He spat at the audience, threw cigarettes, and most of all, he had a swastika painted on his chest. The singer Ørjan Stedjeberg, alias Hoest, apologized for this “provocation” soon after the performance, but also called the club’s operator a “subhuman” who could “give a blow to a Muslim.” The Norwegian band incident Taake in Essen on March 20, 2007 went down in heavy metal history as the “Swastika scandal”.
And it still has an impact today. Taake will soon be playing backstage at the Munich Cultural Center. The “Left Alliance Against Anti-Semitism Munich” (LBGA), together with the Young Forum of the German-Israeli Society Munich and the Respect & Remember Europe association, are calling for an appearance at the “Dark Easter Metal Meeting” festival (March 30th and 31st). ) to cancel. Because: “There are many documented indications that this is a thoroughly right-wing band.”
Backstage operator Hans-Georg Stocker and his team don’t want to uninvite Taake. In one on hers Website In a published statement they say that they have dealt with the allegations “long and intensively”. The band is not politically active and conspicuous, and they are not aware of any new incidents. Stocker says he obtained a statement from Hoest in which he distanced himself from right-wing extremist sentiments (the singer left an inquiry from the SZ unanswered). “We stand by our approach of giving people a second chance, as long as they actually credibly distance themselves from their past mistakes, as we assume with Taake,” writes Backstage and remain “open for discussion.”
The abysmal evil or just a provocateur: Taake frontman Ørjan Stedjeberg alias Hoest.
(Photo: Stig Pallesen)
The alliance, which also includes the Green Youth Munich, accuses Hoest of “ambiguous communication”. The distancing would reassure those “who are naive enough” but would signal to right-wingers that “he is one of them after all.” In a multi-page open letter They accuse him of “several racist statements against Muslims”, anti-Semitic content in his band and guest contributions, as well as networking in the National Socialist Black Metal Millieu (NSBM). Taake’s Australian tour in 2023 was canceled with this argument. The LBGA demands that Backstage disinvite Taake “to prevent the normalization of right-wing extremism.” The other 32 bands at the “Dark Easter Metal Meeting”, however, are classified as “unproblematic”.