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Zex guitarist sues former label in wake of sexual assault allegations
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 5 October 2017
The guitarist in Canadian punk band Zex, Jo Capitalicide has filed defamation proceedings against the outfit’s former label in the wake of allegations of sexual assault made against him.
As previously reported, Zex were thrown into the limelight last month when it emerged that a vinyl pressing plant in Europe had accidentally pressed the band’s music onto some copies of the new vinyl release of Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ album.
Initially the band seemed to be enjoying the media coverage of the vinyl pressing error, but then their label Magic Bullet Records announced that – as a result of the sudden media exposure – it had received emails making allegations against Capitalicide.
The label then stated: “In light of ongoing and recent accounts of alleged sexual assault tied to Zex guitarist Jo Capitalicide, the routine boycotts of promoters, venues and record stores when the band is booked or carried, and information shared first-hand by singer Gretchen Steel to the label about Jo’s behaviour in their open relationship – which corroborates one of the accounts sent to the label by a survivor within the past 24 hours – Magic Bullet Records is hereby dropping Zex from its roster of artists, effective immediately”.
Capitalicide’s bandmate Steel subsequently denied that she had “corroborated any story” to her band’s now ex-label. Speaking to Pitchfork, she also disputed the idea that her band was subject to “routine boycotts” in their hometown of Ottawa, saying that while there had been some problems there, it was simply “personal issues of people not liking each other”.
Capitalicide himself denies all the allegations made against him, and yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against Magic Bullet Records. He told Billboard: “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. There are no charges laid on me”.