Zex Dropped From Label Amid Sexual Assault Allegations

Magic Bullet Records has since retracted all the allegations it previously shared
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Zex (Gab Hole, Gretchen Steel, Jo Capitalcide, Mark Useless)

On September 19, Canadian punk band Zex were dropped from Magic Bullet Records after the label claimed to have received multiple emails accusing guitarist Jo Capitalcide of sexual assault. On October 4, Capitalcide announced that he filed a defamation lawsuit against the label. “Concerning the allegations of sexual assault on women made by our ex record label, Magic Bullet Records, I denounce them as false and have undertaken a defamation lawsuit this week for spreading false information about me and Zex,” Capitalicide said in a statement to Billboard. “There are no charges laid on me.”

On September 21, 2018, Magic Bullet shared a Facebook post retracting statements he made about Capitalcide. “Upon reflection, I hereby retract these allegations without reservation,” the post reads. “The statements that I made were unverified and I regret any impact such statements may have had on Capitalicide and Zex. I am also pleased to announce that the litigation commenced by Jo Capitalcide against Magic Bullet Records and me has been resolved and we have all agreed to put this matter behind us.”

When the label dropped the band, they shared a statement, which noted that one of the accounts matched “information shared first-hand by singer Gretchen Steel” about his behavior during their “open relationship.” The statement has since been deleted. In a phone conversation with Pitchfork, Steel said that the band were not given any advance notice from the label about the allegations referenced in the statement or that they were being dropped.

Steel also shot down claims that she ever discussed her relationship with Capitalcide with the label. “Absolutely untrue,” she said. “I didn’t talk to my label about any of this. I never corroborated any story, I never made any comments about any members of my band. This whole thing? Never happened.” When asked if she’d been aware of any allegations of sexual misconduct at all, Steel replied, “I’ve never heard any of this in my life.” She said that she’s briefly talked to all of her bandmates, saying that they’re “shocked” by the news.

We’re all kind of just...no words. We’re paying no mind to it because it’s something that’s just untrue, unfounded, and out of nowhere blindsiding us. We all have the feeling of “why pay attention to something that’s not real, because we know.”

Magic Bullet also claimed that the band was met with “routine boycotts” from promoters, venues, and record stores. “By Jo and Gretchen’s own accounts to me, Jo would be cornered at every Ottawa show he attempted to attend and forcibly made to leave,” Magic Bullet’s Brent Eyestone told Pitchfork. “What happened in Ottawa is just personal issues of people not liking each other, that’s it,” Steel replied. “It’s not anything else.”

Steel later sent Pitchfork a written statement: “All we know of these allegations is what is posted in the magic bullet statement. We have no information about the accusations made except for what was posted in the article. We have no further comment on this matter.”

When reached for comment on Steel’s reply, Eyestone sent Pitchfork a screenshot of an alleged Facebook Messenger conversation between him and Steel from earlier today. In the exchange, he appears to inform Steel about the messages the label had received and said that one of the messages “lined up” with a story Steel supposedly told him about “Jo thinking that he broke that girl’s pelvis.” He then allegedly told her he was ending the label’s relationship with the band. The alleged response from Steel reads, “He didn’t actually break a pelvis. It was just a turn of phrase.” The response continues: “This is the worst news I’ve received all year.”

Magic Bullet is offering refunds to anyone who purchased Zex’s new album Uphill Battle and are making donations to RAINN and Cornerstone Housing for Women in the band’s hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. The label’s reps said that they received six emails about Capitalcide in the last 24 hours, noting that the messages followed reports that vinyl copies of Beyoncé’s Lemonade had been mispressed with songs from the new Zex album.

This article was originally published on September 19, 2017 at 7:31 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on September 24, 2018 at 5:28 p.m. Eastern.