Creativity Quote by Trevor Dunn

There is something almost punk about how unglamorous this is: a tour, that most fans imagine as pure adrenaline and freedom, reduced to a logistical shrug and a blunt accusation. Trevor Dunn’s line isn’t crafted for posterity; it’s a musician letting the industry’s back office leak into the public story. That casual phrasing, “a bit up in the air,” is the language of uncertainty people use when they’re tired of improvising around someone else’s incompetence or bad faith. Then he snaps the curtain open: “we are getting screwed.” No euphemisms, no “creative differences,” no PR varnish.

The intent is pragmatic and protective. He’s setting expectations for fans while also applying pressure to a specific bottleneck: the overseas label. In one sentence he names the villain, claims the moral high ground, and signals that the band’s instability isn’t artistic flakiness but corporate obstruction. The subtext is solidarity, too: “we” frames the band as a unit absorbing the hit together, and it invites listeners to join that “we” emotionally, as if the audience is also being shortchanged by a distant entity holding the keys.

Context matters: touring is where many bands actually survive, especially outside the major-label safety net. For a group like Mr. Bungle, whose appeal lives in cult devotion and live-wire unpredictability, a tour isn’t just commerce; it’s the main channel of connection. Dunn’s candid frustration captures a recurring cultural reality: the art is local and human, the gatekeepers are international and transactional, and the friction shows up right where fans feel it most - in the missing dates.