DINGBATZ LIED! Nazi-Associated Band Performs as Club Despite Assurances From Club That They Wouldn’t

Some bands out there are probably trying to nail down the dates for their summer tour at this time, and we might suggest one venue in New Jersey that they might want to avoid. Our feeling is if Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ is so protective of the band Call the Paramedics that they have to contact us and lie about taking the nazi-associated band off a bill the same weekend as the National Socialist Movement conference and rally, then they really don’t need any other bands to play there. Twice before they have booked them. Both times they were besiged by calls from people pissed off about it. Both times they dropped them saying the police said they should. Now they needed to pull a sneak move in order for them to play unabated. That’s a rather curious thing, because per the usual “what if they were a black racist band performing, would you say anything then?” mantra that often comes out whenever we sound alarms like this, we doubt they would do this much for such a band if presented with them. Hell, with the exception of some mixed race acts we know, they hardly book black acts in the first place! New Jersey doesn’t have a lot of venues for people to go to and hear good music, but that doesn’t mean we give clubs a pass on booking hate bands. We never have before, and there’s no need to do it now.

One People’s Project

CLIFTON, NJ–Despite saying that they will not book a band associated with neo-Nazis on the same weekend that a neo-Nazi organization was holding a conference and rally in the state, the club Dingbatz reneged and allowed the band Call the Paramedics to perform there regardless.

The Atlantic City-based band, whose lead singer Martin J. Schlacteer is a close associate of the Atlantic City “Skins” (ACS), and whose lyrics openly promote rape, has been dropped from two other shows in the past year at the club after it was flooded with calls of outrage. When it was learned that they were supposed to play a show on April 17 that featured influential death metal band Dying Fetus, the calls came in again, particularly because the National Socialist Movement had announced a conference rally and concert for April 15, 16. Four neo-Nazis were injured and two antifa were arrested when that conference ended up with antifa and neo-Nazis clashing outside a church in Pemberton, NJ, and after the rally outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton, the band Empire Falls performed at a concert where several ACS members attended.

When Bill Meyers from Dingbatz emailed One People’s Project to say Call the Paramedics were being dropped from the Dying Fetus show, he said it is only after antifa began contacting the club about them that they ever had any problems concerning the band. “I want to tell you first and formost that Dingbatz in now way shape or form supports nazi bands or racists,” he said. “We’ve been doing this a long time and understand when a nazi group comes through town it does nothing but cause trouble. The problem is that Call the Paramedics have played here many many times, brought lots of kids out, made us some good money as well as themselves, and never once was there any kind of situation involving neo nazis.”

However postings to the Call the Paramedics Facebook page as well as a review of the Dying Fetus performance indicated that they did indeed play, although on the Facebook page, Call the Paramedics said that they had to tone their regular show down considerably. “(T)hat was a CTP “lite” show cause guts our boy and we didnt want to fuck the show up,” the posting read, “guts” refering to the owner of Gutter Christ Productions who often books Call the Paramedics at Dingbatz and particularly booked this show.

Dingbatz is club that features metal and hardcore acts, some of them national acts. It is not certain if Call the Paramedics will play there again, but Gutter Christ Productions has July 17 booked for a show. Call the Paramedics meanwhile is scheduled to play the 2011 Central Illinois Metalfest on July 22-24 at the Canopy Club in Urbana,IL, a subarb of Champaign. It is not known if the producers of this event know of their political leanings and associations.