I remember ‘Beach Slang’ being kind of a big deal in the mid 2010s as there was a lot of hype surrounding them due to Pitchfork labelling them as the new ‘Replacements’ or some such, and they always seemed to be playing shows all over the place. Then one of their guitarists was accused of sexual abuse and they kind of went quiet and fell by the wayside and didn’t really break through into the mainstream as many predicted. I haven’t really thought about them for a while.

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Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that you might have heard of them and that’s why I’m bothering to tell this story as it turns out that their singer/guitarist James Alex is probably a piece of shit as well. This revelation comes courtesy of a Twitter thread from ‘heysweetcharlie‘ who was the band’s tour manager and then general manager from 2016:

So basically, fuck him. Fuck his made up music personality. Fuck his fake kindness. Fuck him for using me almost daily. Fuck him for making me want to commit s*****e to get out. Fuck him for my therapy bills & medication. Fuck him for alienating me from everyone I love. 2/3

— Charlie (@heysweetcharlie) January 5, 2021

You know what, I’m not done. Fuck him for punching holes through things because he was sick of me crying by his own hand. Fuck him for calling me an “ungrateful bitch” when I said I wanted to see my friends. For telling me I would have nothing without him.

— Charlie (@heysweetcharlie) January 6, 2021

For telling me I would have no friends without him. Fuck him for literally saying to me that treating me badly made him feel like a “rockstar”. I spent years of my life being consumed with fear & anxiety. FUCK YOU.

— Charlie (@heysweetcharlie) January 6, 2021

Yikes. You can tell by the way that she’s written that and from what she’s saying that Alex has had a profoundly negative impact on her life and pretty much ruined it for over the years they were sending time together. Hoping that exposing him via these tweets and the therapy etc that she seems to be receiving has helped her in her recovery from his vile abuse.

At the time of writing, Alex and Beach slang haven’t responded to these allegations but I’m not really sure what he can say to defend himself here. A number of prominent musicians in the punk scene have already liked the tweets and replied in solidarity with Charlie, so it seems like his behaviour may have been known for some time already.

‘Beach Slang’ themselves have also had 17 different members since their inception in 2013 with Alex the one constant and this sort of corroborates everything Charlie is saying here too. We’ll keep you updated on any developments.

For more of the same, check out this story about William Control and his sex cult allegations. That was another awful situation.