Prominent Los Angeles based rock outfit The Growlers have responded to allegations of sexual misconduct involving their band members, including their founders Brooks Nielsen and Matt Taylor. Nielsen wrote the statement and denied the accusations against himself and Taylor, although he said he would be looking into the allegations regarding the band’s current and previous members throughout the last decade and a half.
Nielsen stated that the band has had 11 ex-members, stating that some of them were “dismissed from the group years ago for not aligning with the kind of band we strive to be.” He then goes on to address the accusation that he allegedly touched a female journalist on her breast, where he responded “I absolutely deny this ever happened, period.”
Nielsen then goes on to state that Taylor denies the allegation made against him, but did not explain what those allegations were. Consequence of Sound have detailed a set of allegations made against Taylor.
These recent allegations have been occurring in the midst of the Burger Records sexual misconduct allegations, which have rocked many of the independent music scenes in Southern California. The label, which has been affiliated with The Growlers, has since rebranded as BRGR Recs and announced that they have dropped all artists accused of misconduct. The Buttertones, who were also previously affiliated with the label, were recently dropped from their label following statutory rape allegation made against the band’s bassist Sean Redman. Los Angeles punk icon Alice Bag has dropped out of the label’s Burger Boogaloo scheduled for 2021 in response to the allegations.
Read his full statement below:
I am Brooks Nielsen, the lead singer of The Growlers and co-founder of the band. There have been a number of claims made on social media these past few days about the band, and I feel it’s necessary for me to address them. All the claims were made on social media and all were anonymous. Despite that, we take them seriously and want to get to the bottom of them. Let me provide some historical perspective on the band: The Growlers have been around for almost fifteen years, and in that time, we have had a number of members come and go. There have been eleven ex-band members in total. Some we dismissed from the group years ago for not aligning with the kind of band we strive to be. one of the recent claims is that I touched a female journalist on her breast during an interview that happened ten years ago. I absolutely deny this ever happened, period. An additional claim was made against Matt Taylor, our lead guitarist and co-founder of the band, which he denies. To our female fans in particular, Know that we are committed to conducting ourselves in a way that our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters would be proud of. We ask for your patience while we look into these allegations in as thorough, professional and unbiased manner as we are able, and make responsible decisions based on what we find out. We thank you for your patience, support and love during this time and always. Brooks.
Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz
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