Satan's Fashion Police.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

They haven't posted any tour reports or photos in a few days though, so micko must have been right about them deciding to keep quiet and pass the rest of the UK tour under the radar. Smart!

[open face surgery]

They played Bristol tonight. So what gig was actually cancelled?

[Mithrandir]

Looks like the Glasgow show may have been the only one cancelled in the end.

[Pagan Saviour]

Have we gone up a level? More and more bands cancelling themselves!!!

It is with a heavy heart that we will no longer be appearing at this year's Resurrection Festival.
As a band we cannot justify performing at an event sponsored by Repsol, one of the world's 50 largest emitters of CO2 (InfluenceMap, 2022) who continue to prioritise investment in oil and gas over climate solutions and to develop new fossil fuel projects (Delaporte, Her and Gebel, 2024).
While Repsol are sponsoring the event to promote the usage of HVO in place of traditional fossil fuels at Resurrection, studies show the environmental destruction caused by these fuels through industrial deforestation and stress on land resources vastly outweigh any benefits (Einride, 2020).
We do not wish to participate in the rehabilitation of one of the world's biggest polluters by performing at an event which has them as a main sponsor.
We sincerely apologise to anyone who was coming to see us at the festival and we hope to be back in Spain soon.

The climate thing in particular is odd when it comes to a touring act. I presume the band weren't cycling to the festival or any of their other booked dates. You'll get the "We're only a small contributor" Vs "Corporate Contributor" argument but it doesn't wash really. I haven't seen any bigger acts take this stance of threatening to cancel yet, seems to be a younger, woke phenomenon. In terms of acts with actual clout you will hear the like's of Coldplay's insufferable Chris Martin shite on about Carbon Neutral touring, but if you're turning on the lights at Croke Park for half a million people over a weekend it ain't carbon neutral unless the light show and amps are being powered up by a little auld'fella back stage cycling a bike.


Or what about this one?

In a dramatic turn of events, the hardcore band Dying Wish has issued an ultimatum to the organizers of Download Festival XXI, set to commence at Donnington Park in Leicestershire, England. The band has threatened to withdraw from the festival unless Barclays Bank, a controversial sponsor with alleged ties to the Israeli military, is removed. This bold stance comes just hours before the festival's opening, adding a layer of tension to what is typically a highly anticipated event for metal music enthusiasts.

Earlier today, Dying Wish took to social media to make their demands clear. They stated unequivocally that they "will not be involved" with the festival if Barclays remains a sponsor. The band's post read, "Either Download will drop the Barclays sponsorship or we will be dropping the festival. We will not be involved without it. We appreciate your patience over the last few days as we sort this out. Shout out to every band and person involved in the boycott and FREE PALESTINE."

The controversy centers around Barclays Bank's alleged financial involvement with companies that supply weapons and technology to the Israeli military. This has sparked outrage among several bands and activists, who accuse the bank of indirectly supporting the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The situation has escalated to the point where Dying Wish, along with other bands like Scowl, Pest Control, Ithaca, Speed, and Zulu, are prepared to boycott the festival if their demands are not met.

Pest Control, one of the bands that has already pulled out, issued a statement explaining their decision. They accused Barclays of overseeing "billions of dollars in investments and loans to companies whose weapons and technology are used in Israel's onslaught against the Palestinian people." This sentiment is echoed by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Bands Boycott Barclays, both of which have been vocal in their opposition to Barclays' involvement in various music festivals.

Absolutely no disputing the gravity of the situation in Gaza. But scanning the list of sponsors attached to Download and thinking where to feckin start!!!! The other side of it is it's a ridiculous protest in some ways - the festival will lose about 10 pounds with bands like that dropping off, also way to kill your potential career by pissing off organisers. The band might've been better off playing and getting their message out from the stage, though I really despise that kind of stuff. You're at these things to forget about what's going on in the world for a while.

[Eoin McLove]

Oh no, who, who and fuckin who cancelled! Muppets.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Lankum signed on to a letter that got Barclays dropped as a sponsor from the upcoming Latitude festival just a couple weeks ago. Actually, just verifying that here, turns out Barclays have dropped all their festival sponsorship, incl Download:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgg13nn0kgo

Principles aside, protest can definitely work in a band's favour in certain circumstances. All the Irish bands, including Kneecap for example, who pulled out of SxSw festival in Texas earlier this year, they got much wider global publicity out of that move than they would have by performing and saying nothing. So, even taking the cynical angle (and presumably in the case of some bands it's the right angle to take) it's not necessarily a losing ticket. Those Download bands whose names I've already forgotten, I wouldn't have even heard of them in the first place if they'd just played 

[Pagan Saviour]

Wasn't aware of the Kneecap thing, or Lankum for that matter but I'm not 100% sure it changes my stance on things. Are we just going to have a scenario where bands are cancelling things left right and centre? It's a frickin minefield, you'd have to be cleaner than clean yourself for a start. Which ironically enough Kneecap aren't - they court controversy when it suits them. Now I don't particularly care - in the context of what they are it's to be taken light heartedly but when they get on their soap box then it changes things.

Good shout about the protest working in a bands favour - given the nothingness nature of the two examples I pulled maybe it's part and parcel of the PR package?

[Trev]

Never heard of them, looked at the rest of the Download lineup and haven't heard of 80% of the other bands

The big companies sponsoring these things are all full of shitty practices, if they keep getting pressured to pull out you'd wonder on the future of these size festivals

[Sworntothecans]

Scowl & Speed are two of the most popular upcoming hardcore bands at the moment and Pest Control came up through the DIY punk scene(as did Lankum) so fair play to them for sticking with the boycotts.

It's definitely a minefield but whatever folks can do helps in the long-run.

[Pagan Saviour]

Genuinely asking, is it helping though? Is it making a difference?

The emissions protest from resurrection fest is doing sweet fuck all I can tell you unless that band have figured out how to walk to shows or power their amps using solar panels.

The boycott businesses maybe is murkier, remove one, great but look at the lists on some of these things - Hellfest for example.

[Sworntothecans]

There's probably a fair few of sponsors waiting in the wings when a sponsor pulls out on the level of Hellfest etc. No one likes leaving money on the table.

[Pagan Saviour]

What I meant was there's twenty or thirty sponsors attached to something like Hellfest. A band singles out one because their beliefs or practices don't align with theirs. But the 29 other sponsors are clean? Not a hope.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Nothing in life, not even life itself, works on the basis of "unless perfect results are guaranteed, do nothing." Things, certain corporate activities, certain attitudes, etc., becoming taboo is incremental, and in that sense things do/can help in the long-run.

[Pagan Saviour]

I absolutely appreciate that. But if you're singling out a sponsor, I think you've got to look at them all. If you're singling out an ideal, same thing. Where does it stop? A band on the bill has different ideals to us, we're not playing, blah blah. Your quote is great, and I lobbed in the initial examples to get a discussion going which we have done, but the word perfect is used in respect to results or outcome. Do any of these protests achieve anything beyond minor nuisance? It's not Tiananmen Square stuff, I'd nearly park it in the category of internet activism.

[Eoin McLove]

That's exactly what it is. At its most effective it is as BSC said above, canny self promotion. So where does that leave the idealism? I am naturally averse to this carry on anyway, but if they were really serious about it, if they are willing to pull out of any festival that has the wrong band or the wrong sponsor, then why agree to it in the first place? You only really end up fucking over the promoter who is the one putting it all on the line to get your irrelevant arse there in the first place.