A whirlwind of events has been revolving around Falling In Reverse and its frontman, Ronnie Radke. Amidst the controversy, the band’s former bassist Wes Horton broke his silence on Radke’s controversial nature in a recent interview with The Chuck Shute Podcast.
At some point during the conversation, Shute asked the bassist about Radke and Sebastian Bach’s feud. Horton, now associated with the band Flat Black, sided with Radke on the topic of technology in performances, suggesting that audiences primarily care about the quality of the show. However, he argued this debate creates another issue:
“My opinion is that Ronnie is right. I mean, the other problem with this is that it breaks the fan-to-artist immersion. Fans don’t give a sh*t if you use laptops or whatever you’re using to make your show good. They care that the show is good. I think that he is right about the subject. He might be right about ‘All bands use laptops; why is this even an argument,’ he’s right about that for sure.
It’s crazy that old heads are coming at him like that. I don’t think that they’re right in this situation, but all of them are wrong for breaking the artist-to-fan barrier. They don’t need to know about the laptops, man. They don’t care about that, they want to come and see your show. All that matters to people is buying your stuff, coming to your shows, and loving your f*cking band. They’re not thinking about the laptops.”
When Shute questioned whether Radke was actually a violent and dangerous person, Shute suggested the singer has a dramatic nature:
“I don’t think so. I mean, he says crazy sh*t, but I think he’s like a normal nice guy deep down. I don’t think he’s trying to f*cking kill people or sh*t; he’s just stirring it up and going crazy because people love it, dude. They’re gonna watch it and tune in, there’s more people that are gonna find him and love him for just the bombastic sh*t, man.”
In October 2022, Falling In Reverse canceled their Illinois Wiil Rock show, citing the loss of laptops, which contained crucial preparations for their performance. This decision led to criticism from talk show host Eddie Trunk, who questioned the band’s reliance on technology. Radke defended their approach, comparing their tech use to other bands like KISS and Aerosmith.
In this defense, Radke also alluded to Sebastian Bach, asserting that he, too, utilized tracks during his performances. Bach responded by refuting Radke’s claims and pointed out discrepancies in Radke’s arguments related to the use of technology in past concerts.
As the debate intensified, Falling In Reverse, in February 2023, released a promotional video for their single ‘Watch the World Burn.’ Fans quickly noted that a scene from this video seemed to reference the ongoing dispute between Radke and Bach.
The rest of the interview is below.
