It seems like I could write a column practically every week about musicians being horrible human beings. Here's this week's entries:
Our Top Story: Former(?) Manowar guitarist Karl Logan has admitted in court to possessing child pornography, and now faces up to twenty-five years in prison. This does not put an end to the story, however, as there is another angle besides justice being done in the legal system. I wrote an angry missive against Manowar and their handling of this issue, and I stand by everything I said then. With this new development, it reinforces everything I thought at the time, and makes the band's position even more untenable.
I checked their online presence for any sort of statement regarding Logan, and found absolutely nothing, which means their previous statement last year stands as the last comments they made on the subject. That statement, if you remember, raised many questions of morality, because it never said Logan was officially removed from Manowar, only that he would no longer be performing with the band. The issues I had at the time, mostly that the band was trying to sell new music without revealing if any of the money would be profiting Logan, still remain. Manowar has had a year to address this, and has failed to do so. Instead, Manowar is busy touting the new console they installed at their recording studio.
With a former member of the band now admitting to being a sex offender, how is it that Manowar can feel comfortable staying silent? I don't mean how the lousy people in the band can continue to be lousy people, I want to know how the music press hasn't latched onto this story and demanded an explanation from Manowar. How have we let them get away with this?
I find this especially puzzling in light of recent circumstances, where women are coming forward and telling their stories, and Burger Records now shutting down in light of their role in the perpetuation of sexual abuse. We have seen the pop and indie worlds reckoning with the despicable people in their midst, but metal is lagging behind. Manowar harbored a man we can probably call a pedophile, who we can definitely call an abettor of child sex abuse, and the band never has to address what they knew or what they did about it. That is indefensible not just of them, but of us.
In the years I've been writing about music, I think this story is the most disheartening, because this is an indictment of everyone. I get that bad people are going to do horrible things, but it's the job of good people to call them out and hold them to account.
Where are the good people?
In Other News: Texas underground 'legends' Absu have broken up, and it apparently stems from band leader 'Proscriptor' McGovern's anti-trans beliefs. The band's latest guitarist, Melissa Moore, came out as transgender, and soon thereafter the band broke up, with McGovern starting a new group to be called 'Proscriptor McGovern's Apsu". He is rebranding himself in an effort to avoid playing with Moore, but why?
According to her, after she made her transition, McGovern told her she ruined the band, and that "there is no place for a woman in this band".
I cannot understand what kind of small-minded 'men' hold these beliefs. How does it matter to the music whether it is being played by a woman or not? Does he think the audience can hear the lack of testosterone bleeding through the guitar pickups?
Someone more interested in psychology, and crossing dangerous lines, might be inclined to ask how the most aggressive and chest-puffing of men can only stand to be in the company of other men. That might be a telling attitude. I'm not going to go there, though. I'll let you do that for yourself.
I think McGovern has more than exposed himself for the small, weak, pathetic, and insecure excuse for a man that he is. I don't need to say anything more. His intolerance speaks for itself.
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