Canadian band F**ed Up is just messing with you
Trashing studios, bleeding onstage, ranting on Twitter and generally having a riot is all in a day's work for Canadian band F***ed Up, writes Charlie Carter
For a band with such an abrasive name and a frontman who looks as if he'd sooner punch you than sing to you, F***ed Up can be ever so polite.
"Hey sorry," begins an apology-strewn message from founder Mike Haliechuk after receiving a gentle reminder that this interview is due. It's a missive so meek as to suggest the legends of violence and debauchery that swirl around the Canadian hardcore punk band are exaggerated.
Those legends are many - from bloody carnage onstage and smashed MTV studio sets to potty-mouthed rants at fans of pop star Katy Perry, F***ed Up's press clippings suggest a band as aggressive as their name. But none of it was intended to offend - even the band's name, says the guitarist.
"It was the name of a song by a band we like called N.O.T.A.," Haliechuk says during time-out from a tour of Australia, referring to American hardcore band None of The Above.
Surprisingly, the band members have encountered little trouble over their radical choice of name. "The only place where it's been an issue is at the border sometimes in the US where if we get a guy working in a bad mood they'll say something about it," Haliechuk says. "But sometimes we've been pulled over by cops and they know the band, so it's not an issue. Most places we've been have been pretty chill."
That may change when the band visit Hong Kong for the first time for a double-bill show with British speed-rock purveyors Gallows.
