Dawn Ray'd, Ragana, Woe & more playing anti-fascist Brooklyn metal fest
Brooklyn is getting a new anti-fascist, anti-racist metal festival called Black Flags Over Brooklyn, which is being presented by metal critic Kim Kelly. It goes down January 25 & 26 at Brooklyn Bazaar with Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Woe, Vile Creature, Chepang, Whitephosphorous, and more TBA. Here’s more about the fest:
Introducing BLACK FLAGS OVER BROOKLYN 2019, a new anti-fascist, anti-racist extreme metal festival coming to the dark heart of Brooklyn on January 25-26, 2019. A Friday night show will be followed by an all-day Saturday event that will include an all-day vendor market of band merch, label distros, radical publishers, activist organizations, local artisans, and more, and it’s all going down at Brooklyn Bazaar in Greenpoint.
This event is for those of us who reject and push back against that poison infecting our scene—those who adhere by the mantra that “metal is for everyone (except Nazis),” and who are committed to cleaning up our own backyard. The artists on the lineup all have different identities and come from different backgrounds, but are all united under the same ethos: FUCK NSBM.
As we all know, metal is an incredibly vibrant, diverse subculture with sounds, fans, and artists who span the globe; as we also know, there’s a small but unfortunately vocal contingent in our midst who care more about gatekeeping and upholding toxic ideologies like white supremacy, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and bigotry in general than in seeing the genre thrive. The worldwide rise of violent white supremacy and fascism has put every one of us—but especially those in marginalized communities—at risk, and metal should not be allowed to remain a breeding ground for right-wing extremism. Metal is too good for Nazis.
It’s time to raise the black flag, throw the horns, and take our scene back!
Tickets for day one and day two, and weekend passes, are on sale now.
Dawn Ray’d released their debut album The Unlawful Assembly last year on Prosthetic, and we interviewed them over at Invisible Oranges. Ragana recently released a split with Thou. Woe put out the great Hope Attrition last year. Vile Creature’s sophomore LP Cast of Static and Smoke came out earlier this year. Listen to some music by all the currently announced bands below.
