Asking Alexandria frontman Danny Worsnop has responded in depth to the widespread criticism surrounding the band’s June 15th performance at the RFK Stadium Grounds in Washington, DC, which kicked off this year’s Vans Warped Tour. The set—widely panned for its alleged overuse of backing tracks, lackluster energy, and technical issues—was livestreamed, amplifying the backlash across social media.
Appearing on the ‘Late For Load In’ podcast, Worsnop tackled the controversy head-on, offering an extensive breakdown of the factors that contributed to the much-maligned performance.
“I feel bad about it, but not for the reason they want me to be. I feel bad because people were given a very, very, very poor representation of the show, and a very inaccurate one, and that it was completely out of our control.”
According to Worsnop, last-minute staffing changes, technical malfunctions, and miscommunication surrounding the livestream feed were at the heart of the issue. He revealed that the band’s front-of-house and monitor sound engineers quit just before the tour began—taking vital equipment with them—leaving the group scrambling to troubleshoot during the performance.
The livestream audio, Worsnop claims, did not reflect what the crowd in attendance actually experienced:
“In reality, it was a really good show. I was on stage, jumping, running around… I did a couple of live screams. I don’t scream anymore, it messes my throat up… I was like, ‘This is gonna shut people up.’ It didn’t—SPOILER ALERT.”
He went on to explain that due to the audio routing, the band members could only hear limited elements of the mix in their in-ear monitors—namely the click track, kick drum, and vocals—leaving them to play much of the set by feel.
Worsnop also admitted to suffering from a sinus infection that day but stopped short of using it as an excuse. Instead, he pointed to a combination of unfortunate variables that culminated in what viewers at home perceived as a lackluster and heavily artificial performance.
“We weren’t in control of anything that went to the stream… [People] were just given a very bad representation of the show, and that combined with what I am speculating to be a very lazy camera guy… just didn’t give the people watching a positive experience at all.”
Regarding the use of backing tracks, Worsnop did not shy away from the topic, explaining their necessity given lineup changes and vocal limitations.
“The screams in the show are on backing tracks… I’m never trying to lip-sync it. I have far too much respect for the people I don’t like—and their intelligence level—than to try and trick them.”
He acknowledged that fans hoping for a return to the band’s earlier, heavier material may have been especially disappointed. But he emphasized that Asking Alexandria has long identified more as a rock band than a metalcore act, and that this direction has been deliberate since at least 2013.
“I’m 34 now, I’m not 17. And I’ve suffered multiple big damages to my voice… I tried to do that stuff again, and it was just very damaging. I’m not willing to risk my voice like that.”
The backlash, according to Worsnop, while loud, was ultimately from a relatively small number of people.
“There were almost 50 [negative] comments. So there aren’t actually that many. It’s just very loud… It just felt a lot like the entire thing was blown up really big.”
Despite being advised by bandmates to avoid discussing the incident publicly, Worsnop said he felt compelled to speak up due to how the situation bled into his personal and professional life.
He closed his comments by expressing regret that some fans had a negative experience but reiterated that the band did their best under the circumstances.
“I don’t lose sleep over it… I never want to disappoint people. But yeah, it just felt like the entire thing was blown up. Maybe if I had addressed it right away, it would’ve gone away quicker. Time will tell.”
You can hear the full interview with Danny Worsnop on the ‘Late For Load In’ podcast, where he also dives into online criticism, his other projects, and the uncertain but creatively exciting future of Asking Alexandria.
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If he’s not willing to scream then he needs to go back to We Are Harlot. The screams are what built Asking Alexandria to begin with.
Mere Fromsc that wont happen. The name asking alexandria is well known and he wants money..we are harlot never took off and got big which is unfortunet for us that asking alexandria is ruined now
Nathan Harper i agree completely on that. Hes only with the band for the money that comes with the name. Its sad really. I do like his voice, but he needs to respect the art and the fans and step aside if he cant do the songs everyone loves. He’d end up gaining more fans by taking that road than the one he is currently on.
Nathan Harper I seen them at sonic temple and I wasn’t impressed at all
Mere Fromsc i dont think its just him tho. The whole band chose to go in a mainstream direction. Im guessing its only about the money now and the bs where they didnt pay dennis the agreement they had on royaities. Seems like they are just being greedy now. Maybe thats why ben bruce left.
Nathan Harper i think it’s totally why Ben left, but who knows. They’re trying to pull a Bring Me the Horizon and change up their sound, but BMTH did it in a smoother way thats led to them accessing an entire other fan base. Same with In This Moment. I dont think they have played anything before the Blood album since that album came out. I get it to a degree, but I love the old stuff too.
Nathan Harper I remember him saying that Harlot was ready for stadiums🤔 bro ego was waaayyyyyy too big
Mere Fromsc could’ve but he said that there was a falling out with one of the main members, things got sour and their new record they were recording was shelved.
Mere Fromsc they weren’t even good screams
Robert Wells I don’t disagree, I just don’t think it’s my place to dictate what they do. He’s getting old, his vocal cords are changing. It happens.
Mere Fromsc it’s so weird to think you should have the ability to say what a vocalist of a band should or shouldn’t do lmao. It’s his band, his voice, his choice.
Mason Solimine freedom of speech, my man. Look it up
Mere Fromsc it’s not freedom of speech as much as it is freedom of opinion, which you’re right to have, but also posting it in a public forum like Facebook is opening said opinion up to be criticized by people who disagree with you. Your opinion is to wish to dictate what an artist does with their craft, and I’m telling you that’s a strange opinion to have.
Mason Solimine it’s an opinion, dude. Not a dick. Stop taking it so hard
Mere Fromsc man if the way you counter people who disagree with you is to use the least creative come back around then I guess that says all that I need to know and explains your opinion making skills lol.
Mason Solimine it basically is showing how little thought I am putting in to your attempt to judge me or begin to think that you know me. If you want to have a discussion like an adult then I am more than willing to talk to you, but when you try to come at me for having an opinion that had absolutely nothing to do with you, nah. Im good, man. Have the day you deserve.
Mere Fromsc that’s fine, I’m just here to say, where you post a negative opinion of someone, feel ready to have that opinion criticized. That’s all. Have a good day.
Mason Solimine nobody gives a fuck mason. They need to make metalcoe again or break up because tbey are trash and danny is dogshit at vocals now
Nathan Harper not your call 😉
If you want their old stuff, go listen to it.
Nathan Harper also plenty of people give a fuck, because they don’t have close minded single genre tastes. They actually have expanded interests and allow art to grow. Hence why AA is doing far larger numbers and earnings in 2023-2025 than they ever have before lmao
Mason Solimine to be fair Danny def sounds like shit live and it seems like a lack of effort. Sucks to say cuz Ive been a massive fan since 2009 but like lets be fr. With that said, saying they should break up is goofy and at the end of the day they can and should do whatever the fuck they want and if people dont like it they can go listen to something else. Perhaps just putting a bit more effort in live probably wouldn’t hurt tho.
Mere Fromsc it’s his band. He and the band can do what they want, not what you want, it’s never about what you want.
Jarrin Aerohead Davis yep, fans don’t matter at all
Mere Fromsc y’all don’t
Mere Fromsc I mean, couldn’t the band vote Danny out +2nd of all Dennis, which was pretty good not gonna lie I think a lot better however, Dennis not only wanted to change the bands name change direction of the band. He also ghosted the band when they were actually on tour back to back disappeared in a interview. Danny stepped up. I will help you guys out for the time being to finish the tours, I like Dennis, but to change the name change direction, especially ghost the band when you want to that’s not OK
I kind of feel like Danny needs to let go however he’s been in the band for many decades. It’s not easy. He should leave the band to save the band.
I guess he just wants to be just like Vince and axl well aware he can’t do it anymore but keep on putting on horrible shows and disappoint fans.. oh well 🤷
Shawnie D yet people are still gonna pay money so might as well keep milking it
Robert Wells U got a point there
Y’all have no clue how real he’s being. Getting old is hell on a metal vocalists throat. All I ever did was vocal covers, and now I even tense my voice if I get frustrated n it feels like I’m gargling sand or glass. Once that damage is done if you mess your throat up, you just messed it up for the next few days till it heals up. It fuckin sucks.
Matt Meserole it’s cause you were doing them wrong.
Phillips Ryan Timothy that I definitely was. Not the thing one should self teach. It was just a dream I got addicted to when I was 13 and stupid. N that kept going till I was like 19.. I woulda been pretty good at it if I’d started with a teacher. 🙁
Matt Meserole I blame him entirely. He’s the idiot that was getting so shit faced on stage that it required the band I have a intervention in front of the audience. Not too long after that his vocals go out what did he think was going to happen. I’m 32 years old and getting better at screaming. By the way almost every vocalist I know that had their vocal supposedly go out we’re all heavy drinkers. M shadows, Oli Sykes, Danny Warsnop. I see a common reoccurrence. Cocky front man think they’re untouchable don’t take care of themselves and then want to point the finger at everyone else instead of taking care of themselves.
Tyler RG if we sat down and talked with all of them I’d bet we’d get stories of the insane pressure and anxiety of the position that hits some people that leads them to substance use. Oli has been pretty open about his struggles. If a person isn’t on stable ground in life, the spotlight can wreck you…
Matt Meserole been there done that my friend. I’ve been an addict too. Alcohol is the one thing I’ve specifically stayed away from I’ve done a lot of s*** heavy s***. But in reality you have no one to blame but yourself for any of your problems and vocals as a self-made instrument they have no one else to blame.
Tyler RG I mean he also was a kid with no idea how to sing or scream properly when thrust into the spot by Ben and the band. They were supposed to share vocal duties after failing to find a vocalist. Danny took it over and had no idea or training on how to do it properly. Band took off so you start to think hell maybe im good at this, dont get the proper training in, then substance abuse hit, touring etc. Not going to realize the damage thats being done until its too late at that point. Was it his fault? Yes, to a certain degree. But this also started when he was a teen with zero guidance on how to move forward properly. Its a melting pot of all of it put together.
Tyler RG brother you might be good but you don’t scream nearly as much as a professional touring vocalist. Not to mention one that records almost constantly. He never takes a break. Go do that for 12 years and then get back to me.
Matt Meserole tell that to Mike Hranica
Hunter Harris that dudes a beast!
Matt Meserole everything about it. The lead singer for Papa Roach had two surgeries on his vocal cords. I don’t know if Danny had any surgeries I mean people get old people‘s voices change I get it. It’s heartbreaking. It’s sad those songs that we would love to hear them play live, and Danny just can’t do it. There’s nothing we can do about it.
I mean..the dude clearly didn’t take care of himself physically. 💁
Chris OldandCareful Greeno not even that, this is like the second or third time his voice has crapped out in that band. He needs a project that isn’t as demanding on him and that he can do his whole cowboy Skid Row influence band he wants so badly
Kain Dwan He is definitely not healthy. Look at him. Lol.
Goes a long way for the health of your voice.
Kain Dwan personally if he kicked up his other band he can do that full time. his voice was clean and good for the style
Kain Dwan this band isn’t that demanding for a voice
Sharpen up. Stop being lazy
Jordy Townsend you’re telling a grown man that’s been in the music industry for decades to sharpen up and stop being lazy clearly I’m assuming me and you have no education on music industry, etc., but to tell somebody to sharpen up and stop being lazy, especially when they’ve been a band for decades very interesting. Very interesting.
Dusty Roach Dude he needs to worry more about his profile picture 😅☠️☠️
I feel like if they want to continue to tour and make albums they absolutely need to bring in a new guitarist that can scream. Danny can just focus on the singing.
Fora Danny
🖕
The band has been in a deliberate rock direction since 2013. Well then Danny, how do you explain the black album in 2015 after you left. Then back to rock when you came back. It’s clear to me that only Danny wants to be rock and for some reason, the rest of the band has gone along with it.
Since Ben is gone……
Find a fill in guitarist that can yell and do rhythm guitar. Simple as that. There’s a lot I promise….
Joey Birchfield they had one. Not sure why he wasn’t on the Warped Tour gig
Phil Moody fr he was performing with them in a show before Warp Tour, kinda odd
Joey Birchfield they did and the “fans” STILL complained because it wasn’t Danny screaming 😂 these people are just looking for reasons to complain at this point
Alex Lopez it’s the only thing that makes sense to do to keep Danny around 😂
He’s saying they couldn’t play right because the audio routing had them “forced to play by feel”
Chat I’m not a musician but my intuition tells me this is fucking dumb
Henry Price sounds dumb but from unfortunately you’d be surprised like its ridiculous
Henry Price It is dumb.
If you need backing tracks to perform your songs, then you are charging people for karaoke.
Maroon 6
Let’s get real here. Let’s pretend Stand Up And Scream, Reckless And Relentless, and The Black never existed. The 5 remaining albums are solid Hard Rock albums.
But when it comes to AA live, Danny has always had instances where he did not put in the effort in certain parts of songs, both new and old material. Whether it was because it was because it’s too hard or impossible to do, or because he didn’t want to put in the effort.
But my honest take. I really think AA should take a haitus until Ben Bruce wants to return to the band because in reality he was the driving force of the band, and this would give Danny the time to focus on his solo material.
Brendon Loring it’s funny I saw them live 2019 blue Bridge rock Festival. Their time set was very short. I personally was expecting a lot more saw them recently last year I believe with Memphis May Fire asking Alexander was headlining. I was extremely extremely disappointed in asking Alexandra Memphis Mayfair was so much better so much fire so much energy
Dusty Roach they’re not a festival band. I saw them at Warped ‘18 and I was completely unimpressed. I saw them 3 other times in the last 10 years and they were great.
Brendon Loring you just said 10 years ago that were great which I assume they were great 10 years ago just like any other band. I forget those one band that was very local at a small venue called chain reaction that they blew up tremendously. I forget the name of the bandanyways we will see what happens with asking Alexandra if Danny can’t sing/scream specially do what he used to do doing back tracks back to back that would be very interesting.
Dusty Roach the first sentence is kind of confusing me. I’ve seen them as recently as 2023 with the Hu and they were great. It just seems like an ongoing trend that they don’t perform great as festivals.
Why the fuck did a Carls Jr ad frame the whole page of this article as I scrolled thru, blocking words on both sides and making the article unreadable for half a minute? I hope I never see your page again on my feed 🙏🏻
100% That’s what your voice sounds like when you’ve stayed up too late partying, don’t hydrate properly, or warm up before your set. If he’d admit it and move on, everyone would pry get over it. Saw them at Sonic Temple the month before and they sounded fine
Adam Treviño
His response made it so much worse lmao
Atleast be admitted he doesn’t like screaming lol
Thought this was The Fat Electrician-Official
“I dont scream anymore” bro what the fuck are you doing in a metalcore band then Danny. This is some major fucking horse shit.
Him not screaming anymore is news to me. I didn’t know that before I saw them in April for the first time since I found them back on stand up and scream. Literally following their whole career, and finally are playing a show reasonably priced in my area, and he just… Doesn’t perform what he should be performing. Idk, I want my money back.
Harley Draydon he had throat surgery a few years back and can no longer scream idk why they even attempted
Jonathon Hodgson I feel it would have been fine if I was informed “hey we won’t be screaming but we will deliver a great ass show” and then followed through with it. It’s a shame
Harley Draydon he hasn’t actually screamed screamed since he came back. But he stopped screaming a bit after From Death to Destiny came out.
Dylan Rogers yes I am aware of him having problems with his vocal chords during From death to destiny, but 2 albums later and he is still screaming in the albums
Harley Draydon I’d say that’s more telling than screaming lol. Plus I’m sure that’s Sam screaming on the albums cause I’ve seen he’s the one screaming live. If it is Danny actually screaming on the albums there’s probably autotune helping
Dylan Rogers as someone who saw the 10 years in the black tour, he for sure screamed when he came back. That was a phenomenal show
Justin McMahon Hey I did too! I wasn’t impressed with what I heard. Yeah I know him screwing his vocals up ruined a lot and that’s what keeps him from still screaming. But I mean, just hire another screamer. Simple as that…ooooor like I’ve been saying just give us Reckless and Relentless instrumentals and then Danny can do whatever with vocals. Cause there’s ways they can give us heavy while Danny clean songs like he wants. It’s just he doesn’t want to scream because he’d rather be in a “rock” band than a “metal” band.
Dylan Rogers I had a great time. At that show. I’ve just kind of accepted that I’m not getting the old stuff back. Some of the new stuff is ok, live doesn’t look great but oh well. Tons of bands out there
Justin McMahon oh for sure, I know Asking Alexandria will give us stand up and scream and that’s fair.
Stand up and Scream or Stand up and shoot yourself Danny. That’s how upset you have made me by all of a sudden deciding you hate that music.
Live performances aside I think their hard rock albums were fantastic, and I don’t think we need to attack him and his physical appearance or call him names because he’s no a 16 year old kid anymore? People are being kind of melodramatic
He’s like the Mariah Carey of metalcore ughh.
Edver Gian Gacutan those posers are not metalcore. Its screamo lame shit
If you need click tracks and backing tracks to perform your own songs, then you are lazy and not tight as a band. Just call it a career instead of ripping off your fans.
Who cares they fucking suck now
Bro is trash now, don’t bring the band down more than it already has been!
If he’s so over and embarrassed to be apart of the band that literally gave him all his fame and money then he should leave. Oh here’s an ida, join another band or go solo. I’m sure that’ll go great for him. Lmao. Literally dressed in head to toe black, could barely tell it was him and he put in absolutely no effort. Go sing country or glam rock if that’s what you want. Let somebody else take over for AA.