As always, we offer a heartfelt salute to those of you that are about to rock. For those wondering where Pelle Forsberg—guitarist of Swedish Black Metal legends Watain—is at this moment, considering he should be at the show at the Observatory with his bandmates, we have one seriously sad answer: back home.
If you’re looking to cast blame on a person or agency for this state of affairs, try the U.S. Customs Service, and maybe also the current White House, because that’s who the band are blaming in their statement. Apparently, Forsberg was sent back to Mexico after landing in Atlanta. Why Mexico? Because that’s where he’d been vacationing before this. To make it worse, he also got a five-year ban from the US.
This government action is something Watain blames on a specific “gumpy” customs officer who seems to not have liked how Forsberg looks. The official also seemed to dislike the images Forsberg had on his phone. The problem is that the ban cost the band their kick-off show which was supposed to happen Thursday night in Houston. Watain will hopefully find a way to deal with this, and get back on track tonight in Dallas, and continue to rock for the rest of their tour.
That means the Santa Ana show slated for November 27 is still on, and it will support the band’s sixth Album, which is titled Trident Wolf Eclipse.
Watain’s members seem unsurprised by the way things turned out, especially if you go by their statement, part of which reads, “We would like to remind you that this is not a cautionary tale from 1980s Soviet, this is Trump-administered border policy in today’s United States. This is what you get with an imbecile, Christian, racist ape ruling the nation and ‘defending it at all cost’ from anything that can be considered alien and therefore unacceptable and potentially dangerous.”