A STATEMENT ON THE SHUT DOWN OF 2000 TONS OF TNT

In late August, early September in Hartford, CT, a huge Oi! Fest was supposed to happen for the second year, but drama surrounding a hate band caused it to be canceled. Hate bands should never be allowed to do this to a show. DLJ has something to say about this.

Daryle Lamont Jenkins, One People’s Project

I just found out that 2000 Tons of TNT, an Oi! show that was going to happen Aug. 29 – Sept. 1 in Hartford, CT has been canceled because of the drama concerning the band Offensive Weapon being a hate band that ended up with threats against those who called them out and reportedly towards the venue itself – which is a great spot for shows like this and I hope doesn’t try to avoid them in the future because of the drama. Now let me stress that this is what I am being told and none of this has been confirmed, although I was aware of the drama with Offensive Weapon, but was not involved with the campaign against them because I had so little information. But the particulars of the shut down is now why I am writing tonight.

I am writing because this bothers the hell out of me. I was planning to go to this. A lot of good, good bands were playing this and now it’s all shot to shit. It would have been nice to see the Ducky Boys on stage again, since I personally haven’t since maybe ’98. NIblick Henbane, Oxblood and Inspecter 7 are from my old scene in New Brunswick, NJ. Forced Reality I only have seen once, and that was at in Providence on the occasion of the debut in Boston of a public access show I produced at the time. It would have been a pretty decent homecoming for me in many respects.

Now let’s be real. I have been a part of shut downs in the past of course, and I don’t apologize for them. Dodgy bands that want to play around with hate politics were not welcome in the scene back in the day, and they should not be allowed now. If you dance with Nazis, you’re not too far from standing with them as far as thesethings go. I am also not going to give quarter to venues who have banned regulars who sounded the alarm about these bands playing there, fired employees who refused to work when those bands played, or lied saying the bands were dropped from the bill and they played anyway. If the issue is losing money, book more respectable bands. They pull in more dollars anyway, and they will be more inclined to play there if they know you don’t want the hate bands there.

But that’s the thing. It isn’t about wanting to dance with Nazis. It’s about having a good time listening to good music. Period. I think I and this organization personally owe it to those who are unwittingly being thrust into the drama caused by the presence of these hate bands to make sure we do everything we can to work with promoters and venue owners to inform about this presence and deal with it in a way that avoids the kind of shutdown that we are seeing with 2000 Tons of TNT.

Now One People’s Project will still stay true to its mission and report on when hate bands are scheduled to perform. It will however, never be without contacting those promoters and venues first and foremost in the hopes that the concerns can be dealt with beforehand. Sometimes a dodgy band is removed quietly while other times, it does indeed require public outcry. And if a band is still allowed to play regardless, we will report on that as well and let the public decide if this is a venue or promoter they want to support.  This is not an old policy. There have been a number of times when we were able to get a band pulled before things went too far along. There needs to simply be more of them.

There will be other good shows over the summer. None of them should be threatened by the presence of hate bands. 2000 Tons of TNT should have been able to continue. At the very least I know that I and this organization will build better relationships with promoters and venues to try and keep hate bands as much as we can from causing this kind of drama.

Peace Be Unto You,
Daryle Lamont Jenkins
One People’s Project