Marduk Says Nazi Salute Incident with Bassist Happened Because He Was “Drinking Covertly”
Last week, we reported on an incident during Incineration Fest where Marduk‘s now former bassist Joel Lindholm was filmed throwing the Nazi salute at the end of a song. That video made the rounds online as a result and the band quickly distanced themselves from him, saying he “vacated” the spot for their previous bass player Devo to fill in.
At the time, we thought that’s all the band was going to say on the matter, given its touchy nature. But earlier today, they released another statement, offering some explanation behind what happened and sharing some lineup info in the process.
According to their Instagram post, Simon Wizén (Valkyrja) will be handling bass for the band for their performance at Thronefest this weekend, with Devo planning to return to the band for the remaining festivals (except for Brutal Assault). While that’s worthwhile info for Marduk fans, they then went on to explain the situation with Lindholm.
“The recent developments have sparked mixed opinions, which is fair enough. Nevertheless, it bears mentioning that Joel’s escapades in London were the culmination of a string of questionable behaviour.
“Despite repeated promises to respect the alcohol ban he received shortly after joining the band, Joel made multiple attempts to circumvent this by drinking covertly. Famously, Incineration Fest being the most recent example.
“We were unaware of his various provocations between songs – as well as the concluding striptease – until that video surfaced the morning of Steelfest. Watching the first ten minutes was quite enough for everyone involved to conclude that Joel’s time with Marduk had come to an end.”
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but when I used to get hammered, I never defaulted to racist hand gestures. Maybe I’d say some stupid shit, maybe make a complete ass of myself, but I never did something in a way that sought to diminish everyone else that didn’t look like me, so I don’t know about that excuse.
Marduk were scheduled to co-headline Steelfest with NSBM act Satanic Warmaster. As you may or may not be aware, Steelfest isn’t necessarily a NSBM festival, but it seems to not have many issues with giving NSBM bands a platform. That particular distinction has caused some problems in the past.
Oh and it’s very interesting that they mentioned “various provocations between songs” that you can’t see in the video. Not to mention they never directly talk about the salute, but rather point to “the concluding striptease” — which really was just him taking his shirt off and throwing it into the crowd after the show—as a bigger no-no for the bassist, rather than the salute.
