Alabama Shakes drummer Steven William Johnson was arrested earlier this week on multiple child abuse charges in Limestone County, Alabama, according to Huntsville’s WHNT. A Grand Jury indicted him on charges of “willful torture, willful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise willfully maltreating a child under the age of 18.” His arraignment is scheduled for April 7, 2021.
Last March, Johnson pleaded guilty to a 2019 violation of a domestic violence protection order in March of last year, according to WHNT. He’s a founding member of Alabama Shakes and played on both 2012’s Boys & Girls and 2015’s Sound & Color. The group went on hiatus in 2018 as frontperson Brittany Howard turned her focus toward her solo work. Pitchfork has contacted Alabama Shakes’ representatives for comment.