Week 23 wrap-up: Manowar, KISS, Lemmy, and more

Joey DeMaio, Manowar bassist and band leader, made the following statement about Johansson:

"Anders is a rare combination of intelligence, kindness, humor and talent. It has been a pleasure working with him. He is part of our brotherhood, now and forever! We support his commitment to his family".

Furthermore, Dave Chedrick, who has previously played with Raven and Hirax, calls Manowar's fans "legendary", and states, "I am honored that I will be playing for the greatest fans in the world!".

Not like splits with other previous Manowar band members, amiriteguys??

By the way, in related news, Manowar have been performing a couple of undercover shows in Germany last week under the moniker The Lords of Steel, their setlist including gems like "Dark Avenger", "Defender", and "Holy War". Which, as much as I love Romania, still kinda makes me wish I'd been in Germany this past week.

In other news, KISS just got caught lip-syncing at a show in Germany. You can see it for yourself here:

So apparently, Eric Singer forgets that in "Detroit Rock City", there's a pause after the first line in the last chorus, so he keeps on playing. This messes up the sync with the pre-recorded vocal tracks, which can be heard in the background, until Paul Stanley realizes it and jumps back in, but too late: The firework's already gone off.

This is especially embarrassing since back in 2015, Gene Simmons not only slammed bands that use backing tracks, but also disavowed any of it at his own shows:

"I have a problem when you charge $100 to see a live show and the artist uses backing tracks. [....] It should be on every ticket. [...] At least be honest. It's not about backing tracks, it's about dishonesty.
There's nobody with a synthesizer on our stage, there's no samples on the drums, there's nothing".

YouTube channel owner of the above video, The Fonz, writes, "For those people new to the channel [...] I also have the leaked KISS in-ear monitor feeds with click track, stage cues and fake vocals on the channel. Definitely check those out as well if you want to know what's happening behind the scenes".

Nobody should be surprised that Gene Simmons of all people would go against his own alleged principles to milk it as duly as possible. But as YouTube commenter Boris Iwanow writes:

"At the end of the day, these guys have been on stages since their 20s and the dedication it takes to still do the whole makeup at 70 [...] is a proof of their commitment. [...] I think that this dedication is the reason why people and fans excuse them (even though they look like hypocrites because they mocked playback for years).

They are in a position where they either sing live and are mocked for using their real voices and giving a shitty show [....] or they are mocked for the playback assistance but still offer a great show".

Spot on. Also, I'm gonna be seeing KISS at Copenhell this fucking week. So even though I can't help but be a little bummed out, I'm gonna try not letting it ruin too much. After all, I've also seen Mötley Crüe with way too many backing tracks for everyone's good but poor Vince Neil's. – But of course, at least they're honest about it.

In equally saddening news, former Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell recently had to defend Lemmy against accusations of "nazi tendencies" from some dumbass fucking ignorant on Twitter, who stated the following:

"RIP Lemmy...although he had his Nazi tendency, he always seemed to me the best rocker in history...of course after Hendrix, whose assistant he was at concerts".

This is probably due to the fact that Lemmy famously collected Nazi memorabilia and sported some of it on and off stage.

In the words of Lemmy himself in an interview about his 2011 biopic:

"Let's face it; it isn't skinheads and shit collecting this stuff. It's too expensive. This is doctors and lawyers collecting it. And I didn't collect any of the ideology, believe me. I've got friends of all colors and religious persuasions. I ain't got a racist bone in my body".

Goddammit, people. The fact that the man used to be Jimi Hendrix' roadie should tell you everything you need to know in this regard. But also, up until the aforementioned biopic, he'd had EIGHT black girlfriends.

In the words of Campbell, "FYI, Lemmy DID NOT, have any Nazi tendencies. He was a historian". But also, and maybe first and firemost, Lemmy was the most up-front, anti-bullshit, truth-spitting motherfucker you'd ever find. If he'd actually been a "nazi" of any degree, the entire goddamn world would know it. For anyone who knows just a tad about him, this should be common sense.

Seriously, if you don't know what you're talking about, stop having opinions about it, ya dumb cunts.

In related news – and speaking of KISS, Paul Stanley recently spoke out against cancel culture in another one of those "tweet" thingys: "[...] I find myself thinking "Cancel Culture" is more dangerous than what it wants to cancel. Is censorship and silencing people okay if you believe you're right?? That is a slope we're already slipping down. [...]"

Last year, Stanley and Gene Simmons defended actress Gina Carano who got kicked off that Star Wars Disney series "The Mandalorian" because of a tweet in which she allegedly likened being a Conservative in modern America to being a Jew in Nazi Germany.

Simmons and Stanley, both Jewish and Conservative Americans, respectively stated, "They should have kept the chick, even though she had different political [views]. It's not about politics; it's about whether you're a good actress", and, "This whole cancel culture is so dangerous. The idea that people can't speak their mind. That's what freedom is all about. And to lose your job because you've got something to say – even if I find it offensive".

Dee Snider and Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister also spoke out against cancel culture last year, the latter stating the following:

"Cancel culture is not healthy, because it just depends on who decides to do the canceling. [...] It's a personal choice. If you don't wanna buy something by somebody, don't buy it, but for the media to withhold it is opening up a can of worms that is almost impossible to put back in the jar".

To be fair, seeing as how no American Conservatives have yet been systematically captured, abused, tortured, and murdered by the millions in concentration camps, Carano's comparison IS pretty out of proportion with reality.

However, being a metalhead, I'm vastly opposed to censorship and cancel culture of pretty much any kind. And if you consider me a "far-right misogynist racist male-privilege white heteronormative oppressive capitalist extremist" because of this, congratulations: YOU'RE the fascist and the extremist.

We need to be able to have a dialogue. And BOTH fucking extreme wings of the traditional political spectrum have been making that harder and harder since Ozzy knows when.

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