UPDATE (FEBRUARY 2024): The band has emailed an apology, which can be read below:
”We made the mistake of being contrarian as a first principle and as a result, we’ve hurt a lot of people with the regrettable comments expressed in this interview. To the people affected by our words, we would like to extend our most sincere apology. We do not condone misogyny, racism, xenophobia, or any form of hateful or intolerant rhetoric. The opinions expressed in this interview do not represent us as a band or as people. We love all people regardless of race, gender, or background, and our only goal is to spread a message of kindness, love, and understanding to all.”
______________
UPDATE: The band have responded to the decision with a statement detailing the situation further, which can be read below.
A record label has dropped one of its bands from its roster because of “ugly opinions” the duo have expressed in an interview on topics of immigration, refugees, sexual assault and feminism.
The California-based Castle Face Records today announced their decision to drop U.S. outfit Dream Machine (the project of Warm Soda’s Matthew Melton and his wife Doris), due to their comments made in a recent interview with French publication Still In Rock last month, regarding “criminal illegal aliens” and “horrible feminist bands”.
One of the more provocative comments involved the latter, with Doris Melton stating that female artists “make songs about being ‘sexually assaulted’ or about how ’empowering’ abortions are or some shit and it’s fucking retarded, they’re embarrassing themselves.”
As a result, the label were quick to distance themselves from the band, posting the following statement to Facebook, explaining that they had not read the interview before sharing it with their followers, and that they are “horrified and ashamed” by the situation.
Fans were quick to respond, with many backing the decision to part ways and condemning the comments, while others came out in support of the band’s freedom to express their views on the issues.
The first answers that riled the record label came during a discussion about international music conference SXSW in Austin, Texas, at which bands were being threatened with deportation if they added gigs to their schedule that weren’t part of the offical program.
When asked about their experience there, and whether the band would play the festival in future, both members backed the deportation policy, but quickly steered the conversation in the direction of “criminal illegal aliens”.
“Playing a big festival in the United States of America is a great opportunity and a privilege and it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want international acts diluting their draw by playing unauthorized shows,” Matthew Melton began. “That’s part of what they agree to to be able to come and play in the first place so if they break the rules then I see deportation as a fair and just consequence.
“It’s just a threat anyways,” he added. “Instead of throwing a temper tantrum and acting as if they are entitled to come to the United States and do exactly as they please, they should just be cool about it and play unauthorized shows anyway.”
It was here that Doris Melton shifted the scope of the discussion to broader issues of immigration.
“I agree with Matthew on that,” she said. “ICE is just doing their job, and I’m glad they’re finally starting to work on deporting criminal illegal aliens too. It took ages for me to get my green card here legally and because there’s so many illegals coming in they make it hard for the people who do want to become part of American society the right way.
“They’re handing out free money to people who come here illegally,” she continued, “but when you want to work hard to become an American citizen to start a family they make it so hard on you, and expensive!”
Matthew Melton’s work with his other outfit Warm Soda
The topic of immigrants and refugees was again broached later on in the interview, when the band discussed their move to Europe, and delved into ideas of political correctness and cultural assimilation.
“The choice to move to Europe was guided by a lot of factors,” Doris began. “American musicians (hopefully not Europe too) are getting increasingly politically correct and it started getting on our nerves. Living in Austin also was getting more and more expensive!”
“So excited to be moving to Europe,” Matthew added, “but I will always consider myself a red-blooded American. And just like the waves of refugees pouring into Europe I will also not be learning any new languages or culturally assimilating.”
The topics of feminism and sexual assault were brought up further along in the chat, when Doris was asked to criticise something in the music world that pissed her off, and immediately took aim at “horrible feminist bands”.
“Something that pisses me off about the music world is that girls have mostly become lazy jellyfish and are starting these horrible feminist bands just to try and ‘show men what they got’,” she began. “The safe space mentality has made them weak. They don’t even know how to play their instruments!
“They’ll make songs about being ‘sexually assaulted’ or about how ’empowering’ abortions are or some shit and it’s fucking retarded, they’re embarrassing themselves. If men did that they would be crucified!
“You see the longing for a gender supremacy under the guise of ‘equal rights’. What happened to the incredible female singers from back in the day with real talent, singing about finding true love and wanting to be a good woman?”
The label have completely cut ties as a result, and have stated they’ll be donating any profits they’ve made from the band’s most recent release with the label to “a decent charity”.
For their part, Dream Machine have responded to the furor with a statement, which states that the band are in no way “racists or fascists”, and denounces “all true forms of hatred and intolerance”, adding that they believe they’ve been “wrongfully demonized by an already angry crowd thirsty to burn someone at a stake”.
The statement can be read in its entirety below.
Dream Machine’s statement
“First of all, we know in our hearts that we aren’t racists or fascists and we fully denounce all forms of hatred and intolerance. I am a female immigrant from Bosnia and have immigrated twice, once as a refugee from Bosnia to the Netherlands and once to the United States.
“I made these comments because I felt I came from a position to do so as I am the things that most people seem to want to protect; a woman, an immigrant, a refugee and somebody who is a descendant of muslim grandparents as well as a great-grandfather who fought in the Yugoslavian Partisan army in the second world war. He killed approximately 100 nazi’s and fought for the freedom and liberation of his country. In return, he was killed, as well as 4 out of his 6 children, leaving my great-grandmother alone and stranded. If there’s one thing that we are absolutely not, it would be fascists, racists or anything of the sort.
“As for my comments on feminism, I was merely commenting on the fact that I feel that most female musicians tend to almost always sing about and support feminism and all I was saying is that I do not support all sides of feminism. We condemn any form of sexual assault or acts against women based on their gender. I think there are certain problems in third wave feminism that need to be addressed, but I do feel the original meaning of feminism is a beautiful one, giving women the freedom to be whoever they want to be.
“We didn’t wish to hurt anyone but we do believe rock music and punk music aren’t safe and should stay that way. Punk was never about fitting in, it was about expressing differentiating views no matter what the cost is and I think the music scene has been overly active with left-wing politics, so much so that anyone disagreeing with them is immediately dropped from their label.
“For the comments on immigration, the only thing I commented on is that I was glad that ICE is deporting CRIMINALS who come here (part of gangs, for example), not innocent people. Of course we’re not against immigration, otherwise I wouldn’t be here myself!
“Either way, this will not hold us back and we will continue to make music and want to thank all the people that are standing up for us, we truly appreciate it.”
