ONE of Scotland’s top trad bands has deleted a post about the negative impact of Brexit on musicians due to “aggressive and abusive comments”.
Skerryvore, a multi-award winning Celtic rock group originally founded on Tiree, had posted on Twitter to talk about how the UK’s exit from the EU was affecting their ability to tour.
The band wrote: “One band member denied boarding with eight months remaining on passport and one band member missing a connection due to additional passport checks required at EU border.
“This is the direct impact of Brexit on touring musicians. And not a single benefit in return for the hassle. #Brexit”
After the Tory government’s negotiations with the EU, musicians were left mired in red tape and without any visa provision. This meant that they would have to deal with every country individually if they hoped to embark on a European tour, with warnings that the new rules would make it “financially unfeasible for grassroots musicians as well as your big acts to tour”.
According to tour listings, the band recently played in the Netherlands and Spain, and has dates in Denmark lined up for later in 2023.
After heated debate under Skerryvore’s post about Brexit, the band said they had taken the decision to delete it.
They wrote: “We chose to remove our earlier tweet due to the aggressive and abusive comments, not to us, but between fellow users.
“We only want to connect and communicate with people in a positive and constructive way through our music and live touring adventures.
1/ We chose to remove our earlier tweet due to the aggressive and abusive comments, not to us, but between fellow users. We only want to connect & communicate with people in a positive and constructive way through our music & live touring adventures
— SKERRYVORE (@SKERRYVORE) June 17, 2023
“Thanks to all the messages of support after a very challenging 24hrs of travel that was caused by multiple issues including cross border travel rule changes and queues, airline baggage handling, traffic jams and lack of sleep!
“With regards to Brexit … We believe every person is entitled to their opinion (and vote). We can only comment on our experience since it has come into force and sadly that experience has been very negative, expensive and time consuming for our tours and livelihoods.
“A final note, on an already stressful day, what has been most deflating is reading/seeing the division and hatred between some of our fellow Scots.
“It’s ok to have different opinions. Just be respectful and kind to one another.”
The aggressive and abusive tone of many social media users has been a focus of previous comments from former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who used one of her final appearances as SNP leader to speak out about the issue.
Speaking in London in March, Sturgeon said there needed to be “a balanced and nuanced debate, and yet the nature of modern media, social media in particular, can make that more difficult than it should be”.
The then first minister said that social media had “many benefits” from democratising political discourse to bringing people together.
However, she added: “But right now it feels that the damage social media is doing globally to public discourse and to democracies is outweighing the benefits of it.”
