Deerhunter are currently wrapping up a banner year, having released one of the most critically acclaimed records of the year with Fading Frontier. They’ve continued to accrue a loyal and ever-growing fan base with their experimental rock sounds since they really hit their stride in 2007, but now it seems not everyone has been a fan of them.
On the verge of breaking through in 2007, Deerhunter nabbed the almighty and highly coveted goal of supporting The Smashing Pumpkins at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. They were booked into play for a week-long run of shows, but it seems that stint wasn’t without some “hiccoughs” along the way.
They say you shouldn’t meet your role models, and perhaps there is something true about that saying. Just over the weekend, Deerhunter returned to the Orange Peel for their own headline show, and frontman Bradford Cox treated the audience to a little tale about the first time they had played there; specifically about the time he got into a fight with Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan.
Cox told the audience that one show, post gig, he was thirsty and came across a “big pyramid of VOSS Water, like, laid out in a fucking pyramid.” So, naturally, he grabbed one – only to be asked by a “25-foot-tall Samoan bodyguard guy” who worked for Corgan, “What the fuck are you doing?” before grabbing Cox and pushing him against the wall. The next day, Cox was summoned by Corgan, who was seated on the stage. Corgan then apparently ripped into him, saying:
I hear you’ve been causing a lot of trouble. Do you know who you are? You’re shit. You’re a shitty little insignificant fucking indie rock band. And you’re invited — not by me, who knows what fucking idiot in my management did this — but you are invited to open for the Smashing Pumpkins.
Cox then took the opportunity to defend himself, and told Corgan about being “manhandled” by his security guard, to which Corgan “fucking goes off” in response. Cox, not one to take shit lying down, then peeled off his backstage pass, slapped the sticker on Corgan’s leg and said “Fuck You.”
However, Billy Corgan is also one to not take shit lying down (even if he may have created said shit in the first place), and exclaimed Cox had assaulted him and threatened to “sue the fucking shit” out of Cox, before apparently ordering Moses Archuleta’s to be thrown down a flight of stairs by his crew. Deerhunter were then kicked out of the venue.
Now, there are always two sides to every story. Whilst footage of Cox’s recount have now appeared online (check it out below), Billy Corgan’s legal team have now intervened and are threatening to sue if Cox does not retract what he said:
Several eyewitnesses can attest that Cox’s account is a complete fabrication, probably to get some much needed attention. He is correct about one thing, that the whole thing is on tape, and that we have a video of the encounter. Since this is intentionally slanderous, I will likely suggest we pursue charges unless a retraction is forthcoming.
Despite that mammoth size burn, Cox and Deerhunter are yet to respond. Whilst we all know Billy Corgan is a bit nuts, we can only really hope that this actually didn’t happen. Please, universe, make this not be true so we don’t get even more confirmation that Billy Corgan is a fucking dick. I don’t know how much more I can take.