An unredacted open letter

DAVID BAZAN, GIA MARGARET, UNDERTOW MUSIC

Where do I begin with the most heinous thing that’s ever happened to me? And is continuing to happen to me. For someone who thought they had seen it all in the music business, that’s saying a lot. I will try my best to untangle a complex web and condense what should be a novel, into a digestible post for socials.

My name is Tierney Tough. I have been a musician and obsessive music fan since as far back as I can remember. I have spent most of my involvement in the arts touring the country, either with my own projects or in several hired gun situations, and have basically been living on the road since I was 21. I’m 43 now and so it’s become a way of life at this point. I’ve recorded, written songs, worked as a venue talent buyer, organized festivals, film screenings, performance art, elaborate tribute shows, you name it. I’ve tour managed, mentored and educated newcomers, worked in several record stores since the olde iPod first hit shelves, soaked up pretty much every rock doc and bio that I can, helped open the first Girls Rock Camp in Orlando to provide a safe space for young musicians to help guide them through the volatile swamp that is the music business, etc, etc. Before the pandemic, I was probably doing at least four or five of these things at once, running on fumes and erasing myself in the process, just because I really loved what I was doing and wanted to give back and create a better environment for my community. Because that connectivity is the thing that thrills me most about all of this.

I love and believe in the power of music so much. It’s what sustains me as a person. It’s been my teacher, my family, and my life coach. I’ve learned so much about the world and myself from listening and immersing myself in all styles of voices of all cultures. I’ve also lived in poverty and obscurity and worked odd jobs most of my adult life, without bitterness, just so I could continue doing this. And even though I’ve had the unfortunate luck of having several extremely painful curveballs hurtled at me since I started touring professionally and have had to rebuild countless times, I have somehow always managed to muster up a dream or two to get myself back out there. Because I just can’t live without it. Music is a labor of love and a life line. A sacred, incredibly powerful force for good when valued for what it actually is and not just treated as a commodity. 

So, it deeply pains me to be put in a position where I have to condemn other artists, when I have spent most of my life uplifting and praising them. But the situation I am in currently, has long crossed the Rubicon, and has been repeatedly violating, revolting, distressing, and non-stop for the last three years now. It has been made loud and clear that the cruelty I am experiencing was targeted, intentional, and that the people behind it feed off my labor and suffering. 

In 2021, David Bazan of the band Pedro The Lion wrote to me through Twitter to tell me that he liked my solo EP. I had seen him in a performative setting and encountered him a few times previous to this, and it was always pleasant enough. I was ecstatic to hear such nice things from one of my favorite musicians and peers, especially during a time when I was really depressed and struggling from the weight of the pandemic and the cumulative trauma that I was experiencing around then. Later in the spring of 2022, I would meet up with him at his show in Atlanta when I was in the area housesitting. I was incredibly excited to get to hang out and put myself back out in the dating world again, as that is how this encounter felt like it was being presented to me. Little did I know what nightmare I was in for. Everyday, I wish that I could go back in time and never show up to that date… 

That night, I had mentioned to him that I had taken a few years off from seeing anyone, and most people in general, due to recovering from hardships, and that it was a lot for me to put myself out there again after so long. At the time, he seemed like he listened to me, but now after so much has unfolded in this multi-layered storyline, it is clear that he did not give one single fuck or was sensitive to any of my boundaries the entire time I engaged with him off and on over the course of a year, and that he was only pretending to care. 

Because now I know after several years of new information coming to light, having to do my own investigation to figure out What The Fuck happened, learning way more than anyone should ever have to about the Dark Triads, while also going through intense therapy to recover from the psychological torture inflicted upon me from this whole experience, while everyone in my life gaslit me because he’s so “nice”, I finally pieced this fucked up puzzle all together… this man blindsided me with a Hidden Agenda. He faked an ENTIRE relationship with me to simultaneously infiltrate and continue studying my life which I later learned that he had been doing for years and plagiarizing before we hung out, to coercively control me into sexual activity which he eroded my boundaries through subtle and constant manipulation and brainwashing, steal my identity, steal my longtime muse, and then isolate and sabotage me behind the scenes.

And every time I saw him he brought up the band Grandaddy. I didn’t understand why and just shrugged it off. I didn’t understand at the time that he was obsessed with Jason Lytle and was deeply and disturbingly jealous that I had any kind of relationship with him, even if it was just as a long distant muse. It is some American Psycho-level batshit kind of crazy envy. I didn’t have a lot of confidence then and don’t sit around thinking about how great I am, so it took me a long time to understand that I was targeted because of my qualities as a person and because of my actual empathy, and that I wasn’t the horrible person that he made me feel like or out to be. I am someone that he wants to emulate so that he can appear normal, and uses people like me to manufacture a personality. If it was socially acceptable, I honestly wouldn’t put it past him to Texas Chainsaw Massacre either mine or Jason’s skin. He is that obsessed. 

Oh, but wait, there's more! As if that wasn’t enough, I also learned that he has a secret partner that I was never told about. Another musician named Gia Margaret, who he has obviously groomed and taught to also study and steal from me. Who I only learned about after the fact, when I discovered her Twitter account from a repost he made, and saw that she had been referencing a lot of personal things that I had said to Dave intimately. As well as regurgitating things that I have said in interviews and posts, as if she came up with these thoughts herself. Which means that the entire time he was seeing me, he was sharing private details and funneling information about myself to her, which is incredibly violating and gross. All to help build up some kind of identity for her incredibly vapid and narcissistic up and coming music career. Because apparently, she also is an empty shell of a human with nothing to offer. And since then, she continuously stalks me and rips me off. It’s like if AI was a sociopath who lived vicariously through you and felt entitled to your life. It’s really fucking psychotic and obnoxious.

Believe it or not, I was Tom Ripley-ed by this disgusting Boris & Natasha styled-duo for their capitalist gain. 

And let’s not forget to mention the guy behind the curtain who pulls all the strings! After all these encounters with Dave, and probably even beforehand, him and his manager Bob Andrews of Undertow smeared and blackmailed me in a very calculated way offline, which I now know was to avoid a paper trail. That’s why you haven’t seen anything online yet. Because they know it’s all bullshit and if any of it were documented, that would be game over. Instead, they surveil my activity daily and post veiled, passive aggressive remarks and references, in an effort to keep spinning and evading all accountability for this massive cover-up. I am certain that Bob also has interfered with booking and musical opportunities of mine over the last couple of years (that all somehow mysteriously ghosted me), so that he can continue to silence me in his sycophantic role as Fixer.

What does this all remind you of?

Hmmmmmm…

starts with a C

and ends with an ult

There is so. much. more. to say. But for now, PLEASE avoid this high control gangster group of phony misogynistic plagiarizers at all costs. Protect your sanity and guard your soul from these emotional vampires. Support REAL people and not vain industry parasites, or aging, controlling irrelevant men who are desperate to be cool and to control women and youth.

I look fwd to reading what is sure to be a bullshit spin-doctored response. Or will they keep Posting Through It?

Either way, we don’t need anymore grooming sociopathic snake oil salesmen in this country. We have one too many as it is. 

Also, FUCK ICE

Much love to the actually nice, good, genuine, and hardworking dreamers of the world, 

T