Blink-182 would’ve played the disastrous Fyre Festival in the Bahamas earlier this year if guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba wasn’t such a...witch?
Before wisely backing out last-minute, San Diego’s most celebrated pop-punk band was set to play at both of the lavish event’s inaugural weekends (April 28-30 and May 5-7) alongside Major Lazer, Tyga, Migos, Disclosure, and others.
The infamously hyped “luxury” festival was founded by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule with hefty ticket prices ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 according to Rolling Stone. The ill-fated festival promised epic performances, outlandish accommodations, gourmet meals, super models, and yachts. Instead, when attendees arrived, they were allegedly left stranded on the island while the disorganized event descended into chaos without even bare necessities provided.
On June 30, McFarland was taken into custody by the F.B.I. and charged with wire fraud in connection with a scheme to allegedly defraud investors (he has since been released on $300,000 bail and is set to appear again in court on July 31). A charge of wire fraud can carry a sentence of up to 20 years. Co-organizer Ja Rule has continued to claim his innocence, at one point tweeting, “This is not my fault.”
Strangely enough, Skiba (Alkaline Trio frontman and, as of 2015, the latest Blink-182 member), spoke recently to NME about how he did his part to help prevent the Fyre Festival monstrosity from happening.
“I had a bad feeling about that event,” Skiba told NME. “I consider myself a pagan and a witch. With every inch of my energy I wanted Fyre not to happen. I put all the electricity and energy in my body against that thing happening.
“I’ve been to the Bahamas before and it’s so crass,” the guitarist/vocalist continued. “You land in Nassau and the whole island is replete with beauty and culture, but there’s a lot of poverty. It is a largely black population, then they build these places like Atlantis and the Cove that are walled off. It's classist and racist and then they decided to park a bunch of yachts with models to show off in front of these poor people, going down there with all your Ferraris and bulls--- and yachts.”
Socioeconomics aside, Skiba, of course, is not the first Blink-182 member to make headlines for his personal beliefs: Take former frontman Tom Delonge, for example...
Musician, people-pleaser, lover, fighter and writer Matthew Craig Burke has been spewing musical words of wisdom since never. He lives off of peanut butter sandwiches, beer and Beck Hansen. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly.
