WOW, DO SNOW PATROL HATE AMERICANS. HALFWAY through this record, buried under a feedback avalanche at the start of ‘Little Hide’, they’ve included an answerphone message from bassist Mark McClelland to the abode of singer Gary Lightbody and drummer Jonny Quinn, dropping the bombshell that they must change their name from Polar Bear or face death by big writ from the American band of the same name.
Which not only explains the two-fingered title of their debut album but also throws light on why it sounds like every influential American band of the ’90s being chained, in turn, into a spin dryer and having brain-eating robot bugs drilled into their heads by a grinning Thom Yorke. Easy targets first: The Breeders are mashed to a gibbering, glistening pulp on ‘Starfighter Pilot’, ‘The Last Shot Ringing In My Ears’ takes the Black & Decker to Lou Barlow’s torpid whining and ‘Absolute Gravity’ garottes every wide-trousered rock-rap tosser it can find with a ball of trip-hop razor wire. Seven Gadaffi-friendly tunes in, however, they come over all [I]faux [/I]flattered, as if realising that any more Yank baiting and they’d be questioned by the CIA about the embassy bombings. ‘NYC’ is a humble homage to Screaming Trees and ‘Days Without Paracetamol’ is so Pixies it gains seven stone halfway through.
A-ha! But it’s all a trick! For as they’re about to be handed the keys to Buttfuck, they set about REM with jack hammers on closer ‘One Hundred Things You Should Have Done In Bed’. Revenge is sweet when scuzzy around the edges.
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Ronnie Radke has claimed that Max Georgiev was dismissed from Falling In Reverse due to allegations of sexual misconduct, accusations that Georgiev has firmly rejected.
Georgiev exited the Las Vegas metalcore group in 2024. Last week, the band’s frontman Ronnie Radke shared an Instagram post stating that the guitarist was removed after allegedly admitting to a sexual relationship with an underage girl.
“For those that are wondering why I fired the guitarist,” Radke wrote, according to Lambgoat, “it’s because he admitted to sleeping with a minor ten years before he [was] in my band [when] he was 27 years old. Have fun with that.”
Georgiev, who joined Falling In Reverse in 2018 and now performs with metal outfit Vio-lence, responded shortly after, denying the allegations. “To the fans, I have never done anything illegal with a minor,” said Max Georgiev. “Fifteen years ago, when I was 23, I still lived in Quebec, Canada.”
“Since then, I have played for several bands who never mentioned inappropriate behavior on my part,” he continued. “I have always had great respect for the fans. I have strived to play my heart out for you.”
Radke’s Instagram account has since appeared to be removed, something he addressed during a livestream. “Maybe me talking about my old guitar player getting fired for finding out he was hooking up with minors, I think that AI might’ve caught that and was like, ‘You gotta go’,” he suggested, as reported by Loudwire".
“This man not only did that, [but] the parents of the minor ten years before he was in my band found out, they confronted him, he lied about his age so he could continue doing that with her. He wasn’t 23, he was older. He’s lying about that,” Radke went on to claim.
In a subsequent statement shared on Thursday January 8, Georgiev again rejected Radke’s accusations, calling them “delusional”. “I met someone who turned eighteen a few months later while I occasionally dated her,” he said. “This was fifteen years ago, when I was 23 in Quebec, Canada.”
“Her parents never confronted me because the girl only had a mother. I never lied to her or her daughter about anything.”
Georgiev later suggested that his departure from Falling In Reverse may instead have been linked to him “taking the initiative to learn nine songs of another band”, which he identified as Disturbed.
Elsewhere, Radke has reportedly filed a temporary restraining order against Brittany Furlan, citing alleged harassment connected to a catfish controversy from last year.
He has repeatedly alleged that Furlan, the estranged wife of Tommy Lee, was involved with someone impersonating him online. The filing asks that she be required to remain at least 100 yards away from him. Representatives for Furlan have said they are “aware” of the request and maintain that the allegations are “not accurate”.
Radke also saw his defamation lawsuit against Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop dismissed last year.
