Talk about your bad band bust-ups… Kris Roe, the frontman for Indiana pop punks, The Ataris flipped out onstage at a gig in New Jersey recently, and began throwing parts of drummer Rob Felicetti’s kit back at him.

The Ataris, best known for their 2003 breakthrough album, So Long Astoria and it’s cover of Don Henley’s ‘Boys of Summer’, were performing ‘Your Boyfriend Sucks’ at a show at NJ’s Asbury Park, when the drummer’s playing flew the singer/guitarist into a rage, abruptly turning to the drummer and hurling his guitar at Felicetti before taking apart his drumkit and tossing pieces of it to the back of the stage, before Felicetti exits the stage – tossing his sticks in defeat.

The footage (which you can view above) then shows Roe turning to the crowd to explain that it was his drummer’s performance that had caused his tantrum, “Our drummer is fucking failing it tonight… I don’t know what his fucking problem is… but I’m gonna finish the set by myself.”

The stunned crowed were then treated to the closing of a gig, sans drummer, with Roe saying: “It’s fucking embarrassing… I can’t handle it. I apologise… but there’s a certain amount of fucking shit I can take.”

Rumours suggest that Felicetti quit the band after the gig, and Roe, along with the rest of the band (without their drummer) have issued a video statement (which you can watch below) explaining his onstage outburst and apologising for their behaviour.

In the video, Roe claims that Felicetti had been drinking heavily “for like 6 hours” before the show, and his performance on stage – missing beats and cues – was not acceptable. The frontman adds that he would have like to have handled the situation better, “but c’mon… it’s rock’n’roll.”

While they have not officially confirmed that the drummer has quit the band, somebody has already altered the band’s Wikipedia entry to list Falicetti among The Ataris’ long list of former members. Not the most reliable source around, but it’s an interesting sign that the onstage blow-out may have created a rift that the group may not be able to repair.

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