Former guitarist of New Jersey hardcore band Gel, Anthony Webster, has responded to several serious allegations against him from his former bandmates.
Back in March, the band took to social media to post a lengthy statement announcing their break-up. In the post, they alleged that the “heinous acts” committed by Webster before his dismissal from the band had caused them “irreparable damage”.
“Gel is no longer a band, and therefore will not be playing any of our currently scheduled upcoming shows,” they wrote at the time, saying the reason was “simple at its core” before making a series of allegations about Webster’s conduct.
“[He] has committed such heinous acts in trying to forward himself in his musical career that he’s done irreparable damage to the band in the process, and it’s affected us as human beings more than we can even attempt to explain, to the point of being completely unable to do the band anymore,” they said.
Among their allegations were that Webster had stolen money from various members to spend on OnlyFans, that he shared naked photos of his bandmates on Reddit without consent, and that he had allegedly put them in “physically dangerous situations” in his time in the band.
On Thursday (September 25), Webster shared a statement on Gel’s social media account before it was deactivated, addressing their claims. “I wrote all the music,” the statement began, per Stereogum. “No need to ‘hope’ they start a project without me, because they are incapable of playing or writing their own material.”
“No money was ‘stolen,'” he continued. “Any money we made went straight back into tour expenses, gear that I helped pick out for every band member, merch/vinyl, etc. Remember, the rest of the band had no experience prior and was relying on me to make their dream come true, which I was obviously willing to do.”
He claimed any extra money they made, “they insisted” he held onto because he was the one who got the van. “I was the one who got our gear,” he added. “I was the one who wrote every single riff, lyric, and drum part.
As for the allegations made in March that he had “posted nude images of band members on Reddit for the world to see”, he said: “Did someone in the band ask me to help them take ‘nudes’ for them? Yep.
“Did they feel some sort of regret with trusting me and grow suspicious that I went around sharing them online because of their anxiety coming to that conclusion? Yep.”
Webster rounded off the post by saying that when he called time on the band, “they chose to take it personally in an ill manner, maybe because they weren’t going to have me spoon-feed them music to perform anymore”. He also alluded to them leaving things “on a not-so-positive” note.
“Which then leads up to their “statement” about me,” he said, “which I, without a doubt, know [Matthew] Bobko and [Zach] Miller had absolutely no involvement in. Thank you for listening, believe it or not. I honestly don’t give a fuck at this point.”
Gel parted ways with Webster in September last year, but never addressed his departure until earlier this year. They were due to join the likes of Volbeat, Anxious and Spiritbox on separate tours throughout the year. They were also notably scheduled to perform at Coachella.