Birdcloud, the unabashedly raunchy, pointedly provocative country duo of Jasmin Kaset and Makenzie Green, have plenty of fans in Knoxville. On Aug. 20, they played to a packed house at The Pilot Light, a venerable small club in the Old City district, and they report making some $500 at the merch table.
But not everyone in Knoxville seems to appreciate the Birdcloud ethos. Offended by lyrics he perceives as racist, one Marble City musician-turned-hall-monitor has launched a smear campaign against the duo in an attempt to get their tour gigs canceled.Â
It all started the day before the Pilot Light show, when local support act Psychic Baos dropped off the bill, respectfully citing differences. Erica McBride, another local musician (whose band was not booked on the show), tweeted a link to Birdcloud's live performance vid for their song "Black Guys," with the comment "I was considering going to the pilot light tomorrow but then found this while researching Birdcloud..."
%{[ data-embed-type="oembed" data-embed-id="https://twitter.com/bbemcb/status/766658347001077760" data-embed-element="aside">%{[ data-embed-type="oembed" data-embed-id="https://youtu.be/785Vhfh4EUc" data-embed-element="aside">The song, in which the duo praises the penises of various "other-color-skin men" in order to provoke a reaction from their fathers, is cringeworthy without a doubt — but that's the point. The song confronts racists by holding up a mirror and and saying: How different is this from what you think? Is that really what you think?
But McBride, who did not return the Scene's request for comment, had a much different interpretation of the song, so she chose to boycott the show. That doesn't bother Birdcloud much.
"If I don’t like something, I’m not going to support it," Green tells the Scene by phone from another tour stop, "and I’m not going to give it more energy or power. You should be able to be like ‘Cool, that’s not really my bag. I’m not going to go to it.’ And if you wanna say ‘Hey, I think these people have really fucked up, weird opinions that are offensive, and wrong ...’ that’s your opinion."
However, McBride's bandmate Daniel Blaine McBride went a step further.
While Birdcloud was playing at The Pilot Light, McBride fired off a string of messages on Facebook. They warned promoters at upcoming stops on the duo's current tour (as well as and their upcoming tour with fellow foul-mouthed country parodist Wheeler Walker Jr.), erroneously claiming the Knoxville show had been canceled due to the band's "explicitly racist lyrics and imagery."
The Scene obtained a screen capture of one of the messages.
"They’re bullying us!" Green claims. "Like, it’s one thing if you don’t like it. ... But this is our job. Basically, they called our employers and were like, ‘Hey, these people don’t deserve their jobs because they’re racist.’ The fucking asshole doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He lied to everyone. It’d be one thing if he was like ‘I came to the show, I found this shit to be really offensive.’ But he went and told everybody that it didn’t even happen."
"The thing that bothers me is that they’re not trying to create a conversation, they’re just trying to make us go away," says Kaset. "If what we’re doing is bringing stuff up in that community, that’s cool, but to actually shut us down creatively is a totally different animal."
"People all over America come to us and they get it," Kaset continues, "but especially people in the South. Especially women in the South. [Our music] resonates with them because that’s their mom or dad, that’s their cousin, that’s their friend from high school that they don’t hang out with anymore. That’s what those songs are about."
Most of the folks who came out to The Pilot Light seemed to get it.
 Jason Boardman, owner of The Pilot Light, says he booked Birdcloud well in advance, on the strength of a performance he saw three years ago.
"The majority of people I've heard from consider them to be purposely provocative satirical commentary, or have no strong opinion at all," Boardman says in an email. "Similar to their show in 2013, they played to a full house last Saturday, seemingly with everyone happy and no upsets during the show that I'm aware of."
"This time, however, the local band did withdraw the day before the show over issues with their content, and there were a few other members of the community that have expressed serious problems with the band's lyrics. One of whom approached staff on the day of the show wanting it to be canceled. It was a reaction I didn't expect. Several of those who took issue are very active members of the Knoxville music community, I am definitely interested in their concerns."
Birdcloud has talked with a lawyer about serving Daniel McBride a cease-and-desist order. However, they have yet to receive a negative reaction from a promoter. Exit/In talent buyer Jesse Baker confirms that the venue received the same message from McBride via its Facebook page regarding an upcoming Birdcloud show. They open for Wheeler Walker Jr. Sept. 30, around the time their double album compilation Singles Only comes out.
"As hard as it is for me to believe that the situation happened at all, it’s much harder for me to believe that I’m talking about that guy sending us a message on Facebook," says Baker. "Usually if there’s a legitimate complaint, they know the proper channels. Nine times out of 10, if someone has a complaint that they air via Facebook, they aren’t involved enough in the business to know how to go about effecting that change."
Daniel Blaine McBride did not respond to the Scene's request for comment at press time.Â
