In Hearts Wake frontman Jake Taylor was the hero of the day on the Dallas leg of the Vans Warped Tour yesterday, after calling out a security guard for his rough treatment of a fan.
The Byron Bay four-piece were midway through a pulverising set when Taylor noticed the fan, who was allegedly being choked.
“What the fuck are you doing to this guy? He does not need a fucking head-brace. You’re a desmond!” said Taylor, coming down the barrier and reaching in towards the crowd. “He can’t breathe bro… he’s not a UFC fighter,” he continued, an audience member yelling at the security guard to listen to Taylor.
After a tense few moments, the security guard seems to calm down, with Taylor telling him to “take it easy.” Watch the footage below.
Taylor later took to the bands official Facebook page to share his thoughts on the issue, stating he was “disgusted” by the behaviour of the guard, who was built like classic video game hulk “Duke Nukem.”
“His head was literally turning blue and all we could read on his lips were ‘I can’t breathe’. It was completely unnecessary, we did our best to intervene, pulling on his arm to try allow air in whilst every other guard just stood back. If you’re a security guard reading this you need to understand that this is a metal show, not a UFC death match.”
The incident highlights the very serious issue of macho security losing control and mistreating punters at events, in addition to hyper-masculinity at music events in general. I myself witnessed security mistreat a female patron at this years Mountain Sounds Festival, groping the woman before laughing off her angry retorts to the behaviour.
Thankfully there appears to be an increased dialogue in relation to intolerable behaviour at gigs around the country, with Melbourne metal act High Tension also taking a stand against any sort of violence at their own shows.
In Hearts Wake themselves have just come off the Equinox Tour with labelmates Northlane, and are playing the entire Warped festival, running all the way to the middle of August. One can only hope this latest incident means everyone from fans to security are more conscious of their behaviour as the tour continues.
Read our review of the Equinox Tour here.
Image: Amplify