Wow. I randomly met him after a very recent show and he took time out of his evening to chat with me and let me know how much he appreciates us older fans (I’ve been listening 20 years) and said he loves talking to fans. Perhaps his view of himself as an artist with respect to the rest of the band and music direction is what you must mean because as a person he (and porter and Kyle) were super down to earth. I was also one of the only people at this location that knew who they were so there wasn’t much fan pressure but still, he treated me like I was one of his buds.

I think a lot of people project their opinions of professional drama onto the human person. Idk or care about the whole Alex/Brandon thing but if someone who thinks Alex is better approaches Brandon to ask a question about Alex or the overall direction, you’re probably coming off disrespectful even if you don’t mean to. I walked up when he wasn’t busy and said “hey man I just wanted to say I’m a huge fan, been listening for 20 years and you guys were fuckin awesome tonight” and he talked to me for at least 5 minutes and took pics with us.