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Artist News
Teen band “will not stand for” local council’s Foo Fighters puns
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 25 January 2019
You know how everyone thinks it’s delightful when brands are all jokey on social media, even though we all know that it should make you feel so actually sick that you actually puke on the actual floor? Yeah, well imagine how much worse it would be if your local government started doing it too. And they were joking about that time they totally fucked over some kids who just wanted to play guitar?
Anyway, I’m sure you all remember that time in 2016 when Dave Grohl wrote to Cornwall Council asking it to lift restirctions that had been instigated against a band formed by some local teenagers and which stopped them from practising.
The Foo Fighters frontman appealed to the council to overturn a ruling that the band could not play louder than 40 decibels, which is “approximately the level of a dishwasher at fifteen meters distance”, he noted.
He went on to explain how important it had been for him, at the start of his music career, to initially play in a garage, adding how particularly unfair these restrictions seemed given that the band were playing in a garage in the middle of nowhere and had received no complaints from their nearest neighbour.
Anyway, because Grohl turned 50 earlier this month, this letter started circulating again as people shared various reasons why he’s such a great guy, despite being so painfully old.
Trying to get in on the act, Cornwall Council decided to join in with the fun, posting a couple of tweets filled with weak Foo Fighters puns, before explaining the conclusion to the above mentioned story.
“We were in contact with the Cornish band Black Leaves Of Envy several times, offering them alternative rehearsal and soundproofing from a professional company”, the council wrote. “No formal action was taken and we’ve not had any complaints since”.
Well that sounds just great, doesn’t it? Except that the band’s recollection isn’t quite so fluffy and happy ending-y. Black Leaves Of Envy – apparently still going – wrote on their Facebook page: “Here are some facts on this matter: We were given a statutory nuisance complaint from the Council, indicating a four figure penalty should our noise levels continue”.
“Cornwall Council”, they went on, “removed the local youth centre that used to provide a practice room in 2012, giving the workers one weeks notice to leave the property and reneging on a 25 year lease. No real explanation or apology has ever been given, and the promise of another alternative centre never surfaced”.
As for the offer of an alternative place to practise, they add: “We were told that an alternative rehearsal space would have to be funded ourselves, costing several thousands of pounds”.
Concluding, they say that the Council “posting a mocking reply with misleading information” that tries to make the local authority look like the good guy, “is disgraceful … we will not stand for it”.
Happy birthday, Dave Grohl.
