2011 has been a rather inauspicious year for Ben Weasel and his prolific group Screeching Weasel. Following an intense altercation at South by Southwest this past March that saw Weasel violently retaliate against two female audience members, one of whom reportedly threw a cup of ice at the frontman, the rest of the band subsequently quit in the fallout, leaving Ben Weasel all by his lonesome.
This past Friday, August 12th, however, Weasel took to his website with a massive post to address the SXSW incident and to denounce his former bandmates for jumping ship. Ultimately, Weasel looked to the future, announcing that he has not only put that fateful Austin night behind him, but has also replaced every member of the band in the interim. And while new lineups aren’t exactly a novelty to the Chicago punk outfit, Weasel himself seems ever the optimistic one:
I’d already replaced [guitarist Danny] Vapid and the drummer, chosen from a steady stream of applicants who, to a man, noted that the chumps who ‘quit’ were a bunch of sorry, suck-ass motherfuckers and that the ensuing display of cannibalistic fury from the torch and pitchfork crowd was a whole lot of bullshit.”
Appearing to be ready to get right back into the thick of things, Weasel and new co. will play their first show this fall at Reggie’s on their home turf of Chicago, IL on October 29th, dubbed Ben Weasel’s “independence day.” Whether this incarnation will last… well, only time will tell.
