The frontman and founder of a controversial Victoria punk band was released on Tuesday after being jailed in Ohio during a U.S. tour by the band.
Murray Acton, who performs in the Dayglo Abortions under the moniker The Cretin, was arrested Aug. 30 along with guitarist Matt Fiorito in Ashland, Ohio, following an Aug. 29 performance at Cleveland venue No Class.
Fiorito is being held on drug-possession charges, according to criminal lawyer Jim Heller of Victoria, who is representing the musicians.
Mugshots of the two were posted to the website of the sheriff’s office of Ashland County, but no charges were revealed.
The band had been scheduled to perform 14 more concerts on the U.S. tour, which was expected to wrap up Sept. 14 in Charleston, South Carolina.
In recent weeks, the band performed in Oregon, Missouri, Texas and Florida.
Heller said Tuesday he has been in contact with Acton and Fiorito, as well as the arresting officers and county prosecutor handling the case.
Heller would not reveal details of the potential charges, which followed a traffic stop, but denied reports that the arrest had anything to do with immigration or border issues.
The band had purchased a van in which to tour the U.S., and had been driving the vehicle with temporary plates.
Acton and Fiorito had yet to be arraigned on Tuesday morning, so further details were not yet available, Heller said. “Once they get in front of a judge, they will talk about bail and how much bond is set at,” he said. “The matter is much in flux.”
Heller said the offences Acton and Fiorito were accused of were of a level that would never be prosecuted in Canada. “Very, very minimal possession charges, but you end up dealing with the jurisdiction that you find yourself in.”
Acton, who was born in Winnipeg, has lived in Victoria since 1971.
He started the Dayglo Abortions in 1979, and in 1988 became the focal point of an obscenity trial — the first of its kind in the history of Canadian law — over the content of songs he wrote on a pair of full-length recordings, Feed Us a Fetus (1986) and Here Today, Guano Tomorrow (1986).
The band was eventually dropped from the case, and its Toronto-based record company, Fringe Product Inc., was eventually found not guilty of possession of obscene material for the purpose of distribution.
