Dealer Frontman Aidan Holmes Responds to Sexual Misconduct Allegations After Tour Fallout
The fallout over the Attila tour with Dealer, Oceano, and Nathan James continues. The announcement of the tour was met with criticism by many, as two members of Attila and the frontman of Dealer, Aidan Holmes, have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past. The controversy led to Oceano dropping off the tour and frontman Adam Warren exiting Oceano. Now, Holmes has released a statement in which he lashes out against the metal “scene.”
Aidan Holmes, a.k.a. Aidan Ellaz, was the lead vocalist of Alpha Wolf from 2016 through 2018, at which point he exited the band due to sexual misconduct allegations. Strangely, while everyone remembers him leaving over these allegations, finding any information on those allegations is surprisingly difficult as all the articles and posts giving any details about the incident seem to have been scrubbed from the Internet.
With the use of archival tool The Wayback Machine, I was able to turn up a since-deleted article from Hysteria Magazine from 2018 that explains that Holmes was accused of assault by a woman named Jaye Lunson who, for some reason, shared a bed at the time with Holmes and another friend named Robert Flugge. Lunson accused Holmes of allegedly touching her inappropriately on one night in April of 2017, and Flugge made a statement confirming that he witnessed it.
The incident led to Holmes departing Alpha Wolf and, in 2019, Holmes launched a new band called Dealer. However, in 2020, every band member except Holmes quit the band at approximately the same time, a move which will henceforth be known as “the Lambesis.” Members of Alpha Wolf apparently still hold some grudges against Holmes, as Alpha Wolf bassist/backing vocalist John Arnold recently made an Instagram post referring to “the rapist abuser tour,” which, based on the timing of his post, seems to be referring to the Attila/Dealer tour.
In an Instagram story posted yesterday, Holmes made the following statement:
“I was 21 in 2018 when the allegations first became a thing. A lot people don’t even realise it was involving someone I loved dearly which it made all the more heart breaking. (One day I’ll explain everything but I honestly don’t think any of you deserve it)
“This scene is made of up of deeply insecure people that seem to be in love with the concept of hypocrisy. Pointing the finger but never having a look at themselves.
“AW have always weaponised these allegations against me. They’re done it since Dealer first formed in 2018. I wished and I wanted to believe they do it because they care so much. That their hearts are so full for something they believe in despite it being false. How can I blame them? I would honestly do the same.
“but then in 2020 allegations of their label owner and booking agent grooming underage girls went viral on Twitter, with screenshots and evidence and no one batted an eye.
“why
“why is it pick and choose and not all or nothing like it is for me
“I went to court. I went through the process, I followed everything accordingly. I tried to do the right thing
“I’m so tired of it all, and I don’t want to give up my passion and love for something because people I either don’t know or have not seen in many many years don’t want me to.
“I left the scene.
“I had something missing I wanted to continue my passion for music. I wanted to write another record and get back out there and took a lot to do.
“Only for the same repeating things, none of it is even real. Nothing is even real it’s just talk.
“People making jokes about abuser tours or ‘women cover their drinks.’ It’s disgusting. Why even joke about shit like that.
“I have a mother, a sister, and a girlfriend, you got people just throwing words like ‘r”pist’ around for the clicks and it’s honestly disgusting.
“By language and response alone it’s hard for me to believe any of you actually care about the issue at hand. Which is violent crimes against women, instead it’s just you taking your shot and making your hit to make yourself feel better. It’s opportunist behaviour if anything.”
Right after that, he posted an image of himself volunteering in the Ukraine with the caption:
“and just a quick one to the people saying I was running and hiding, wouldn’t go to venues and wouldn’t do shit. I was too busy volunteering overseas trying to do the right thing whilst you be chatting shit behind your computer so fuck you man”
