Alice Glass speaks out about her decision to leave Crystal Castles, her allegations against Kath and looks towards the future in a new interview with The Guardian.
Last year, inspired by the #MeToo movement, the vocalist accused former bandmate Ethan Kath of physical abuse, nonconsensual sex and psychological manipulation. Kath denied the accusations and filed a defamation lawsuit against Glass, which was later dismissed in court. His appeal, too, was denied and in May this year, Glass revealed that the court had ruled in her favour: it had granted her request for Kath to reimburse her legal fees.
On the #MeToo movement, she said, “If someone goes first, it lets you know that you’re safe. It really put things into perspective. If it wasn’t for them, I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to speak out.”
In 2010, news publications reported that Glass had punched a fan at Latitude Festival. Speaking to journalist Laura Snapes, Glass says that, during her time with Crystal Castles, she wanted to open up about sexual harassment at shows but was advised against it by Kath. She felt that men in the audiences targeted her. “Like: ‘She doesn’t care what you do to her, pull her hair, try strangling her with your shirt, grab her around the groin, why don’t you rip her skirt off?’”, she said. “They were all things that happened to me regularly. When a woman doesn’t really have agency – not doing interviews, having music that seemed unintentional, seeming like a vessel who’s there to fulfil someone else’s idea – then you can treat her not as a person and do whatever you want to her.”
Elaborating upon her departure from the group, she said, “It is hard to walk away from a project that you put everything into, especially if you almost believe that you’re being received as an artist by a fluke chance.” On the future, she said, “Justice is just being able to live my life.”
Read the full interview here.