#srry if there r any typos lol

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Atreyu vs From First To Last

It’s the vicious screamo feud everyone’s talking about. Here’s how it all kicked off.  [transcript under the cut]

    When From First To Last set out on a US tour supporting Atreyu this Autumn, the two bands were firm friends. They seemed like perfect tourmates, both rising to the top of the screamo pack with their similarly intense, dark-hued anthems. They even shared the same manager, and the tour seemed set for success.      Fans were left stunned, then, when From First To Last left the tour amid a war of vicious words. A post on their website bitterly complained of being “kicked off” the tour, claiming, “If we were allowed to be on the rest of the tour we would be.”  Atreyu responded in disbelief, frontman Alex Varkatzas slamming the Orlando, Florida band as “cocky” and “in it for the money”. In a scene where camaraderie is so highly valued, the storm escalating around the two bands was explosive.      The root of the problem goes back to the Warped Tour. From First To Last were forced to drop out of the festival a few dates in because of vocalist Sonny Moore’s escalating throat problems. After undergoing surgery on his throat and resting for the remainder of the summer, the band assumed he was well enough to handle screaming duties again. But by the time the Atreyu tour reached Philadelphia on October 24, 14 days into the 2-date run, Moore tore a vocal chord and was advised by a doctor to completely rest his voice immediately for fear of causing irreversible damage.     “I didn’t recover enough in time,” says Moore. “At the time I was so depressed and bummed out about my voice. I was upset because I let a lot of people down but I didn’t care what we were doing at that point.”     Rather than immediately dropping out, the rest of the band suggested continuing with Craig Owens of Chiodos, also on the tour, handling vocal duties, and Sonny just playing guitar. It’s here, it seems, that the confusion and acrimony began. FFTL apparently expected to be paid the same amount as they would have been with their frontman appearing.     “FFTL were difficult,” explains Varkatzas. “Matt [Good, guitarist] one night poured water in our monitors. Another night he freaked out and kicked one of our guitar rigs. Tha’ts pretty fucked up- but we didn’t do anything about it. Then Sonny, who’s a good guy, comes and tells us he needs to rest his voice. We’re sympathetic dudes and we don’t want to send anyone home so we offer them x amount to stay on the tour- a generous offer. They decided to leave anyway and then they posted on their webpage that they were kicked off the tour and they did everything they could to stay, which is not true. They were on a really expensive bus, they had stage props, were renting lights, renting space in our semi for their gear and they didn’t want to get rid of any of that. It was all about money.”      So, while rumors of a lawsuit from FFTL flew- although both parties now say that no legal action is going to be taken [Varkatzas: I can think of a couple better ways to settle this”]- relations between the two bands completely broke down, FFTL claiming to have been kicked off, Atreyu accusing them of greed. The only person so far stayed out of the fight is Moore, who was preoccupied with his medical problems- a planned UK support slot with Lostprophets has also been cancelled.      “I was kind of on the other end of things so I wasn’t too in the loop,” he says. “I guess MySpace bulletins were posted and things were said that kind of riled each other. It’s just miscommunication. If you read something on the internet, you can’t picture how they’re saying it. It just got out of context. There’s no malicious intent, there’s no fight, everything’s chill.”      Tim Smith, who manages both Atreyu and From First To Last, strikes a similarly reconciliatory note. In an email to Kerrang!, he explained, “The bands have had a rough few weeks, and this has been very trying for both of them. Hopefully, time will heal those wounds and allow both these bands to continue doing what they do- making music.”     For Varkatzas, though, its clear that tempers are still frayed.     “Fuck FFTL except for Sonny,” he states,”They’re not true to themselves, their music or their fans. FFTL fans will hate us because of this and its fine- we know we did the right thing and if anyone’s got anything to say about it they can say it to my face.”