For Canadian punk band Zex, one of the best days of their career seems to have been followed by one of the worst. Just months after the release of their sophomore album Uphill Battle, many of the band’s singles somehow ended up on vinyl pressings of Beyonce’s Lemonade. Columbia Records issued this statement: “Due to human error at the Celebrate Records plant in Germany, which Sony uses to manufacture vinyl, a small amount of the European run of the Beyoncé Lemonade vinyl included music from Canadian punk band, ZEX, on Side A. Beyoncé and ZEX were not aware of or responsible for the mispress. Fans who purchased the vinyl will be refunded and given a replacement copy. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”
Well, just days after this mistake garnered the band lot of attention, Zex’s label dropped the band over sexual assault allegations surrounding their guitarist, Jo Capitalcide. Magic Bullet Records claims that they received several emails about Jo Capitalcide’s misconduct in the wake of their heightened publicity due to the Lemonade pressing. They added that one of the stories emailed even lined up to things they had heard directly from the band. The statement on the label’s page added that even though neither of the band’s two albums had recouped, they would be donating money to both RAINN and Cornerstone Housing for Women in the band’s hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. As if this wasn’t enough, they are even offering full refunds for anyone who had bought the band’s album.
The message ended simply, “We have always subscribed to the punk notion of ‘looking out for one another.’ Our hearts and support go out to survivors worldwide.”
UPDATE (10/5/2017): Zex guitarist Jo Capitalcide has opened a defamation suit against Magic Bullet Records. He told Billboard over email: “Concerning the allegations of sexual assault on women made by our ex record label, Magic Bullet Records, I denounce them as false and have undertaken a defamation lawsuit this week for spreading false information about me and Zex. There are no charges laid on me.”
UPDATE (9/25/2018): Almost a year after the band filed a defamation lawsuit, former Zex label Magic Bullet Records has retracted their sexual assault claim according to Pitchfork. In a Facebook post from Friday, the label issued a statement retracting all claims made against the punk band, specifically their guitarist Joe Capitalcide. Additionally, the post indicates the band has dropped their defamation lawsuit against the label and both parties have put the dispute behind them.
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