CHAMPION!
News Stories

TRUE IDENTITY breaks up; vocalist Jim Hesketh (ex-CHAMPION) accused of trying to lure young girls [UPDATE]

24 mins read

Jim Hesketh of TRUE IDENTITY has been accused of attempted luring of an underage girl named Charlie Stone, who has just released her personal statement about his shameless actions from the past. Furthermore, she claims that a number of other underage at that time girls have confirmed various other assaults. No official word from Jim has been released yet. Lambgoat has reported that Hesketh recently shut down his social media accounts. Read the official word from Charlie Stone, as well as the official statement from Jim’s now ex-band TRUE IDENTITY below.

UPDATE: June 15th: another message from Charlie and one more entry from Greg Bennick added / June 13th: the official word from CHAMPION, React! Records and more commentaries from Greg Bennick added.

Photo: CHAMPION.

This is the scariest thing I’ve ever had to write about on Facebook.

When I was 14 I wrote and edited my own zine. It only had two issues, it was embarrassing, but mostly because I was 14 and was trying too hard to be “cool.” I had the opportunity in writing this zine to interview one of my heroes: the singer from Champion, Jim Hesketh. I was a vegan straight edge kid who loved hardcore and was from Seattle, my dreams had come true. What started out as a 14-year-old kid nerding out over talking to her hero, swiftly turned into inappropriate sexually charged conversations, and an attempt to lure me AND another 14-year-old friend to his house in the middle of the night to wear bathing suits and “play around in his bathtub.” I was 14, he was 26, and he knew exactly how old I was. That’s not normal. Jim Hesketh is a child predator.

If I could go back and change what happened next, I would. I never went, from fear of the wrath of my mother in breaking curfew, but I wish I would have told her. Jim Hesketh would have been arrested ten years ago. I didn’t, because I was a kid, and I thought it was my fault. I knew that I wasn’t cute, that I was terribly awkward, insecure, and that this felt like “positive” attention, but again, I was a kid. So why did I wait this long to say anything? Because I was scared. Every day I read articles of people slut-shamed or gaslighted for coming forward. I was afraid that no one would care because I was a kid, and because while he was highly valued, I was of no value. He was in one of the biggest hardcore bands ever, and has been a beacon to all of the XVX kids out there for years. I was afraid because people would rather tear about victims of trauma than to see their idols fall. I didn’t say anything because when I had my own band, people told me, “Charlie, don’t talk about being sexually abused as a child, because it makes people uncomfortable and feel bad for you.” How would they then respond to me saying something like this of their hero?

We live in a system that does not value our girls. If it did, I wouldn’t have to be sharing this today. Someone would have called him out years ago, in fact, many people would have called him out years ago. I didn’t think that it would have to get to this point, I thought I was set, sharing it with a chosen-few, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t have to put myself at risk like this, but not enough happened. Jim was out of his band, True Identity, they had pulled their merch off of the internet, he wasn’t allowed to play Rain Fest, or even attend, but people still didn’t know. I had to come forward because his response to being called out was terrifying: He cried, apologized, offered to go to therapy with the mystery girl that he “ruined the life of,” and de-activated his social media accounts. We don’t know how deep this rabbit-hole goes.

By not resisting this behavior, we are encouraging it. By ignoring it, we are putting his status above the innocence and lives of girls. Coming forward, I only hope that any other girls or women who fell victim to his whims will have a chance to know that they are not alone and that their voices matters. They matter. I don’t want to ruin Jim Hesketh’s life, but I know that if I never said anything, knowing that I should, I am potentially putting other people at risk. It terrifies me thinking that there could be other girls out there who weren’t too afraid to break curfew, and who is to say that if age didn’t matter to him then, why would it now? That haunts me.

If we can’t talk about this within a radical subculture, when can we? I don’t have the answer to this, and I can’t decide how anyone responds, taking a moment and trying to be brave is all I can do. I am saying this today, because for years, Jim has had the worst rumors about him, and I didn’t want to be another one.

Edit: Since I posted this 2 1/2 hours ago, I have received 10-15 accounts of girls being assaulted, preyed upon (when they were under age), and raped by this monster.

Charlie expanded the story with her follow-up post:

Follow up: My own friends are asking, “Well what’s this all about, why now?” Honestly? It’s because no one seemed to care until now. It took one male ally when I just kind of talked about this in conversation that made me feel like people would care now, that man was Brian Skiffington. So thank you Brian for being my rock through all of this. In addition to that, I wasn’t strong enough before now and I didn’t care enough about myself to be able to do this even a year ago.

Next, I haven’t done a count since yesterday, but I think we are up to about 50 women, whose stories range from creepiness, to rape, assault, recording sex with minors, asking for naked pictures of minors, etc. The victims of Jim Hesketh are from all over the U.S., Australia, Portugal, Barcelona, and Canada. Many of these girls are my own damn friends and I had no idea. We are just touching the surface of this.

Things keeping me sane: 100+ emails I’ve received from victims that never thought anyone would care, and from people from all over the world in support… They have made this all worth it and I can honestly say this is the most worthy thing I’ve ever done in my life and hopefully we can all come out of this and DO better, BE better. Too many people have been hurt, and we are all to blame.

Lastly, there has been a lot of negative lash back, by mostly people far away who don’t know Jim or his music. Those people are doing exactly what I was talking about: tearing a part victims rather than watch a hero fall. They are not valuing women and girls. It hurts every time I see something, but I guess it’s better to see who the rape apologists are in the world right?

TRUE IDENTITY released the following statement:

Hello everyone.

As we’re sure many of you have read, some very serious allegations have been brought forward against our former singer, Jim. Needless to say these allegations have shaken us to our core.
We parted ways with Jim immediately upon learning of these allegations. We 100% support Charlie, and extend our utmost respect and support to everyone who’s been effected by this in coming forward.
We made an immediate decision, instead of looking for a new vocalist – to dissolve True Identity. We have responsibility to disconnect the music we’ve made from any hurt that has been caused during the tenure of this band. Hardcore is our home, we have a responsibility to make it better for everyone who chooses to be a part of it.

Greg Bennick of TRIAL / BETWEEN EARTH & SKY commented:

I’m am in tears having read all of your words and all of the comments Charlie. It’s this swirling mess of thoughts: awe and respect for you; sadness that it takes a seemingly inhuman amount of courage to be so human and admit fear and regret and have hope for empowerment like you did; frustration that I am so ignorant that I never knew or suspected Jim to be a predator; anger that silence wins more often than honesty because we allow it to be so; compassion for all those who through firsthand experience share your pain…and a dozen other thoughts about privilege and how it protects some and damns others; innocence and how it is so often broken; and how healing can hopefully happen amidst all of that. Wherever all of this leads for you I hope you are finding solace in the support and love of your community in this moment.

Stacey Spencer, quoted on Greg’s blog Words As Weapons:

This morning I woke up with horrible laryngitis, went to urgent care, and discovered that I’ve been fighting bronchitis for the last month. It’s ironic that during the time I’ve wanted to scream the most, I’ve been completely voiceless. All day I’ve been thinking about how to put what I want to say into words. I’ll do my best:

The last 24 hours have become a completely gut-wrenching examination of everything I’ve experienced in the punk & hardcore scene for what is now over half of my life. By now, everyone has heard the 30+ allegations against Jim Hesketh, and has likely been watching that unravel all day today. You’ve seen the horrifying comments, the dismissal of the survivor(s) by people all over the internet, as well as the folks coming forward to support his victims and try to give women space to tell their stories. I personally don’t have my own stories about Jim’s predatory nature – our bands toured together, we hung out without incident – but I have witnessed and experienced enough in the hardcore scene to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that his victims are speaking truth. And that presents a larger story which I think this conversation needs to evolve into, in time. Yes, Jim Hesketh is a problem. But Jim is not THE problem. We cannot simply denounce him and then let this conversation end.

When I started going to hardcore shows at 15 years old, I was received with mixed reactions. I was invited into the scene genuinely and whole-heartedly by some. My intentions were questioned by others – punks of all genders who doubted my sincerity, who felt threatened by new kids entering the arena. And then there were the worst kind of dudes – the ones who were “welcoming” and excited about a new girl joining the ranks – only to try to date or sleep with me. At the time, it felt like a compliment. Being flirted with by men who were a decade older than me was flattering. I felt like I was “cool” and “accepted” when I turned 16 and a guy in his thirties started giving me sexual attention. Young women are always taught that “girls mature faster than boys” – and older men sexualizing young girls is so normalized in mainstream culture – it didn’t strike me how bizarre it was that someone literally twice my age would want me in that way. Our mutual friends knew what was going on and nobody said or did anything. It just felt normal.

As I became more immersed in the scene and To See You Broken started touring, I began to see the rampant sexism all over the country. There were the never ending micro-aggressions (“is the band here yet?” when we were setting our gear up on stage, constant questions like “do you write your own music?” and backhanded compliments like “you’re pretty good for a girl band!”) There was outward misogyny (like dudes yelling “show us your tits” when we got on stage, or the now infamous “no clit in the pit” signs at shows). There were so many sexual propositions that TSYB actually made a rule that we would NOT hook up with any men while we were on tour, for fear of inheriting a reputation for being promiscuous. Dudes were constantly badgering us for sex, and yet we were frightened that WE would be ostracized for our behavior if we ever succumb to their advances. We wrote songs about scene sexism and rape, and the backlash was intense at times – one record review in particular stands out in my head because it compared Sara to a “bitch barking,” and I remember being ashamed for having a voice. At times it felt like everything would be easier if we would just shut up.

As I got older and began dating and having relationships with men, it took me a long time to learn how to communicate consent. Far too many partners were either ignorant about how enthusiastic / verbal consent works, or unwilling to practice it. I have dealt with a disturbing and embarrassing number of men who actively did not ask for my consent. Men who were coercive when I was hesitant, who ridiculed me for being nervous about particular sex acts. Men who would compare me to other partners they’d had to make me feel ashamed about things I’d never done. Then, men who were disgusted with me when I admitted I HAD tried particular sex acts or slept with more people than they had. Men who said things like, “I thought you were just being coy!” when I explicitly told them “no.” Men who assaulted me while I was asleep. Men who non-consensually hit me during sex because they thought it was a turn on. Most of these men are people that my friends are still friends with. Some are men that I am still friends with. Some that I am even empathetic towards. This is the problem with rape culture: it is so ubiquitous, so normalized, that people sincerely don’t understand the difference between sex and rape. And as women, we are taught to be so self-conscious about our sexuality, we rarely speak out when these things happen. Even now, writing this, I am mortified that my family or colleagues will read it. I am still ashamed.

Recently, I’ve seen more women come forward to confront the men who have coerced, abused, and taken advantage of them. The reactions have been all over the map. I will be the first to admit that my own responses have been unfair and shitty at times. When an acquaintance first came forward about Kyle Oels years ago, I took part in a failed accountability process for him and actively tried to help him resolve his issues, despite his blatant disregard for the women involved. When news about Andrew Arellano hit my radar, I gave him a chance to tell his story – and I was duped by his bullshit lies for months because I didn’t want to accept his victims’ experiences at face value. I have since vowed to never make that mistake again. I have realized that if we are ever going to make progress as a community, we need to tune out the manipulative rationalizations that abusers spew, and amplify the voices of their survivors. I am making a promise to myself and to my community to be better. I hope that you all will too.

With all of that said, I’d like to quickly point out the fact that I have 33 mutual friends with a rape apologist who has been accused of sexually assaulting at least two women. I have 29 mutual friends with a known abuser who has been confirmed to use sexual coercion and emotional manipulation to control his partners. I also have friends who continue to maintain their relationships with one of my ex-partners, even after hearing about his verbal abuse, control tactics, and sexual assault. I’m honestly not trying to put these people on blast – my point is that we ALL have work to do when it comes to figuring out what we are going to accept from our friends and the people in our community. And we ALL need to figure out how to resolve these problems – preferably without the use of the cops and the courts who have failed survivors over and over again.

Women: we need your voices heard. It breaks my heart to see so many of your comments stating things like, “this is why I stopped going to shows.” While I have to respect your decision, WE NEED YOU. Don’t let these garbage humans destroy what you once loved. If you can find it in you to join this conversation, please do so. The hardcore scene needs to hear you.

Men: it’s time to sit down and listen. Women have been trying to tell you for literal decades how difficult it is for us in this subculture. So many of you constantly say things like “how come more girls don’t come to shows?” one minute, then the next minute you’re sending unsolicited dick pics to the women that do show up. Or you’re questioning the legitimacy of a new girl in the scene. Or you’re spin-kicking into an unsuspecting bystanders face with no regard for anyone’s space at a show. (Mosh etiquette is a whole other subject that I can rant about: bands constantly tell us on to come into the pit because it’s “not just boys fun,” but what are you going to do to protect us once we’re there? I am guilty of this too, don’t get me wrong. Just two nights ago at the Angel Dust show in Portland, some shitty dude was aggressively wind-milling into folks who were clearly not enthused, crowd killing to the back of the room and making everyone uncomfortable… and even I was scared to say something to him because I didn’t know who he was, didn’t want to start a fight, and didn’t want to seem like I was overreacting to someone just trying to have fun. UGH.)

I hope my voice comes back soon because I really want to talk to you all about this. You have my word that I will do the best I can to help make things better for our community. Please don’t let Jim Hesketh’s dishonorable discharge from hardcore be the end of this conversation. Brian Skiffington, Sam Lee, and others are working on facilitating an open meeting to get a dialogue going. Get involved if you can. Tell your stories. Listen to one another. Maybe NWHC can be an example for the rest of the country for creating something that is truly accepting, truly radical, and truly inclusive. I’m not giving up on us yet.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge my partner, Sean, for being an amazing example of a super radical human being, a person who consistently and intentionally practices consent, and who has been listening to me rant about this nonstop and encouraging me to speak my mind. Also, to Carey, Sara, Lisa, and Katy for being in the trenches with me during the TSYB years – I learned so much from you, thank you. Let’s keep this going, please. Remember: “Fuck you – the sexism ends here… I don’t want to keep screaming, without being heard.”

More thoughts from Greg:

Every single choice, every move, all decisions when managing / helping / supporting a situation of rape need to be in direct support of, or in response to, the survivors. Its so hard to remember this sometimes because we want to be helpful, supportive, and caring and in the midst of that we lose sight of the core: all that matters is the victim/survivors. Nothing else matters. Rapists don’t matter. Their lives don’t matter. Their rehabilitation isn’t the priority. The only time any of that matters is if the survivors think that it does. And they need to be asked.

We will make mistakes along the way. We have be ready for that. This however is the work that supporters need to do. This is the work that I as a supporter need to do. We need to continually be asking survivors what they might want and need – and knowing that it might change from moment to moment because they are human and they might not even know. And we need to keep in mind that what a survivor might want, might not be what WE want.

Asking from a humble, respectful, and caring place…all of this leads to less action being taken that is potentially, ultimately, self serving. We are all upset. We all want to DO something. But what do the survivors want done? How do they want to be supported? What actions can be taken that let them feel empowered and safe? Those are the questions to ask, not “how can I do this thing or that thing which helps express my rage / frustration / inability to process this” because ultimately WE don’t matter. The survivors matter. First, foremost, and always.

The goal, as in life, is always MORE compassion, MORE justice…but the path towards that goal is not clear, especially if we are angry or upset ourselves. That’s why the work needs to be nonstop and ongoing. Continual updating of the path along the way. There’s no resting on laurels in terms of decision making. Just because we knew yesterday or last week what the seemingly right course of action is doesn’t mean that its still right.

Survivors first, survivors always. The people who care about perpetrators are missing the point. Perpetrators get supported when people forget that these people were monsters all the while when seeming friendships were being developed. Perpetrators are experts at manipulation. “Yeah but he has always been cool with me”. Of course he was. You weren’t a target. And you aren’t a victim now.

I can’t think of any circumstance when a perpetrator of sexual assault deserves even one moment’s priority over a victim/survivor. Even an accountability procedure can run amok if it serves the purpose of rehabilitation rather than being at the request of and in direct response to a survivor. Rehabilitation isn’t the priority. Its a concern yes, because we don’t want more victims. But first and foremost all of this work is about the survivors themselves. What they want, and what they need.

Even more thoughts from Greg shared via another follow-up post:

NOTE: I posted the following on my Facebook earlier today and did so unedited. It remains unedited. I want to clarify something important. The use of the word “promiscuity” (and also for that matter the use of the word “flirtation”) do NOT refer to sexual assault allegations and survivor accounts being told now. My intention was to make a statement on one of two types of stories being reported currently (i.e. “now”). First there are the sexual assault allegations. Secondly are the stories my use of those words referred to: the stories from people who knew him well that the perpetrator was “a flirt” or “promiscuous” in years gone by. I am not using “promiscuous” with any intention to condemn promiscuity. I am not referring to sexual allegations being reported now as simply being flirtation or promiscuity, which would be dismissive. What I am saying is that reports to me of Jim Hesketh’s past perception as someone who was flirtatious or promiscuous are coming to light often now. What is distressing, especially to survivors, is what was going on beneath the surface of those things. What follows is unedited.

—————–

Fifty dead in Orlando. Dozens revealed to have been raped worldwide by Jim Hesketh from Seattle. Details of both are sickening. This week feels hopeless. Tragedy on top of tragedy on a scale that is incomprehensible. I was working on a long blog post for wordsasweapons about personal responsibility and rape…and then a mass murder happens. What kind of world do we live in when news of possibly the most active mass rapist in the history of the hardcore music community is eclipsed by news of the biggest mass shooting in the history of the country? Inhumanity is never ending. But it’s not just us and them. I’m starting with me.

How am I responsible?

Seattle first. I never really knew Jim Hesketh as well as people assume. We hung out twice as far as I remember outside of hardcore shows. Once in 2011 at a movie with another friend and once in 2013 or so in Portland at lunch with another friend. I never knew a thing about his conduct with women. His flirtation, what he did when not onstage with Champion, or about any of the promiscuity that everyone is revealing now. He and I weren’t close enough for me to know about his personal life. But that doesn’t matter. That doesn’t alleviate my personal responsibility for his crimes. I can’t know the actions of everyone in my world. I barely know intimate details of close friends oftentimes let alone more distant ones. But that doesn’t alleviate my responsibility.

I’m responsible for not doing more to follow through with creating a safer space for women in hardcore. I don’t ask enough questions. I stand on a self ideal that I do a lot. But that’s empty. And feeling good about yourself is not nearly enough.

I said in 2009 that I wanted to create a 24 hour help phone line for victim / survivors, locally staffed in Seattle, with options for survivors to request support by gender as they felt would be helpful. When I trained with Seattle Rape Relief in the 1990’s they didn’t want men on crisis lines. I argued that it was up to survivors to have a choice as to who they wanted to talk to by gender for the sake of their own healing. That didn’t fly with them at the time we talked about it and I held onto that idea long after Seattle Rape Relief shut down their phone lines. I let my dream of a crisis line go by the wayside when I learned that a crisis line already was available to victim/survivors more or less even if it wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned. I figured that things were good enough with that crisis line existing. They obviously weren’t. That new crisis line could have been an outlet for women to share their stories and in doing so protect other victims from harm. I didn’t push hard enough and I prioritized other things over it. It could have been an outlet for survivors. I failed in follow through. I didn’t do what I said I would and that could have been a space for women in Seattle to share.

I’m responsible for not continually asking women in our community, “Do you feel safe? And if not why?” And helping to be proactively supportive of those who might not be sharing their secrets. What a privileged worldview I hold to be able to go to shows and think my scene is safe and secure and happy and vibrant. Of course it is for me. Im a cis-gendered male. We always feel safe and that the world is ours. It’s ingrained into us in ways we don’t even realize. That’s the other place I am responsible. Not challenging my own privilege. Not questioning my own position as a building block of rape culture simply on the merit of my gender and socialization let alone by my actions or inactions. Every second we aren’t reaching out to others, actively creating conditions of safety for others, or working to question ourselves and the laurels we rest upon, we are creating the conditions upon which rape culture thrives. That’s on me.

I am responsible too for not focusing enough on my immediate community at home. I will forever stand by the work I do in other countries and especially in Haiti and how commitment has extreme value long after news stories fade. The anti-child-rape support work in Haiti is changing lives there. But that’s not enough. More needs to be done close to home. Not because friends locally are more or less important than Haitians, who I will always support and fight for and love…but because as long as the women in my community are being raped by a member of my community I am responsible.

All of this has been running through my mind since news of Jim Hesketh broke the other day. What more can I do. I have solace in knowing that I wasn’t close friends with Jim. But that solace is an illusion. I’m friends with many of his victims. And I still didn’t know. I’m friends with people who might have had a sense that he was “sketchy”. But that I was unaware doesn’t matter. Its my responsibility for not having any idea about him. It’s not on the victims for not speaking out. It’s on me for not actively helping to create the social conditions wherein they felt safe to speak and share their experiences. And it’s on me for not questioning myself more and asking what more I could do for others. To all the victims, I am sorry. For whatever I did or didn’t do, for feeling safe and not asking enough questions. For not being there for you when you were hurting and each feeling alone.

And then this tragedy gets layered today by another. Fifty members and supporters of the LGBTQ community gunned down at a club in Orlando. What is happening in our world. Mass rape and mass shooting back to back. Orlando’s shooting could have been Seattle. Seattle’s rape could have been Orlando’s. I am sitting here in that post-mass-shooting daze of “I can’t believe it happened again”. And feeling small and powerless. Like there is nothing I could do because gun violence and terror on whatever level is so much bigger than me. But THAT TYPE OF THINKING IS EXACTLY WHAT HELPS TO CREATE THE CONDITIONS OF THE NEXT TRAGEDY whether shooting, rape, or otherwise. “I can’t do anything. There’s nothing to do but hope.” That’s insanity. There’s everything to do along with hope. Action means asking myself how am I responsible for Orlando. After Sandy Hook I swore to myself I would never let myself forget. And I did. After the Bataclan I swore I would never let myself forget. And I did. With the exception of One Hundred For Haiti, after tragedies I have ALWAYS let myself forget. That’s privilege. Only someone who doesn’t worry about rape lets himself forget about the potential for rape. Only someone who has the privilege to feel safe let’s himself forget about the potential for feeling unsafe. Yes the Orlando shooting location couldn’t have been predicted. But…the loud echoes of me asking myself “what are we going to do about terror and violence and guns?!?” after the Bataclan in Paris or after any other shooting have long faded. I have let myself feel safe again. My responsibility is to not let those echoes fade. To always remember that even if I feel safe, that the calm is an illusion. Others might not feel safe. To the victims in Orlando, I am sorry. It’s in part my fault for not speaking up and for not following through.

Our rhetoric post-tragedy is always so intense. So committed. So devoted to change and transformation. And then often life slips back to normal because we find ourselves at a loss of what to do. We can’t bring back the lives of those lost in Orlando. We can’t have Jim’s victims suddenly un-raped. But we can follow through with action even if we don’t know what the first step is.

In Seattle my first steps are checking in personally every day with victim/survivors. Ones who have already come forward and ones who haven’t yet. That lets me use my words to the benefit of those who might need them and who might need support. I’m questioning how I could have better been there BEFORE the fact for members of my community. More self questioning, past present and future. More local community support whenever I can participate and supporting others when I can’t participate locally. Less guilt, and more action, even if those actions are step by step and bit by bit.

For Orlando, my first step is to ask those around me what they think about guns and violence. Even if we realize that we don’t know what to think about what comes next. How to prevent the next Pulse Night Club might be too large a question? But maybe it’s not. Maybe friends who work the doors to clubs have practical ideas. Maybe collectively we can find answers to gun violence through our confusion if we just reach out and let our voices be heard to one another. Let that confusion be a first foundational step.

If we let the echoes fade then the next shooting rests on our shoulders in the same way that rape culture thrives on the silence of us all.

None of us will be perfect. None of us will do it right. None of us will have every answer. But silence, comfort, or complacency surely won’t bring us any closer to the world we want to live in.

I’m posting this unedited. Forgive me any lack of coherency.

Bridge Nine Records commented:

We were greatly disappointed and unsettled to hear about the allegations levied towards Jim Hesketh, the frontman of one of our old bands, Champion. We had never been privy to or suspected that Jim was behaving in such a grossly inappropriate way and, like much of the hardcore community, are only learning about this over the last 24 hours. A major step towards creating an inclusive scene where people can feel safe is believing their stories of abuse and harassment when victims come forward. We stand with Charlie Jenna Stone and her story. -the B9 crew

CHAMPION has released this official statement through Bridge Nine Records label:

Jim has been accused of some very serious actions. We’re devastated that anyone has experienced any kind of pain or felt that they couldn’t speak out. We’re shocked, and thank those who have brought their stories forward. It’s an act of bravery and we ask that these people be supported by everyone throughout this process.

Although the band ended 10 years ago, we feel that it’s important that we speak together and state both our support for everyone who brings forward their stories and our deep apologies to those who have been impacted directly, or indirectly. We recognize we are far out of our depth on what next steps best support healing for those impacted. However we don’t want to simply make this statement and hope for the best. In that regard, we have sought advice from those with both professional and personal backgrounds in this area. This will be a process and we are hoping that accountability, healing and learning will be the outcome.

Thank you

React! Records added:

We are shocked and saddened to hear of the allegations regarding Jim of True Identity. We sincerely had no idea anything of this disturbing nature had been happening and we do not condone predatory behavior. We empathize with and support anyone who may have been hurt by his actions, and appreciate the honesty and courage of those who have shared their experiences. REACT! Records promotes safety, compassion and equality within the hardcore community.

True Identity is no longer affiliated with REACT! Records.

Be excellent to eachother.
Ev + Jill

Previous Story

GUTTERMOUTH release new music this Summer! New song streaming now!

Next Story

Monumental debut EP from screamo band DREI AFFEN receives a proper teaser