Humorously hairy (and hairily humorous) Adelaide rockers The Beards have some “extremely bad news” for their American and Canadian fans looking to catch the beardiest band that ever did beard’s live show.
The well-whisker-endowed quartet have been forced to cancel their North American dates, including an appearance at New York’s high-profile CMJ Music Marathon, and Canadian tour as a result of having their visa permits denied.
A statement on The Beards official website deliverd the news, stating: “We have been forced to cancel our upcoming tour of USA & Canada. Full refunds will be available to all ticket holders. The entire tour was cancelled after US Immigration denied the band performance visas. The US consulate is yet to give a reason for the refusal.”
The band – responsible for beard-centric rock favourites like ‘You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man’ and ‘If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums’ – are currently appealing the US immigration department’s decision, hoping it will be overturned. Failing that, “we will return to America and Canada to play shows as soon as we possibly can,’ promise the four-piece.
“We want to offer our most sincere apologies to all of our North American fans,” add the group.
After delivering the sour news to their Facebook fan community, The Beards explain that the US visas affected the logistics of their three October gigs in Canadian venues in Halifax, Montreal, and Toronto; explaining “the tour was set up to take in both countries. Most dates were in the USA. Without the USA dates, the Canadian dates on their own would not be logistically or financially viable.”
Despite the weighty blow, the band displayed their well-honed sense of humour as they took to their Twitter shortly after to suggest that the current shut-down of the US Government was behind the visa knock-back.
Is it all part of a government conspiracy to halt the glorious rise of the beard? You be the judge…
— The Beards (@The_Beards) October 15, 2013
In a series of follow-up posts, The Beards caution their followers that “even though the tour cancellation is devastating news, we urge you not to shave your beards off in protest… Your beards are needed now more than ever.”
The Adelaide group suggested similarly comic conspiracy theories earlier this year when the temporary closure of Sydney’s Annandale Hotel forced The Beards to relocate a show… scheduled for World Beard Day.
The group will return to Australia this December to play Port Macquarie’s boutique music festival, Festival Of The Sun, alongside an Aussie rock lineup featuring You Am I, The Rubens, Kingswood, Ash Grunwald (with The Living End’s rhythm section), Stonefield and more.
