Stars love Arizona, but not THAT much.
On Tuesday, the Canadian band posted a tweet saying they and "many others" would boycott the state of Arizona "until its racist new immigration law is repealed."
The scary part of this is "many others." I haven't seen Stars perform live since they toured with Death Cab for Cutie a handful of years ago (so their absence is no sweat off my back), but what if other musicians start boycotting the Valley? The dirt and heat are already strikes against us, do we need any more? Isn't there another way they can make a political statement? These are all rhetorical questions worth thinking about.
Pitchfork announced the news on their Facebook and many people chimed in. Most said it isn't fair that the state has to suffer because of Jan Brewer's decision, while Sebastian Major Lazer (a.k.a. devil's advocate) heated things up when he went straight for the jugular chanting (OK, not really chanting), "death to america, extra death to az."
All I know is, law or no law, I still want my good music. Let music ring from the mountaintops of Arizona, etc., etc., etc.
Stars will release their fifth studio album, The Five Ghosts, on June 22. Their website doesn't show them passing through Arizona so maybe their boycotting will be limited to 140-character status updates.
Only time (and Twitter) will tell.
UPDATE: Fucked Up's Damian Abraham responds to Stars' decision:
"Don't get me wrong, I think the AZ immigration bill is horrible and must be repealed but I also think that indie bands boycotting the state is inane. Do Stars honestly think that by denying the state their brand of dreamy pop that they're going to force the governor's hand? All this does is not give the people that like your band enough credit and assumes that they are in someway supportive of the bill. Mind you, if you are Nickleback and a fan base of those types of douche bags then boycotting is a good strategy." -Source
