Dingbatz Lied Again! Nazi Bands Performed at Venue This Weekend Despite Assurances They Wouldn’t – and That’s Twice for This Club

Now people are saying they are done with a club that can’t seem to quit hosting Nazi bands. You cannot roll like this in Jersey, and there are plenty other clubs there that don’t. 

CLIFTON, NJ – Despite saying in a now-deleted Facebook post that three bands associated with the neo-Nazi scene were pulled from a weekend show, the bands performed at a venue that has pulled a similar stunt in the past.

Nyogthaeblisz, NortherN, and Intolitarian were removed from the “Vengeance FEST III”, according to a post on the venue’s Facebook page on Thursday that noted further, “We do not support anything that involves any sort of racism, in any form, and will not tolerate it at our establishment.” However the promoter, Engorge vocalist Kyle Powell and the club decided to have the show go on as originally planned.

“You get put in a no-win situation in whatever you do here,” Fred Barnes, owner of Dingbatz and also Dingo’s Den, a bar across the street from Dingbatz, told NorthJersey.com. “Being an owner of the club you look at it as freedom of speech. When does the censorship issue come in and where does it escalate from here?”

“It was a decision I made because the guys had flown in to play and there were many people here to see them,” Powell said. “I made that decision. It should not fall on the club.”

This however, was the same scenario that played out in 2011 when the now-defunct band Call the Paramedics was scheduled to play on April 17 or that year, which was also the day that the National Socialist Movement was holding a rally in Trenton, NJ. Similarly sparking outrage not just because of misogynistic and racist content but also because of their associations with the neo-Nazi Atlantic City “Skinheads”, it was announced that band was removed from the bill of an event at Dingbatz despite playing there several times before. “We’ve been doing this a long time and understand when a nazi group comes through town it does nothing but cause trouble,” Bill Meyers from Dingbatz told One People’s Project at the time. 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. They’ve never brought any to my venue, never mentioned anything that I recall on stage about the subject.” It was learned weeks after the show that Call the Paramedics did indeed perform, with the band saying they downplayed their usual set. There was no comment from the club, and after the band broke up a few years later, the former members publicly denounced their past associations with Nazi groups.

Dingbatz has hosted other bands with neo-Nazi leanings in the past although they did not draw any attention. The band Disma, which is also based in Clifton, NJ has performed there even though its lead singer Craig Pillard has caused controversy because of his promotion of Nazi ideals, most notably via his solo project Sturmführer. Although such promotions have caused Disma to be removed from one festival in Texas that also removed Nyogthaeblisz, the band has performed at Dingbatz, with Kyle Powell promoting the event last year that they played there last.

NortherN, one of the bands that was supposed to have been removed mocked those that believed Dingbatz would not let them play in a Facebook post that featured them playing at the club.

Meanwhile area musicians are angry about the club hosting such bands after saying they would not and are calling for a boycott of the venue, which also has hosted such acts such as the side project of Living Colour’s vocalist Corey Glover last month will host and upcoming shows by the U.S. Bombs and an event put on by the hosts of That Metal Show. NJArts.net said in an article they will sever their ties with the venue in the wake of this. “NJArts.net considers the club’s handling of this incident, and its response, to be reprehensible, and will no longer include Dingbatz shows in its listings or write about the club in any way except, perhaps, in regard to this issue,” the article says. Others took to Twitter to voice their displeasure and support for anyone who will not patronize the club.

Bands and bookers, it’s time to boycott Dingbatz in NJ, which knowingly hosted Nazi bands this weekend.

There are too few venues in North Jersey for this one to be run by a Nazi apologist. It’s time for new ownership. Let’s make it happen.https://t.co/tjEhNLwhoZ

— The Alternative (@GetAlternative) October 22, 2018

Ah man, this is a shame. As a consumer I probably wouldn’t want to do business with Dingbatz (or the promotor) ever again. If I were a band looking to play in New Jersey I’d find another venue. If I were looking to see live music in New Jersey, I’d find another venue. https://t.co/x0b2RjurDy

— 👻 S P O O K B E A R D 👻 (@stormbeard) October 22, 2018

Owner of Dingbatz, which is the name of an actual club in New Jersey, CANCELLED a White Supremacist concert festival but then CHANGED HIS MIND because ****”the guys had flown in to play and there were many people here to see them.”**** https://t.co/fILvQxv16v

— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) October 22, 2018

Many have also been expressing their anger directly to Dingbatz via their Facebook page.