Bad Wolves guitarist Doc Coyle spoke on his podcast ‘The Ex-Man With Doc Coyle’ about Thy Art Is Murder’s recent decision to separate their way with their lead singer CJ McMahon after his anti-trans comments. The guitarist gave his take on the topic; he explained:
“I feel like I have a very vested interest in this because it’s very similar to what happened with Bad Wolves and our former singer. We never fired him. We didn’t even have that power, so there are narratives that get out there that aren’t correct. But we were accused of the same thing, of canceling, and there are just a few things I want to put out there.”
As a musician who went through a similar situation with a band member, Doc noted that the outside world only sees a tiny fraction of what really goes on behind closed doors. The guitarist continued:
“First of all, you know that piece of the puzzle. It’s like the iceberg and seeing the tip of it and thinking you know everything about it. But I want to reiterate, I don’t, you don’t, no one knows what’s going on behind the scenes with these bands.”
He went on to explain all the things that might have caused CJ to get fired. Doc said:
“So maybe you saw that one post and you go, ‘Well he shouldn’t be kicked out for that.’ And I’m like, ‘Maybe he’s a f*cking asshole.’ I don’t know the guy. He might be a very nice guy. But sometimes, you know what, people in bands are assholes, they’re drug addicts, they’re alcoholics, they’re inconsiderate, they physically abuse people, they verbally abuse people, they’re unreliable, they don’t show up on time, they don’t do their job. There’s 50 f*cking reasons you can be kicked out of a band.”
Even though CJ apologized for his anti-trans comments, Doc shared how he viewed the singer’s remarks by adding:
“If you are the singer in a deathcore band, I’m sorry, but your opinion, your negative opinion against trans people—I’m sorry, they’re not against trans people, they’re just trying to save the children—Where in the f*ck in your job description is ‘saver of children’? You’re in a deathcore band. Don’t you sing about death and destruction, darkness and murder? But now you’re also saving the children, ok. I must have missed those songs.”
Coyle also said after remarks like that the band gets tainted. He expressed:
“The truth is, once you enter a conversation like that, and it’s some of what we dealt with, but now you are basically putting everyone you’re in a band with in the path of that backlash.”
Black Wolves had also split from their vocalist Tommy Vext following his comments on social media about his divisive political views and views on conspiracies and race. Coyle shared how that affected the band by saying:
“So when we were going through what we were going through with Tommy and the markers and anti-Black Lives Matter and all that stuff, I’m getting messages and emails from black fans and old friends, from family members. Every single dude in Bad Wolves, our parents were reaching out like what the hell is going on?”
The guitarist added that no one within the band has the right to influence the band’s image. Doc added:
“So who gives someone in a band the right to say things that affect everyone else in a band? And if you don’t care about that and you’re the mouthpiece of the band and you’re saying crazy shit, and hey listen, maybe you don’t think it’s crazy, that’s fine.”
You can read Doc Coyle’s comments that he made on his podcast ‘The Ex-Man With Doc Coyle’ here.
