Violent Soho are on top of the world right now. They’ve just dropped one of the most eagerly anticipated Aussie albums of the year, they’re on their way to their first Number 1 record, and they’ve got an absolutely massive tour on the horizon.

But not everybody’s happy with the Brisbane outfit. As The Music reports, in a since-deleted comment posted to the band’s Facebook, a friend of respected Sydney artist James Jirat Patradoon has accused the band of ripping off the artwork for their latest album, WACO.

“How good is it when [a] successful Australian band / their label asks James Jirat Patradoon to use his artwork, then when they didn’t want to pay a reasonable (already discounted) rate – got someone to just completely rip off his work for cheap,” the commenter wrote.

“Pay artists what they are worth – especially when you are fucking artists,” he added. The commenter accompanied the disgruntled missive with a side-by-side comparison of the WACO artwork and a very similar image by Patradoon.

Patradoon is a Sydney-based artist and illustrator who’s previously worked with the likes of Converse and Flume and is known for his in-your-face, technicolor images inspired by Japanese anime cartoons and the cybperunk aesthetic.

The backlash has prompted Violent Soho to respond, writing in a statement, “Hey guys, today someone made a comment online that our artwork for WACO is similar to an old illustration by respected Sydney artist James Jirat Patradoon. You can see the two artworks side by side below.”

“To give a bit of context we actually know James and had been in discussions with him about commissioning this exact piece for an old 7” cover over a year ago, before WACO was even recorded. For various reasons we didn’t end up going ahead with that piece.”

Image via The Music

“When it came time to sort the WACO artwork we decided to work with another great illustrator Pedro Oyarbide whose style we also love and who knew the direction we wanted – the letters WACO in Red on a Black background, with an illustration of a guy throwing a punch inside the letters.”

“We are in discussions with both artists – James and Pedro – to make sure everyone is happy and our team are going through the usual process of making sure all the rights are properly cleared. There’s no bad blood among us and we’re all mates.”

“It was never our intention to copy another artist’s work. We believe in supporting artists and paying them properly – as we always have from day one. We hope to work with James in the future as his work is sweet and we are big fans!!”

Responding to the band’s statement, most fans were understanding, with many even commending the group for issuing a public statement addressing the controversy and explaining the situation transparently. See the band’s full statement below.

Hey guys, today someone made a comment online that our artwork for WACO is similar to an old illustration by respected…

Posted by Violent Soho onTuesday, March 22, 2016

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