Why A Perfect Circle Have A Firm Ban On Phones At Gigs

With phone addiction more rampant than ever, A Perfect Circle have a firm stance against fans using them at gigs.

Speaking with The Music about the band’s new album, Eat The Elephant, guitarist Billy Howerdel said the guidelines they lay out at gigs – which are plastered around the venues they play and reiterated via two verbal announcements – were “pretty straightforward and easy enough”.

"We asked people to respectfully not video the shows and put your phones away for the 90 minutes we're going to be with you during the show," Howerdel explained.

“You ever go to a play or a movie? If you've ever been to a play or a movie, it's kind of similar: you don't take out your phone and start filming, and let the people behind you stare into your screen.”

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They’ve received backlash in the past on the topic, but what really surprised Howerdel was the support they’ve received.

“There was, like, one story that seemed to get out there. At one of our gigs, I think the promoter or someone from the building did an interview and gave some big number of people ejected. From that point on, we got asked about it a lot.

“So I'd ask security, 'How many ejections today?' You know, from night to night, and it wasn't that many people. There were more people being ejected for being inebriated, getting in a fight or passing out or something like that.

“It was just within the realm of - if there's 6,000 people in the venue and six people got kicked out because they took out their phones and were blatantly just blocking the person behind them... [It] seemed like in the range of normal [numbers], you know?"

You can read the full interview here. Eat The Elephant is out this Friday.