Marduk respond to cancelled Oakland show

Marduk
Marduk

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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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.