Sticky Fingers have publicly addressed Dylan Frost’s future with the band, revealing that the remaining members made the decision to continue without him after years of trying to make the lineup work.
In a Reddit AMA with fans, the band confirmed that Frost, known to fans as Dizza, “won’t be in the line up for the foreseeable future,” while also stressing that he remains part of the broader Sticky Fingers family.
The most direct explanation came from Beaks, who said he and Freddy Crabs were the ones who told Frost they felt the band needed to move forward without him.
“Crabs and I were the ones that told him we felt like continuing on without him,” Beaks wrote, adding that Frost was “cool with it” and even joked that he had someone they could use.
That someone appears to be Claude Bailey, who is now recording with the band as their singer. Sticky Fingers confirmed they are currently in the UK working on their next record with Bailey on vocals, describing the new material as some of their strongest work yet.
Fans had already started reading Bailey’s role as something more permanent before the AMA. Four days earlier, Sticky Fingers released a live version of “Australia Street” from Brooklyn Paramount, New York, with Claude Bailey on vocals. It was not a studio re-recording of the original, but it was still an official Sticky Fingers release with Bailey fronting one of the band’s defining songs — enough for fans to start asking whether he was now more than a temporary fill-in.
The AMA effectively answered that question. Bailey is not merely singing old songs on tour; Sticky Fingers say they are recording their next album with him.
“We’re recording the next Sticky record with Claude as the singer,” the band wrote. “Claude sounds amazing. The musicianship is the best yet and it’s def the most live sounding record we’ve got to date.”
The AMA marks one of the clearest public explanations yet of what has happened inside Sticky Fingers since Frost’s absence from the live lineup became impossible to ignore.
Paddy Cornwall said the band initially considered putting Sticky Fingers on ice indefinitely after “a series of on stage and off stage incidents” made it clear Frost was not able to continue in the same way.
“After a series of on stage and off stage incidents proving that Diz wasn’t gonna be able to continue, we, at first were pretty content with hanging up the Sticky boots indefinitely,” Paddy wrote.
The band said the decision was not made lightly, with members repeatedly describing Frost as a brother and saying they want to respect his privacy. In another answer, they said Frost had been unable to commit to the demands of being in the band, including writing, rehearsing and touring.
“It’s just been sometime now where Diz hasn’t been able to commit to the roles of being in a band,” the band wrote. “Whether that be rocking up to the studio to write, rocking up to practice to rehearse or even being able to commit to the demands of live touring.”
They added that Frost is “going through personal battles” and said they support him if he ever chooses to speak publicly about the situation himself.
“Moving on from Diz was the hardest decision this band ever made,” the band wrote. “But the real question was this. Do we stop now not knowing if or when we’d ever return, or do we carry on with a new found drive and energy to produce some of the best sh*t to date?”
The band said they chose the latter.
Frost does not appear to have publicly responded to the AMA or the band’s account of the decision. His last major public appearance in media came after a shoplifting charge over a roast chicken and iced coffee was dismissed, with Frost telling reporters outside court that he had been working on a solo album since COVID and that it was close to completion.
The wider public record around Sticky Fingers and Frost has long been messy, particularly around the Music Feeds / Sticky Fingers apology and the way corporate risk, editorial judgement and culture collided around the band’s public narrative.
Sticky Fingers, meanwhile, are pushing ahead with a new era. The band said they are recording their sixth album at Dann Hume’s Hymn Studios in Wales, with the record now in its final week of tracking. Seamus Coyle described the sessions as “a bit of an adjustment” with Bailey, but said the group are feeling good about the next batch of songs.
The band also confirmed Australian touring plans for next year, including Melbourne and all major cities, alongside plans for Europe, the UK and New Zealand around the release of the new record.
For longtime fans, the AMA answered the question hanging over the band’s return: Dylan Frost did not simply quit Sticky Fingers, and the band are no longer waiting for him to come back.
Instead, Sticky Fingers have made the call to keep going — without the voice that defined them, but with the name, catalogue and remaining members intact.
How Sticky Fingers Got Here
The Reddit AMA did not land in a vacuum. It arrived after a decade of huge highs, public ruptures, attempted comebacks, internal strain and unanswered questions around Dylan Frost’s future with the band.
The peak before the rupture
Sticky Fingers were not a marginal band when the public rupture began. In 2016, Westway (The Glitter & The Slums) became their first No. 1 album in Australia, landing them at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart just before the band’s internal and public issues became impossible to separate from the music.
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The public fallout begins
By December 2016, allegations involving Frost had become part of wider public discussion, and Sticky Fingers announced an indefinite hiatus amid what the band described as internal issues. The public record around that period later became fractured, with reporting, statements, apologies and online discussion all shaping competing versions of what happened.
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The comeback and the Hack interview
When the band returned in 2018, the comeback was immediately tied to unresolved questions around Frost’s behaviour, addiction, mental health and accountability. Their full-band interview on triple j’s Hack became another defining moment after Frost responded to questioning with “boys will be boys” and “Shit happens, man,” before saying he did care but found the subject difficult to talk about.
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Internal strain becomes public
The volatility was not only external. In 2021, Frost entered rehab following a court case centred on an altercation with Paddy Cornwall, while Cornwall was separately reported to have pleaded guilty to affray over the incident. That context matters now because the band’s latest AMA references “on stage and off stage incidents” and years of trying to make the lineup work.
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The band keeps moving, but the question remains
The Lekkerboy era carried its own signs of instability, and by 2023 the controversy around the band again spilled into the festival world. Bluesfest removed Sticky Fingers from its lineup after backlash and artist withdrawals, including Sampa The Great and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
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The band say they chose to move forward without him
That is what makes the Reddit AMA significant. Sticky Fingers did not frame Frost’s absence as a clean resignation. They said he “won’t be in the line up for the foreseeable future,” that he had been unable to commit to the demands of recording, rehearsing and touring, and that members of the band made the decision to continue without him.
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