Headliner, Other Bands Drop Out of Metal Festival Over Special Guest: “Not What We Signed Up For”

Recently metal music festival, Shell Shock II, announced Kyle Rittenhouse as their special guest. The decision led to multiple acts including the headliner, Evergreen Terrace, deciding to pull out of the charity festival. For context, in 2020 Rittenhouse took the life of two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin at the protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. In 2021, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after claiming self-defense.

Shell Shock II is a charity event that aims to benefit veterans with PTSD and first responders. In addition to Evergreen Terrace dropping out, Southpaw, Let Me Bleed and American Hollow have also redacted their participation.

Evergreen’s Reasoning and Comments

Evergreen Terrace, known for its songs “New Friend Request” and “Everlong,” took to Facebook to announce their separation from the festival. It seems their comments seemingly speak for the rest of the bands who dropped out.

Evergreen Terrace wrote in their post, “Evergreen Terrace has always supported and continues to support philanthropic events for veterans, PTSD awareness, child poverty, and many more, but we will not align with an event promoting murderers such as Kyle Rittenhouse capitalizing off of their pseudo celebrity.”

They also stated, “As advocates for free speech we are respectfully canceling the Shell Shock festival. We will be personally contributing to a veterans charity and urge you to do the same. The promoters have been nothing less than understand. ‘Lines we draw in the sand … depend on where we stand.”

Additionally, after Southpaw learned about Rittenhouse’s guest appearance they merely stated, “This is not what we signed up for.” All of the bands who signed up and then dropped out reportedly agreed to participate in the show given its charitable motivations. However, the inclusion of Rittenhouse seems to have crossed a line they are not willing to cross themselves.

The Current State of Shell Shock II

Following the news and the cancellation of these bands, the festival’s only choice for a headliner is currently a Slipknot cover band. Furthermore, the festival’s organizers posted a comment on The Antihero Podcast’s Instagram page stating, “We have been silent” and “This is now about more than a concert. This is a war of ideology.” As of now the festival will continue as planned and will transpire on October 19.

(Screenshot of Featured Image Via Evergreen Terrace Facebook)