Tonight’s show featuring the band Black Pussy canceled
Kevin Bronson on
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Tonight’s show at the Highland Park club The Hi Hat has been canceled, the club announced.
The show was to have featured the Portland stoner-rock band Black Pussy, who have come under fire several times in recent years for their band name, which many deem offensive. (Boots Electric, the project of Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes, was scheduled to headline.)
This morning, the 2-year-old Hi Hat posted on its social media: “Tonight’s show is canceled. The Hi Hat believes in love, respect, and inclusiveness.” A representative of the venue indicated there would be no further comment.
The cancellation follows online rumblings the past two days about a protest or a boycott. The show was not booked by the club’s talent buyer, but brought to the venue by an outside promoter.
Tonight’s show was scheduled to be the fourth of nine Southern California dates by the Portland band. They played the Federal Underground in Long Beach and the Silverlake Lounge last week; they have upcoming dates at the Wayfarer in Costa Mesa, the King Eddy in downtown L.A. and the Viper Room.
Black Pussy, which is comprised of five white males, has the following statement on its Facebook page:
Black Pussy DOES NOT condone or endorse any sexism, racism, ageism, violence, or any other douchebaggery that has been spoiling the party since the party started. If you are offended by the band’s name, please refer to the following …
“It’s a little ridiculous to ban bands for their name. We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide what’s OK and what is not, you are acting in an illiberal, undemocratic, and anti-progressive way. People should be treated as grown ups, capable of making their own decisions. We should not be deciding for people what we think they are capable of understanding or not. Artists, film-makers, writers, musicians need to be un-censored so they can make their point, political or otherwise.”
— Andy Gill
Update: The Boots Electric/Black Pussy show has been moved to the Redwood.
Black Pussy played for a crowd of under 20 on Sunday night at the King Eddy. This included the bartender and doorman, Kelsey who worked the merch table, and 3 members of the opening band Biblical Proof of UFOs. Ryan, the lead guitarist admitted, “No one was here. But at least we had my favorite band play with us.”
While the band’s biography is that they are from Portland, the band recently purchased a home in Tucson, AZ. The band seems intent on embracing communal living out in the Sonoran Desert but it was also a strategic move according to the band’s lead singer, Dustin Hill, “We can be closer to LA and Texas.”
The band, dressed in time warp 1970s thrift store garb, and guzzling down more than a few tall cans of Tecate, seemed genuinely excited to play. There were no protestors outside, no hecklers inside, and yet by the time the band took the stage at around 11pm, the band seemed deflated. The 30 minute set was proficient, but as Dustin Hill announced it was their last song, the bar had the sense that everyone was ready to go home. The lone bright spot of the band was watching Dean Carroll, the band’s drummer, perform with unbridled joy. At times slinking low on his kit and at other times rising high and always with a smile on his face. It reminded me of Jason Segel’s character in Freaks & Geeks when he went to his basement to drum along to a RUSH album.
But much of the band was a bummer, especially Hill. Given the controversy surrounding his band, it was frustrating that he wants to be an artist, but refuses to be transparent about the statements and art he puts out to the public. In the same breath he feigned ignorance of the press surrounding his band, he knew the amount of signatures that were on the Change.org petition (to change the band’s name). When I asked him about a particular quote, he was quick to identify which publication posted it while still claiming to be unaware the article.
After the show, Dustin Hill made other interesting remarks. He claimed to almost have been killed while in the Middle East “Because I’m American.” He says that he has “a lot” of Muslim friends, but that Muslim culture hates the west. He supports Black Lives Matter, but, “…I don’t really like the name…I wish they had stayed focused on the police and our jails.” He likes the cause, not the name, imagine that.
Things got testy with the band when I asked Hill why it seemed the band’s twitter seemed to only re-tweet those on the right side of the political spectrum, and in some cases, the extreme right. Hill admitted he doesn’t update the twitter account, and when I asked why his band would retweet Stefan Molyneaux, a well known White Nationalist, he snatched my phone and started asking the other members for answers. Ryan eventually admitted that he re-tweeted the White Nationalist because he thought the tweet was “interesting.” The tweet, without source, listed supposed acid attacks in recent years and then mocked diversity. The keyboardists, Hill, and Ryan all jumped in, “Just because we retweet something doesn’t make us racists!” and Hill said that I should travel to London to see “what it’s really like there.” Three of the band members walked back outside, “This is bullshit!”
is any press good press? Hill agreed, “For my band it is, it saves my band at least $15,000 on publicist costs, on the cheap end.” Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help merch table sales, where I saw one T-shirt purchased and one CD, by apparently a friend of the merch table woman.