System of a Down singer Serj Tankian remembered seeing racist fans on the band’s tour with Slayer in a new Louder interview.
“That tour was like going to rock ‘n’ roll boot camp. Slayer fans famously love Slayer and hate just about everything and everyone else. As their opening act, the crowd saw us as the one thing standing between them and Slayer.”
“This was a group of fans for whom ‘homemade’ knife-carved tattoos were not unusual, so when we’d turn up – me in tribal makeup, Daron sporting pink hair and a glammy little outfit, they were not necessarily predisposed to welcome us with open arms. In fact, when we’d take the stage, we’d often be facing a wall of crossed arms and extended middle fingers.”
Although SOAD managed to win over parts of even that tough crowd, Tankian recalls how parts of Slayer fans behaved in truly revolting ways:
“A small subset of Slayer fans had a disturbing practice of showing up to gigs in full nazi regalia. I distinctly recall watching a team of African-American bouncers at a club in Detroit called Harpos brawling with these Slayer fans outside the club after we’d finished our set.”
“Later that year, while we were touring with Slayer through Europe, we were onstage in Poland being pelted with coins by fans who were also raising nazi salutes in our direction. At one point, I was hit in the face with a bagel and lost my shit.”
“I told our lighting guy to point the lights into the audience and target the bagel-thrower. Then I launched into an angry tirade and threatened to start kicking people’s asses. When I finished, the venue went dead silent. You could literally hear a pin drop in that place. Then we walked off.”
