The promoter Southern Extremeties Productions has announced the cancellation of Norwegian metal band Taake’s planned Australian tour, after multiple venues withdrew from hosting shows by the band, who have previously been accused of bigotry and racism.
In a statement shared to Facebook on Friday (January 6), the promoter cited “reasons beyond our control” as the cause for the cancellation. It apologised to those who were looking forward to seeing the shows, and said full refunds will be issued to ticketholders.
The shows were set to take place in early February, with dates booked for Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. American black metal outfit Akhlys – who have also been accused of far-right sympathies – were due to support the run.
As reported by the Guardian, the Norwegian band’s appearance in Australia was marred with controversy over their past displays of antisemitism and accusations of far-right sympathies.
They were originally set to perform at the University of Sydney’s Manning Bar, but pushback from students led the venue to pull out in December, with the show moved to the Metro. Per the Guardian, Adelaide’s Enigma Bar also pulled out of hosting the band prior to the tour’s cancellation.
In 2018, Taake’s run of North American shows were cancelled after previous acts of perceived antisemitism came to light, including a 2007 incident in Essen, Germany where vocalist Hoest performed with a swastika on his chest.
Hoest denied being a Nazi sympathiser, but in a statement called the Essen venue owner an “Untermensch”, which translates to “subhuman” and was a discriminatory term used by Nazis for anyone considered non-Aryan.
Following the US tour cancellation, the band released a statement saying: “We have explained on many, many occasions, the history behind what caused the problems … but just for the sake of clarity Taake is not now, has never been, and never will be a Nazi band.”
Their songs have also been accused of being anti-Muslim, with a 2011 song ‘Orkan’ containing the lyrics “to hell with Muhammad and Muhammadans“.
Neither Taake nor Akhlys appear to have commented on the tour’s cancellation at the time of publication.