Last Friday night I went to a concert in the city with the influential and unbelievable metal band Eyehategod headlining, supported by Brutal Truth, Nachtmystium, Black Anvil, and Tombs. I had bought my ticket for this concert mere days after it was announced and had been looking forward to seeing one of the bands that really shaped who I am musically (Eyehategod) for the first time.
Needless to say, there was an abundance of bearded men and their over dressed goth girlfriends, but not many women who seemed to be there to actually enjoy some serious Sister****er and Dopesick jams. This point was driven home by a shocking and slightly upsetting altercation between Mike Williams (Eyehategod's lead singer and notable badass) and some woman, dressed in the skankiest of shirts who had been flipping off the crowd the entire time....while not showing any interest in the actual music) because it seemed she had hit his wife. As I watched, he came at her with a mic stand, a water bottle, and his fists before the song ended and he let out a stream of ****s, bitches, and ****s about her. This ended in him telling the crowd to kick her out or he'd stab her.
While a small portion of the crowd yelled out things like "this is how you treat your fans?!", most of the audience was supportive of his decision and many laughed and cheered him on as he yelled "BUH BYE" to the faceless woman.
This whole interaction led to an interesting thought sequence about how women are seen in the metal and hardcore music scenes. Many women, as I've seen, that come to shows are looking to sleep with the men in the bands, and while I do not condone the actions of my beloved lead singer at this show, I can understand how disrespectful it can seem to the band to have women only there because they think you're attractive and not because they respect your music.There have been some awesome female figures in metal like Runhild Gammelsæter (who at the age of 17 joined forces with guitar gods Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley to form to metal power trio Thorr's Hammer) but it is still a genre filled with "show sluts" and "reluctant girlfriends" and not enough women who are there to jam out and enjoy the music.
check out Horror Pain Gore Death records. he's a great dude.
And check out the month long endeavors of Jamie Keiles and the Seventeen Magazine Project
Lame that you were criticized. From what you wrote, it seemed as though she got what she deserved because she was just being plain disrespectful. Sounds horrible but that's my opinion.
ReplyDeletethank you liv.
ReplyDeleteThe incident is indeed shocking, but I don't feel that this post in and of itself should be subject to controversy. It's simply an account of the scenario, plus 2 paragraphs that raise some good questions.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I agree with Olivia. She had it coming. Go to a show to enjoy the music and participate in the atmosphere. Don't buy a fucking ticket just to start problems. She wanted a fight, and she got one.