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Killers to conduct “thorough investigation” following abuse claims against former tour crew
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 30 July 2020
The Killers have said that they will conduct “a thorough investigation into past and present tour staff” in the wake of allegations made by sound engineer Chez Stock, who says that the band’s backstage team abused a woman during a 2009 US tour.
Stock’s account of what she saw on that tour was originally shared in 2018 on the blog of former Nirvana sound engineer Craig Montgomery, but neither her nor the band’s name was stated at that time. Last week, however, she shared that post on Twitter naming the band as The Killers.
She explains that she was early on in her career as a sound engineer at the time, and was the only woman working on the tour. Among various allegations of misconduct, she gives an extremely distressing account of an incident following a show in Milwaukee when “the [front of house] engineer came over radio and said, ‘Hey guys, there is a girl set up in Dressing Room A'”.
That radio message went on “put your name on the list outside the door with your radio channel and we’ll call you when it’s your turn”. Stock continues: “I knew I was not the target audience of this all call, and I am pretty sure I audibly shuddered while my stagehands just laughed and asked if they could put their name on the list”.
“I continued my load out, occasionally hearing a name come over the radio to notify them that it was their turn on the train in Dressing Room A”, she continues. “I consoled myself with the notion that this woman, whoever she was, was a consenting adult”. However, she says, she realised later that it was unlikely that the woman had really consented to what had happened.
The band themselves are not implicated in that particular incident – although Stock does say in her blog post that members were involved in other questionable sexual activity during the tour.
In a statement to BBC News, a legal rep for the group said: “First and foremost, any allegations of inappropriate behaviour by anyone on The Killers touring team are taken extremely seriously by the band and their management. This person’s story is appalling and, while The Killers do not have the same touring crew in 2020 that they had earlier in their career, they will be conducting a thorough investigation into past and present tour staff”.
“Their legal team will be reaching out to this person for more information and clarity on the alleged incidents as detailed, as well as to the audio vendor who provided crew for the tour”, they went on. “The band are astonished and shocked by these claims. The behaviour attributed to them and their crew is unrecognisable and in direct opposition to the principles with which they run their workplace”.
Stock has confirmed on Twitter that someone claiming to be from the band’s management has contacted her and that she will now speak to their legal team.
