Why we can no longer support Amebix or anything related to Rob Miller

Many of you that pay attention to these things, know what went down with Rob 'The Baron' Miller and Tau Cross last year, then again many of you never heard anything about it. A few years ago, I personally got into it with him during the Milo Yiannopoulos disturbances at the University of California Berkeley when he decided to attempt to defend Milo's right to 'free speech' and to vilify and criminalize my fellow Antifa. Well as any of you that might be familiar with me know, I wasn't having that shit. I could care less about Amebix worship, I did care greatly however about undocumented students of color having their lives threatened by thinly veiled white supremacists, and a fully grown caucasian male living on an Island in the UK making swords and pretending to live in the dark ages, thinking he had any kind of moral authority to speak up against them. It was a very public brawl and thankfully lots of punks witnessed it and had their first taste of what was to come 3 years later. It really bothers me when I see any of my friends rocking Amebix gear, what is the difference to wearing a Skrewdriver shirt or a Burzum shirt? To me, there is absolutely none, I'm not down with that tired ass cliché of separating the art from the artist. So now I think it is high time for us at anarcho-punk.net to sever ties with everything Amebix.

An Open Letter to Rob Miller (Amebix, Tau Cross) | Features

 

Rob Miller from Tau Cross: Stupid, Full of Shit, or Both? | MetalSucks

 

Also just for the fucking record: A Mr. Andy Lefton was made well aware of the initial very disturbing defense of white supremacists by Mr. Miller, in a private message to me, he politely asked me not to make a big deal about it in public because he was putting a new band together with Miller and he believed that Rob just made a one time mistake. Well like a jackass I let him pull at my heartstrings and honored his request at that time, a big fucking mistake on my behalf. When the shit hit the fan last year, Andy published a letter distancing himself from Miller and pleading innocence about his supposedly 'hidden' views. Absolute fucking bullshit. Later as I was randomly going over the whole great CRA$$ debacle here on APN, whose name appears prominently berating us and defending Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Voucher? That's right, fanboy Andy Lefton. Talk about wanting to kick myself in the ass.

 

When I and Rob got into it a few years ago, Amebix was still active, Stig is also a friend of mine so I personally don't take the decision lightly, whether the rest of Skrewdriver distanced themselves or not, to me, is totally irrelevant. While Ian Stuart was still alive he continued to receive royalties for his 'non nazi' album, and he used that money to further his nazi agenda in any way he saw fit. Same goes for Burzum, same goes for Amebix. Either we are antifascist, or we are giving passes for fucking sentimentality.

 

Here is a private message I sent Andy Lefton (Tau Cross & War//Plague) on July 4th 2019 the same day he published his letter, it is marked as read, so he definitely read it, he just never replied.

 

When he told me that Antifa of Color where the real criminals.. he never apologized, and like I said above Amebix were still together, as a matter of fact Alternative Tentacles was just about to re-release some of their music and their last record had just come out. I absolutely believe people deserve second chances, when they are remorseful and apologize, not when they double down and go holocaust denial and immigrant bash and promote videos called 'Fortress Europe' among other very questionable actions.

 

I also apologize for the sake of clarity, I've never said those other members should be ostracized, however Stig is Rob's brother and he doesn't speak to him either. The thing is, it was always pretty much Robs band, Stig always maintained himself in the squatter punk scene and most of the cool shit Amebix was ever involved with was because of Stig, not Rob. To me, the art will forever be tarnished, like displaying an Adolph Hitler water color in your living room, because well, he wasn't a nazi when he created it. Promoting Amebix, and let's not kid ourselves, free Amebix downloads promotes Amebix, is promoting a band that affords Rob money. This is the real question, do we as an antifascist collective, want to continue to help this person, or not?

 

We haven't yet, but I really think we should, it bothers me to no end that we continue to be associated with that person in any way. I have had 4 survivors as friends in my life, I will always stand up against authoritarians and supremacists of any stripe.

 

What are the fucking odds? Rob Miller just posted today as Tau Cross. He thinks he can carry on and face no opposition? I think he is ripe for a milkshaking.

 

Thank you everyone, this is painful, but the right thing to do.

 

Ok all Amebix download links are gone, a sad day indeed. But the good news is, there are bands coming out with new material and new activism constantly, and just maybe Rob will react and capitulate down the road sometime, for the sake of his past bandmates and fans I really hope he does.