New Orleans-based rock trio Woozy has broken up following allegations that frontman and bassist John St. Cyr, who also played with Sun Hotel, sexually assaulted a member of another band after a show in Tallahassee, FL earlier this year.
Kathryn Macko of Florida band Naps posted a lengthy description of the alleged assault on her Facebook page yesterday. The post prompted a quick response from the other members of Woozy–Kara Stafford and Ian Paine-Jesam–and convinced the band’s labels to drop them from their rosters.
Stafford and Paine wrote, in part:
Kara and Ian here. We’ve dawdled long enough. Some may have noticed in a comment on our earlier post but here it is explicitly: Woozy is no longer a band. It is against everything the two of us stand for to expose our friends and fans across the country to harm or suffering. To expose those who have already suffered from our actions, through selfishness or ignorance, to our continued presence would be an attack itself. We will not subject anyone to that hurt. This band will not tour again. When we got the text this morning about the victim’s (will not say her name here out of respect for her right to have nothing to do with us) facebook post, we were in shock. We were in denial. We were completely thrown from the world that we know. The two of us are sincerely sorry if we hurt anyone by appearing to deny her her truth. This was not our intention, though we know that is a weak excuse. It is everyone’s responsibility to stand with victims of sexual violence, even those whose loved ones commit such evils. Especially the loved ones. We are the ones who must hold John and ourselves accountable for what has happened, and we fully intend to.
The band’s dissolution was announced a few hours after they were let go by the labels. Community Records, the independent New Orleans record label that–along with Exploding in Sound–released Woozy’s 2015 album Blistered, posted a statement that reads:
We are deeply saddened and upset to hear of the actions of John St. Cyr of Woozy. This is new information to us (and Kara and Ian of Woozy) and we absolutely can not support or condone that type of action.
In order to stand with the sexual assault survivor Katryn, we as a label are withdrawing our support of Woozy. We want to thank Katryn for her bravery in taking action to shine light on her experience.
There is no word yet on whether or not Stafford and Paine will continue to work together as part of another project.