1914: "Since the topic of Celeste playing in Russia has resurfaced again in recent days, I decided to write this post. I fully understand that my arguments won’t have any effect on morally bankrupt and intellectually deficient people like Celeste, Ektomorf, or now the testosterone gorilla Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying."

 

 

Ukrainian blackened death doom metal warriors 1914 have posted a statement on bands playing thier enemy RUSSIA (AS I LAY DYING CELESTE) in the middle of the Russian Ukrainian war. 

Ukrainian blackened death doom metal warriors 1914 have announced the band has CANCELLED the anticipated  WINTER 2025 EUROPEAN TOUR DATES WITH KATLA.

 

1914 unleashed "WHERE FEAR AND WEAPONS MEET",  10/22/2021 via NAPALM RECORDS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FROM 1914 and YURL KAZARIAN:

 

Since the topic of Celeste playing in Russia has resurfaced again in recent days, I decided to write this post. I fully understand that my arguments won’t have any effect on morally bankrupt and intellectually deficient people like Celeste, Ektomorf, or now the testosterone gorilla Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying. Still, at the very least, I’ll gather my thoughts and have a ready-to-use argument for people who do have some abilities for understanding, but haven’t reflected deeply enough on the issue yet.

The most basic and common justification for listening to Russian music or playing shows in Russia is: “music is outside politics.”

A slightly more sophisticated version sounds like this: “It’s Putin’s war, and most Russians don’t support it. We play for our fans, not for the regime.”

So, let’s try to apply basic logic based on some approximate numbers. They won’t be perfectly precise, but the picture will be clear enough I think.

Currently, the Russian military involved in the invasion is estimated at around 1.5 million people.

By now, roughly 1 million Russians have been killed or wounded.

So we can assume that approximately 2.5-3 million people have been directly involved in the war as military personnel during last 3+ years.

And here’s where it gets more interesting: the indirect support of the war — civilian involvement. This includes:

- Manufacturing of weapons and military equipment (including communications, surveillance systems, etc.)

- Production of non-combat supplies: uniforms, cooking tools, hygiene products, food for soldiers, etc.

- Construction of military infrastructure: camps, training centers, factories, repair facilities

- Logistics: transportation of materials and equipment by auto, railway, air and sea

- Banking operations that enable the purchase of military goods, salary payments, etc. Both state and volunteer purchases

- Propaganda: state-run media, websites, PSYOP, recruitment advertising — even simple tasks like distributing leaflets

- State apparatus

I'm sure I've missed other, less obvious categories, but even this short list is enough to understand and realize how many people are directly or indirectly contributing to the war effort and sustaining the operational capacity of the Russian army.

An army does not function in isolation. In a full-scale war, nearly every citizen becomes a cog in the war machine, whether they wear a uniform or not. And many of them can even not understand it, which does not relieve them of responsibility.

So when you see a packed venue at a concert in Russia, you can be confident that a significant portion of those people in crowd are actively involved in supporting the war — either directly or indirectly.

And even those who aren’t involved professionally most certainly have friends or relatives serving in the army or working to support it.

That’s why Ukrainians keep saying: if you play in Russia, you are playing for people who support this war, who support the killing of Ukrainian people, including children and old people, who support the continuations of genocide, war crimes and destruction of Ukrainian culture.

They (russians) might tell you they don’t — but in this case, words mean nothing. Actions do.

And I haven’t even touched on the topic of taxes, which is another huge aspect — but we’ll get to that next time.

 

 

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-PEACE \m/