Last week, Soilwork ended up cancelling their Singapore show that was supposed to take place yesterday (29th). The reason given was that frontman Bjorn “Speed” Strid was recuperating from varicose vein surgery he recently had in his left leg. However, new information has come to light to suggest there may have been something else at work.
Concert promoter Street Noise Productions, who put the show together, shared a series of cryptic Facebook posts over the last week alluding to the cancelled show, slipping some shade at someone, presumably Soilwork. The first came October 23, the same day as the band’s announcement, saying:
“Some bands will do ANYTHING for drugs. ANYTHING.”
The vagueness continued until October 25, when the company wrote:
“Doctor’s advice not to travel on long distance flights…. Damn it need to re-learn my geography …. Australia and Japan is just next to Europe all along!!!,” insinuating that they were talking about Soilwork’s recuperation story and the fact that the band would be heading to Australia less than a week after the cancelled show. The next day, they shared Hardline Media’s post of a video with Strid promoting the band’s Australian shows with the line “Enjoy the show Aussie fans!! Amazing speedy recovery indeed:).”
Street Noise Productions’ comments didn’t stop there. The company also gave a blunt look at what happens when a concert gets cancelled at the last minute:
“Even with a full house this Oct it will still be a loss but we just wanna make it happen for everyone after all the time, effort and resources spent on it. It is a double whammy now, we can’t exactly get out of this unfortunately. Got a whole year to plan dudes wtf were you guys doing??? 5 days to react??”
They go on to say that since they work DIY and without sponsorships, finding funding for shows is difficult and the financial burden has been even worse this past year.
“At this point we have about 5 bookings for next year. But we don’t think we are able to pull them off on our own, at least for a while.” Ultimately, they reveal that the company could be on its last legs and that after 2020, it could be time to “let it all go.”
Soilwork’s show was already in jeopardy months before it was even a thought to cancel it. In March, a petition that mentioned them and Waitain was circulated aiming to ban “immoral” music. Read the petition:
“These heavy metal bands do not represent the culture which we want in our youths. Their subliminal messages in their songs include death and suicide.”
Despite the drama, Soilwork still has a lot of 2019 and 2020 upcoming shows. Aside from Australia, the band will be touring Japan and Finland through November and into December. The band will also be playing the Gefle Metal Festival in Sweden July 9-12, followed by a headlining spot at the Baden in Blut Metal Open Air Festival in Germany July 24-25.
Soilwork also recently announced The Feverish Trinity, a “trilogy of songs with accompanying videos that will celebrate the Babylonian Death Goddesses that once made the world a more Feverish and exciting place.” The first single, “Feverish,” is available now.
