Culture Abuse

Hailing from San Francisco, Culture Abuse was a Bay Area punk group whose songs merged the bright hooks of pop music with the fire and fury of hardcore. The band formed in 2013, with singer David Kelling, guitarists Nick Bruder and John McCarthy, bassist Shane Plitt, and drummer Evan Pierce composing the initial lineup. Culture Abuse made its studio debut with 2014's "Spray Paint the Dog," a two-song single released by the independent label 6131 Records, then found a wider audience with their full-length debut, Peach. Released in 2016 and accompanied by the popular single "Dream On," Peach helped earn Culture Abuse a contract with Epitaph. The iconic label released the band's standalone single "So Busted" in 2017, then issued the full-length Bay Dream one year later. Bands like Green Day and The Hold Steady became champions of the band, and Culture Abuse toured internationally in support of Bay Dream's release. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, David Kelling became a hero for the disabled community, whose members were notably underrepresented in mainstream music. The band's progress came to a halt in 2020, however, when Kelling admitted to engaging in sexual misconduct with an underage fan some 10 years prior. The band broke up that July, turning its various social medial platforms into a place for abuse victims to share their stories.

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