Chaos In Tejas update. →

dansolomon:

Last night, I got word from someone close to the festival that Chaos In Tejas would no longer be featuring Disma, the New Jersey death metal supergroup whose lead singer’s was still endorsing his white power side project as recently as last summer.

I haven’t heard anything from the band or the festival directly — frankly, I’m not sure any of them are still talking to me at this point — but the source on this is very confident that this is a fact, and I hope that it is. I’d very much like to be able to write about how this Austin music festival that I have always really liked is a leader in taking a no Nazis allowed stance. (NPR hasn’t yanked down its Disma page yet, you know?)

Creeping acceptance of this stuff happens when you don’t take a stand. Most of the people I’ve talked to about this, or whom I’ve read comments from on blogs, cite the fact that Disma is on a well-regarded label (Profound Lore — also not answering questions right now) and has a respected member of a few hardcore bands involved, as proof that there can’t really be a problem. Everyone tends to take a “well, if they were really that bad, someone else would have said something” approach to this. That’s why Chaos In Tejas dropping the band is such a big deal — they get to be the someone else who said something. It is not a really fun position to be in, but it’s important.

I’ve learned — and been told — over the past week that this is just kind of an accepted thing in certain underground metal scenes. That there are apolitical bands and Nazi bands, and the apolitical bands may sometimes play shows or put out records with the Nazis, but it’s just kind of an acceptable lifestyle choice here, like being vegan. That’s scary for a lot of reasons, and I am really eager to receive confirmation from Chaos In Tejas that they’re standing against that. Someone has to.

Quick update on this update, for those who care: Disma is definitely off Chaos In Tejas, though the festival is putting a lot of distance between themselves and this decision, either because they genuinely never cared about the fact that they booked Nazi bands or because they don’t want to be called PC liberal fags on black metal message boards. In any case, the decision is being attributed to Disma themselves, who made the call to avoid “drama.”

In any case, fewer Nazis in Austin in May are still fewer Nazis in Austin in May, so I’m cool with this. Just cross out all the bits about Chaos In Tejas and “leadership” or “taking a stand.” It reads like cowardice on Disma’s part, not wanting this story to blow up any further than it is (though the comments on this post at Brooklyn Vegan seem to indicate that it’s pretty well out there now, so that’s nice).

In any case, thanks to everybody who reblogged this stuff, or shared the CultureMap story, or otherwise gave a shit. Most of the really vocal comments on this have not, as you might imagine, been particularly thoughtful (I may do a greatest hits post of them, if I get bored), and I am really psyched that the quiet majority of people seem to all be in agreement that this is something to take seriously.

More on this thing about Disma, Chaos In Tejas, and Nazi metal

I spent most of yesterday and the night before researching, emailing, and learning about Nazi skinhead heavy metal. As you might imagine for a dude named Solomon*, this is a scary world to look into.

I wrote about it for CultureMap, because three of the bands announced on Friday as playing the Austin music festival Chaos In Tejas have Nazi skinhead ties. (Two of those bands, Black Witchery and Disma, are still on the bill. The band who was outright and explicitly an “openly anti-Jew” act was removed after other bands on the bill threatened to pull out of the festival.)

The story’s out there, and it’s getting read, which I’m glad about. But I’m still really upset about it. I told Timmy Hefner, who books Chaos In Tejas (and who is mighty pissed at me today, it seems), that this is bigger than his festival, and it is. In fact, that’s what I’m so frustrated about.

I could give a fuck about Black Witchery, for the most part — they are a very small band playing to a very small audience, and if they are happy to release material through a Nazi label, well, aside from this particular gig, they seem to be experiencing the sort of career that one might expect. That is to say, they’re an extremely marginalized act who seems to play mostly to people who have no real problem with Nazi skinhead bands (as evinced by the countless posts on forums and message boards that cry, “Who cares about politics, I just want to hear some cool bands!”). Nazi skinheads have rights, too, and I would never suggest that they ought not be allowed to play music to and for one another.

It’s Disma that I am really bothered by. They play death metal, and death metal bands very rarely have any chance of breaking through to the mainstream. For some reason, though, Disma is pushing to be that very rare exception. They’re on a respected metal label — Profound Lore — and their album debuted with an NPR stream, which is usually reserved for, like, Conor Oberst and The Roots and stuff like that. They took slot #5 on Pitchfork’s Top 40 Metal Albums Of The Year. They haven’t played very many shows outside of New York, but their last one was at The Cake Shop, which is a respectable venue, and they’re likely to play legit clubs when they tour.

And their singer, Craig Pillard, had a side-project called Stormfuhrer and if you click his name back there, the link is to an interview where he talks about the greatness of Hitler and the wickedness of the Jews. The album, by my understanding — I opted not to listen to it! — features a bunch of samples from speeches by Nazi leaders, and the CD is definitely decked out in swastikas.

But wait, you say, that interview is from 2002, and he changed the name of Stormfuhrer to Methadrone a few years ago! And while it is true that people are capable of having deeply troubling pasts, while also changing and becoming good people, there’s no evidence that Pillard has done so, aside from the fact that he’s playing in a non-Nazi band right now that made a good record.

But he did re-issue the Stormfuhrer record last summer, and — in an absurdly cowardly gesture — opted to keep his name off of it on the Internet, while putting his name literally on it by signing each copy by hand. Not, typically, the move of someone who is ashamed of his Nazi past.

Instead, it’s the move of someone who is flirting with mainstream success who doesn’t want to jeopardize it, but who also declined to be interviewed about his background for the CultureMap story, and who clearly is proud enough of his Nazi past that he’ll sign his Nazi record.

Which is so aggravating for two reasons: One, what a cowardly fucking thing to do. If you’re going to make Nazi music, then own it, dude. If you’re proud of the shit you’ve said and produced, and of what you believe, then take that shit on. Doing it under the table — and letting your bandmates speak up for you — is pathetic.

But more importantly: It’s clearly working. I mean, I am going to assume that NPR had no idea that Pillard was endorsing his Nazi record at the same time they were promoting Disma. It’s possible, based on a statement that Disma member Daryl Kahan sent me, that his bandmates don’t even know. Timmy from Chaos In Tejas knew about his past, but told me that he was under the impression that he’d put all of that behind him.

And that is not good enough. If you’re making Nazi music, your playing opportunities should be restricted to playing some white power shows in a basement somewhere. Even if you have a non-Nazi band too, your platform should not be elevated. If four of the guys in the band aren’t Nazis, and one is, then they should find a new fucking singer. It’s not that hard, really — in this type of music especially, creeping white power and anti-Semitic views are insidious, and they need to be taken seriously. There are tons of talented people who’ve got nothing to do with Nazis, and it’s super easy to just work with them instead.

A music subculture that has a history of racism and anti-Semitism needs to be especially cautious with who it invites in. Excusing Craig Pillard because the band he’s currently playing in doesn’t openly express the same views as his previous project, which he was still endorsing last summer, opens the door to a lot of ugliness. Ultimately, it says that a little bit of Nazism is okay, as long as you keep it away from the stage. That’s nowhere near good enough.

It’s not about Chaos In Tejas, or NPR, or Pitchfork, or the Cake Shop. It’s about so many people turning a blind eye to this because the band is hot.

Maybe they didn’t know — but if that’s the case, share the story and help me tell them. This is not okay.

*I’m not Jewish, but my family on my dad’s side is, and I have personally encountered enough people who don’t like Jews who didn’t consider that a distinction worth considering that it makes me nervous.