Today in Demon Hunter: Band Supports the Troops, Not Torture
As of this week, Demon Hunter are a footnote in American history. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but it’s really not; scholars (and non-scholars, for that matter) are going to be writing about Osama bin Laden and his eventual death pretty much until humanity goes extinct, and Demon Hunter will forever be, in some way, associated with that. Plenty of metal bands who have sold way more records can’t make the same claim.
I didn’t read a lot of the media coverage on the news because I’m an egocentric prick, but I guess people must have gotten really hung up on the fact that the band’s music was also used to torture people. Which, believe it or not, even liberal ol’ me does not thing is a big deal, ’cause a) we’ve heard about such interrogation tactics before, b) there was no evidence that Demon Hunter were ever like, “Fuck yeah! Use our music for torture!”, and c) Demon Hunter’s music has been torturing me for years now and no one seemed to care.
Still, the band had to comment on the whole situation via their Facebook page, where they vigorously stressed that they’re pro-soldier, not pro-torture:
As you can imagine, our inboxes and phones (and those of our representatives) have been flooded with messages asking us how we feel about the Esquire article on the raid that brought Osama Bin Laden to justice that began circulating yesterday. Specifically, the person identified in the story as “The Shooter” said that Seal Team 6 wore the Demon Hunter emblem on their uniforms and “I wore it when I blasted Bin Laden.”
Over the years, we have been overwhelmed by the personal (and unofficial) emails and letters we’ve received from members of the US military. We have been humbled and honored by the troops who’ve told us our music has offered them some comfort while overseas, while missing loved ones, while doing what they do best in order to keep America safe and protect the freedoms we enjoy. We’ve met many servicemen and women at our shows and they’ve shared their stories with us in person, as well. We wrote “The Soldier’s Song” back in 2005 to pay tribute to these folks who’ve reached out to us. We included one such veteran among the Demon Hunter fans we profiled in our documentary film, 45 Days.
We have seen our symbol, a demon skull with a bullet hole in its forehead, tattooed on fans around the world. We’ve seen it made into sculptures, painted onto motorcycles, even spray-painted onto tanks and military planes. We often post these pictures on our Facebook page when we receive them. One such email, a few years ago, came from a special operations team who had crafted homemade Demon Hunter patches and put them on their uniforms. They asked us if it was OK if they did this and we of course told them “YES” because we are unapologetic supporters of our troops. In the last 24 hours, we have come to believe this team who contacted us a few years ago must have been Seal Team 6.
As for the talk about enhanced interrogation techniques that has sprung up in the media in the last 24 hours surrounding this story, we feel that it is an unnecessary distraction. It’s been widely reported for years that heavy metal music has sometimes been used in these situations. We have no specific knowledge of our music being used for this, nor have we ever volunteered it to be used as such, nor are we commenting on it beyond that. The debate about enhanced interrogation techniques is for politicians, military intelligence, pundits and others of the like to have.
The members of Seal Team 6 and The Shooter are American heroes who deserve our support. We were among the Americans and people around the world abroad who supported the bringing to justice of one of the biggest mass murderers in history, who planned and executed some of the most horrific acts imaginable. All of the military who risk their lives to protect our freedoms earn our respect each and every single day. We are honored, humbled and blessed that Demon Hunter was of any support or comfort to Seal Team 6 or anyone in the US military at any time.
– DEMON HUNTER
In conclusion, The Academy are a bunch of fucking assholes for not nominating Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director, and Demon Hunter didn’t do anything wrong.
Now please don’t do anything to ever have to make me stick up for them again.
[via Metal Insider]
