Members of All That Remains, Parkway Drive, Nonpoint + More Weigh In On 2016 Election
It’s been one heck of a political year and who better to talk about it than some hard rock and metal musicians? We recently asked a few rockers about their views on the election. Check out what some rock and metal musicians had to say about the political election this year:
Phil Labonte of All That Remains is known for being outspoken and sticking to his guns so we had to ask about his thoughts about the progression of this election and he didn’t hold back. “Well it’s not going to go where I would hope it would go which is neither of them get elected. [Laughs] That’s what I would hope for. I do think there are positive things about Donald Trump, as much flak as he takes. People will say that he speaks the truth and he doesn’t, he tells bold face lies but it’s the way that he’s saying it. It doesn’t sound like it’s gone through focus group after focus group, it’s off the cuff and sometimes he’ll say things without having all the information and that’s something everybody does no matter how much you think you know, there’s always someone that knows more than you. I think just the way that Trump is campaigning is smashing political correctness that kind of permeates America now, it’s inspired a lot of people to kind of stand up and say, 'You know what, just because I use the wrong pronoun doesn’t mean I’m a bigot because I didn’t realize this person would feel bad because I said, "Where are you from?" It doesn’t mean I’m a bad person.” That was really the direction that America was headed for, you see what’s going on in college campuses with people like Christina Hoff Sommers going and doing these tours and saying marginally controversial things about feminism and people are going in shouting her down and freaking out. That’s not how America works, it’s not how freedom of speech works.”
Labonte continues, “The idea that people have to be protected from ideas they disagree with is counterproductive to intellectual progress to people understanding different ideas. I meet people all the time that grow up in urban and metropolitan areas in New York and I’ll say something and they’re astounded that I even said it and then I’m like, 'Well hear me out,' and I’ll explain it and then they’ll be like, 'Well I never thought about it like that.' It’s like, yeah you haven’t because you went to government schools, live in a city and haven’t interacted with anyone that has diverse opinions. You’ve interacted with people of different colors and come from different backgrounds but the opinions are all the same so it’s not really diversity, if it’s not diversity of ideas. That’s the only thing that really matters because skin color doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter where you grew up, that kind of stuff is cosmetic. The important thing about diversity is diversity of ideas.”
The All That Remains frontman makes it clear that being open and accepting of different views are important, “Similar or different is not the important part, it’s the openness to hear it. It’s not putting up a wall: 'I don’t want to listen to this because it’s contrary to what I’ve learned.' Well if you learned that the sky is called green and the grass is called blue, then everyone around you is calling the sky blue and the grass green then it doesn’t benefit you not to listen. It’s a really regressive perspective to have.”
Dave Stephens of We Came As Romans shares his fear about the election this year. “I’d say it’s scary times, the fact that a reality TV star is up for presidency. It’s a little scary that people [voted] for Bernie [Sanders] but he doesn’t win the delegations, it’s like what’s the point in voting at that point. They’re all like, 'Get out and vote! But we’re not going to listen to you.' It’s a little frustrating to be honest, we don’t have a choice, we don’t have a voice right now. It’s like they keep telling us to vote but they don’t listen. I’m still going to vote but it’s a scary time.”
Winston McCall of Parkway Drive also weighs in and talks about Australian election, as well. “It’s very interesting coming to America and watching the media cycle behind all this. At the same point in time we just announced an election in Australia and it’s like the longest election process that Australia’s had in about 20 years…and it’s two months. We’ve missed half of it because we’ve been overseas and when we go back, boom we have a new prime minister. In the meantime it’s been years of this run up of all of this crazy crap going on over here, it’s really gnarly to see the influence the media has on people’s perceptions and reactions. You’re dealing with such a powerful nation and such a nation of different people and it’s frightening to see.”
McCall goes on to say, “I one hundred percent believe that a person is entitled to their opinion, their beliefs and their way of life. At the same point in time I believe in truth and education so it’s crazy to see such an important process be trivialized down to such things as personal insults and all this hype and s---. Not going on any candidates or anything like that, it’s crazy to watch the actual process, if I was to think of the term democracy I wouldn’t necessarily go, 'Yeah that’s the best system,' finding people with tens of billions of dollars and focusing on who slept with who and who has a f---ing hair piece. [Laughs]”
Nonpoint vocalist Elias Soriano and guitarist B.C. Kochmit chimed in on the election process, as well. Soriano states, “I’ve been watching it like crazy. I’ve been all over it since it started and it is scary. It’s getting very, very scary to me.” Kochmit adds, “I’ve seen this used online but it’s the perfect analogy, it’s kind of like picking which STD are you most cool with having? It’s all pretty bad.”
Soriano continues, ”Here’s the thing though: there’s a certain level of respect and pride that a person needs to have when they’re president. As the years go by, I feel like you don’t need that same kind of personality. Presidents are supposed to be classy [Laughs]. I don’t want to point any fingers or say any names but it’s a very street brawl type of election year.”
He goes on to express his opinion about voters in this year’s election process, “Where it was scary before with some followers of said president 15 or 16 years ago, it’s just moved and the crazies are coming out again. I don’t know anyone that’s voting for Trump personally ... and I know a lot of Republicans. So it makes me realize that there are voters coming out of the woodwork because of a celebrity, not because of a policy. Politics are about policy not about celebrity. Saying something is one thing but actually being able to accomplish it, is completely different. Hands down, as long as I’ve been alive, this is the scariest election I’ve ever been witness to.”
Kochmit concludes by simply stating, “I’m going to keep my opinions to myself because, we’re f---ed.”
Our thanks to all of the musicians above who gave us their opinions on the current Presidential election.
Fun With Photoshop: Rockers With Donald Trump Hair