Quite unexpectedly and devastatingly out of nowhere, news came out on Wednesday July 19th at 2:15 pm that political punk rock band, Anti-Flag “has disbanded.”
A screenshot from the band’s Patreon page started spreading like wildfire that the band had broken up.
When people went to the band’s social media pages for some kind of confirmation, they found that everything from the band’s official website, as well as all band and personal media pages were removed.
Fans hoped that maybe they were subject to a hacking and this was a cruel joke being played upon them. However, the news went from band to the unthinkable.
Not long after the news first came out fans started sharing links to a podcast released around the same time. The “Enough” podcast’s latest episode entitled “People don’t hang their whole lives on a music scene, but we do” featuring Kristina Sarhadi. Without naming anyone specifically Sarhadi, a therapist and writer from New York goes on to tell her story about meeting her idol, the singer of a political punk band who allegedly sexually assaulted her. She references a Tumblr post from last year from an anonymous post that states simply, “Justin Sane from Anti-Flag. Am I really the only person this has happened to?”
Since yesterday, more people have commented on this post coming forward with allegations. It is important to point out that as of right now there are not any known arrests, charges, or lawsuits against any members of the band. In addition, the band has not come out and made any statements on either the allegations or even the band’s status, other than the Patreon message.
The band was originally formed as a three piece with lead singer-guitarist, Sane and drummer Pat Thetic in Pittsburgh in 1988. There have been several lineup changes and hiatuses, but their classic lineup was solidified in 1999 by adding second guitarist Chris Head, and lead singer-bassist Chris No. 2.
The band was known for fast, angry music aimed at anti-capitalism, lyrics against corporate greed, and not only anti-war, but more importantly, spreading messages of peace. Chris No. 2 would often order people to stick up their two-finger peace signs during their performances, and the band was known for encouraging their fans to pick people up when they fell down in the mosh pit.
Over the last three decades, the band has released over a dozen albums, the most recent being January’s “Lies They Tell Our Children.” The band was playing shows in Europe prior to this announcement, and was set to begin a nationwide tour with the Bouncing Souls, which has dates scheduled for Los Angeles and Orange County in October. As of right now, the assumption is the tour will go on without them.
