Disgusted NYC venues say they were duped into hosting punk bands with alleged neo-Nazi imagery
Two Queens bars were duped into letting bands touting alleged neo-Nazi imagery book shows this month – until massive online backlash alerted the establishments' owners to the purported hate ties.
Juan Bar in Corona and Trans Pecos in Ridgewood were scheduled to host the bands Volahn and Zoloa on Jan. 26 and 27, respectively.
Eduardo Ramirez, a member of both groups, has opened for the Nazi-affiliated band Inquisition and fronted other bands with swastika-like logos, in addition to being spotted sporting band tees of the 'infamous nazi band Graveland,' according to a compendium of hate bands by German metal fest Hellseatic.
Ramirez – the leader of a collective of Aztec- and Mayan-themed black metal groups in southern California – has also been pictured with the cofounder of Wolves of Vineland, dubbed a 'Neo-Volkisch hate group' by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The planned events were far from the first time bands with alleged Nazi ties have booked shows in the Big Apple.
In 2016, the now-shuttered Williamsburg, Brooklyn, watering hole Black Bear Bar hosted a skinhead punk festival, complete with a crowd that performed Nazi salutes, according to the Brooklyn Paper.
Todd Patrick, 49, who runs Trans Pecos, told The Post that his venue canceled the Zoloa show 'within an hour' of the massive backlash on Reddit.
'Trans Pecos booked this event through a friend who often steers punk and hardcore events in New York City: we were familiar with Salvaje Punk, who is local and has played here many times, but we didn't know the other bands on the bill,' Patrick said in a statement.
'When the Reddit post explaining the controversy with Eduardo Ramirez got forwarded to us by many people, it was news to us,' he said.
'We did our research and quickly concluded that there was a lot of evidence that this guy has a history of connections to neo-nazi groups. Neo-nazi ideology is the antithesis of what Trans Pecos stands for, so we let the organizers know that Zoloa could not perform here. The event fell apart after that, and ended up being canceled altogether.'
Patrons at the eatery that Trans Pecos operates during the day, the Vietnamese restaurant Nha Minh, told The Post they were disappointed to learn that Ramirez's bands with suspected Nazi ties were booked before the allegations came to the owners' attention.
'I think it was smart for [Trans Pecos] to cancel it because especially in this kind of neighborhood where it's inclusive and [has] different diasporas and backgrounds — it's a sensitive topic for sure,' Brooklyn resident and 25-year-old retail worker Lauryn told The Post.
Laryn added that Trans Pecos should be more 'vigilant' about who they book going forward.
Dave Anh, 30, who was at Nha Minh with his family Friday afternoon, said, 'That's cool they canceled it — they're doing the right thing.
'[That type of hate] doesn't belong anywhere.'
Multiple attempts by The Post to reach Juan Bar management were unsuccessful.
But according to a Jan. 16 post on Instagram translated from Spanish, the bar said it 'is not part of any nazi ideology, we only rent the space for events.
'We were not aware of these bands, and the authorities are aware, since we have received many threats from other bands,' the bar's account post said. 'Many thanks to the people who informed us.'
Requests for comment from both bands and Ramirez were not returned.
Ramirez himself has not explicitly confirmed or denied his ties to Nazism, but some online posters, as well as Trans Pecos' owner, claimed Ramirez has co-opted Latin American symbols and integrated them with hateful iconography.
'This guy did a thing where he took the Mesoamerican folkloric swastika and reversed the arms to match the Nazi one, and then he swapped out the Bazi outstretched eagle for a Mesoamerican eagle and then put the swastika directly below it, just like the famous Nazi symbol,' Patrick said.
'But the thing that really caught my attention and I think others that really sealed the deal is the fact the gentleman had been involved in events … with a very well-known Nazi [and] true 'white power' artist. You don't accidentally do that.'
Ramirez also played Oakland's Never Surrender festival, which local activists dubbed a 'Nazi fest' during protests to shut the event down in 2019, according to KQED.
'[This] was put together by people who are absolutely not hiding the fact that they're Nazis,' Patrick said of the event. 'You know, like, there's no flirting around on this. These are actual racist skinheads.'
Local music enthusiast Edwin Santacruz, 41, who has attended multiple Trans Pecos shows in the past, said, 'Whoever is using swastikas just for fun, I'm not into that.
'For some people, it's like there's a gray area — not for me. And I think Trans Pecos did the right thing.'
Santacruz called on Ramirez and Zoloa and Volahn to clear the air immediately.
'[Zoloa] just basically got canceled. If they want to keep playing music, they [will] want to clarify what was the member in the band or really what he was doing or who he is if they want to keep playing music,' he said. 'But now they're targeted, and people know who they are.'
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