King 810 Sticks To Its Guns

Metal act King 810 has refused to blink and canceled a show in Detroit after venue management told the band it couldn’t perform with its trademark guns.  

The Dec. 17 gig at St. Andrews Hall was called off the day of when the band members were targeted for a search and told they would have to leave the guns outside.

The group addressed the cancellation on its Facebook page with a statement and a video from frontman David Gunn. “This is not about shows or weapons. This is about our inherent rights,” the band wrote in its statement, which went on to say that the members were told they had essentially been singled out for a search.

“We don’t do event security. We don’t do bodyguards. We train and license members of our own group; people we care about and who care about us, for our security,” Gunn told Pollstar in a statement. “Private entertainment security is on the rise because of the lack of local event security who are underpaid and who lack training and experience.

“We all know what results from lack of pay, training and/or experience. That’s the recipe for a Dimebag. That’s the recipe for a Paris massacre. That’s the recipe for a Garner or McDonald or Brown or Bland or Riceor Scott or Castile or a Sterling, etc., etc.

“You can use stigmatized words and say we attempted to bring a ‘gun’ or a ‘weapon’ into the building, or you can understand that we have the right to bring ‘security’ and ‘protection’ into the building. “Explain to me how many artists you see shooting into the audience from the stage. Never. Now explain to me how many are targets of violent and sometimes fatal attacks.That’s a little more familiar isn’t it?”

In the video posted on the band’s Facebook page, Gunn discussed open carry laws in Michigan, and said he and his bandmates were legally licensed to carry the firearms “for our own security and protection.Having been shot before in the past this is not something we slack on, or risk,or leave to chance, or take lightly.”

King 810, hailing from Flint, Mich., has long used security guards wielding firearms and crime scene tape as a part of its act.

The group recently had its show at Thalia Hall in Chicago called off when a talent buyer said in an email he was taking heat from community members and “defending the show, in the current environment, is becoming more and more difficult.”

A representative for St. Andrews Hall said that weapons are not allowed into the building in accordance with Live Nation policy.