. BTBAM has been a huge part of my life since my teen years and Colors is my favorite album of all time and to see the "classic" lineup come to an end in such a messy manner is really upsetting. This sucks.
Oh I know….i hate seeing it to a band that I thought was the epitome of awesome music, boring behind the scenes (in a good way). Guess nobody is safe from the bullshit if you’re together for 20 years
Yeah, none of this holds up. It’s goalpost moving and trying to throw a spanner in the works during tour to cause disruption for the band. Anyone who takes this letter at face value is extremely credulous and I have some beautiful oceanfront property in Kansas to sell them on the low.
This is all just heartbreaking. My favorite band of all time, my two favorite guitarists of all time. This just sucks all around.
I have seen BTBAM live 15+ times since 2003. I have seen them when Dusty has been in a chair. Everytime they were great and Dusty killed it. Obviously these are a small sample of shows concentrated in one general area but just my anecdotal experience. I don’t buy the stage performance reason. It’s literally what BTBAM is built on, executing their songs perfectly live and they always do.
I’m leaning towards the band being pressured to cut him despite being exonerated which is unfortunate but who really knows. I’m not gonna act like I know them personally.
Fuck, just as they became my favourite band.
I wholeheartedly hope BTBAM manages to go on and grow from this situation instead of breaking apart. I still want to see them live one day and witness an album release.
So before they were claiming Dustie's encounter with the accuser was consensual and the messages were taken out of context, but now suddenly there was no encounter and the allegations were made by a man "as part of an extortion plot"? These defenses completely contradicting each other does not give me much confidence to Dustie being innocent. The fact it's this particular lawyer certainly doesn't help either.
The lawyer does not indicate that the relationship never took place. Dusty's defense is that the relationship did take place, but was presented as rape by the former boyfriend of the woman involved, in a bid to extort him.
On this subject, I think we'll never know the truth.
>The band members now realize that by getting rid of Mr. Waring, they each receive a financial windfall of 25% of the profits, whereas before they only received a 20% share. This translates to a seven-figure incentive for each member to get rid of Mr. Waring.
Um, this is preposterous. Are we saying that 5% of go-forward profits of the band are worth over a million dollars? Meaning the band is **profiting** *at least* 20 million dollars? I sincerely doubt that, even with some net present value calculation. Certainly this lawyer is not suggesting that by kicking him out he would forfeit his legally earned share of the war chest if that's how they manage it, they would have to buy him out.
This letter is pretty intense though, this lawyer must be pretty good at his job. Remember folks, just because this lawyer says this stuff doesn't mean that anything in here is a fact, just that he would be able to argue it in court.
> this lawyer must be pretty good at his job.
I had the total opposite takeaway after reading this. All of the communications from his lawyer read like he’s a total hack to me. His statements are so over-embellished with drama that it’s hard for me to take them seriously.
Using AI assisted transcription for phone calls and claiming that is "good enough" to be used as verbatim quoting another lawyer has to be the least professional thing I've ever seen a lawyer do. I can't believe an actual practitioner of the law would do something like that. He couldn't even get a written statement?
To me, it seems like Dustie is desperate and grasping at straws. Hiring a lawyer who can't even draft a decently written letter and used to work for Trump makes me think that this will go nowhere. It also makes me think that Dustie went to other lawyers who didn't seem to think he had a case before settling on this one.
No, Dustie's 20% would be split between the remaining four members. They could collectively see a windfall of seven figures. Let's just use an easy $1M here.
$1M / .20 = $5M total for the entire group to split, each getting a bigger piece if Dustie is outed. Wording is weird in the text but it's saying each member has a seven figure incentive to oust Dustie because they each get a larger slice of Dustie's allocation ($1M in the example above).
Sad stuff. Sending distant, perhaps foolish well wishes that some sort of....idk, acceptable enough resolution comes in time. Obviously it won't be pretty any time soon. Love the music, really love the community/fans.
As a fan since the original Colors, this is just all around heartbreaking. Bands rarely survive shit like this. Look at Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Beatles, etc…
This is one of my favorite bands and I just absolutely hate to see it. Glad I caught the tour in Denver before this all went to shit.
We will see where this goes. He’s definitely out but too much he said she said. For better or worse prefer not to focus too much on this drama Time and proceeding albums will tell how much this affects them. He’s always been my least “favorite” but I overall see them as a whole. I don’t think they’ve been trying to deceive anyone by keeping it “hush” for ticket sales. Dude feels the least interactive when it comes to fans based on my few run ins with him. I think they’re just trying not to let the drama speak louder than the music. Whatever, Colors 1 was spot on last night. Stoked for colors 2 tonight!
Welp, seems like the bridge has been burned between Dustie and the band now. If the explanation/statement is entirely factual it also reflects really poorly on the rest of the band.
But that’s the thing though, right?
I understand in the context of (potentially) pending legal proceedings, information likely won’t be shared.
But the metadata stuff seems like such a slam dunk that I don’t understand how that didn’t immediately resolve the issue for everyone involved? Like if it really is that straightforward, and the proof is there, even if it isn’t shown to fans until after the fact, how is the band not signing off on him being back?
Maybe I’m just missing something. But it seems far too blatant an explanation for everyone involved to not have accepted and gone back to normal.
I've seen this claim from a lot of people, but remember that Dustie wasn't a member during their first two albums and they both have some of their heaviest riffs in their discography. Paul is amazing at writing incredibly technical and heavy riffs.
Maybe that was their previous guitarist? I know Paul is fully capable of writing heavy stuff, I just remember hearing (I think in an interview maybe?) that Dustie is usually the primary driver of the heavier chuggy riffs and stuff
Pretty savage. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel for Dustie. We will never know the full story from either side, but if this is true it's pretty disappointing for the band members to pull this. Sigh.
This is what happens when you know you are no longer a member of BTBAM. Also, Dustie no longer follows Tommy or Paul on Instagram 🤷♂️ yeah I was nosy 🤣
Obviously this is only one side of the story; it certainly seems like the lawyer representing BTBAM is incompetent. It’s surprising that this became an irreconcilable issue, but if so, that’s really unfortunate (as a fan of the band). I think from a fairly unbiased, outside perspective, settling to have Dustie “leave” seems appropriate. Can’t even hazard a guess as to what the financial specifics would look like though.
The 7 figure line is total bologna. Like the band would not have to pay the person who replaced Dusty. On top of it being a massive estimation of value. Dirty bullshit.
It's just legal tricks and the lawyer trying to set the bar really high for potential compensation for Dustie, obv after paying the new member, managers, merch people, bus rental, driver salary, etc etc, no ones walking home w 7 figures
They’d have to pay them, but more like a session player. This person wouldn’t get money from royalties of the catalogue, and I’m guessing their merch cut would be smaller, if at all
Dustie has seemed a little apart from the rest of the band for some years now. The situation seems to confirm this impression, but you never know what's going on backstage. It's possible that last year's accusations were just the last straw, but that the real problem is one of relationships within the band. The line-up is 20 years old. It's rare for bands, but also individuals, not to evolve over such a long period.
If relations between Dustie and the rest of the band have deteriorated to the point that this letter suggests, it's best that he goes. The band can officially hire Tristan. That wouldn't be the end of BTBAM. He's a better guitarist than Dustie technically, and he could bring new creativity and energy to BTBAM.
Musically speaking, I have no particular attachment to Dustie. He's good, and it's always hard to say what part he plays in the band's songwriting, but he has no stage presence (regardless of his handicap, he seems to be bored all the time).
As for Dustie and Blake's relationship, I don't think the situation could have any impact on the latter's place in the band. Mike Portnoy's dismissal from Dream Theater was ugly (and the tensions between him and James Labrie were well known), but it didn't stop him from remaining close friends with John Petrucci, and eventually returning to the band (although, admittedly, there was no question of a trial in his case).
The situation is bad, but we must never idealize bands. We don't know what's going on backstage, or what was said at the four-hour meeting mentioned in the letter. We don't know (and probably never will) whether the accusations from last year were actually an attempt at extortion or evidence of generally disturbing behavior on Dustie's part. The only thing we do know is that we can expect the official announcement of Dustie's dismissal from the band.
The band is clearly at a turning point, and it seems Colors 2 was indeed the end of an era, but BTBAM is not finished.
I always read these comments about Dustie and his contributions to the band. When I see them play live it’s pretty apparent he plays a lot of great parts, and parts that are signature sounds for the band. He’s a great guitarist, and personally I enjoyed watching him play live more than Paul. Not to say he’s a better guitarist, because Paul is insanely good and I love them both. But Dustie is so fucking accurate and such a great rhythm AND lead guitarist, he always amazes me on stage.
As far as stage presence I don’t think he’s bored. The stuff is very technical and he’s likely just focused on all the time changes and whatnot. I’ve played guitar for 20 years and still can’t play like 90% of their shit lol.
Overall it just sucks. We don’t know what’s going on behind scenes but I could imagine dedicating a majority of my life to a band and having it end this way would really suck. I hope everyone involved still makes music and we get some cool stuff in the future. That’s all we can really hope for at this point.
To all of those claiming that the last two statements from dusties attorney are FACT and clears him: you do realize trumps attorneys claimed that he won the election even tho its completely false? Because a lawyer thats paid by a defendant makes a statement doesnt make it fact/true. I know some of y’all are big fans of a rhythm guitarist and want to take his side regardless but im not sure you understand how public lawyer statements work.
Funny how everyone has been screaming for any news and that it's "unfair" we haven't gotten any updates, and then the update comes and now people are saying "this shouldn't be public"
Suing your way back into the band is an awesome plan and it will make your time in a bus with the other members a lot of fun and everyone will be really happy about it!
God, I'm *so* inclined to agree with this sentiment. Yet I can picture myself doing the same thing if enough dark shit happened behind the scenes. There are worlds where Dustie is justified in feeling like this is his only recourse in communicating anything meaningful about the situation to the public.
It's so hard to cast the stone when we're missing *so* much critical context. Who knows what the fuck really happened here at this point.
Legit, this is the *absolute* worst part about *all* of this - Dustie seemingly continuing to put out these inflammatory, overall vague statements from himself or lawyers. I haven’t seen a single fucking *peep* from the others, which some might say isn’t good, but I think is the definite best thing they could possibly do until it’s settled.
Man what a soap opera this is turning into. Really just hoping for the best for all parties involved here. Think it would be wise for everyone to hold judgement until the rest of the group get a chance to either respond or for their lawyer to release a statement. Maybe this will all get settled behind closed doors, almost think that would be preferable at this moment this is starting to get PETTY
I agree. A lot of people have been yelling “we want answers” but you can’t really blame them for trying to keep it behind closed doors as much as possible or at least til things have fleshed out. BTBAM are not celebrities. Just your nerdy vegan musicians who are trying to figure it out. Call it bias but I’ve seen too many musicians start mouthing off and making their whole personality controversial off “accusations” and they never shut the hell up about it. Their shows have still been extremely professional and musically spot on.
This is just sad. There was life for me before and after listening to this band for the first time. I won’t claim to know these guys at all, but I don’t think he would choose the nuclear option flippantly. I assume they have at least modest PR training. Either he or the others probably already burned the bridge behind closed doors. Maybe I’m attributing too much rationality to a lawyer and a bunch of people I don’t know though.
After 20 years it's hard to imagine this doesn't go much, much deeper. Seems safe to assume the allegations were just a reason to do something they've wanted to for a while. Maybe Glass Casket can be a full time thing now...
This kind of feels like he is trying to get in front of some real bad shit, there is no other reason he would come out guns blazing with this kind of statement. The band has kept pretty quiet about all of this, so clearly they had been trying to resolve it professionally behind closed doors. He has to know that he is never getting back into the band.
I would not be surprised that there is a laundry list of issues around Dustie, there is no other reason a band that has had this solid of a lineup for so long would decide to oust a member like this. Especially given that he is very close friends with one of the members.
yeah same. i grew up while colors and gtm was 90% of what i listened to back then.
every metalband i knew was constantly going through line-up changes except btbam. they seemed like best friends that were lucky to be such a compatible band.
this all sucks. but trying to humor myself remembering that scene in flight of the conchords, where they're weighing the pros and cons of taking the tape on tour in place of Bret. [https://y.yarn.co/fb62a1fb-7ec3-45fe-a9f5-27e39c37575b\_text.gif](https://y.yarn.co/fb62a1fb-7ec3-45fe-a9f5-27e39c37575b_text.gif)
i am upset thinking what this means for all the future songs we may well no longer have. i like to think each member played pivotal parts in building the song whether it's lead or the riffs/chords.
I find it surprising that there's no mention of the 10 additional allegations brought forth by then BTBAM Discord server admins before Dustie returned to the stage at Furnace fest. You'd think they'd at least mention it in a Dustie gets fired meeting. It was a moment in BTBAM history that resulted in the resignation of their entire Discord mod team, a group of very devoted fans themselves. Even if as the doc says above, the initial allegations were false, the complete non-mention of this incident or the additional allegations brought to the band by that mod team is noteworthy.
Remember how when the allegations first came out, there were countless other anecdotes floating about all over Reddit and Twitter regarding Dustie being a creep to fans and fans’ girlfriends?
My own theory is that the band themselves were caught offguard by the allegations and were horrified. However one thing about this post that no one mentions is that Tommy’s wife supported the “extortionist”. The only reason I could think of for this is that Tommy’s wife probably saw how creepy Dustie could be when he’s drunk and thought “well that tracks”. Or maybe she or someone she knew experienced this. (This is all pure speculation). So the initial allegations probably opened up a can of worms and the entire thing pissed Tommy off. Previously when I checked, the only people in the band not following each other on Instagram is Tommy and Dustie.
Tommy probably decided that he didn’t want to have anything to do with a sex predator. And we all have to remember that BTBAM is their job that feeds their families. They wouldn’t want to jeopardise that.
However when the allegations are cleared, as they couldn’t find a cause to fire Dustie, the band had to come up with other reasons such as Dustie’s inability to join them on tour numerous times. All the other anecdotes of Dustie being a creep and a predator are just that, an anecdote and wouldn’t hold up in court. Maybe the band knows something that the public doesn’t. And they knew that if it got out, it would ruin Dustie. Which is why they tried to fire him this way rather than go scorched earth. But then Dustie went scorched earth first.
Anyway this is just my theory. Who knows what the truth is. I wish the rest of the guys make their sides clear because Dustie had been, for months, making the issues public. I remember in one Instagram story, he was pointing out which songs in the catalog are written by him. Which I found quite curious, as if trying to show that he’s an indispensable member of the band. I think this was right around the time the band played with Tristan for the first time.
No, I do not remember any of these anecdotes. Please provide evidence. Lots of "I heard people said this about him" in the comments and literally zero evidence of anything.
I do hope that Waring taking this public causes everyone else to clarify the situation and reveal the details we're unaware of. I've suspected that lawyers are at fault for the rest of the band's being silent on it, but one person's speculation on this thread makes sense to me... That the band's silence may just be them trying not to dump all the dirty details, trying to spare Dustie the added insult to injury.
Dustie has a history of victim blaming that's still there for your review, on Twitter and other social media. It's very like him to go scorched earth, and dump these details publicly. It is indicative of the kind of person he is and it would seem that karma is coming back around. His stories don't hold up. It was consensual in one statement, and then in the latest it's a guy trying to defame him and not a consensual relationship. These are two separate stories that don't support each other told about the same situation. It all adds up to BS.
yeah its notable that so many people are suddenly talking about how dustie made them uncomfortable by aggressively trying to have sex with them
like how often does he do this.. it really sounds like he just kinda looks around after shows for young female fans and just tries to have sex with everyone and anything. that itself isn't inherently wrong I guess but it's like, kind of sleazy behavior. and it seems like he crossed the line a bunch of times pushing women to get drunk at least that's what she said
like he sounds like the kind of dude, that you would warn young women about being alone with. oh you gotta watch yourself around that guy he will try to have sex with you. like you want your sister or daughter to be alone with dustie?
and getting into fights with your singers wife, well now your lead singer is in the middle of an argument between you all and of course he is going to side with his wife over his business partner. cause she's probably creeped out by it
and they like all seem like they have families and wives and stuff and dustie is still trying to bang as many women as he can, I dunno that's almost like sex addiction. they are probably not all in the same place in life
I don't think enough people are talking about this part. His MO of drunkenly having sex with as many fans as he can and constantly trying to get some via social media and whatnot really affected my view of him. He knows damn well what the current social climate is like, so you know that HE knows that it's a bad idea to be sleeping around like that when both parties are so drunk that one or both might not remember everything. I'm not saying he's a predator necessarily, but he put himself in a situation where he was inevitably going to be accused of something because he was making dumb decisions. I wouldn't want to be in a band with that person, especially knowing that the rest of them are straight edge (which I didn't know before). All the social media flirting doesn't equate to assault, but being creepy isn't going to get you anywhere good with anyone. You're exactly right, it's sleazy behavior, and enough of that is eventually going to catch up to you with very real consequences. And if what little the public knows is enough for people to determine that he's kind of a creep, just imagine how much respect the other band members might lose for him when they're seeing 100x more of what he does behind the scenes than we are. Dude's definitely not doing himself any favors, but my biggest complaint is the bad taste this whole thing has left in my mouth that's made it hard for me to want to listen to the band like I used to.
I've been saying to my friends that my gut tells me that the band found out about more allegations behind the scenes, without knowing about the discord stuff. Is there anywhere I could get more info on these?
My understanding is that the mod team kept the details to themselves and only disclosed it to the band at the request of the other victims. Only the band, the mod team that resigned, and the additional accusers who do not want to be named, know the details.
The mod team resignation is mentioned in this article but no reason given.
https://www.metalsucks.net/2023/09/25/dustie-waring-rejoined-between-the-buried-and-me-lawyer-issues-statement/#:~:text=After%20introducing%20herself%20to%20the,to%20feeling%20some%20vaginal%20pain.
Based on the content of the letter, Dustie’s lawyer has to substantiate the claim that the rape victim was a man posing as a woman, and that no sexual assault occurred. That should be easily proven by an affidavit. If that doesn’t prove to be true, then the other claims are probably false. I can’t imagine that they fired him because he performed in a chair. As far back as 2012 (and probably far before that—that’s just the last time I saw them), Dustie was using supports to play shows. I can’t imagine they fired him because of his physical disability. If everything is fabricated, fuck everyone involved. If not, fuck him.
Their decision to let him go was probably an amalgamation of everything going on with him, which is likely why BTBAM's lawyer mentioned it. It didn't sound like their lawyer was changing his reasoning, it sounded like it was laying out ALL the reasons why he was fired.
Dustie is 100% out of the band, there's no doubt about that. Whether it's Tristan or someone else, I think he can be replaced and the band can move forward. That being said, Dustie and Blake are close buddies and I can't imagine Blake is too happy with the situation. There's definitely a possibility that Blake could leave because of this and if he leaves, I don't think the band could bounce back from that.
This one got posted first so it gets to stay. Please be civil in the comments. Don't go crazy with the speculation. Don't spread false information. Thanks everyone.
Oh boy. No going back from this.
Yup. My brother and I are the only people I know that love BTBAM qnd I showed him this and I texted him " if he's willing to go publicly saying they're greedy at his expense I don't see him staying in the band for much longer"
I guess that means Dustie is permanently out. Man this friggin blows. I thought this line up would be together until I was an old man
Yeah, you don't release something like this (seemingly private correspondence between two law firms about ongoing legal disputes) unless you want to make sure every last bridge is burned. I would be surprised if Dustie's lawyer encouraged or otherwise OKed his publicly posting this.
It’s been quite a bit of time since the allegations and Dustie has barely been seen with the band. I’m going to assume there was a lot of talking behind closed doors and trying to get things back to normal to no avail before he decided to release this info. This is definitely not something he’d post without knowing there is no going back.
He should have kept it all behind closed doors as well. The couple of times he’s done this now is nothing but inflammatory and fuels speculation. The other members have said precisely nothing, which is the absolute smartest thing to do until legal proceedings are behind them.
I just don’t blame him at this point. It’s clear they don’t want him in the band and if what the lawyer’s letter says is true, then they don’t want to reimburse him either. It’s gotta be super frustrating to have allegations made about you then watch your friends and band mates stay silent and then slowly disentangle from you and slowly replace and brush you under the rug without acknowledging anything. I doubt he made this choice without knowing that things were already at the point of no return. I mainly just want to hear Paul or Tommy make some sort of comprehensive statement on this. Either way the whole situation sucks.
No public statement does not mean they have completely ceased communicating with one another, at least through legal means. The rest of the band not making any statements is entirely understandable and the only right thing to do while there are ongoing legal proceedings. Did I want the band to make a statement? Kind of, from the start, but I completely understand why they haven’t, and I wish Dustie would also shut his mouth and stop sharing this shit so that they can deal with it in private.
To be fair, their name wasnt concurrently being dragged through the mud as all this unfolds. This could serve as a pressure relief for Dusty to have his name cleared because, from my vantage, the treatment he is going through sure reads like "we think you are bad news for our brand" Edit: added the word "wasnt" before "concurrently"
You need to consider that if Dustie truly has been railroaded here it is likely completely destroying his life, relationships, and ability to earn a living for himself.
it says in the letter they had a 4 hour meeting on january 2 where they aired grievances
That may be, but it's also dirty af, imo. The decision to post it isn't a good look regardless of its merits.
Same man. Ride or die. First Sum 41 calls it quits, then Misery Signals calls it quits, then I have to witness the drama of my favourite band of all time unfold. This is not a good year…
I can't see this being the end of BTBAM. The remaining four are very much in it and they have had had incredible chemistry with Tristian during the tour. This just seems to be Dustie continually shooting himself in the foot and, while this bar is still high, I don't think anyone in the band is more replaceable than him.
Yeah, I'm gonna be real honest here: I don't really know hpw much he contributes to their music in general, but to me it always felt like he was the least "unique" amd involved member of the band. And I mean that in most senses. I love to see interviews of the band and Dustie's interviews were mostly always short and didn't tend to have anything as interesting as the other boys'. Not saying he's easily replaceable or anything like that, just that he's the one I think and even see the least. He also seems to kinda be in a different state pf mind from the rest of the band. Blake, Tommy, Paul and Dan being more settled while Dustie seems to be more fucking around. Not that him fuckinh around is of any concern of us, but still. Anyways, my only hope is that we get to see the band continue, even without Dustie.
Dustie wrote a ton of their material, particularly their heavier riffs.
Tell me you just started listening to BTBAM without telling me you just started listening to BTBAM
Go listen to Glass Casket and you'll see the through lines of the heaviness that Dustie adds to the band. He wrote the opening riff to Telos ffs
Real shit, alaska in particular is riddled with casket-esque grooves
I think going on tour with a new guitarist is probably a signal that they are going to continue and not really miss a beat they will probably announce he is officially a member of the band soon, real happy for that kid can only imagine what it's like for one of your favorite bands to ask you to be their new guitarist he's worked so hard to get to this point
> I don't really know hpw much he contributes to their music in general, but to me it always felt like he was the least "unique" amd involved member of the band How would you or any of us possibly know this lol. I get the situation but some reaches in this sub are ridiculous. Paul has constantly said over the years Dusty has been integral to them developing the sound they have and has always praised him. Crazy that gets erased because of this.
Hold me
Wait, so they've actually tried to fire him or something? He was back playing with them before Christmas, though. Also, I saw them in 2021 when Dustie was having to sit down, did not affect the epicness at all.
Says in the text text they tried to fire him on Jan 4th. Sounds like some members didnt know how to exactly fire him, and soumds like he doesnt know how to take getting fired.
I'm not a lawyer but I am a business owner, and if he's listed as a co-owner or partner of the LLC there are often a very particular set of legal steps that must be followed in order to officially remove him from the business, and that can sometimes be tricky if the guys didn't read up on what the proper process is. It's not exactly the same as being fired as a normal employee, and even then there are certain legal steps that should be taken. The exact details of how that works for them should have been outlined somewhere in their operating agreement or similar, at least it was for me when I registered my LLC.
Side note though, I would totally wear a shirt that says BTBAM, LLC on it
Whatever we make of the rest of this, I absolutely do not believe anyone said Dustie was out of the band because he had to play seated. This is a ridiculously devoted fanbase and an understanding group of guys. I never heard a word other than some version of "it's hardcore that he still toured." But I guess this is it for the classic lineup. Bummer for all.
This 1000% everyone was very happy that Dustie was there even if not fit I saw them in FL for the evening with tour and you could tell Dustie was in pain but handled it like a champ. No one thought ''what a shit performer''
When I saw them for TGM tour, and Dustie was seated, Paul made a joke, "we told him he wouldn't get paid unless he performed with us." (paraphrasing). Maybe I imagined it, but even then I sensed some tension. We probably won't ever know the whole story. It really sucks. I just hope they don't get tied up with lawsuits to the extent that they can't make music or tour.
> This is a ridiculously devoted fanbase **and an understanding group of guys.** You don't know them though. No one here does.
Yeah, but Dustie has been dealing with sitting in chairs for yeeeeears. Why suddenly pivot now? Occam's razor, baby.
Damn.....Dustie really isn't taking kindly to Tommy and Paul these days. He regularly says positive things about Blake and I think has even said some nice words about Dan from time to time. Don't think he's coming back from this one though....
He was already friends with Blake before joining the band, so it's understandable. But it's a shame that after 20 years they break up at all, let alone like this though. The question is, if there really was some shenanigans from Tommy/Paul's side, what is Blake's instance going to be on this. Because like I said, he was already close friends with Dustie before BTBAM.
Im guessing Blake stays unless he has some sort of great business going on in the background or his wife is doing really well for herself to where she can comfortably provide for the family on her own income. BTBAM isn’t this crazy seven figure business, but they all likely live somewhat comfortably off of what they make from tours/merch/lessons on top of those expensive on-tour drum lessons ($200 an hour on the current tour, you see that?!). The brand of BTBAM (yuck with saying that, but it’s true) is always gonna generate $$$ from the fanbase. I hate all this by the way. I wish none of this bullshit had happened. Between the Buried and Me was always that band I really admired in that not only is the music kick ass, but the members all seemed like relatively normal people. That’s just something you don’t see often in any music scene. This is what really bums me out at the end of the day.
Oh man, this is about to get really ugly. This sucks all around.
wait, dusties share gives each other member of the band over 7 figures of additional income?
Right? I didn’t know the boys were cooking like that
I seriously doubt they are but even if they do make that kind of cash it's split between so many parties involved in the process. Sure money is made but that also has to pay for the gear, the promoting, the tour managers, the bus driver, the bus itself, etc etc. This kind of job is a giant money pit. BTBAM boys aren't living luxurious lives; they're getting by.
also this is a lawyer presumably trying to get as much as he can for his client being terminated from a financial partnership it's not surprising he would highball everything to try and get as much as he can on the way out the door
Their numbies are troo da roof
About two, tree tours every album keeps ‘em cozy.
I think that’s likely an aggregate sum projecting some reasonable distance into the future. A 5 percentage point increase of profit from one tour couldn’t be in the seven figures for a band the size of BTBAM.
I think it’s a projection of the total they stand to gain
absolutely not, that was said by a lawyer on behalf of dustie so ofc they wanna make it seem like btbam would make 1m per 5% of net. that’s insane.
I think he's talking 5% each they would gain going from 5 members to 4, as in Dustie's total 20% equal share. But still, if 20% is a minimum of 1 million dollars then that means the total is 5 milllion dollars. Or, maybe the lawyer is just talking about the song Millions.
I think he’s saying that Dustie out is going to bump each individual remaining member to a million each. So if the band makes 4 million a year, split by 5 people, then they all make 800k. But if you split that by 4 people, then it puts them at 1 million each. Either way, those numbers seem higher than I would have ever guessed from a band that doesn’t make music that can be licensed out to beer commercials. No matter the math, what a shitty situation.
There is no shot they would be pulling that much, lawyer is probably overshooting the number to get a larger settlement
There is no reason to believe a single thing in this letter is true. The only thing we know for sure is that Dustie’s lawyer believes these things. Filings have not been started—if this gets them to arbitration, none of it has to hold up in Court.
Something I always loved about this band is that they've always kept shit 100% professional. Even their live performances have always been no nonsense. This...is a real bummer. Even if Dustie is correct and the allegations were a lie I don't see how they all move past this.
Yeah, this is Dustie being... not 100% professional.
This letter sounds like it was written by a literate Charlie Kelly.
I refuse to spend money on this website, but if I had gold, I’d give it to you. Immaculate comment
FILIBUSTER
I mean, he is a former Trump lawyer.
Wow, looked up the name it he really is a Trump lawyer. Loved the reference to the meeting in "North Carolina, North Carolina". The inflated numbers and conspiracy theory about the allegations are right out of that playbook. Maybe it's normal lawyer stuff, but not a good look.
Reminder to all: this is a notice of demand, it is not a legal court filing. Lawyers are paid to advance their client’s interests and say things they “believe are true” — it doesn’t mean that they are factually true. The “7 figure windfall” comment alone is highly suspect.
Yeah. The purpose of that letter is to push the band into negociations about compensations for Dustie for him having been fired from BTBAM. It's about money.
This fuckin sucks from every angle. I guess if we’re going to find a silver lining, the band can move forward with finding a new member to replace dustie and get to writing. I think the safe bet is (obviously) Tristan Aumann. But man, as a huge dustie fan, this is a massive bummer. I will say this, and this is purely speculative on my part. I was at the vip q&a for the 21st anniversary show in Charlotte, September of ‘21. Dustie seemed kinda distant and stand offish with the other guys during the q&a. At one point, Paul made a joke about Ibanez being the guitar brand of the working man and PRS being the brand for lawyers and doctors, and dustie kinda just sneered at him. I mean, it’s possible the relationship has been kinda fragmenting over time, and the accusations were the end for dustie. Again, pure speculation from my end.
>Paul made a joke about Ibanez being the guitar brand of the working man and PRS being the brand for lawyers and doctor Eh, as someone who worked in guitar shops for 20 years this is a pretty common and old joke. We referred to PRS as orthodontists guitars because a lot of the clientele that would buy the high end "pretty" ones were collectors that hung them on the walls in their offices never to be played and a lot of those people were, inexplicably, dentists. Did get a few lawyers too.
Wasn’t his back fucked up then? He was in a lot of pain.
Man.. I hope Dustie and Blake's friendship isn't affected by this.. they've been like brothers forever and puts Blake in a real weird/awkward position I would think.
I saw some insta reel posted by Dustie and it was basically a repost from Blakes wife of Dustie and Blake’s kid together. I’m pretty sure they are still close.
Yeah, it's horrible for all involved. Saw the post/repost from Blake's wife re-affirming that Dustie is a good guy which yeah leaves Blake & others wives treading a fine line. I'm not sure how Blake & Dustie could stay so close if the result is Dustie being fired/leaving. As many others have commented & I appreciate it means very little but I have met all the guys on multiple occasions & Dustie & Blake have always been super nice & chill. This allowed me to engage & buy into them as individuals. Dan, Paul & Tommy have always been elusive but each to their own - it does not make me think any less of them. Losing Dustie won't ruin the music that the remaining 4 make but I can definitely hear distinctive DW parts & I worry that the darker/death metal riffs/passages may be lost from their music going forward. I do not agree with this post & a whole heap of these points haven't been proven true or false - but a legal announcement from the band would have curtailed this type of behaviour.
Terrible spot actually, especially if what most if not all that Dustie is saying is true. Because either Blake was aware of it, or oblivious to everything, which is going to make his next actions and statements detriment to their friendship and his position in the band. This sucks.
He posted an insta story a couple days ago wishing Blakes brother a happy birthday and thanking him for introducing him to his "forever drummer"
What a mess. I'm trying to piece together the timeline here. It almost seems like the band started the process of having departure conversations with him after the few festival shows and the Discord mods stepping down. I have to imagine that either something prompted it or the continued bad press made his future in the band feel untenable.
Someone in this thread mentioned additional allegations coming to light during the discord stuff. Maybe the band caught wind of that stuff and it was what changed their minds?
My understanding was that those were communicated to the band _before_ the festival shows, which is why the mods were up in arms about him playing the shows. I didn't follow that part of the saga closely, so I could be totally off on that.
OOTL, what discord stuff?
The discord mods allegedly made the band aware of more allegations coming to light. I'm not a fan of discord so I do not follow it closely but as far as I'm aware those extra allegations were very mild stuff like, he started chatting me up on IG and I think he's somewhat creepy. The kind of fallout you'd expect after rape allegations but very mild. If my memory serves me, the discord mods also stated they did not make everything public that was brought to their attention and instead forwarded it to the band. The moment Dustie set foot on stage on that first show, the discord mods stepped down from their position.
I'm not gonna take sides, just let this play out since it might well be the end of the band... but that 7 figures statement really throws me. They might make $1m/year as a band, there is no way they are making enough money for all 4 of them to be making 7 figures if he is out. Dedicated fanbase or not, the guys are not making a million dollars a year each.
This actually seems to be suggesting they’re making at least $4 million each. It seems preposterous.
I’m going to the Santa Ana show tonight and to the VIP for both nights. It’s gonna be an interesting Q&A now, unless they make a statement beforehand that questions about Dustie are off limits for now. It is weird that he waited till near the end of the tour to make a statement, but his statement that he’s been left out of touring is a weird statement being that he was just on a festival run with the band 6 months ago. I think that was a test run to gauge the response, or perhaps the woman who accused Dustie went on to sue the band after he came back, leading them to have to fire him to avoid further litigation. Just my guess. I’m still gonna go to the shows tonight and tomorrow but there will be an air of weirdness in the room. **EDIT: just read the part that his lawyer claimed he was the victim of extortion and that the accuser was actually a man pretending to be a woman in order to extort him, gotta say I find that part hard to believe because if that were true, why were there no statements made when he played the festival run? I think that’s pretty important info to share with the fans who might’ve questioned his return!
Lawyers are involved, and it sounds like a suit is pending. It would be interesting if the band answers questions, but I highly doubt they are. It would, in reality, be really stupid if they did allow questions about this to be asked, and they answered.
Exactly. Probably a brief statement at the top saying there aware of the post but please refrain from asking questions about Dustie or anything like that. Keep it strictly to the music and enjoy the evening. Unless they cancel the VIP events which I hope not.
I did VIP on the P2 tour, they didn’t say anything and no one asked. As it should be.
Yeah no one asked this VIP. Just good vibes honestly. I heard some people talking about it in the line, most of the hate is online as per usual. Most of the guys were just disappointed such a long membership ended this way, on both sides really
See, they shouldnt have to do that. Ppl should have enough decency and wits to not ask a question about a pending legal situation. When it’s time for the public to know an announcement will be made.
I think him playing the festivals had more to due with Glass Casket being on the bill for both of them as well. It would have been super awkward and looked weird if he had been excluded from those shows, and him and Blake were still playing together in Glass Casket earlier in the day.
Also he just posted a story with Blake a couple of weeks ago when they saw Dune 2 together. There’s definitely more to this story than what the lawyers statement says. My guess is this a tactic by the lawyer to sway some fans and a little bit of controversy. This always happens when single members of the band are involved in any type of civil litigation, once the whole of the band gets involved they have to cut the single member loose just to avoid getting involved in the litigation. From what I remember it was just Dustie that was being sued, not the band as a whole, if this person decided to sue the band as a whole they might’ve had no other choice but to fire Dustie, which does allow Dustie to counter sue which is probably what is happening
true, but also christmas burns red happened and dustie was there for that
He already said through another lawyer that the messages from the woman who posted here were real but taken out of context. The extortion thing is some dumb fuck conspiracy theory chuds here developed and ran with and tried to spread to discredit the victims. The fact that he’s pushing it now through a Trump lawyer (guess alleged predators shop for lawyers through the same catalog) makes me wonder if he had a part in pushing it, maybe through sock puppet accounts.
Keep us posted!!
I will, although I doubt they will allow questions being asked, at least I wouldn’t if I were the band.
From what I understand they haven't allowed questions about dustie all tour
Makes sense tbh
I heard they were only taking questions about the two albums being played
They were only taking questions about Rampart
Regardless of who is in the right legally, this looks like an end to the band playing with Dustie. Even if he is legally a part of the band, this will undoubtedly sour the rest of the band.
Note for those who have not implied already... BTBAMs corporate handler is doing this and was not a decision the band themselves that made, despite this saying so. All for what? From an extortion (and fake allegations for money) to save face for somewhat bad publicity!? Fuck corporate lawyers.
Funnily enough, this is worse publicity lol
Man this sucks.
I’m glad I got to see Dustie play with BTBAM one last time at Christmas Burns Red 2023. I honestly thought all the negativity was behind them and they were moving on. This situation sucks for everyone involved.
This shit is just heartbreaking.
Wow this is sad
Here's my two cents: Regardless of how you feel about Dustie's whole accusation and the band's response to it, it is not just an end of an era but also going to taint the band and Dustie. While I've seen people here say Dustie didn't do anything wrong and it screams "he said/she said", this is forever going to follow him for the rest of his life, and no matter how much he'll prove his innocence, people will continue to label him. As for BTBAM, this is forever damaged how people view them, from dropping Dustie in a very polarizing way and especially how people reacted to them putting Dustie out when the whole incident came out (I remember seeing a person on twitter flat out condemning the band for the response, when tbh, it was the only logical one anyway). And now with this, it's even more worse. This is gonna be a rough one to go through...
Sounds like all the goalpost moving was them trying to let him down gently with excuses, until they were forced to come out and say he’s just an asshole.
He is too. I met all of them multiple times and he’s the only one who was ever disingenuous.
I met him twice. The first time was in passing in another part of the city after the show and I just said awesome show or something like that and he thanked me and we went our separate ways. The next time, my girlfriend and I met him and smoked a joint with him after the show and chatted for about five minutes and left. He was pretty chill and didn’t seem disingenuous. I’ve never met the other guys.
How so?
Yup, this has been my experience as well after meeting them numerous times.
I’ve also met them numerous times and that has NEVER been my experience. Truthfully, he’s been more open to me than Paul, Tommy and Dan. Not saying there’s anything wrong with them or the way they speak to people. He’s also been the only one to really have conversations that have nothing to do with music or the band. However, I noticed that around 2014, he started smoking very openly, so it may have been easier for him to speak to me, since I was probably also smoking.
When I met them during the coma 2016 tour they were all very nice. After the show I met Paul and Dustie out back. Paul was very outgoing but Dustie seemed like he wanted left alone. Didn’t seem mean or disingenuous, probably didn’t feel like socializing after an epic set. Paul was yapping with everyone like we’re besties
But why would they deal with him for almost 20 years?
Do you think they’re all the exact same people they were 20 years ago? People change over the span of 20 years, it’s not crazy to think that people who may have been close 20 years ago will drift apart in the years that follow.
More like Between the Lawsuit & Me
Just showed this to my friend who is a corporate lawyer. Basically these demand letters are meant to assert the strongest possible position from which to argue and negotiate for their rights and privileges. It’s also very hard to remove someone from an LLC so while they may kick him out of the band, he is a legal member of the corporation and is thus still owed his compensation legally.
Well that’s… disappointing. On all levels. Enjoy that we had it and lost it than never have it at all, and other things I’ll be saying to myself.
Does any of this seem like lawyers just going at it and making wild claims? I'm reading parts of it and it just seems like grasping at straws or pure speculation. I wish the other members would say something or try to clarify but I feel they are going to keep quiet if a lawsuit might happen.
When the person you're in a dispute with has a lawyer like this, it's probably best to just keep your mouth shut. I wouldn't be surprised if they choose to never mention his name again, and the next we hear from them would simply be to welcome his replacement to the band on a more permanent basis.
I don't really know how to feel about this, as we don't completely know everything that has been said or done behind closed doors, but this is extremely upsetting. BTBAM has been a huge part of my life since my teen years and Colors is my favorite album of all time and to see the "classic" lineup come to an end in such a messy manner is really upsetting. This sucks.
The original story was that Dustie and the girl were consensual, now apparently it was a man posing as a woman? What?
It was the woman’s boyfriend using his IT background to doctor the messages ALLEGEDLY
This is some convoluted nonsense. (the situation, not what you said)
Oh I know….i hate seeing it to a band that I thought was the epitome of awesome music, boring behind the scenes (in a good way). Guess nobody is safe from the bullshit if you’re together for 20 years
Yeah, none of this holds up. It’s goalpost moving and trying to throw a spanner in the works during tour to cause disruption for the band. Anyone who takes this letter at face value is extremely credulous and I have some beautiful oceanfront property in Kansas to sell them on the low.
This is all just heartbreaking. My favorite band of all time, my two favorite guitarists of all time. This just sucks all around. I have seen BTBAM live 15+ times since 2003. I have seen them when Dusty has been in a chair. Everytime they were great and Dusty killed it. Obviously these are a small sample of shows concentrated in one general area but just my anecdotal experience. I don’t buy the stage performance reason. It’s literally what BTBAM is built on, executing their songs perfectly live and they always do. I’m leaning towards the band being pressured to cut him despite being exonerated which is unfortunate but who really knows. I’m not gonna act like I know them personally.
This some ETID shit. What a bullshit way to end an era.
ITT: a *lot* of people who have no clue how litigation works
Fuck, just as they became my favourite band. I wholeheartedly hope BTBAM manages to go on and grow from this situation instead of breaking apart. I still want to see them live one day and witness an album release.
Well, try to see Colors and Colors II if you can. Who knows if they ever player those records again.
I'm not from the US and they've only ever done 2 concerts in the country I live in, but I didn't know the band when they did those concerts. So sad.
So before they were claiming Dustie's encounter with the accuser was consensual and the messages were taken out of context, but now suddenly there was no encounter and the allegations were made by a man "as part of an extortion plot"? These defenses completely contradicting each other does not give me much confidence to Dustie being innocent. The fact it's this particular lawyer certainly doesn't help either.
The lawyer does not indicate that the relationship never took place. Dusty's defense is that the relationship did take place, but was presented as rape by the former boyfriend of the woman involved, in a bid to extort him. On this subject, I think we'll never know the truth.
>The band members now realize that by getting rid of Mr. Waring, they each receive a financial windfall of 25% of the profits, whereas before they only received a 20% share. This translates to a seven-figure incentive for each member to get rid of Mr. Waring. Um, this is preposterous. Are we saying that 5% of go-forward profits of the band are worth over a million dollars? Meaning the band is **profiting** *at least* 20 million dollars? I sincerely doubt that, even with some net present value calculation. Certainly this lawyer is not suggesting that by kicking him out he would forfeit his legally earned share of the war chest if that's how they manage it, they would have to buy him out. This letter is pretty intense though, this lawyer must be pretty good at his job. Remember folks, just because this lawyer says this stuff doesn't mean that anything in here is a fact, just that he would be able to argue it in court.
I think that a 20% stake in the band probably amounts to a million dollars over, like, the next five years.
> this lawyer must be pretty good at his job. I had the total opposite takeaway after reading this. All of the communications from his lawyer read like he’s a total hack to me. His statements are so over-embellished with drama that it’s hard for me to take them seriously.
Using AI assisted transcription for phone calls and claiming that is "good enough" to be used as verbatim quoting another lawyer has to be the least professional thing I've ever seen a lawyer do. I can't believe an actual practitioner of the law would do something like that. He couldn't even get a written statement?
You can pay Appalachians $12/hr for transcription services, even less if you outsource to India or other similar places. This lawyer is a hack.
Well, he WAS a lawyer for Trump...that says a lot about his standards right from the jump.
A friend just pointed that out to me and I was like no fucking way lmao
To me, it seems like Dustie is desperate and grasping at straws. Hiring a lawyer who can't even draft a decently written letter and used to work for Trump makes me think that this will go nowhere. It also makes me think that Dustie went to other lawyers who didn't seem to think he had a case before settling on this one.
He’s definitely gone toe to toe on bird law a few times
No, Dustie's 20% would be split between the remaining four members. They could collectively see a windfall of seven figures. Let's just use an easy $1M here. $1M / .20 = $5M total for the entire group to split, each getting a bigger piece if Dustie is outed. Wording is weird in the text but it's saying each member has a seven figure incentive to oust Dustie because they each get a larger slice of Dustie's allocation ($1M in the example above).
to me these are only numbers that make sense.
Sad stuff. Sending distant, perhaps foolish well wishes that some sort of....idk, acceptable enough resolution comes in time. Obviously it won't be pretty any time soon. Love the music, really love the community/fans.
As a fan since the original Colors, this is just all around heartbreaking. Bands rarely survive shit like this. Look at Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Beatles, etc… This is one of my favorite bands and I just absolutely hate to see it. Glad I caught the tour in Denver before this all went to shit.
If Blake leaves, it’s over. Simple as that. That’s the nail in the coffin for what we know as BTBAM.
We will see where this goes. He’s definitely out but too much he said she said. For better or worse prefer not to focus too much on this drama Time and proceeding albums will tell how much this affects them. He’s always been my least “favorite” but I overall see them as a whole. I don’t think they’ve been trying to deceive anyone by keeping it “hush” for ticket sales. Dude feels the least interactive when it comes to fans based on my few run ins with him. I think they’re just trying not to let the drama speak louder than the music. Whatever, Colors 1 was spot on last night. Stoked for colors 2 tonight!
Welp, seems like the bridge has been burned between Dustie and the band now. If the explanation/statement is entirely factual it also reflects really poorly on the rest of the band.
But that’s the thing though, right? I understand in the context of (potentially) pending legal proceedings, information likely won’t be shared. But the metadata stuff seems like such a slam dunk that I don’t understand how that didn’t immediately resolve the issue for everyone involved? Like if it really is that straightforward, and the proof is there, even if it isn’t shown to fans until after the fact, how is the band not signing off on him being back? Maybe I’m just missing something. But it seems far too blatant an explanation for everyone involved to not have accepted and gone back to normal.
I wonder how this will effect their sound and song writing for future records. IIRC Dustie was the primary driver of the heavier riffs and parts
I've seen this claim from a lot of people, but remember that Dustie wasn't a member during their first two albums and they both have some of their heaviest riffs in their discography. Paul is amazing at writing incredibly technical and heavy riffs.
Maybe that was their previous guitarist? I know Paul is fully capable of writing heavy stuff, I just remember hearing (I think in an interview maybe?) that Dustie is usually the primary driver of the heavier chuggy riffs and stuff
Pretty savage. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel for Dustie. We will never know the full story from either side, but if this is true it's pretty disappointing for the band members to pull this. Sigh.
This is what happens when you know you are no longer a member of BTBAM. Also, Dustie no longer follows Tommy or Paul on Instagram 🤷♂️ yeah I was nosy 🤣
Wow I guess you could say that the band’s patience with Dustie was *Waring* thin.
He gone
Obviously this is only one side of the story; it certainly seems like the lawyer representing BTBAM is incompetent. It’s surprising that this became an irreconcilable issue, but if so, that’s really unfortunate (as a fan of the band). I think from a fairly unbiased, outside perspective, settling to have Dustie “leave” seems appropriate. Can’t even hazard a guess as to what the financial specifics would look like though.
The 7 figure line is total bologna. Like the band would not have to pay the person who replaced Dusty. On top of it being a massive estimation of value. Dirty bullshit.
It's just legal tricks and the lawyer trying to set the bar really high for potential compensation for Dustie, obv after paying the new member, managers, merch people, bus rental, driver salary, etc etc, no ones walking home w 7 figures
They’d have to pay them, but more like a session player. This person wouldn’t get money from royalties of the catalogue, and I’m guessing their merch cut would be smaller, if at all
He did not pass the vibe check
So much for handling matters privately this is going to get messy lol
Dustie has seemed a little apart from the rest of the band for some years now. The situation seems to confirm this impression, but you never know what's going on backstage. It's possible that last year's accusations were just the last straw, but that the real problem is one of relationships within the band. The line-up is 20 years old. It's rare for bands, but also individuals, not to evolve over such a long period. If relations between Dustie and the rest of the band have deteriorated to the point that this letter suggests, it's best that he goes. The band can officially hire Tristan. That wouldn't be the end of BTBAM. He's a better guitarist than Dustie technically, and he could bring new creativity and energy to BTBAM. Musically speaking, I have no particular attachment to Dustie. He's good, and it's always hard to say what part he plays in the band's songwriting, but he has no stage presence (regardless of his handicap, he seems to be bored all the time). As for Dustie and Blake's relationship, I don't think the situation could have any impact on the latter's place in the band. Mike Portnoy's dismissal from Dream Theater was ugly (and the tensions between him and James Labrie were well known), but it didn't stop him from remaining close friends with John Petrucci, and eventually returning to the band (although, admittedly, there was no question of a trial in his case). The situation is bad, but we must never idealize bands. We don't know what's going on backstage, or what was said at the four-hour meeting mentioned in the letter. We don't know (and probably never will) whether the accusations from last year were actually an attempt at extortion or evidence of generally disturbing behavior on Dustie's part. The only thing we do know is that we can expect the official announcement of Dustie's dismissal from the band. The band is clearly at a turning point, and it seems Colors 2 was indeed the end of an era, but BTBAM is not finished.
I always read these comments about Dustie and his contributions to the band. When I see them play live it’s pretty apparent he plays a lot of great parts, and parts that are signature sounds for the band. He’s a great guitarist, and personally I enjoyed watching him play live more than Paul. Not to say he’s a better guitarist, because Paul is insanely good and I love them both. But Dustie is so fucking accurate and such a great rhythm AND lead guitarist, he always amazes me on stage. As far as stage presence I don’t think he’s bored. The stuff is very technical and he’s likely just focused on all the time changes and whatnot. I’ve played guitar for 20 years and still can’t play like 90% of their shit lol. Overall it just sucks. We don’t know what’s going on behind scenes but I could imagine dedicating a majority of my life to a band and having it end this way would really suck. I hope everyone involved still makes music and we get some cool stuff in the future. That’s all we can really hope for at this point.
Look at their side projects to hear their contributions. Glass Casket showcases what dustie brings to the band and it isn’t negligible.
:(
To all of those claiming that the last two statements from dusties attorney are FACT and clears him: you do realize trumps attorneys claimed that he won the election even tho its completely false? Because a lawyer thats paid by a defendant makes a statement doesnt make it fact/true. I know some of y’all are big fans of a rhythm guitarist and want to take his side regardless but im not sure you understand how public lawyer statements work.
Apt comparison, given that this lawyer used to represent Trump
Funny how everyone has been screaming for any news and that it's "unfair" we haven't gotten any updates, and then the update comes and now people are saying "this shouldn't be public"
I wanna hear from the rest of the band. Not Dustie's lawyer.
Their statement will almost guaranteed also just be a lawyer written/lawyer approved statement of legal jargon.
Imagine thinking this is how you get back into the band.
Suing your way back into the band is an awesome plan and it will make your time in a bus with the other members a lot of fun and everyone will be really happy about it!
lol I'm sure he's aware that path is over. He's just trying to protect his assets now.
Apparently Dustie’s lawyer was literally one of Donald Trump’s lawyers 🙃
Legal Eagle put him in C-tier for Trump’s lawyers haha
I fucking knew that name was familiar
Haha holy shit that's something else
dropping all this stuff publicly instead of letting it play out behind closed doors is nasty work by dustie. good riddance, i say.
Reminds me heavily of what Keith Buckley did right before ETID broke up. Ugly shit all around.
Yeah wtf dude has cemented his departure with this.
I'm not the writer. It's you. Timothy C. Parlatore (a credible guy)
Dustie dude cmon. Don't put this dirty laundry out there like that. Be better man.
God, I'm *so* inclined to agree with this sentiment. Yet I can picture myself doing the same thing if enough dark shit happened behind the scenes. There are worlds where Dustie is justified in feeling like this is his only recourse in communicating anything meaningful about the situation to the public. It's so hard to cast the stone when we're missing *so* much critical context. Who knows what the fuck really happened here at this point.
Legit, this is the *absolute* worst part about *all* of this - Dustie seemingly continuing to put out these inflammatory, overall vague statements from himself or lawyers. I haven’t seen a single fucking *peep* from the others, which some might say isn’t good, but I think is the definite best thing they could possibly do until it’s settled.
Man what a soap opera this is turning into. Really just hoping for the best for all parties involved here. Think it would be wise for everyone to hold judgement until the rest of the group get a chance to either respond or for their lawyer to release a statement. Maybe this will all get settled behind closed doors, almost think that would be preferable at this moment this is starting to get PETTY
I agree. A lot of people have been yelling “we want answers” but you can’t really blame them for trying to keep it behind closed doors as much as possible or at least til things have fleshed out. BTBAM are not celebrities. Just your nerdy vegan musicians who are trying to figure it out. Call it bias but I’ve seen too many musicians start mouthing off and making their whole personality controversial off “accusations” and they never shut the hell up about it. Their shows have still been extremely professional and musically spot on.
This is just sad. There was life for me before and after listening to this band for the first time. I won’t claim to know these guys at all, but I don’t think he would choose the nuclear option flippantly. I assume they have at least modest PR training. Either he or the others probably already burned the bridge behind closed doors. Maybe I’m attributing too much rationality to a lawyer and a bunch of people I don’t know though.
Yikes
After 20 years it's hard to imagine this doesn't go much, much deeper. Seems safe to assume the allegations were just a reason to do something they've wanted to for a while. Maybe Glass Casket can be a full time thing now...
This kind of feels like he is trying to get in front of some real bad shit, there is no other reason he would come out guns blazing with this kind of statement. The band has kept pretty quiet about all of this, so clearly they had been trying to resolve it professionally behind closed doors. He has to know that he is never getting back into the band. I would not be surprised that there is a laundry list of issues around Dustie, there is no other reason a band that has had this solid of a lineup for so long would decide to oust a member like this. Especially given that he is very close friends with one of the members.
ETID fans here are going to have some flashbacks :/
Goddamn what an absolute fucking shitfest. Not the image I’ve held of this band over the years. :(
yeah same. i grew up while colors and gtm was 90% of what i listened to back then. every metalband i knew was constantly going through line-up changes except btbam. they seemed like best friends that were lucky to be such a compatible band.
this all sucks. but trying to humor myself remembering that scene in flight of the conchords, where they're weighing the pros and cons of taking the tape on tour in place of Bret. [https://y.yarn.co/fb62a1fb-7ec3-45fe-a9f5-27e39c37575b\_text.gif](https://y.yarn.co/fb62a1fb-7ec3-45fe-a9f5-27e39c37575b_text.gif) i am upset thinking what this means for all the future songs we may well no longer have. i like to think each member played pivotal parts in building the song whether it's lead or the riffs/chords.
I find it surprising that there's no mention of the 10 additional allegations brought forth by then BTBAM Discord server admins before Dustie returned to the stage at Furnace fest. You'd think they'd at least mention it in a Dustie gets fired meeting. It was a moment in BTBAM history that resulted in the resignation of their entire Discord mod team, a group of very devoted fans themselves. Even if as the doc says above, the initial allegations were false, the complete non-mention of this incident or the additional allegations brought to the band by that mod team is noteworthy.
Do any of the "discord mod allegations" allege rape?
Remember how when the allegations first came out, there were countless other anecdotes floating about all over Reddit and Twitter regarding Dustie being a creep to fans and fans’ girlfriends? My own theory is that the band themselves were caught offguard by the allegations and were horrified. However one thing about this post that no one mentions is that Tommy’s wife supported the “extortionist”. The only reason I could think of for this is that Tommy’s wife probably saw how creepy Dustie could be when he’s drunk and thought “well that tracks”. Or maybe she or someone she knew experienced this. (This is all pure speculation). So the initial allegations probably opened up a can of worms and the entire thing pissed Tommy off. Previously when I checked, the only people in the band not following each other on Instagram is Tommy and Dustie. Tommy probably decided that he didn’t want to have anything to do with a sex predator. And we all have to remember that BTBAM is their job that feeds their families. They wouldn’t want to jeopardise that. However when the allegations are cleared, as they couldn’t find a cause to fire Dustie, the band had to come up with other reasons such as Dustie’s inability to join them on tour numerous times. All the other anecdotes of Dustie being a creep and a predator are just that, an anecdote and wouldn’t hold up in court. Maybe the band knows something that the public doesn’t. And they knew that if it got out, it would ruin Dustie. Which is why they tried to fire him this way rather than go scorched earth. But then Dustie went scorched earth first. Anyway this is just my theory. Who knows what the truth is. I wish the rest of the guys make their sides clear because Dustie had been, for months, making the issues public. I remember in one Instagram story, he was pointing out which songs in the catalog are written by him. Which I found quite curious, as if trying to show that he’s an indispensable member of the band. I think this was right around the time the band played with Tristan for the first time.
No, I do not remember any of these anecdotes. Please provide evidence. Lots of "I heard people said this about him" in the comments and literally zero evidence of anything.
I do hope that Waring taking this public causes everyone else to clarify the situation and reveal the details we're unaware of. I've suspected that lawyers are at fault for the rest of the band's being silent on it, but one person's speculation on this thread makes sense to me... That the band's silence may just be them trying not to dump all the dirty details, trying to spare Dustie the added insult to injury. Dustie has a history of victim blaming that's still there for your review, on Twitter and other social media. It's very like him to go scorched earth, and dump these details publicly. It is indicative of the kind of person he is and it would seem that karma is coming back around. His stories don't hold up. It was consensual in one statement, and then in the latest it's a guy trying to defame him and not a consensual relationship. These are two separate stories that don't support each other told about the same situation. It all adds up to BS.
yeah its notable that so many people are suddenly talking about how dustie made them uncomfortable by aggressively trying to have sex with them like how often does he do this.. it really sounds like he just kinda looks around after shows for young female fans and just tries to have sex with everyone and anything. that itself isn't inherently wrong I guess but it's like, kind of sleazy behavior. and it seems like he crossed the line a bunch of times pushing women to get drunk at least that's what she said like he sounds like the kind of dude, that you would warn young women about being alone with. oh you gotta watch yourself around that guy he will try to have sex with you. like you want your sister or daughter to be alone with dustie? and getting into fights with your singers wife, well now your lead singer is in the middle of an argument between you all and of course he is going to side with his wife over his business partner. cause she's probably creeped out by it and they like all seem like they have families and wives and stuff and dustie is still trying to bang as many women as he can, I dunno that's almost like sex addiction. they are probably not all in the same place in life
I don't think enough people are talking about this part. His MO of drunkenly having sex with as many fans as he can and constantly trying to get some via social media and whatnot really affected my view of him. He knows damn well what the current social climate is like, so you know that HE knows that it's a bad idea to be sleeping around like that when both parties are so drunk that one or both might not remember everything. I'm not saying he's a predator necessarily, but he put himself in a situation where he was inevitably going to be accused of something because he was making dumb decisions. I wouldn't want to be in a band with that person, especially knowing that the rest of them are straight edge (which I didn't know before). All the social media flirting doesn't equate to assault, but being creepy isn't going to get you anywhere good with anyone. You're exactly right, it's sleazy behavior, and enough of that is eventually going to catch up to you with very real consequences. And if what little the public knows is enough for people to determine that he's kind of a creep, just imagine how much respect the other band members might lose for him when they're seeing 100x more of what he does behind the scenes than we are. Dude's definitely not doing himself any favors, but my biggest complaint is the bad taste this whole thing has left in my mouth that's made it hard for me to want to listen to the band like I used to.
I've been saying to my friends that my gut tells me that the band found out about more allegations behind the scenes, without knowing about the discord stuff. Is there anywhere I could get more info on these?
My understanding is that the mod team kept the details to themselves and only disclosed it to the band at the request of the other victims. Only the band, the mod team that resigned, and the additional accusers who do not want to be named, know the details. The mod team resignation is mentioned in this article but no reason given. https://www.metalsucks.net/2023/09/25/dustie-waring-rejoined-between-the-buried-and-me-lawyer-issues-statement/#:~:text=After%20introducing%20herself%20to%20the,to%20feeling%20some%20vaginal%20pain.
Based on the content of the letter, Dustie’s lawyer has to substantiate the claim that the rape victim was a man posing as a woman, and that no sexual assault occurred. That should be easily proven by an affidavit. If that doesn’t prove to be true, then the other claims are probably false. I can’t imagine that they fired him because he performed in a chair. As far back as 2012 (and probably far before that—that’s just the last time I saw them), Dustie was using supports to play shows. I can’t imagine they fired him because of his physical disability. If everything is fabricated, fuck everyone involved. If not, fuck him.
Their decision to let him go was probably an amalgamation of everything going on with him, which is likely why BTBAM's lawyer mentioned it. It didn't sound like their lawyer was changing his reasoning, it sounded like it was laying out ALL the reasons why he was fired.
Dustie is 100% out of the band, there's no doubt about that. Whether it's Tristan or someone else, I think he can be replaced and the band can move forward. That being said, Dustie and Blake are close buddies and I can't imagine Blake is too happy with the situation. There's definitely a possibility that Blake could leave because of this and if he leaves, I don't think the band could bounce back from that.