Brokencyde comment on assault claims

28 April 2011 | 9:50 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

In a new interview with Altpress, Brokencyde vocalist Michael “Mikl” Shea has told his side of the story of the event that took place after the band's show at the Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh on Monday night, which left Punchline drummer Cory Muro bloodied and needing to receive three staples in his head, as well as Muro's friend Johnny Grushecky's nose being broken."We were on our bus outside the venue before [Muro and his friend Johnny Grushecky] started talking badly to our merch girl and began to slander us as individuals. People were talking trash all day long—even the manager of the Smiling Moose knew they were bashing us. We didn't know who they were. They were just a group of guys standing outside a bar yelling unneeded remarks towards our group.Our merch girl was locking up the bus and one of the Punchline guys pointed at her and said, “Go fuck yourself. You're a piece of shit.” She told us people were disrespecting her for no reason. Then all of a sudden, they started yelli...

In a new interview with Altpress, Brokencyde vocalist Michael “Mikl” Shea has told his side of the story of the event that took place after the band's show at the Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh on Monday night, which left Punchline drummer Cory Muro bloodied and needing to receive three staples in his head, as well as Muro's friend Johnny Grushecky's nose being broken.

"We were on our bus outside the venue before [Muro and his friend Johnny Grushecky] started talking badly to our merch girl and began to slander us as individuals. People were talking trash all day long—even the manager of the Smiling Moose knew they were bashing us. We didn't know who they were. They were just a group of guys standing outside a bar yelling unneeded remarks towards our group.

Our merch girl was locking up the bus and one of the Punchline guys pointed at her and said, “Go fuck yourself. You're a piece of shit.” She told us people were disrespecting her for no reason. Then all of a sudden, they started yelling at all the members of Brokencyde saying, “Fuck you,” “Fuck your music” and “You're a faggot-ass pedophile.” [Grushecky] came up to two members of Brokencyde and said, “Fuck you” and then a punch was thrown. At that point, one of our guys hit Grushecky. When he fell down, Muro jumped in and started to choke out one of us—which is when he got punched in the eye. After Muro stood up, he just continued to bash us. Grushecky—the initiator of the fight—was in a corner being held back and then he threw a punch and hit [vocalist David “Se7en” Gallegos] in the face. This blonde girl with them (presumably Grushecky’s sister) pushed him by the face while screaming. We went back to our bus and Grushecky ran toward the bus to fight some more, but he was pushed back. No one was “jumped” at all. Muro stood there and said, “I've been playing music way longer than any of you!”, “You're not real musician!” and “Quit music. Remember Punchline!” He just kept yelling. We've dealt with this since we've started, so we're used to it. But when they started to disrespect a girl and us as people, it changed everything.

We went back on the bus and left. It was only a minute or so. One of our guys had a scratch on his face, our singer had his piercing ripped [out] and his arms have lumps from trying to break it up. We didn't take pictures and post them online—we just dealt with it and let it go."

The full interview can be read here, and click here to read Muro's side of the story.