Incurably Innocent

Album: Inter Alia (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • While promoting the album's second single, "Incurably Innocent," At the Drive-In frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala explained the frenetic song is about sexual abuse and being able to finally speak out. The subject matter is personal for the rocker, who wrote the lyrics about his wife's experience with sexual assault.

    In March 2017, Chrissie Bixler was one of four women to accuse former That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson of rape (Bixler and Masterson dated in the early 2000s). The allegations disappeared from the headlines but resurfaced months later amid numerous rape and sexual harassment claims against producer Harvey Weinstein and other prominent Hollywood figures. Masterson, a Scientologist, denied the rape claims and blamed Leah Remini's explosive documentary series Scientology and the Aftermath for stirring up trouble for the Church and its members.
  • Bixler-Zavala, who claims the Church of Scientology has kept his family under surveillance since the allegations came to light, wanted to make sure his fans knew exactly what the song was about. He tweeted: "U might wanna go back and re read my 'nonsensical' lyrics off our last ATDI record."

    The lines "In a closet she hid in eternity sleep, With the fear of God at the end of his whip," reflect the victims' fear of speaking out against the powerful religious organization, while "You locked up in the trance of a memory, Marching to the coffins on Franklin Avenue," is a pointed reference to the Church's Celebrity Centre located on Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles.

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