Hoops have split before, but the Drew Auscherman front act returned in late 2019, and had been due to release a new album. However, that LP has been axed over abuse allegations against someone in the first era of the band.

 

Here’s label Fat Possum taking maximum care: “In light of Hoops’ announcement regarding allegations against a former member, Fat Possum will not be releasing their album ‘Halo’. Refunds on album pre-orders will be issued as quickly as possible…The label does not tolerate sexual abuse of any kind.”

 

So what happened? Here’s Drew trying to explain:

 

We’ve been seeing some pretty terrible things on Twitter over the past week involving a former member of the band. I feel it’s necessary to say that we as people and as a band abhor that kind of behaviour and do not tolerate sexual abuse in any form.” Okay, so? “The former member in question has been out of the band since 2017, and as we understood it, their decision to leave was for reasons unrelated to this situation. A while after the band had broken up, I was made aware of this former member’s actions. I made the mistake of not pursuing the matters further with the band and the former member…”

 

He goes on to seemingly suggest he’s quitting now before his past catches up with him: “I think that Hoops came back too soon while I was still working through my own personal issues of emotional abuse towards partners.”