Southpaw FLHC Follows Evergreen Terrace’s Example and Drops Off Shell Shock Festival

After Florida-based metalcore outfit Evergreen Terrace announced on Sunday that they were pulling out of the Shell Shock festival, in part, due to the festival booking right-wing pseudo celebrity Kyle Rittenhouse, another Florida band has followed suit in pulling out of the festival. Southpaw FLHC announced on their Instagram yesterday that they were also dropping off the festival as well.

Whereas Evergreen Terrace said that, even without Rittenhouse’s involvement, after doing additional research on the festival they found associations they weren’t comfortable with, Southpaw FLHC seems to be focused on one issue in their decision to withdraw from the festival: Rittenhouse.

Southpaw FLHC released the following statement on Instagram:

“As of yesterday afternoon, Southpaw dropped off of Shell Shock Fest in Orlando, FL.

“We knew going into this, that the festival was veteran based, which we support.

“But knew nothing of a particular individual being a main focus of support for the show until after accepting it.

“Due to events that have taken place and drama surrounding this particular individual, we made the decision to respectfully step down.

“This simply is not what we signed up for. Period.

“Southpaw does not and will not get involved in politics. Therefore we will not align ourselves with it. 

“Southpaw is about the music. Perseverance as an individual and the culture of hardcore.”

I have to admit, it’s a bit odd to hear a hardcore band saying that they simply don’t get involved in politics, especially one that says that they’re dedicated to “the culture of hardcore.” Hardcore comes from punk, punk is far-left, end of discussion. But even putting that aside, at least it’s good to hear that someone acknowledges that being opposed to the right-wing canonization of Kyle Rittenhouse isn’t politics, it’s just morality.