Lydia Night calls out Joey Armstrong of SWMRS for their abusive relationship
Lydia Night, lead singer of the band The Regrettes, has just published a post on her instagram condemning Joey Armstrong of SWMRS for abuse during their almost 2 year relationship which took place entirely while she was underage. SWMRS' official instagram page made a post yesterday condemning sexual abuse in the Southern California music scene and how it was "antithetical" to their core values. Night found it extremely hypocritical which is why she decided to come forward today.
https://instagram.com/p/CC4EzRqsU7U
-SWMRS is a alt/punk band that paints itself as feminist. They have a lot of young fans who are a majority of girls. Joey Armstrong, son of Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, is the drummer.
-He followed her on instagram when she was 16 and he was 22 and dm'd her some offers for her band The Regrettes to join his on tour.
-While on tour, they started seeing each other but hid their relationship because of the age difference. Night felt uncomfortable with getting in sexual situations with him because she felt he had all the power. Despite his saying that he didn't want to have sex until she was 18, he still pushed her into sexual activities she wasn't comfortable with.
-She had a conversation with him about how their relationship felt one sided and "it seemed like he understood but her relief was short lived".
-Night ended things shortly before she turned 18 but still wanted to honor her band's commitment to tour with his band one more time. However both the other members of SWMRS and their team changed demeanors in how they treated her and her band as they were "the headliner".
-During the tour, Night blew out her voice and left the tour in order to rest her voice on doctor's orders. Shortly after, an old video of her singing was posted and she began to get cyberbullied by SWMRS fans for faking everything. Max Becker, another member of SWMRS like the tweet which shone more attention on it but he and the rest of the band did nothing to squelch the bullying.
-Night confronted Armstrong in Dec. 2019 after she realized their relationship had been abusive, and although he interrupted her throughout the conversation, he "seemed to take in what she said" (OP note: Night's own words).
-Night had been in contact with Cole Becker, the lead singer of SWMRS, in the last few weeks about her relationship with Armstrong and he gave her a handwritten apology from Armstrong but did not address any of the abuse or manipulation or power imbalance. She hoped it would lead to something more than the post on the SWMRS' instagram page which she felt was "coldhearted" after how they treated her.
-Her goal isn't to "cancel anyone" but to further the conversation on the intricacies of power abuse, grooming, and manipulation in not just the music industry but every industry.
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