In June, an event called Vengeance Fest VII was shut down by its first venue when the community realized that the event featured neo-Nazi and racist metal bands. It eventually found another venue, a VFW hall in a nearby town, but some bands dropped off the bill and the original two days were scaled down to just one. Promoter Kyle Powell, who was also the lead singer Engorge who performed that night, produced a video where he ranted about the attacks on the show and promised a Vengeance Fest VIII next year on Juneteeth, which is not the first time he set his Nazi event on that date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also was not the first time Vengeance Fest saw controversy. In 2018, when they announced the show was being held at Dingbatz, a club in Clifton, NJ, there were some neo-Nazis slated to perform. Powell and the club assured the public those bands would not be on stage on the night of the show, but they ended up performing anyway. While Dingbatz said they will no longer work with Powell, the club has a stigma that endures to this day of being a venue that will host racist bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the summer, other bands have been called out on their racism or flirting with neo-Nazis, and in past few weeks a pair of bands have seen planned shows lose others performing on the same bill or the show canceled outright because of either an association with neo-Nazis, or racist lyrics that came to light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of those bands was South African band SoapGirls. They performed at Dingbatz on Aug 20, which curiously was their only remaining date after all other US dates for their world tour were canceled once the supporting bands, venues, promoters and those going to the shows began calling them out for questionable song lyrics, tweets and a promotion of the racist conspiracy that White genocide was happening in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n