Earlier today
Enter Shikari singer
Rou Reynolds was deriding bands that charged fans for meet and greets:
"If you want to meet us, we're easy to find after our gigs by our bus. We often still hang out by our merch at smaller shows too. : ) The minute an artist is motivated by money instead of interest in simply meeting his fans, he's lost all integrity and become a prostitute."
Additionally, when a fan Tweeted to Reynolds that
Asking Alexandria charged "£30 to meet them," Reynolds responded with:
"Bands like that had no integrity in the first place so doesn't bother me so much"
My gut says, "yeah, Reynolds is right! Fuck Asking Alexandria! All they care about is money!" However, my brain says, "Not so fast."
Is it possible that Asking Alexandria just has too many fans to approach meet and greets this way? I've never been to an Asking Alexandria show, so I have no idea, but I doubt they can "hang out" by their merch table without getting hung up for hours on end. I know Enter Shikari is big and stuff, but maybe they haven't crossed that threshold where raising the bar of entry is the only workable solution.
I'm not saying that Asking Alexandria members should ignore fans when opportunities arise, but to "officially" do meet and greets by their bus or merch tables after every show wouldn't be possible. And I could certainly say the same thing of other bands that have a lot of fans, whether it's the Deftones, Pearl Jam, or Metallica.
So that leaves Asking Alexandria with a choice: either don't do meet and greets, or charge for them.
[ thanks to ThePRP for the original intel ]