Rob “the metal guy” vs. Antifa Part 3: The SJW Apocalypse

    I could have sworn that I wrote an article last year expressing my disgust of Antifa after shutting down the Marduk show in Oakland. Before that article I am pretty sure that I wrote an article about them ruining Graveland’s festival appearance in Montreal. Does it ever end with these assholes?

    It seems to me that this is an ongoing battle and I don't understand how Antifa keeps getting away with their SJW crusades against black metal bands. These people twist facts, make irrational claims and pretty much shutdown anything that they believe is promoting Nazism. I swear they act more like Nazis than anyone else on this planet!

    The story going around this time is that the Norwegian back metal band, TAAKE, had their New York show cancelled thanks to Antifa pressuring the venue to pull the plug on the show. The venue released a statement I read saying they were cancelling the show due to the fact that they promote a safe space for people at their shows and the concert conflicted with that belief. In my opinion the reason was complete garbage and we all know that the venue did it because they were afraid of Antifa showing up and causing problems. Just another venue that could not standup for freedom of speech and decided to give into this terror groups demands.

    As of recent though the news that I found out yesterday which really prompted me to write this article is that the artist, King Dude, who was the opener for TAAKE on this tour, decided to drop off the tour because of the controversy. Plus, he does not want to be around an environment that promotes hate, yet he still claims to be a satanist. In the end, he too is a spineless humanoid who is trying to appease the SJW types. Instead of standing up for the band that was allowing him to open for them, he has shown his true cowardly colors and should have never been given the chance to open for TAAKE to begin with.

    Okay, maybe I should discuss the reasons why TAAKE is being labelled a “Nazi” band just to shutdown all the braindead Antifa trolls. In 2007 during one of their shows in Germany, longtime member and really the main guy behind TAAKE, Hoest, appeared on stage with a swastika painted on his chest along with an upside down cross. Now in Germany it is illegal to display the swastika and the band was forced to cancel the remainder of their shows in Germany. Hoest denies that he did it trying to glorifying Nazism and instead was using it as shock value and as extreme symbolism for an extreme form of music.

    What most people keep missing in all these arguments about bands being supposed Nazis is that sometimes using Nazi imagery is to add shock value to the music and performance. Extreme music since its roots has been controversial and different topics about evil have been explored in different ways. You cannot censor extreme music, because that opens the gates to more possible censorship of artists. People need to also understand that if you don’t agree with it, you don’t have to support the artist, but that does not mean you can prevent others from supporting that artist.

    Once again, Antifa is creating a more fascist environment by forcing the cancellation of concerts in America. Also, people like King Dude remind us that instead of thinking about freedom of speech, people only think for themselves and show their true colors when faced with protecting extreme music. I will be honest and say that I am not a die hard TAAKE fan, however, the reason I wanted to write this article is that I understand the frustration when it comes to a band you enjoy having their show cancelled and getting exaggerated accusations thrown at them. When it happened to one of my favorite bands, Graveland, I instantly started writing my first article about Antifa and their complete stupidity as an organization.

    In conclusion, this must stop! We as extreme music fans need to standup for artists and protect freedom of speech and artistic expression. Venue owners must tell Antifa to screw off and not bow down to their terroristic threats. We shall avoid the SJW Apocalypse and we shall feel free to enjoy our black metal concerts without fear of cancellation!

Tri-Valley Music Venues: A Tale of Struggle and Nonexistence

Somewhere in Dublin, CA

    Containing the cities of Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Dublin and Danville, the
Tri-Valley is a massive region located in the Bay Area. With such a massive population many have asked the question, why are there so few music venues? …If any for that matter…

    In this article I am going to offer my thoughts as to why there are not a lot of venues in this area, but I want to begin by pointing out there is no definite reason. I think there are multiple reasons and people can make the case for more than one. After connecting and meeting some musicians from this area over the years, I do not think that it because there are no musical acts in the area.

    There is definitely a desire for more music venues and a chance for up and coming bands to play shows. Most of the time the only option is to play in major cities like San Francisco and Oakland. Those cities already have a large amount of bands competing to play the venues available to them, so for a band in the Tri-Valley you are already facing a real uphill battle when it comes to getting a show.

    One reason as to why there are not many music venues in the Tri-Valley Area is quite simple to point out, and that is that it is an expensive area to live in. Property values are ridiculously high and leases are set at such a high rate that turnover is extremely high. If you were to open a venue in one of these cities you would need to be booking shows where you are constantly getting a return, because once your expenses start overshadowing your profits, you are pretty much toast.

    I am a resident of San Ramon and have seen over the last seventeen years living here numerous businesses go under due to the rise in rents. At one time San Ramon had a Warehouse Records, however, with economic factors like Amazon and iTunes along with the lease in the shopping center going up, they were not able to survive. Another interesting point to bring up about the shopping center where Warehouse Records was located in, is that for years numbers business have come and gone with the only main staple being Starbucks and Petco.

    Another reason why cities in the Tri-Valley do not have music venues is that the people who run these cities are corrupt pieces of human garbage only willing to okay development projects for new homes and apartments. Yes, supply and demand would say that with people wanting to live in the area you will have a need for housing, but I tend to notice the amount of new developments is ludicrous. In the end, you know these city council members are getting kickbacks from the developers. I look at Dublin and can tell that the city council is addicted to the offers made by major developers, because over half that city is and endless sea of apartments and condos! 

    The final reason as to why there are so few music venues in the region is that people create this preconceived notion that having a music venue will bring out trouble. These cities want to portrait a certain image and you know hosting potential punk, metal and rock shows might challenge their perfect little world. This is what sort of happened to the Cactus Club in San Jose, CA. I watched a documentary about this historic music venue and one reason why it was struggling in the end was that the city felt like troublemakers were coming through due to the music venue.

    This is a sad misconception, because if we really stop and think about it, a music venue can take kids with nothing to do off the streets and give them an environment to feel safe in. Having kids on the streets with nothing to do actually increase the chances of crime and dangerous behavior. I have always felt like the argument that a music venue would create more crime is just pure ignorance. Crime and the history of why crime increases is more complex and cities should think about that before making weak accusations against music venues.

    In the end, I write this article with the hope of getting more people to become aware of the insufficient number of the music venues in the Tri-Valley. I hope to also inspire people to take action and come up with solutions to this problem. Of course, it will require tackling difficult factors such as the economic factor and the city council factor, but if people are passionate about live music I believe the fight may be worth it. I am optimistic and hope that we can getting something going, so please either share this article, or reach out through the R & R Rocks Facebook Page and see how you can help spread the word about the fight to build a strong music scene in this area.


R & R Rocks Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/RNRROCKS2112/

Rob "the metal guy" Rants About Metal #1

Yeah, the title should give you an idea about what this article is all about. Me ranting about the current topics going on in the world of hard rock and heavy metal. Okay, shall we begin?
    First off, Metallica needs to just hang up their act and go to the senior citizens home for old musicians who annoy the crap out of me. Recently Lars made a statement during an interview with ALT 98.7 KYSR at Rock In Rio USA, for fans to not hold their breath or skip going to the bathroom if they are waiting for the new Metallica album. Though, he says it will be coming out eventually. Eventually means when he needs to buy his new super model wife another Ferrari. Also, Kirk Hammett losing his phone that supposedly contains all his riff ideas is probably the most pathetic thing I have heard a rock star do since Ozzy couldn’t make a cup of noodles without almost burning down his house. Really Kirk? You can’t remember your own riffs, or you can’t upload them to your computer for backup? James Hetfield must be going crazy right now. No wonder his hair is turning completely white. In the end why wait for the new Metallica album when we have so many albums to look forward to from bands who don’t lose their phones and who don’t have drummers with inflated egos.
    Alright, moving from Metallica onto Megadeth. At least Megadeth can consistently put out new releases compared to Metallica. However, the last Megadeth album was a disappointment in my opinion should have not been called “Super Collider,” but “Super Musical Constipation.” Now, I don’t know how this new album is going to turn out, but I am not really expecting “Peace Sells” number two. With Chris Adler on drums and Kiko Loureiro on guitar, this new Megadeth album will be interesting to say the least. There were talks of Dave bringing back the “Rust in Peace” line-up, but I think Marty and Nick didn’t want to deal with the headache that is called Mustaine. I believe Dave Mustaine should also check himself into that senior citizens home for old musicians who annoy the crap out of me.
    Last topic for all you crazy headbangers and internet metal trolls...Helloween has a new album out in June! All you Power Metal haters can go screw yourselves because I am excited! I really enjoyed their last album, “Straight Out of Hell.” They are a band that knows how to maintain a solid sound while also going back to their old school speed/power metal roots. The first single “Battle’s Won,” was okay and seemed like a b-side from “Straight Out of Hell. Though the second single, “Lost in America,” really got my attention with its catchy lead riffs and high powered vocals. Helloween “My God-Give Right,” drops in June so mark your calendars!
    That is it for this rant. By the next rant there won’t be a new Metallica album and I would not be surprised if Dave Mustaine does something squirrelly and needs to find more replacement members.
-Rob “the metal guy” Stevens