Tau Cross

Relapse on dropping Tau Cross: band's liner notes "prominently thanked" Holocaust denier Gerard Menuhin

UPDATE: Rob Miller’s bandmates have responded with their own statement.

UPDATE 2: Rob Miller doubles down, defends his support of Holocaust denier Gerard Menuhin.

Yesterday, Tau Cross — the metal/punk supergroup with frontman Rob “The Baron” Miller of Amebix, drummer Michel Langevin of Voivod, and members of Misery and Provokedposted a statement saying that they were “parting company” with Relapse Records because “circumstances have arisen that must put an end to our relationship.” Their new album Messengers of Deception was supposed to come out August 9 via the label, but the band now says they are “looking into other avenues to release the album,” and its lead single “Burn With Me” was removed from streaming services and Relapse’s Bandcamp and YouTube pages, along with the rest of Tau Cross’ discography. Relapse label manager Rennie Jaffe has now given an official statement on why they cut ties with the band, saying that it stemmed from the liner notes of Messengers of Deception thanking Gerard Menuhin, a writer and Holocaust denier who published the 2015 book Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil, which calls the Holocaust the “biggest lie in history.”

Relapse’s full statement reads:

Over the weekend the German magazine Ox brought it to our attention that a person named Gerard Menuhin was prominently thanked in the new Tau Cross album, and specifically credited in the liner notes for inspiring Rob Miller. All Relapse records go through a vigorous proofing process–checking for spelling and punctuation mistakes, mostly. We all read this name, but didn’t recognize it or think that it was anything other than a personal friend of the band’s, that we did not know. Ox however recognized the name as a far right conspiracy theorist, focused specifically on Holocaust denial. Suddenly the lyrics and themes of the new record were cast in a new light, for me. I spoke with Rob Miller, who is the individual in the band who Ox was interviewing, and while he denied being a Holocaust denier, I cannot comfortably work on or sell a record that dabbles in ideologies such as these. There are certain issues that rise above mere political differences and this is one of them. I spoke with the rest of the band on Monday, and NONE of them had any idea who Gerard Menuhin was, and were as shocked by these references in the record, as we at the label were. I firmly believe that these references and mentions in the record do not represent the band as a whole. but rather just Rob Miller’s. In light of all this, Relapse swiftly decided we cannot move forward with this album–we gave the masters back to the band, together with the rest of their catalog.

Stay tuned for any further updates on this story.

UPDATE: Rob Miller’s bandmates have responded with their own statement.

UPDATE 2: Rob Miller doubles down, defends his support of Holocaust denier Gerard Menuhin.

UPDATE 3: Miller says that Michel Langevin (also of Voivod) and Andy Lefton are no longer in Tau Cross, and that he will continue the band on his own.