The Avalanches Attack Bon Iver

The indie fight of the century is on, but we’re a little conflicted about whose side we should be on. The Avalanches, whose second record we’re still waiting for all these years later, have come out swinging in a barrage of tweets directed at Justin Vernon (AKA Bon Iver) for his anti-Grammy statements and what they see as hypocrisy.

Vernon is on the record for his staunch anti-Grammy Awards views in an interview with The New York Times that the newspaper sat on until Bon Iver were actually nominated for one. Who said journalists don’t have a sense of humour?

In the extract Vernon said “I don’t think the Bon Iver record is the kind of record that would get nominated for a Grammy — I would get up there and be like, ‘This is for my parents, because they supported me,’ because I know they would think it would be stupid of me not to go up there.”

“But I kinda felt like going up there and being like: ‘Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending this is important.”

“And who is that award given by?” he continued. “It’s like they think it’s literally handed down by the musical-history gods. And I don’t know who the voters are. Like, I have a friend who’s a voter who was like, ‘I had to be a voter because I don’t trust the other voters.’ And I was like, ‘Me either!’ And it’s just not important and people spend too much time thinking about it.”

But The Avalanches have apparently taken issue with his views that dissed artists who want to win a Grammy Award, while at the same time he has ‘sold out’ and appears in advertisements for a whiskey company. Jumping on Twitter they questioned Vernon and posted the hashtag #rememberwhenitwascoolNOTtosellout.

A bamboozled Vernon responded meekly by asking the group if they drink whiskey

TheAvalanchesTHE AVALANCHES

@blobtower a product which kills 100k p/a in the US alone..man kids look up to you. # rememberwhenitwascoolNOTtosellout http://t.co/ylnjZDGY

Dec 05FavoriteRetweetReply

in reply to @TheAvalanches↑

@blobtower
Justin D.E. Vernon@TheAvalanches do u drink whiskey?
Dec 05 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply

https://twitter.com/#!/TheAvalanches/status/143711825102516224

Bon Iver’s Holocene has been nominated for the Grammys in 2012 for Record Of The Year. You can read our review of the record here. Australian fans can see Bon Iver at their appearances at next years Golden Plains or at a number of sideshows.

Also, you be interested in watching the behind the scene video of the making of the ad below, courtesy of Pitchfork