Earlier today, Polish extreme metal outfit Behemoth announced that they were canceling an upcoming show in Bangalore, India over what’s being described as “credible threats” from Christian groups in the area.
The cancellation was announced in a social media post, in which the band issued a statement explaining the situation and their thought process behind their decision to cancel the March 3 show. In the post, the band explained that they’d received numerous threats to their safety. With concerns over safety protocols and the potential for something bad to happen at the show, the band opted to skip the potential for bodily harm and potential legal repercussions by putting the kibosh on the concert.
You can read the full statement below:
“Behemoth regret to announce the cancellation of the band’s scheduled performance on March 3 in Bangalore, India.
“Over the past few weeks, we and our team have received numerous credible threats stemming from religious Christian groups who have been applying pressure to authorities and to the promoter in an effort to stop the show from taking place. These threats have raised serious concerns regarding the band’s safety and security, including the possibility of arrest or physical danger.
“We have been in close contact with the local promoter throughout this process. We want to make it clear that this cancellation is not the fault of the promoter, who has acted in good faith at every stage. Despite genuine efforts, it was not possible to obtain sufficient assurances that the band would be protected from legal consequences or security risks. On that basis, we have made the decision to cancel the show.
“This is another example of religious fanaticism attempting to impose itself on artistic expression, something the band has recently faced in Turkey. It is deeply concerning to see what feels like a growing movement toward censorship around the world. In this modern age, artists should not face intimidation, threats or the risk of imprisonment for performing their art.
“Regardless of religion, race or culture, freedom of expression must remain a fundamental principle. We believe it is important that people stand together in support of liberal values and creative freedom.
“To our legions in India, we are deeply disappointed that we will not be able to perform for you on this occasion. We appreciate your support and hope to return soon.
Interview With Remain The Few – East Heat #2 Green Rooms 21.02.26
1. Please introduce yourself for anyone who may not know you. Tell us a little bit more about you as a band.
We are Remain The Few! Our music blends metal influences with other genres, including punk, prog, and emo. Creativity doesn’t care much for genre boxes and we go wherever it sounds good. Blending raw energy with thoughtful and deep lyrics, our music leans into the catharsis of heavy alt music.
2. What made you want to participate in the Metal To The Masses South Wales 2026 campaign? Have you had previous experience? Or is this your first time?
It’s our first time performing at Metal To The Masses as Remain The Few, but a couple of us have played the heats before with another band. The show was great and it was so much more than a typical battle of the bands, where the audience appreciated every band and gave everyone a fair shot. That being said, it’d be great to go far in the competition!
3. M2TM is all about supporting your local scene. How important is the local scene to you as a band?
Our local scene is incredibly important! We’re all spread across South Wales (Barry, Bridgend, Cardiff, Newport, and Pontypridd), and they all have their own unique music scenes. We’ve been around the block in other bands and we look forward to getting out into our local scenes more in 2026 as Remain The Few.
Without grassroots venues you wouldn’t have any of your favourite bands, so it’s super important to support it as much as you can and give a chance to bands you don’t necessarily know, but might end up loving. There’s been a tonne of bands on shows we’ve played that we know consider ourselves fans of.
4. We have a slightly different set up this year with Heats/Quarters/Semis taking place at Bunkhouse/Green Rooms. Have you played the venue before or is this your first time? Are you excited to get on those stages?
It’s our first time at Green Rooms. But we’ve practiced there before and members have performed there in other bands. It’s a unique venue, with great sound and incredible staff, so we’re looking forward to playing there. It’s a really vital part of the scene in South Wales, and gives up-and-coming bands a chance to get on stage in front of supportive crowds. 5. What are your expectations from being a part of M2TM?
We’re looking forward to getting out there more. We’re all parents so we’re just relieved to be out of the house for a bit and doing what we enjoy: playing bangers and performing on stage.
Also, gigs like this are so important to meeting new people and bands, and we’re looking forward to playing with the other bands on our bill.
6. What would getting to our Day Of Wreckoning final and the possibility of playing Bloodstock Festival 2026 mean to you?
Needless to say, progressing in the competition would be incredible for us. We’re a relatively new band, and playing the Day Of Wreckoning and maybe even getting to Bloodstock would be beyond words. As we said, we’re all parents, and we’d love to show our kids that the metal/heavy music scene is a place where everyone has a place and can come together and enjoy music.
7. We encourage all the bands in M2TM to try and check out the other bands, who are you most looking forward to? Who should your fans also try to catch?
In our heat, we’re really looking forward to Blood Red Lips. A couple of us have played with them before and they’re great live.
Outside of our heat, Thawn! Definitely check them out.
But, importantly, get to as many heats as you can. The lineup this year is incredible with some real heavy hitters.
8. Tell us in five words why people should come and see your band? Megaphone. Riffs. Bass. Dad jokes.
A new documentary, The Ballad Of Judas Priest, has made its world premiere at the 76th Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival, running 02/12–02/22. The film is co-directed by filmmaker Sam Dunn and Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and it focuses on Judas Priest’s rise and long-term influence inside and outside metal culture.
The documentary includes key tracks in the band’s catalog, including “Breaking The Law” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” and frames Judas Priest as a band whose impact goes beyond genre labels.
At the film’s 02/15 Berlinale press conference, Tom Morello directly addressed the political angle in both the movie and the band’s legacy: “What a time to be alive, where you can both make a documentary about one of your favorite bands and fight fascism at the same time. But one of the things that, while the lyrical content — maybe ‘Breaking The Law’ and a few songs — are explicitly political in Judas Priest, the band’s existence is very political.”
“When I’ve seen Judas Priest over the course of the last decade or so in Los Angeles, the audience is maybe more than 50% Latino. It’s a lot of gay couples — nothing that has anything to do with the stereotypical… And yes, there are some older dudes like myself and leather jackets proudly bringing their kids to the show as well, but that community and the unity and the harmony that exists at a Judas Priest show is in some ways a model for how we might all do better,” Morello continued (transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford was also at the press conference and explained how social and political realities have shaped his writing for years: “It’s been impossible for me as a lyricist to not avoid seeing things in the world that affect me, that get me pissed off and thinking, is there a way I can put this into a song?” Rob explained.
“And I’ve been doing that forever, whether it was ‘Raw Deal’ from Sin After Sin, which was a really explicit gay song, going to Fire Island and trying to hook up with somebody and the freedom that that gives you as a person to be with your own people, to a song called ‘Savage’, which is about climate change from the — what album was ‘Savage’ on? Stained Class? So that’s a ways back. The last album [2024’s Invincible Shield], I talk about — I’m not gonna say his name, but I talk about that person, and it’s a bit of a smokescreen, but if you understand, if you really listen, the message is there, the expression, the feeling is there. And it’s a very difficult tight rope to walk because I just wanna give people a good time,” he added.
Halford continued with a broader point about messaging and audience connection: “Rage Against The Machine gives people a great time. When you see everybody bouncing up and down, they’re lost. They’re in ecstasy, but the message isn’t lost on them. The message is probably more relevant when they’re home alone, lying in bed or sitting, having a coffee and listening to music. That’s a whole different experience in the way the message can reach you. So, I really have to temper myself, because as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten angrier with the world. I’ve gotten angrier with the injustice, particularly for my own people who are still suffering and are not given the human rights that they absolutely deserve.”
“I’m not talking about Germany, — I’m talking about Saudi Arabia, Iran, other parts of the world where people like myself are just used and abused in horrible ways. So, I try my best to avoid that type of explicit message, but it’s there. It’s there. And that gives me some comfort that I’m not letting myself down consciously on subjects that mean a lot to me and piss me off.”
Co-director Sam Dunn also emphasized why “Breaking The Law” is a central moment in the film: “For me, going into the film, there were probably four or five main moments I knew we needed to hit in the story of this band. And one of them was the song ‘Breaking The Law’ and the brilliant and fun video for ‘Breaking The Law’. And the reason why that is is ’cause — this ties back to our first film, which is, I think, we’ve been on a journey to debunk stereotypes about heavy metal for over two decades now. And I think there still lingers that stereotype of heavy metal [that] it’s just about sex, drugs, and hedonism, and all of that. So a song like ‘Breaking The Law’ was very important to illustrate that Judas Priest, in 1980, had something very important and timely to say about the lives of working-class people in England at that time. And when I did the last interview with Rob and he said the line, ‘It’s a revolution song’ — thank you for delivering that line — that was a very important beat in the story for me.”
The first preview clip from The Ballad Of Judas Priest, featuring Rob Halford discussing the inspiration behind “Breaking The Law,” premiered through Rolling Stone. Check it out below.
If you have even a passing interest in the U.S. black metal scene, you definitely know who Neill Jameson is from his work with Twilight, Poison Blood and, most notably, Krieg. And if you’ve been reading Decibel with any regularly for the past decade, you really know who Neill Jameson is via his incredibly candid and long-running Low Culture column. Over the past several years, he’s detailed his partner’s battle with cancer, and the obvious strain it’s leveled on their family. Unfortunately after five years of a remission, scans last summer revealed that disease had returned as Stage 4 lung cancer, requiring immediate and aggressive treatment.
Neill was recently forced to leave to his job to serve has his partner’s primary caregiver and to also take care of their four-year old daughter full-time, resulting in the launch of a GoFundMe to not only aid in cancer treatment and childcare expenses, but to help with basic living necessities. Neill explains:
Because of this, we are facing incredible financial hardship-mortgage, groceries, utilities. With my family’s care being a 24 hour job there is no possibility that I can work (outside of secondary income sources like freelancing, which even then is a challenge) and we are in danger of losing our home as well as the negative impact this sort of stress has on Nikki’s health and Vale’s development. It’s just an overall terrible situation, made worse by the previous year’s financial emergencies from unexpected home damage destroying my savings and credit.
As much as I hate to do it, especially in today’s world where so much is going wrong for so many, I have to ask for help. I am asking for donations to help keep our house and the ability to cover general expenses while I help give my family the care they need in both of their difficult situations. Anything helps to alleviate the stress from outside while we continue to see how Nikki progresses and Vale grows. Even if it’s just sharing this Gofundme or through my Discogs/eBay/Substack where I am continuing to list much of my music and personal collection accumulated through four decades in music and the arts.
Formed in 1975 in Hersham, Surrey, as Jimmy & The Ferrets (according to Punk77.co.uk) by singer Jimmy Pursey, before changing their style and name after witnessing the Sex Pistols in concert, Sham 69 were the real-deal when it came to Street Punk as they were four working class lads from rough neighbourhoods, who wrote and sung about the world they saw.
Early line-up changes settled in 1977 when Pursey was joined by Dave Parsons, bassist Dave Tregunna and drummer Mark Cain, who would see the band through the initial recordings and releases of their first two influential albums.
Such is the complicated history of Sham 69 – one that still needs a blank wall and yards of red string to fully articulate – that the band found themselves burning brightly in the latter years of the Seventies, only to implode and sit most of the Eighties out, a footnote in the genre throughout most of that decade.
As is their jam, Cherry Red Records is to issue a four-CD box set of Sham’s first wave of albums, running from the Tell Us the Truth debut in 1978, through the to final recording for eight years, The Game in 1980. As ever, Cherry Red have sweetened the deal further but loading each disc with more bonus tracks than you can shake a stick at, and producing a full colour booklet packed with pictures and comprehensive liner notes from Vive La Rock’s Phil Singleton.
Disc one is the first of the two albums released by Shamin 1978: the debut Tell Us the Truth, which is unusually split between what was then the side 1, of six live tracks, and side 2 the studio stuff.
Recorded at various venues across London, side 1 captures the raw aggression of a Seventies Sham show, opening with We Got a Fight – about getting you head kicked in – Pursey’s uncultured vocals are the perfect fit for the subject matter, with the band smashing out aggy punk attitude. Rip Off, a drum-led Ulster, the protest of George Davies is Innocent proved politics was never far from Punk’s radar. They Don’t Understand and one of Sham’s biggest hits, Borstal Breakout.
The studio side opens with Family Life and a snippet of a typical working-class home in the Seventies, the following Hey Little Rich Boy seems to follow perfectly, addressing many of the same themes from a different angle. I’m A Man, I’m a Boy and What About the Lonely? are both Street Punk to the core, with the former having a real Cockney Rejects vibe. The title track and It’s Never Too Late veer into more traditional punk territory, as the latter adopts something of a Ramones’ feel. Closer, Whose Generation! stands out for its dissonance.
The bonus material includes all three tracks from the 1977 gritty single, I Don’t Wanna, including B-sides Ulster and Red London; the single version of Borstal Breakout and Song of the Streets, also known as What Have We Got?
Tell Us the Truth released in the Spring of 1978 and its successor, That’s Life saw the light of day that same November. Hitting number twenty-seven in the UK Album charts – two places lower than its predecessor, this sophomore record was a far more coherent listen, with the bulk of the material being written as a collaboration between Jimmy and Dave Parsons.
As the fatalistic title suggests, That’s Life is something of a concept album, taking all the trails and tribulations of the unceasing daily grind of just trying to survive, and turning it into something that anyone caught on the eat-sleep-work-repeat treadmill can appreciate. The initial release courted two singles: Hurry Up Harry – with its iconic “We’re going down the pub” chorus – out before the album and reaching number 10 in the UK Singles chart; and Angels with Dirty Faces which hit number 19 six months later.
The B-sides of both those singles can be found among the bonus material: No Entry, from …Harry is unremarkable, but Angel’s… flip side, Cockney Kids Are Innocent, is worthy of more exposure. A 7” version of Sunday Morning Nightmare adds thirty-seconds to the run-time, released at the other side of one of Sham 69’s biggest moments: If the Kids are United; as much a stone-cold punk classic as Pretty Vacant, War on the Terraces, or New Rose.
It was nearly a whole year before album number three was released, The Adventures of the Hersham Boys also saw a change in personnel with Ricky Goldstein picking up the sticks following Mark’s departure.
While not as critically well received as the first two, Adventures… broke into the UK Top Ten Albums charts on release. Accusations were levelled that the band had lost their Street sound and had become too refined. The balladic Fly Dark Angel, the Rock N Roll of Joey’s on the Street Again, and The Yardbirds’ cover of You’re a Better Man Than I, do take some of the band’s energy out of the album early on.
The introduction of Hersham Boys’ gang shouts, Lost on Highway 46’s driving rhythms and the rabble-rousing What Have We Got? goes someway to right the ship.
Bonus material here includes the single edit of Questions and Answers, B-sides of Gotta Survive and an unceremonious cover of The Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends; insult to injury comes when they took on Day Tripper, giving it the Sham treatment. There’s the 7” version of Hersham Boys, which made number 6 in the UK Singles chart in the summer of ’79 and 12” edits of both Borstal Breakout and If the Kids Are United.
Disc four is what would be Sham 69’s last album for some years, The Game, recorded in the French Alps it seems a world away from the gritty Streets of Hersham. The criticism levelled at the last album fits suitable here too, with the bulk of The Game’s songs being rather toothless compared to other Sham tunes on offer in this boxset.
Give a Dog a Bone, Spray It on the Wall, Déjà Vu and Run Wild Run Free are the standout tracks for me. Single, Tell the Children, includes saxophone by Hawkwind’s Nik Turner; Lord of the Flies has backing vocals courtesy of The Royal School of Music. The bonus material is more scant here than on the other three discs, with …Children B-side, Jack, a synth accompanied Unite and Win, and another version of the debut’s I’m a Man, I’m a Boy.
Following the release of The Game, Sham 69 would disappear, with only an occasional compilation or live record to keep them in the minds of the public. Pursey and Parsons would come together again for 1988’s Volunteer album, both writing and producing in partnership.
A steady stream of albums was released through the Nineties, up to 2001’s Direct Action Day 21, after which things start to get messy. At one point there were two functioning bands bearing the Sham 69 name: one featuring the Pursey / Parsons / Tregunna line-up, the other with original guitarist Neil Harris. It’s the Pursey / Parsons / Tregunna iteration who regularly headlined at such festivals as Rebellion and Calling. Sadly, Neil passed away in January 2018, aged 63.
One of Punk’s most enduring acts is celebrated in this sixty-six-track boxset, covering their most successful and influential period. Well worth a look.
