New Jersey hardcore band Gel have announced their split off the back of several serious allegations against former guitarist Anthony Webster.
Last night (March 19), the band took to social media to post a lengthy statement announcing their break up. In the post, they allege the “heinous acts” committed by Webster prior to his dismissal from the band that have caused them “irreparable damage”.
They wrote: “Gel is no longer a band, and therefore will not be playing any of our currently scheduled upcoming shows.
“The reason is pretty simple at its core; the former guitar player, Anthony Webster, 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.”
The band went on to list some of his alleged “heinous acts”. They claimed that Webster had “stolen tens of thousands of dollars from us, and the best part is that he left it all on record for us to eventually find”. He had allegedly spent the money on “his own rent, personal food orders, and whatever else he really wanted to”m going on to add that “no one had access to the bank account (or any accounts for that matter) but him, despite numerous attempts to gain access”.
They also accused Webster of spending the money he had stolen from the band’s funds “on a truly unbelievable number of OnlyFans purchases and mysterious CashApp transactions, likely in the same lane”.
The accusations the band make against Webster got more serious, as they alleged that he “posted nude images of band members on Reddit for the world to see”, and claimed that he had done this “all while still in a band with us”. They added: “Luckily, he’s truly terrible at covering up his tracks, so we have the receipts to prove that one too.”
Additionally, claimed that Webster had put them in “physically dangerous situations numerous times”, which allegedly included reckless driving, “throwing things at us” and even getting their “van window smashed in with a baseball bat” because he was “talking shit on the band Twitter” account.
On the topic of why the band put up with his alleged behaviour as long as they did, Gel wrote: “If you’ve ever been in [an] abusive relationship, emotionally and/or physically, you’ll probably understand this better.
“It’s like that, but with your life’s work and passion at the forefront as well. It’s not so easy to just give something up that you care so much about… we wish that this could have all been easier, and we wish that it didn’t have to end this way…”
Anthony Webster has yet to publicly respond to these allegations. It is also currently unknown if the band are planning on taking legal action against Webster.
Gel parted ways with Webster in September last year, but never addressed his departure until now. 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 next month.
Gel performed in Tokyo, Japan just hours before announcing their split, presumably marking their final show.
In August last year, Gel released the ‘Persona’ EP. It scored a four-star review from NME‘s Emma Wilkes, who wrote: “Gel have a firmer grip on the steering wheel this time around; their savagery is nuanced but uncompromising, and they’ve grown into themselves with a great deal of grace. Take your eyes off them at your peril.”