In case you hadn't seen it, I posted a Week's Worst a while back hating on The Starting Line. Here's the text:
"It’s hard to root against local boys who’ve “made it” ... unless it’s a band like the Starting Line. Does Tallahassee rejoice when Creed rolls into town? Does Atlanta freak out when Collective Soul fills up the Tabernacle or Philips Arena? Possibly. Philly has certainly shown enough love to these central PA boys by buying every single ticket of their two “reunion” holiday shows. After three brutal records of power-emo-punk-pop, the band decided to give the world a breather from their insufferable brand of whine. Sure, they’ve toured with bigger versions of their painful sound like New Found Glory and Taking Back Sunday. But a Warped Tour does not a band make. It’s hard to believe there’s still a market for this horseshit. If Dashboard Confessional is the patriarch of emo, the Starting Line are their obnoxious, angsty teenagers."
Harsh, I guess. I don't think they're very talented. Their records and video clips are a total snoozefest. Anyway, I am at liberty to write about a band however I wish. It's my job. Ken Vasoli, lead singer and bassist, got really upset. He wrote a letter that he sent to PW and to me. We printed it in the paper in the Letters section. It looked like this:
"Dear Philadelphia Weekly & Bill Chenevert,
I am Ken Vasoli, singer and bassist for The Starting Line. You know..the "horseshit" band with an "insufferable brand of whine." Thanks a million for printing that article filled with those classic low-blows. Good move too, you guys are giving Pitchfork a run for their money by cleverly cutting down bands like us, its clearly the hip elitist thing to do. Congratulations in advance for the increase in readership, as I'm sure will be the result of bashing a popular philadelphia band.
What exactly was the point if the article? Was it to prevent people from attending a show that's already sold out, or perhaps to convince thousands of Philadelphians that they have inferior taste in music? Regardless, I'm happy to report that the two shows were both a fantastic success. I could barely hear myself over crowds' singing. These shows gave us in the band an indescribable feeling of joy, one that I'm sure Mr. Chenevert will never experience in his pathetic excuse for a career. I imagine the closest he will come to such euphoria will be masturbating to a Deerhunter record while reading the single comment left for his review bashing Coheed and Cambria. I win.
Happy New Year."
Do you win, Ken? He also drummed up some passion from a very dedicated fan base by bringing it to the attention of AbsolutePunk.net (which is so un-punk). The "article" was the most searched and commented piece that week online. There are currently 93 comments on it. They're almost all violently threatening. Here are a few choice ones:
11. Anonymous said... on Jan 2, 2010 at 12:22AM
“Wait this retard is actually allowed to write reviews for anything. I'm sorry ive never ready anything so terrible and bias in my life. Even bands i dont care for don't deserve to be reviewed by this idiot. I hope you read Kenny's response Bill i nearly shit myself reading it hahah. You should be fired immediately.”
12. Anonymous said... on Jan 2, 2010 at 12:36AM
“Crabs that live in Philidelphian Hookers Vaginas > Bill Chenevert
Boom Roasted”
26. Anonymous said... on Jan 2, 2010 at 12:54AM
“This guy needs to be fired. Unless PW is a satirical website.
If he would have made these claims and attempted to provide some sort of support, maybe we can have a discussion. However, he just takes un-merited stabs at The Starting Line and shares no reason why.
Absolutely out of control.
PW, fire this guy.
Readers, if they don't, do not return to this website."
34. Anonymous said... on Jan 2, 2010 at 01:01AM
“Can we get that guy fired, please?! What the fuck was that!?
If he could have justified his claims with some support, maybe it'd be fair to make such claims. But he fails to do that, and just takes un-merited shots at The Starting Line.
We should really push some pressure on PW to get rid of that guy.”
58. C. said... on Jan 2, 2010 at 01:29PM
“Hey Chenevert,
Sell your computer. You call yourself a journalist? This "article" is a pathetic waste of time, and while I'm embarrassed to have even been tricked into reading it, the knowledge that you wrote must make you the laughing stock of the entire Philadelphia Weekly. People like you not only give journalists a bad name; people like you give the human race a bad name.
Do you cry yourself to sleep at night?
Love,
C.”
74. Anonymous said... on Jan 3, 2010 at 01:36AM
“Bill, you listen to the worst music on the planet. You are a joke. Way to publish a pathetically biased article bashing a well-respected and genre-defining Philadelphia band. Now everybody hates you. Nice going, Bill.
Hey, PhiladelphiaWeekly - fire this pussy.”
OK, OK, you get the idea. The really nasty ones have already been deleted. A few of the first comments included a MySpace link to my profile and commands to go look at my terrible music preferences. When I saw that I laughed. I haven't logged in to MySpace in months. So I went and changed my music choices to just The Starting Line. This clearly confused a few readers and that's just what I was hoping for.
Also, want to see what I wrote back to Ken? It's right on the money if you ask me.
"Hey Kenneth,
It may not be productive to even write a reply. I'm not sure why you'd get so upset about something like this. You're an artist. Not everyone's going to love your work. If you read Philadelphia Weekly then you'd probably notice that Week's Worst is a column we have every week. Many writers pitch show blurbs and Week's Worsts and a handful are assigned. A band coming to town is featured in a not-so-kind light every week. Not every publication is going to be 100% positivity.
Want to get me on a list the next time you're in town? I listened to your records, MySpace page, watched live clips and YouTube videos while educating myself on your band and your sound. More than can be said for most writers, I'd bet. Congratulations on the success of both shows.
Not sure why you had to say that I'm going to have a pathetic career. I love music writing. Been doing it for years and plan on keeping it up. I hope you keep making records and that one day I'll listen to one and say 'Damn. This is great. I was wrong.'
YOURS,
Bill Chenevert"
I WIN.
Also, holy shit, just noticed that Michael Alan Goldberg's Make Major Moves post got 129 comments. Hilarious.
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