In the small hours of the night (UK time), Instagram user Otisserie (Otis of Fluf/Octagrape) kicked up the “totally unpunk, bro” debate concerning bands having empty guitar cabs on stage. The band papped here are the totally not punk, bro Black Veil Brides, and the photo you can see above carries the following message:
“Dude! Where are all the speakers” The Black Veil Brides show us how it’s done on the warp tour in Ventura, by the way, the best venue on the whole tour. No speakers, no tube amps, only computers. Ventura, Calif.
We can’t comment on what Black Veil Brides were actually playing through, but it’s still pretty obvious that these particular cabs are for show and not for making noise.
Black Veil Brides are most definitely a band that don’t sit particularly well with everyone for some obvious reasons that are either a bit hypocritical or objectively bang on, but there’s little doubt that they’re hardly the first band to do this (like it or not).
As a band that have a strong… erm… “sense of image”, it’d be a little bit odd (in the context of their lowest common denominator make up metal) if they didn’t make their stage set up fit in with the grandiose sound and reputation they have to play up to. Genre, skill and actual musical things aside, they’re the sort of band that gives kids who want to feel different something to attach themselves to – in that respect at least Slipknot, My Chemical Romance, KISS and many more came before them in a similar fashion – and if someone had told me that this was something they did, I’d be about as amused and surprised as I was earlier. If you started started peeking around the back of the stage set up of many bands that have to fill a stage that big, you’ll find plenty of redundant speaker cabinets. Of course it’s not “punk” and of course it’s dumb/embarrassing when you think about it, but let’s get real for a minute and say that it’s hardly the worst thing they’re ever done.
It’s probably a good idea to leave the purported computer assistance aside here (don’t even get me started on backing tracks do the hard work), but Black Veil Brides probably aren’t even the worst offender on the Warped Tour and certainly not in the world. It’d be far stupider for a punk rock band to fill a club stage (or a big stage) with stupid shit like this, but you have to kind of shrug it off with the nature of the beast in this sort of instance. It does make you wonder if there’s a guy at Marshall that sends out fake cabs though, which might be The Silliest Job In Rock Music.
TOM AYLOTT