Crystal Castles In Trouble Again

Crystal Castles' sold-out show at Dallas' Granada Theater was cancelled on Tuesday night after opening act Vega were first kicked off the bill, which caused an online scuffle between the two bands and the concert promoter.

About 1,000 fans were forced to wait outside the venue for more than two hours after Crystal Castles' management informed Vega that the plug was being pulled on them before they even hit the stage. The show was then wiped out completely at 10 p.m.

Crystal Castles accused Vega of stealing an effects pedal from them, which prompted their ouster. Vega's Alan Palomo said Crystal Castles borrowed a guitar from his band at a show in Austin the night before and the pedal accidentally ended up with them. Palomo said they arranged to return the pedal at the Dallas show, but were told they were off the bill when they arrived at the venue.

You can hear Palomo's side of the story here.

Crystal Castles representatives and Granada owner Mike Schoder both sent email messages to the Gorilla Vs. Bear blog about the incident, with each side blaming the other.

Here's an explanation from a Crystal Castles' representative for why the concert was cancelled:

"CC obviously did not want to leave 1000+ people hanging outside. The people at Granada pulled the plug on CC during CC's soundcheck, claiming they feared CC would 'blow the soundsystem.' The people at Granada tried to rent (at the last minute) proper speakers that would not 'blow' for the show but it just couldn't happen on short notice. At one point they thought they had found professional speakers but 2 hours later this fell through and the decision was made that the show could not happen. Also of note, a DJ had blown their speakers a few weeks ago and they did not want this to happen again. They said they couldn't afford to repair the speakers again.

"It would be nice if you knew the truth and were fair to the band since this wasn't their fault. The blame goes to whoever booked this band at this ill-equipped venue."

Crystal Castles publicist Brendan Telzrow later told the Dallas Observer newspaper's DC9 At Night music blog that neither he nor anyone associated with the band had released any kind of statement and denies the material on Gorilla Vs. Bear came from Crystal Castles.

Schoder, who says everyone who was locked out of the cancelled show will have their ticket and service charges refunded, called Crystal Castles "prima donnas" and asked, "Why would any band crap on their fans like this?"

Schoder gave this account of how things went down at the theatre on Tuesday:

"At 5pm (3 hrs before doors) we received a call from CC that Vega could not be on the bill.

"Vega had been approved by CC in advance for the bill.

"Early on Tue CC hired a light tech from Austin that is also a DJ to replace Vega.

"CC could have communicated with Vega early in the day before they left Austin.

"Vega was at the Granada waiting to soundcheck.

"CC would not enter the building until Vega was gone from the premise.
Alan [Palomo] was super cool. No prima donna.

"We've never seen this request. The other co-promoter out of Austin has never seen this kind of request.

"CC whining...

"CC soundchecked at 6pm instead of at 4pm.

"CC didn't 'like the sound of their kickdrum'.

"CC insists that 'more woofers be brought in'.

"Rental places close at 6pm.

"It is now 7pm.

"Granada has 16 - 18" sub-woofers and 12 - 15" sub-woofers. Also 32 - 8" midranges. Lots of firepower.

"Sound check was great.

"CC says they would rather cancel the show than possibly not have enough kick drum.

"Granada begs that the show goes on.

"Granada even offers to dismantle sub woofer stacks and place them in different places in the room.

"Granada was willing to do anything to have the show go on.

"CC waits until after 10pm to give final cancellation."

Schoder included this addendum with his message:

"Insecurity is a cancer. Love yourself. Love your sound guy and the system at the club you are playing.

"Play the show. Then listen to your fans. If you don't like the sound at a club never go back to the club.

"We've had every big band imaginable in every genre imaginable and had amazing shows.

"Nobody has complained about our sound. This is totally out of left field.
The sound at Granada is amazing...and would have been if CC would have just got on stage and played."

At least no Crystal Castles fans were attacked by supposedly cool singer Alice Glass, and no images were improperly used or songs were stolen by the group in Dallas.

Crystal Castles fans can cross their fingers and hope Glass and bandmate Ethan Kath take the stage for these appearances:

April 17 Indio, CA @ Empire Polo Field (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)
May 23 Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphiteatre (Sasquatch! Music Festival)
June 6 San Francisco, CA @ TBA
June 12 Manchester, TN @ Great Stage Park (Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)
June 20 Barcelona, Spain @ Sonar Festival
July 3 Gdnyia, Poland @ Babie Doly Airfield (Open'er Festival)
July 9 Lisbon, Portugal @ Optimus Alive! 09 Festival
July 25 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy