To understand Downset, you really need to understand the context in which they came up. Back in the 90s, the graffiti scene was no fucking joke. There was a huge influx of what we called tagbangers — crazy kids who were basically gangsters who also tagged, and they scared the shit out of everybody, graffiti writers and citizens alike. Even the legit, non-tagbanger graffiti crews were pretty rough — I grew up with the guys who started the infamous BTM and 3A, who still scare the fuck out of anybody who crosses their path and are currently crushing NYC. The whole West Coast was pretty wild, but Southern California was by far the sketchiest when it came to graffiti. If you lived there in the early to mid-90s, you know what I mean: all the freeways were absolutely covered in graffiti, and people like CHAKA and OILER were pretty close to household names.

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I’m not generally one to say negative things about other bands and the choices they make (publicly, at least), but I feel that this really deserves some attention. I can only hope that young metal musicians who read this site can learn from someone else’s mistakes and hopefully one day make the metal world a little less embarrassing to be a part of.

A harsh reality of being in a band, or making music, is that some people won’t like it. ESPECIALLY in the heavy metal world, where people are almost unreasonably opinionated. What other type of music has the kind of audience who heckle a band they don’t like at a show, or argue for days in the comments section of an internet blog about why a certain band sucks? Once you put your music out there to be heard, you are, without a doubt, going to get some negative feedback. The way you handle it, however, is going to determine what kind of longevity your band will ultimately have.

I’m not a fighter at all, so I can’t really speak from experience on when violence is justified, but I know that a relatively meaningless heckling incident is not it. If you consider yourself a professional, you should act like one and think about how your actions affect the outside world’s perception of you and your band. I can think of one particular show as a perfect example of how to and how not to handle yourself in a situation like this.

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