THE BEAST

Below is the statement made by Luka from the band Prezir on Facebook earlier today regarding the cancellation of the tape release show!

This is Luka, the vocalist and man responsible for the lyrics and art of Prezir. The tape release show at Club Garibaldi's has been canceled due to the constant harassment and slanderous lies repeatedly perpetrated on the staff in regards to Prezir by a group of antifa children. I feel the need to make this statement at this time.

All of the lyrics I've written for Prezir are anti-ideologically driven. All of them are firmly based in the disdain for dogmatic propaganda, historical inaccuracy, and the victimization of huge swaths of people perpetrated by those who wield these ideologies, myths, “divine providence”, corrosive fanaticism, and violence to their ends. They are also contextually based on the time period, and events of each story. A religion, or set of held beliefs is NOT the same as a race or culture.

Furthermore, Prezir is against fanaticism of all stripes, from religious extremism to ideological tyranny from both the left and right. The blatantly false and defamatory accusation that we have any ties to white supremacy or Nazis whatsoever is not only absolutely ridiculous but very personally and profoundly offensive considering my family's history.

As many of you know, I'm from Serbia. Both my paternal and maternal grandfathers spent second world war in Nazi Germany's prisoner of war camps. My grandmother's first husband (my aunt's father), her father, and cousins were all rounded up in front of her by their neighbors who were members of the Ustasha, a Croatian fascist political movement allied with Nazi Germany, taken to the local Serbian Orthodox church, and slaughtered like cattle. My great grandmother (from my grandfather's side), along with his sister, were raped, locked in their house and burned alive after the Ustashas cut off their breasts. The lack of historical context and purposeful ignorance in these slanderous accusations by this group of radicals is breathtaking and calculatedly incendiary. I am honestly disgusted.

Further still, Prezir is a Serbian word that translates to contempt. Our logo is that of the Slavic two headed eagle. It's been used by many cultures for millennium, from the Hittites to the Romans and Byzantines. It is to this day widely used by many Slavic peoples. All but one of the members of this band are predominantly Slavic. To me, it was an obvious choice. This symbol both historically and in its contemporary renditions has no, nor has ever had any links to Nazis. This again is a blatantly ignorant and purposefully crafted lie.

This event was originally scheduled for August 11th at the Cactus Club upon the behest of club management. Prezir played two successful shows there in the past, and the individual was impressed enough to repeatedly ask me to set up our album release there. A week after it was set, I got a message stating that because of anonymous emails, calls, etc. our material was now no longer suitable for this venue. We were told that if we wanted to book at Club G, they would simply say that they double booked. To my knowledge, that is how things transpired. Instead of raising a stink, and drawing more attention to this slanderous nonsense, we chose to do just that.

Shortly there after, we secured the date for the following weekend, August 18th at Club Garibaldi's. This was months ago. Since, there have been no issues, or so I thought. This last Friday, some of these individuals started posting inflammatory accusations on the event page. Simultaneously the venue has been receiving anonymous phone calls, emails, messages, and reviews about how they're hosting a white power band and that essentially this show is going to be a national socialist meeting! They were also threatened with protest. These will be posted below. The staff, understandably so, did not feel comfortable working in such an environment. As of yesterday, the venue said they could no longer host it.

This last Friday night August 11th there was a show held at Quarters in River West. My drummer and his girlfriend were in attendance. After some bands played, he was verbally accosted by members of Bongwraith and some of their fans calling him a Nazi and fascist for being in Prezir. As they were leaving, someone spit on her. This is absolutely unacceptable and immoral behavior. I am besides myself that this is what Milwaukee has come to.

Not certain if this is based on any personal vendettas, or if it is just radical antifa ideology run amok and purposely distorting reality in order to defame and slander our band. Regardless, I've known many of you in the metal community for many years and hope that you all know me well enough to ignore these lies.

I will not apologize for anything in regards to Prezir's lyrics, theme and symbolism. In my opinion this material is philosophically, intellectually, historically and morally upstanding. I am very proud of the album that we made.

I personally think this is some lazy witch hunt bullshit, from the sounds of it. All they had to do was ask the band. I think the above statement from Luka pretty much terminates any idea that they would be Nazi's ...FFS!

In case you missed it, i interviewed him Friday night too. Check it out below!

Let us know what you think in the comments below!