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Singapore band Take Off release statement against extremely violent dancing

By on October 25, 2015

Take Off

Singapore band Take Off has posted a lengthy statement regarding an incident (or incidents it sounds like) from last night’s show that seemed to be a little more violent then usual. The situation reminds me of what happened at a Thai show a few months ago with the same type of extremely violent dancing in the pit which also exploded on social media with a barrage of conversation about violent dancing and its place at heavy music shows.

Read the super well-written statement and post up your thoughts in the comments section.

“This is probably not the best way to do this, but given the circumstances, it will have to suffice for now. We attended today’s show, A DIY To Remember, to support the bands who put aside time on a Saturday to come and play a show for everyone. But what we witnessed left us aghast and shocked.

We witnessed violence in the gig venue – from audience members and from band members themselves. The “mosh pit” – if you can call it that – was full of people who were visiting violence upon their fellow gig-goers. “Two-stepping” turned to a chaotic dance with people swinging their arms about and kicking people around them wildly. People who made a concerted effort to stay away from the pit, by moving to the sides, were not spared, and were kicked, punched and shoved all the same. Someone even swung his thick metal chain wildly about in the pit, and almost got into a full-on fight with a fellow gig-goer, which thankfully was halted. You do not bring weapons into a mosh-pit. EVER. A girl fell down in the pit and NO ONE who was “two-stepping” stopped to help her up. A friend of ours standing on the other side of the room had to rush forward from where he was, and pushed the crowd aside to help her up. Someone got punched in the stomach by the vocalist of a band who was trying to start a circle pit during the last set of the night. 

Whoever says this is hardcore has it all wrong – you would never find this kind of behaviour at a real hardcore or punk show. For some reason, this new style of “core” that is immensely popular seems to have inherited all the musical stylings of its predecessors with none of the ethos, ethics or responsibility associated with the music in the first place.

Bringing your aggression and your ego and your masochism to a gig and expressing it by violently hurting the people around you is not something that should EVER be condoned – not here not ANYWHERE. Everyone in life is fighting a personal battle of which you know nothing about. We play music and we organize gigs and we attend gigs in order to inspire and support one another as we all fight our personal battles. If anyone thinks that violence, ferocity, fighting and aggression is “macho” or “cool” – you have a lot to learn.

There is enough power-tripping and egomania and violence already going on in the world – and WE DON’T NEED IT at shows and gigs.

We understand that we will be labelled as “punk police” as a result of posting this. We accept that we will be ostracized, made fun of and jeered at during future shows (well it can’t be worse than how much we make fun of ourselves as it is), and be denied the chance to play gigs again, and also be flamed online as a result of posting this. We are willing to risk this in order to point out something which we feel in our hearts is seriously wrong.

Take care of one another and look out for one another.

Love and Respect,
Take-Off”

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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