BOOD AXIS in SF: Cancelled by Hippies.

Question:

thank you for posting this info and interview….I went to the Blood Axis show in Portland and I was initially disturbed…but I dug deeper into my own reactions and forced myself to confront a few issues. As an artist (painting, drawing) who works in extreme ideas and images, I have had to deal with constant misinterpretations of my work and for once I found myself on the other end of it after seeing Blood Axis. I thank Mr Moynihan for presenting me with the ammunition I needed to get off of my own moral high horse and practice what I preached…I look forward to future shows and works by him.

Response:

I booked this show. Here is a copy of the email I sent to the press last night in regards to this matter. Many pathetic details are omitted. Also included is a statement from M. Moynihan in response to his critics. -Terrorbat Here’s a story for you…. Tonight (mon. 10/5) was the night of the Blood Axis show I told you about a few weeks ago. Blood Axis is a "dark Ambient" sort of band that I like alot, so I booked ‘em a show at the Paradise. The front man of this band (Micheal Moynihan: author of Lords of Chaos etc. See press release) has been known to flirt w/ "fascist" imagery, and has made some rather extreme statements in past interviews. Fine with me…I appreciate a brutally un-sypathetic veiw towards humanity now and again. I also appreciate an artist who flirts w/ dangerous ideas. Thats what rok-n-roll is s’posed to do, no? Apparently, some of Mr. Moynihan’s past statements have pissed a few "Dudley Do-right" types off to the point that they’ve been running around harrasing any venue that has the gaul to book Blood Axis. Here’s what happened: I woke up this afternoon to a phone call from a freind, who had just received a flyer which demonized M. Moynihan to the point where one would think him Hitler incarnate. This flyer also called for a demomnstration at and boycott of the Paradise Lounge. I then recieved a call from the P-dise, who had been getting threatening calls all day from these same angry socialist hippie thought police. A decision was made that the show would occur as planned..after all, this is a free country supposedly…right?? I guess not, because when I arrived at the club later (about 8:30 pm or so) the whole place was closed. I guess a bunch of PC fascist demonstrators showed up w/ signs that read "no free speech for fascists!" (HA HA HA HA )…and the lilly-livered Paradise lounge backed down. I don’t agree with the personal veiwpoints of alot of the bands that I book. Plenty of all-Latino death metal bands have sceamed "kill white people!" onstage at Lucifers Hammer. If Louis Farrakan(sp?) had a decent Black Metal band, I would book that shit immediately. This is "extreme music", after all. I listen to the music of Blood Axis because I like it. There is absolutely no racist or nazi content in the lyrics whatsoever! Anyway, this selfsame bunch of goody two-shoes enemys of free speech pulled a similar stunt up in Seattle. A comprehensive story/ interveiw w/ Moynihan will be appearing in the Seattle Rocket this coming issue. Below is a recent statement from Mr. Moynihan in response to his critics. Who are the real fascists? You decide. -Godslayer I am happy to clarify and explain my comments and beliefs to anyone who is willing to behave intelligently. I will state a few things which address these issues: 1) Blood Axis is not a skinhead band. People like the Freedom Socialist Party who make such claims are deliberately lying, and in fact using lies for political purposes, which personally I find quite reprehensible. 2) I am not an "anti-semite" and to label me as such is deliberately creating a falsehood. But I am also not a humanitarian, and I will state outright I do not believe in any kind of elusive notion about a "sanctity of human life" and I would challenge anyone to prove to me that such a thing exists. I also do not believe in moral concepts of "good" and "evil" and thus am not particularly upset about episodes in history where large numbers of people died. I am not a Holocaust Revisionist, but I also do not really care about the Holocaust one way or the other. I don’t feel responsible for it, and while it may mean a lot (understandably) to some people, it has nothing to do with me. Until laws are passed that insist that everyone feel moral concern over any and all unpleasant events from history, I will continue to not care about it one way or another. I fail to see how this makes me "anti-semitic," but maybe I just need to enroll in some special sensitivity training. 3) While the protesters and activists believe me to be a "fascist" or "neo-Nazi," I do not think these terms are particularly meaningful in the first place, nor do they reflect MY views. One flyer from the activists states: "New words, Old ways, Mr Moynihan. Misanthropy does not mask racism." I don’t consider myself a misanthrope either, so they are wrong on that account too. One this same flyer they even reprint a quote where I clearly state that I do not think the terms "fascist," "National Socialist (Nazi)," reflect my views, yet they claim I am only saying this to hide my real agenda. Obviously it is impossible for people with the mentality of these activists to understand anything which is not easily categorized with kneejerk labels. Instead of talking to me and finding out whether my views are one and the same with "fascism" or "Nazism," (and they are certainly NOT) the myopic protesters are happy to assume they are, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. There is a word in the english language for such behavior, and it is usually ascribed to people like Nazis. It is: prejudice. Not only are the activists willing to slap kneejerk labels on anyone who they feel represents a different set of opinions than their own, they’re willing to deliberately spread these inaccurate labels to others in the form of print propaganda, email, word-of-mouth, etc. This is a form of witchhunt behavior which could be aptly described as "reverse McCarthyism." 4) I am not a "white supremacist", and I clearly state this even in the "unacceptable" interviews from which the activists have culled their "evidence." 5) Contrary to the uninformed contentions of the activists, there is nothing "political" about a Blood Axis performance. As a rule the band doesn’t even speak during the pauses between songs. I would challenge anyone to find a single anti-semitic or racist line in any of our songs. It’s simply not there. If any of these numbskulls ever bothered to listen to one of our records, they could have figured this out. It is most profoundly ironic of all that the activists claim to be stamping out totalitarian ideas, yet they themselves should be congratulated for an incredible display of ignorant, uninformed, and intolerant behavior. They’ll make perfect thought police in a future fascist state. And in summing up the whole affair, it is very profoundly ironic that if those who dislike what they think our views are would have simply IGNORED us and our show, then I imagine about 200 people might have showed up who wanted to see us. They would have watched the performance and gone home, end of story. Instead, because of the inane activism on the part of the protesters, we have received massive amounts of publicity which would have probably never otherwise gotten, been paid a large cancellation fee on the show, and will come back in January and play the concert which should have taken place on Tuesday. In my personal opinion, the only thing the activists have really demonstrated is the incredible high quotient of foolishness. Signed, Michael Moynihan 9/30/98 LUCIFERS HAMMER "All Metal, All the Time" Every Tuesday night, 9 pm, 911 Folsom st. SF **21 and over**

Response:

Filed under: Boycott

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

TrackBack URL | RSS feed for comments on this post.

Activism Change

Learn, read, react :: Activism