Sex, drugs, and Macbooks – the wild forgotten story of Jonny Craig as Blue Dream finds new audience

Other videos see people drawing attention to the band’s name – Dance Gavin Dance – and surmising that Blue Dream is the reason Gavin is dancing.

The moniker doesn’t have a much deeper meaning than Jonny just wanted to use it for a band, any band, and so it stuck. But there’s so much more to discuss when it comes to this band.

The resurgence of Blue Dream has seen many fans of the band come out of the woodwork shocked that a song from their youth is doing the rounds once more, with many teaching a new generation the sacred lore of Dance Gavin Dance, and the many scandals Jonny has been involved in over the years.

What happened to Dance Gavin Dance?

Dance Gavin Dance formed in 2005 with members Will Swan, Matthew Mingus, Jon Mess, Alvaro Alcala, Eric Lodge, and Jonny.

Jonny joined Dance Gavin Dance after leaving his former band Ghost Runner On due to internal conflict.

The group released their debut album, Downtown Battle Mountain, in 2007, featuring the songs And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman and Lemon Meringue Tie.

In November 2007, Jonny was reportedly kicked out of the band due to substance abuse issues.

In a lengthy statement about the incident that led to Jonny’s sacking, the band wrote (per Lamb Goat): ‘After the Saints and Sinners festival last weekend our singer Jonny quit the band. The situation arose after he failed to show up to the majority of our first song, “And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman, in front of 2,000 or so people.

‘He then proceeded to continue his drug and alcohol binge of the previous night, making a fool out of himself in front of our friends and other bands.

‘Later in the night he got in an argument with our merch guy and tour manager as well as a member of the band and decided he would quit the band.’

The statement claims the band ‘attempted to reason with him’ and ‘moved his heaving drugged self to a friend’s hotel room’, describing it as a ‘typical series of events’ for the group.

‘Jonny has quit and rejoined the band in the morning numerous times. Unfortunately, after this much abuse, we were unable to continue to let Jonny continue with his usual idiotic ways, and we left him in New Jersey and drove home…’

Jonny was replaced by Kurt Travis, who in turn left the band in 2010 only for Jonny to rejoin.

This didn’t last long, however, with the vocalist leaving the band again in 2012 to be replaced by Tilian Pearson.

Both Jonnny and the band released conflicting statements as to why he left, with Dance Gavin Dance citing Jonny’s addiction issues, and Jonny saying he quit to focus on his solo career.

Tilian went on hiatus from the band in June 2022 after sexual assault allegations were levied against the singer.

He rejoined the band in November 2022, denying the allegations made against him.

Tragedy also struck the band in 2022 with the death of bassist Tim Feerick, aged 34, of a suspected fentanyl overdose.

In 2024, Dance Gavin Dance announced Tilian would no longer be part of the band, citing ‘creative differences.’

Dance Gavin Dance underwent numerous lineup changes, with Jon, Sean, and Eric all leaving and rejoining at different parts of the band’s career – without discussing touring members, and other newcomers who left over the years.

The current lineup includes Will, Matt, Jon, and Andrew Wells who joined the group in 2021 on clean vocals and backing guitar, before becoming the lead vocalist in 2024.

But if you thought Dance Gavin Dance was tumultuous, it isn’t the only band Jonny has been involved with that has faced tough times.

Which other bands has Jonny Craig been in?

This is where Jonny’s career becomes even more complicated and has spawned many TikTok videos explaining his MCU-level collection of successful, interlinked bands.

Just two weeks after first leaving Dance Gavin Dance, Jonny joined Emarosa after vocalist Chris Roetter left the band.

Jonny featured on the band’s debut album, Relativity, as well as the 2010 self-titled which followed before leaving the group in 2011.

His exit from Emarosa was particularly explosive and saw the revelation of the ‘Macbook scandal’ which dogs the singer to this day.

In a statement, the band said: ‘As of today, Jonny Craig is no longer a member of Emarosa. This decision has been a hard one to make, but we feel it is in the best interest for the band going forward.’

It came shortly after Jonny was accused of scamming fans out of thousands of dollars with the promise of sending them Macbooks which never materialised.

According to Loudwire, there are around 16 reports from people for an estimated total of $8,000 to $12,800 after falling for the fake Macbook ads. Rise Records and the Artery Foundation covered the costs for those affected by the scams.

Apologising to fans in a post, Jonny said his ‘state of mind was completely shot and obviously his decision-making skills were heavily impaired due to his drug use.’

It was reported at the time that Jonny entered a rehabilitation programme after the incident.

While he was touring with Dance Gavin Dance at the same time as being in Emarosa, and after he was kicked out, Jonny was replaced by none other than Tillian, before Emarosa hired Bradley Walden in 2013.

From 2008 to 2009 Jonny was also part of supergroup Isles & Glaciers with Chiodos’ Craig Owens and Matt Goddard, Pierce The Veil’s Vic and Mike Fuentes, Sleeping With Sirens’ Nick Martin, and Boys Night Out’s Brian Southall. The group released one EP in 2010 before quietly fizzling out.

Jonny was announced as a member of rock band Slaves in 2014, before being kicked out in 2019 – marking his third dismissal from a band in a short amount of time

Slaves said at the time: ‘We all have struggles in our daily life, but for some, those struggles are personally and physically dangerous.

‘It is no secret that Jonny has battled with addiction in his personal life, sometimes those battles are won, and most recently lost. It’s also unfair for a band to rely on someone who just can’t rely on themselves. Addiction is a disease, and we hope Jonny gets the help that he needs.

‘Unfortunately, Jonny chose his addiction over the band and left them high & dry while checking in for their international flight while he boarded a plane back home.’

He was replaced by The Voice contestant Matt McAndrew, before Slaves called it quits in 2020.

Dance Gavin Dance, Emarosa, and other similar bands have so much overlap when it comes to their past and present members, that some Reddit users have gone as far as creating diagrams explaining their connections.

And honestly, it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep up.

And what happened to Jonny Craig?

Outside of his music career, Jonny has faced numerous legal issues over the years.

In October 2011, he was jailed for two counts of possession of narcotics, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, and one count of failure to appear on a felony charge which forced Dance Gavin Dance to cancel their tour at the time.

Four years later, in 2015, Slaves were kicked off the Vans Warped Tour after Jonny was accused of bullying and sexually harassing a merchandise worker.

In 2017, several ex-girlfriends of Jonny accused the singer of sexual assault, which caused Slaves to be dropped from Artery Recordings.

Jonny’s ex-girlfriend Taylor Nicole Dean accused him of sexual assault and domestic violence in a video posted to her YouTube account in 2019.

Taylor claimed that she began using heroin while in a relationship with Jonny, with her family forcing her to enter a rehabilitation centre to become sober.

Jonny has denied these accusations and threatened legal action against his accusers in a lengthy statement shared online.

In 2020, Jonny welcomed his son Storm with ex-fiancée Sydney England, with the couple later splitting and committing to co-parenting their child.

The artist was arrested in the same year for domestic violence, speaking to The Punk Rock MBA Podcast about how he was ‘drunk’ and ‘arguing’ with Sydney when the altercation occurred.

‘I didn’t think and I shoved her,’ he said, explaining that the charges were later dropped.

These days, the singer spoke about celebrating three years of sobriety in a 2024 interview, reflecting on how he finally overcame his addiction issues.

‘I’ve had band members that struggled so hard to get me sober… family… friends. And at one point, they were all gone. It was just me,’ he told Melodic Mag.

‘This time I feel like it’s actually for me. Something in my brain just clicked. I just actually wanted to be sober for once.’

He continued: ‘My son is just the biggest motivation for me. He’s a small carbon copy of me and it is the coolest thing ever to have a little mini me.’

Jonny has even responded to the trend, sharing his own video singing along to Blue Dream.

He jokingly wrote over the footage: ‘Idk who this Jonny Craig guy is but this song slaps’, listening to it with a young boy who appears to be his son Storm.

Jonny recently poked fun at the Macbook scandal, with a unique giveaway on his Instagram page.

‘You know as an artist, all we wanna do is give the fans exactly what they want. And there’s one comment that I get more than any of them. I know it’s hilarious. It’s been almost 15 years, but it’s still funny. The MacBook comments,’ he said in the video, which sees him and Storm get a haircut together.

‘So, with that being said, we’re here to do something special. I want to give away 5 13-inch MacBook Air’s and this is what you gotta do to get it. You gotta follow it, you gotta like it and you have to share this video,’

After sharing what you need to do to take part, Storm says to the camera: ‘You can get them for free. They’re all for free. Thank you guys. I appreciate it.’

So in the year 2025, you might actually get a Macbook from Jonny Craig and Blue Dreams is going viral.

Jonny is still making music as a solo artist as well as with his new band Old Flame.

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