Chris Hutka (ex-The Bunny The Bear) Dead At 33

Chris “The Bear” Hutka, who was the original clean vocalist for Buffalonian post-hardcore band The Bunny The Bear, has passed away from unknown causes earlier today. He was 33. No word so far has been released on his sudden passing.

The musician was with the band from its inception in 2008 until 2014. He recorded five albums with the band, four of them released through Victory Records (Abandoned By Bears, Otep, Streetlight Manifesto). He was the original Bear of the band. After leaving, he was replaced by four various musicians, including Chris Paterson (ex-Jamie’s Elsewhere), Joseph Garcia (ex-I, Omega), and Haley Roback, who Hutka was engaged to.

TBTB’s co-founder Matthew “The Bunny” Tybor dropped a statement on his former bandmate and friend’s passing.

“As some may have heard… our original singer Chris Hutka has passed away. I’ve known Chris since I was 15, and we spent the better part of a decade causing trouble together, making music, having ins…and having outs. All while creating thousands of memories I will never forget. Chris had a massive heart, and an undeniable talent. The voice of an angel. Nothing will ever change the love I have for him, and I know many of you feel the same. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. Rest In Peace man ❤️🐻.”

Another former member of the band — Nate Blasdell, who is now the guitarist in I Set My Friends On Fire and Losers Club — made his own statement on Hutka’s passing. He wrote, “Devastated doesn’t even begin to describe it. Losing someone you were in a band with is losing a part of family. We toured the world together. You were the big brother I never had. The most talented person I knew with a heart of gold. I’m absolutely heartbroken. You just moved back to New York and were so excited to reconnect. We were suppose to write new songs when I got home. Life isn’t fair man. I love you forever Chris Hutka. Rest easy brother.”

Blasdell continued in a separate post, “Today was one of the hardest days of my life but seeing how many lives Chris touched is truly a beautiful thing. He was a one of a kind artist, with a one of a kind personality. I joined TBTB fresh out of high school before I was even old enough to buy tickets to an R rated movie and hit the road. Chris & Matt gave a 17 year old dork from New York a shot at something big. Within a year of joining, we were opening for bands we had grown up listening to, playing theaters all across the US. That’s the shit dreams are made of. I can’t help but view the time we spent together as anything other than a blessing. We didn’t just dream it.. We lived it…”

Rest in peace, Chris.

Victory Records Bought By Concord Records

Didn’t see that one coming.

Victory Records (Broadside, For The Win, The Tossers) has been purchased by Concord Records (Billy Gibbons, DeVotchKa, Esperanza Spalding) for millions of dollars, according to Billboard.

The entertainment media brand wrote that Victory had made “$4.5 million-$5 million a year in revenue and further estimates that Concord paid somewhere in the range of $27 million-$34 million for the Victory company.” With the purchase of Victory, Concord now owns “500 masters and 3,500 compositions to add to the 16,000 albums and 390,000 compositions it now owns through past past acquisitions.” Concord also now owns the Victory name, bulldog logo, and the entire Another Victory Publishing catalog.

With the purchase of Victory, Concord now owns the rights to past and present Victory Records bands like Thursday, We Were Sharks, Aiden, The Bunny The Bear, and Silverstein.

Victory Records Founder Tony Brummel wrote in a statement, “Concord has a great team, infrastructure and the financial backing and support to do great things with the music and entertainment assets that they represent. Victory and Another Victory’s great catalog of music and songs will be in caring and fantastic hands going forward. We’ve had a great run and with Concord it will only continue.” This means that Victory Records might no longer release new music under that name.

Victory’s catalog will be working under Concord’s Craft Recordings, who own the back catalogs for artists and bands like AFI, Social Distortion, and former Victory Records band Taking Back Sunday, who are currently signed to Hopeless Records (Doll Skin, Hands Like Houses, ROAM). As for future releases, Concord’s chief business development officer Steve Salm said in a statement, “to the extent that we put out new albums from existing artists, Fearless [Records] is the most likely home [to market such albums].”

The Chicago label will still have their 30 employees employed by Brummel. “My team at Victory will be remaining intact as we embark, going forward, on our new and existing business journeys,” he said. A new name for the company has yet to be announced.

Brummel also told Billboard that he wasn’t shopping Victory around to other labels, but couldn’t refuse Concord’s amazing offer. “Doing the deal is going to give me the option to do other things, including possibly buying some smaller labels,” he said. “There are three things that I will invest in out of the box and they are all music related.” Victory currently owns several smaller labels like StandBy Records (It Comes In Waves, Next Year, Unimagined), We Are Triumphant Records (Cemetary Drive, Gold Route, Thief Club), and Mutant League Records (AM Taxi, Chief State, Wilmette).

Concord has also bought labels such as Fearless Records (Eat Your Heart Out, Pierce The Veil, Underoath), Fantasy Records (Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness, Prophets Of Rage, Switchfoot), Loma Vista Recordings (Andrew Bird, Denzel Curry, The Revivalists), and Rounder Records (Dervish, I’m With Her, Logan Ledger).

Blood On The Dance Floor’s Dahvie Vanity Accused Of Sexual Assault And Being A Pedophile

This isn’t brand new news, but people are once again bringing it to light.

Years ago, Dahvie Vanity, real name Jesus David Torres, used his fame as a musician to try and get his way with woman as young as 14. News of this isn’t brand new, but MetalSucks posted a lengthly article that has so much information that you should probably read. Alternative Press and MetalInjection also reported on MetalSucks’ article.

Some of the things Vanity has done include calling a tenth-grade girl “My Little School Girl” when he was 27 at the time, forcing himself in and on a 14-year-old girl, grabbing a girl named Shae’s mom’s breasts after pouring a drink all over the mother’s shirt, and a whole bunch of sick shit that you can read in the article.

Jeffree Star, a well-known cosmetics creator and former musician, toured with BOTDF in 2012 and spoke heavily about Vanity’s questionable behavior. “I NO longer support @botdfmusic an how disgusting Dahvie is,” Star said in a tweet MetalSucks posted in their article. “Touching children an enjoying the attention is evil. FUCK OFF sicko.” He also wrote that “Being on tour with that child fucker has made me see the truth. I regret ever doing a song with that pig.” Star appeared on four songs with BOTDF such as “Sexting”, “Inject Me Sweetly”, “DUI”, and “Poison Apple”.

These are Jeffree Star’s tweets MetalSucks posted in their article.

In somewhat of a response to MetalSucks’ article, Vanity posted a picture of him wearing way too much makeup and holding a Martin acoustic guitar saying, “People hate when their words can no longer get to you. When you’re unbothered & enjoying your life to the fullest capacity. Never worry about them, and always focus on you. ❤️ Enjoy life!”

Blood On The Dance Floor first formed in 2006 and have released nine albums, their newest one being 2018’s Haunted. BOTDF’s second vocalist Jayy Von Monroe left the band in 2016, causing the band to break up. The band did reform a year later with Vanity’s girlfriend Fallon Vendetta taking over Jayy’s role. BOTDF have toured with bands like brokeNCYDE, New Years Day, The Bunny The Bear, Let’s Get It, and William Control (a side project of Aiden’s William Francis, who’s also accused of abuse), and have played the Vans Warped Tour in 2011 and 2012.

No charges have been brought up on Vanity.

Dead Girls Academy Get A Second Chance At Life On Alchemy

Not everyone gets a second chance of life. Luckily, Michael Orlando, former vocalist of Vampires Everywhere! and the main man behind Dead Girls Academy, got one. After nearly dying from a car crash which killed the other driver, Orlando decided to do more with his life. “The infamous accident has impacted my life in a million ways. It inspired me to follow my dreams and do more than just get a 9-to-5 job!” Orlando said in an interview with Stitched Sound. “This experience has made me stronger and more hopeful about life in general…I try to view this tragedy as a stepping stone to something bigger.”

With this mindset of his, he closed VE! in 2016 and created Dead Girls Academy with the help of Ronnie Radke (Falling In Reverse, ex-Escape The Fate), producers Elvis Baskette (blessthefall, Falling In Reverse, Slash) and Tyler Smyth (Dangerkids, Falling In Reverse, Save The Lost Boys), Orlando was able to get a different second chance, this time with music. That in mind, he channeled this in with DGA’s debut album Alchemy, releasing June 15 on Victory Records (Broadside, Save The Lost Boys, We Were Sharks).

And speaking of second chances, I thought I was going to hate this because of Orlando’s previous venture. Yes, I didn’t like VE!, ironic since I loved acts like The Bunny The Bear, Ghost Town, and Skip The Foreplay years ago (that’s right, I, a music critic, had shit tastes). But after giving this a chance, it’s really not that bad.

Kicking off his new project is the heavily FIR inspired number “Medicine”, which starts off with Orlando singing, “Oh my God here we go again!” This line is a fresh start for Orlando and his second chance in music. It doesn’t end there as this mentality of his continues throughout the rest of the album’s 40 minute running time.

But it isn’t just about second tries. Orlando also writes about the things he’s seen while living in Hollywood. In a press release from Victory, Orlando says, “Growing up in Hollywood there are so many fucked up things I’ve seen, I could write six novels about them all. But that’s what breeds the creative juice and you will believe me once you hear Dead Girls Academy.”

Like I said in the third paragraph, I was shocked by this album. Before I go into the good, there’re some tracks on the album that I really didn’t like such as “Cannibal”, a generic rock song that seems to be filler, the second single off the album “No Way Out”, a discount Motionless In White tune, and “Far Away”, the album’s closing number. But that’s really all I could find wrong about Alchemy.

Alchemy is packed with a bunch of amazing tunes that clearly show that his talent was wasted in VE! “I Can’t Feel A Thing”, a heavy slow jam, packs quite the punch and deserves to be a single off the album. Orlando’s soft falsetto in the verses fits in well with his “darker side of rock & roll.” “Conversations” features a fabulous synth that backs Orlando and crew with an orchestral tone. My favorite track has to be the main single off the record, “I’ll Find A Way”. The song was released last July when the band was on Warped Tour and it is by far one of their songs that quickly changed my tone on Alchemy. The hard rock/post-hardcore number sounds like a mixture of Mötley Crüe,  Beartooth, and of course, Falling In Reverse. Radke’s influence on his friend shines bright on “I’ll Find A Way”, and the guitar solo just screams late 2000s/early 2010s scene metal (I hope you know what I mean by that).

Overall, Alchemy isn’t a masterpiece or a horrible mess, it’s an okay rock album that has some great tunes and clearly shows that Orlando is fine with leaving VE! in the past. Dead Girls Academy is what his mind and heart is set on, and it’s for the better. Are you ready to enroll in Orlando’s academy of rock and roll?