It doesn’t sound like Silversun Pickups will be voting for Mitt Romney.
The band has issued a cease-and-desist order for Romney’s presidential campaign to stop using their song “Panic Switch” at events.
Brian Aubert, Silversun Pickups’ lead singer-guitarist, said in a statement Wednesday, “Seems as if the GOP is once again whimsically ignoring our great nation’s laws to do whatever it wants to do, and shooting itself in the foot in the process. Without any regard for copyright or intellectual property laws, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has, without permission, begun to use Silversun Pickups’ 2009 smash ‘Panic Switch’ at campaign stops across the country. Neither the band nor its representatives were contacted to gain permission for the use of the song and the band has no intention of endorsing the Romney campaign. The band’s attorney issued a cease and desist today.”
The frontman also denounced Republican Romney and his campaign, adding, “We don’t like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don’t like the Romney campaign. We’re nice, approachable people. We won’t bite. Unless you’re Mitt Romney! We were very close to just letting this go because the irony was too good. While he is inadvertently playing a song that describes his whole campaign, we doubt that ‘Panic Switch’ really sends the message he intends.”
Andrea Saul, Romney’s spokeswoman, responded to Silversun Pickups on Wednesday (via The Los Angeles Times), saying, “The song was inadvertently played during event set-up before Gov. Romney arrived at the location. As anyone who attends Gov. Romney’s events knows, this is not a song we would have played intentionally. That said, it was covered under the campaign’s regular blanket license, but we will not play it again.”
