Allegaeon + White Lung Members Make Amends After Online Dispute Over Crowd-Funding Campaign

Last week, death metal outfit Allegaeon revealed their ambitions to keep the band afloat by launching a Patreon (crowd-funding) campaign. Asking fans for a paid monthly subscription, they offered perks in return, but White Lung frontwoman Misha Barber-Way found this distasteful and sounded off in a scathing piece penned for CLRVYNT, calling the band "annoying and d--kless." Since then, both sides have talked it out and the fences have been mended.

CLRVYNT put the two up to the task of hashing out a conversation which was then run nearly in full as both sides expressed their stance, finding common ground at times and remaining at respectful odds at others. Barber-Way apologized for her snarkiness and for "writing in the rudest fashion possible," allowing Allegaeon vocalist Riley McShane to explain how the band sought bank loans and a label advance before resorting to Patreon in order to help alleviate their collective band debt.

Barber-Way also viewed the Patreon campaign as a way of holding fans hostage and that the band would split up if the proper funding was not attained. She now chalks it up to clickbait headlines, but at the time was irritated after also watching the video Allegaeon posted describing the goals of the campaign.

"You all seemed so cheeky and unappreciative, like it was some big joke," the frontwoman said. "Now, I had no prior knowledge of your personalities or the band and just thought you all didn't want to have day jobs and wanted your fans to make sure you could get 50K a year without having to grow up." "You know, from that perspective, I totally understand your frustration as a hard-working musician," McShane replied, continuing, "It's unfortunate that the situation was extrapolated in such a negative way, but we in no way meant for the campaign video to come across that way."

McShane admitted painting the campaign "in such a comedic light was probably not the best idea." He went on to explain how he took up Barber-Way's offer at the tail of her post opening up the floor for the band to contact her and the Allegaeon vocalist also praised her for her open-mindedness in this discussion.

To read the conversation in full, click here.

Allegaeon's latest album, Proponent for Sentience, was released earlier this year and is available at the Metal Blade webstore, and for more info on their Patreon campaign, head here. White Lung also released a record this year; their disc Paradise can be purchased at their Bandcamp page.

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