LSD? When your singer goes beyond what is okay! Being in a band, and being a down right dick are two different things.

Posted By: Metal Sludge

Written By: Aaron Bobby Bourque

The following is a Blog we found on Facebook by a guitarist named Aaron Bobby Bourque. Aaron seems to be a good dude. And he seems to have experienced some, shitty stuff on the road. Is that new? Not at all. Life on the road can be brutal, but there is a time and a place for all. And there also comes a time and a place, to stand up and speak out about what you believe in.

Metal Sludge felt strongly about this article and wanted to pass it on to our readers.

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Okay, here we go. I want to begin by saying that all of this is written up on an iPhone so please excuse all the typos that may occur.

I am going to tell you about my experience on the road with one of the most downright ungrateful and selfish person I have ever met. You can take it or leave it, but this is my story.

I was asked a couple months ago to be fill in guitar player for the Marquette, MI band “The Monsters I’ve Met” for the Reverbnation Tour and couldn’t decline an offer like that. Shortly after hitting the road I realized this could be a rough ride. The vocalist, who I will leave un named, showed a darker, uglier side that I have never seen from anyone. With constant put downs of every person we have come in contact with on this trip. Weather it be the homeless person sitting on the corner, or the promoter of a show inside of their own home.. Nobody was safe from the onslaught of insults and criticism. It only took 5 days into tour for me to confront him about a personal attack after he said (behind my back) “I wish he would shut up and play bass like he is supposed to”.. I confronted him about it and he told me the stress of the road got the best of him. I forgave him an continued the tour. After that talk he however did not stop the constant smack talking of fellow tour mates “Apparitions” and everyone else he came in contact with. Aside from the smack talk, the control over the band from him was nothing short of a dictatorship. Pulling into a wal Mart parking lot became something we dreaded because although the seat in the back of the van folded into a bed, he would only allow him and his girlfriend to sleep on it, even though there was enough room for at least 1 more person. This meant sleeping in sitting positions for hours at a time, multiple times, while he slept in the back and wouldn’t even offer to take turns or TRY to work things out with the bed. His reasons were because of his girlfriend being with, and “this is our only bit if alone time we have all tour”.. Which is false, considering that when we got a hotel, him and her secluded themselves to a separate room. The control was to a point where he tried to control what we wore on stage, fixating mainly on the image of the band, and not the sound. This went on for 10 days, and then the cherry was placed on top of this shit sundae.

We played a show in West Virginia and had a food guarantee of pizza for us. We showed up late to the show and all of our food was already eaten, so the promoter of the show went out and spent the money from his pocket to buy 3 more pizzas. When he returned, our vocalist was nowhere to be found, he was across the street getting drunk at a bar. So naturally, as pizzas tend to do, the pizza disappeared pretty fast. After he returned he saw no pizza was left and threw a diva like fit that would embarrass even a 4 year old.. Somehow he was talked down and was invited back to the sound guys house to stay with him and the promoter of the show. Keep in mind this sound guy did the entire show absolutely free, so that the bands could get the money they needed. The entire way all we heard was cut down after cut down about the promoter of the show, at one point heard him say “this guy didn’t even do anything, I just don’t fucking like him”. Fast forward an hour, we pull up to the house, which turns out to be a trailer home in the middle of a backwoods area. Right off the bat the comments of “what a shit hole” and “look at this dump” came spewing out of his mouth. We went in to find a very friendly guy waiting, with beer and music to show us a good time in his run down, but still homey, trailer house. The comments of “what a shit hole” did not stop when he got in, he made it very clear to everyone that this home was not good enough for him. At one point, his girlfriend went to the bathroom and came out with him asking “how do you flush the toilet?” The owner responded “oh I am sorry, the toilet doesn’t flush right now. That seemed to be the breaking point for the couple, because what came next was hands down the most disgusting thing I have witnessed in my life.

This man was verbally attacked by the pair, with comments like “you can’t afford a toilet that flushes?” And “what kind of shit hole do you live in?” Being just a couple of the disgusting things spit at this man in his own home. At one point the man sincerely apologized saying “if I knew I was having company I would have fixed it” they responded with “yeah well it’s too late now huh?”. He responded with “I am not making you stay here” and they quickly came back with the comment “no don’t worry , we are finding a wal mart to stay at”.. This went on for at least 10 minutes in front of the bands, and the mans family. I couldn’t sit and bite my cheek any longer. I stood up and stopped it right there. Telling the vocalist he is the most ungrateful thing I have ever seen, and questioned how he could possibly de humanize this man in his own home. He did not apologize, he stood his ground and tried to defend what he was doing. After being confronted by a younger brother of the family about how he talked to his family, his first reaction was not to apologize, but to try to fight the 20 year old in his home. It ended with the band going to wal mart, I however stayed behind. The following morning I rode to New York with Apparitions. After TMIM showed up I called them into the van to talk to them and tell them I would not be continuing the tour with them. Expecting to hear apologies or excuses blamed on alcohol, I soon found out I was mistaken. The vocalist and the guitar player Bryce stood by what happened saying “how could you pick that backwoods toothless retard over us?” And Bryce saying “this was a small show in a shitty town, we will have so many bigger better things happen to us, this shitty show and retarded people don’t matter” I felt disgusted and embarrassed that I had helped these people. I told them I was not going to be continuing and they said fine. They did however ask me to not post what happened online. I declined.

The vocalist of this band is nothing short of a Ronnie Radke wannabe and does not deserve to be associated with the music industry. I encourage every one of you to please share this story and make this as viral as you can, so everyone knows not to work with Aaron Peano or any project he is a part of. We don’t need a prick like this in our struggling scene. I would like to thank the people who let us sleep on their floor and fed us and every person I met on tour. Please don’t let the actions of Aaron, his girlfriend, and Bryce reflect on the rest of the band. The other 2 are very good people who appreciate everything. Bullying is not tolerated from anyone, and I hope you would do the same thing and stand up against such bullying. Please share this and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

I will finish this with a screen shot of a post he made about the man we stayed with after the ordeal was over.

The link for the above Blog can be found on Facebook

Metal Sludge

Owned Sludge