Marduk have spoken for the first time about the furore surrounding their show in Oakland last month that was cancelled at the last minute.
Police decided to pull the plug on the band’s performance at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in February as they believed there would be a “threat to public safety” as it would draw anti-fascist protestors.
A week before the gig was due to take place, the Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area had called Marduk a “black metal band with known white supremacist ties from Sweden that profits off of glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and anti-semitism.”
After researching the band, the venue found no indications that Marduk were “white supremacists, nationalists, or anti-immigrant” and wanted the gig to go ahead. However, after staff were reportedly threatened, and in consultation with police, it was decided the show would be scrapped.
Guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer tells Metal Wani: “The whole thing about that, I think, was really blown out of proportion. It’s actually a handful of kids who decide they want to judge what people should listen to or see.
“It’s the way they work there – not satisfied with anything in their lives, so they demonstrate and cause problems for other people.
“So I think it was really blown out of proportion. But the police decided to cancel it because of security reasons. Otherwise, the show would have happened, because the promoters wanted to do it.
“But we’ll be back over there in August/September.”
He adds: “Shit will always happen. Every circus has its clown. I’m not going to focus that much about it. We’ll get over it like we have done with a lot of problems in the past. So it’s no big deal.”
Marduk are now in Australia for several shows and will return to Europe from next month.
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