Scowl Drop Off Welcome To Rockville Due to US Army Sponsorship

Never a band to shy away from politics and standing up for what they believe in, Scowl announced yesterday that they won’t be playing Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida next month due to the U.S. Army’s involvement in the event.

As it stands, the U.S. Army is a sponsor of Welcome to Rockville, which is taking place on May 9 to May 12. This should come as no surprise if you’ve been paying attention, as the band also pulled out of SXSW last month for the same reason, along with their peers in Gel.

Though their comments on social media this time around were short and sweet, they were much more explicit last time:

“Scowl is no longer performing at any of our previously scheduled ‘official’ SXSW showcases.

“We came to this decision in protest of the U.S. Army’s sponsorship of SXSW. As well as the involvement of RTX (formerly Raytheon), Collins Aerospace, and BAE Systems whom have direct ties to the manufacturing and supplying of weapons used against Palestinians.

“We refuse to be complicit in the face of genocide in Palestine.

“We refuse to participate in the war machine.

“We will still be performing at our scheduled unofficial showcases.”

Gel said something similar on social media at the time:

“We will be pulling out of all official SXSW shows next week.

“There’s no reason for @sxsw to involve the music of our peers and music at large with the US Army and defense companies that are actively committing and/or complicit in genocide.

“Free Palestine”

This is another example of a band speaking out in support of Palestine during recent months and one in a long line, of course, of political folks in metal and punk standing in opposition to war and the military industrial complex.