Black Lips’ single pulled from Wild Honey Records after “certain allegations” made against bandmember

Judy Moreno

Black Lips had a 7" single pulled from being released by Italian label Wild Honey Records after "certain allegations" were "made against a member of the band," Pitchfork reports. Wild Honey shared a statement to Pitchfork about the single, which had been scheduled for release on October 22, to coincide with the band's current European tour. It reads:

Shortly after we announced the release of a one-off, limited edition 7" by The Black Lips [on October 15], it was brought to our attention that certain allegations had been made against a member of the band. Out of respect to all involved, our staff, colleagues and the artists signed to our label, we decided to pull the release. It is not a decision we took lightly, but we believe it’s the right thing to do under the circumstances.

Wild Honey Records was born in a garage 15 years ago. We are music fans. The label doesn’t pay the bills, it quite often IS the bills. A big part of what we do is give back to the DIY music scene and the community from where we came.

Growing up as outcasts, bullied and nerdy young punks, we always believed that punk rock could change our lives for the better, that it could bring people together in times of division, hatred and polarisation. We have been actively fighting against this stuff all our lives. We condemn any form of abusive behaviour and any form of discrimination. We walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Pitchfork also points out that Doug Tuttle, who used to front MMOSS and released an EP, Pinecone, via Wild Honey earlier this year, criticized the label on social media for planning to release a single from Black Lips, citing a Los Angeles Times article from January, "The women who brought down Burger Records," about the how the label shut down last year. One of the people profiled in the article is Emily Langland, who told the Times that when she was 17 and Black Lips' Cole Alexander was 29, he sent her "sexually inappropriate" text messages.

Tuttle also said that he told Wild Honey to remove his music, writing, "I've asked the label to remove my music and they've agreed. I don't feel as though I've in any way slandered them, but over the past few days I've been told the way I'm dealing with this is immature, and have been accused of blackmail. The label plans to look into these allegations and make a decision in the near future. For me? This isn't enough and the word of the victims is all I need. I kept waiting for the Instagram post to be taken down while the label got to the bottom of this/it didn't happen. All the while any mention of the wrong doings of the band seemed to disappear. This is the way a lot of folks would deal with this, I get that. However it just doesn't work for me."

Alexander, who declined requests for comment on the Times article, told Pitchfork, about Wild Honey's statement, "The allegations are simply not true and we have no other comment."

Read the report in full on Pitchfork