A number of shows by Canadian electronic music duo Crystal Castles have been scrapped after vocalist Alice Glass made shocking allegations against former bandmate Ethan Kath.
More than a dozen gigs this month and next have been cancelled — including Nov. 3 in Vancouver, Nov. 16 in Montreal and Nov. 17 in Toronto.
This week, Glass went public with claims that she endured sexual, physical and verbal abuse from Kath prior to leaving Crystal Castles in 2014.
In a message shared on her website, in which the 29-year-old refers to Kath by his birth name, Claudio Palmieri, Glass detailed alleged incidents dating back to when she was only 15 and painted a picture of an older man who was manipulative and controlling.
“He controlled everything I did. I wasn’t allowed to have my own phone or my own credit card, he decided who my friends were, read through my private emails, restricted my access to social media, regulated everything I ate,” she claimed. “He berated me and yelled at me, telling me that I was a joke, that all the people that came to our shows were only interested in his instrumentals and that I was ruining the band.”
Glass, whose real name is Margaret Osborn, said the alleged abuse was so severe that she became suicidal.
“It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control,” she wrote. “I am still recovering.”
Kath has dismissed the account as “pure fiction” and said in a statement: “There are many witnesses who can and will confirm I was never abusive to Alice.”