Rebel of the Week: Rebel Inc.

Rebel Inc. is one of the bands in the soundtrack of the Silver Circle Movie. Formed in the outskirts of Detroit, MI, and now residing in Baltimore, MD, Rebel Inc. delivers an explosive performance mixing the sound of rock, rap, alternative, funk and heavy metal with thought provoking politically charged lyrics. But this is more about what happens when they take the message of their music off the stage and apply it in the street.

On August 20th Rebel Inc was set to play at the Baltimore Soundstage with a list of other bands when they were informed that the band Nonpoint didn’t want local bands in the show. No problem. Rebel Inc. played 45 minutes before the promoted door time and issued refunds to fans out of their own pockets. No hard feelings. Everyone did their part to reconcile the situation, and the bands parted as friends. Just one problem… Baltimore Soundstage called the cops because Rebel Inc. was standing outside on the public sidewalk giving refunds to their fans. And there’s video…

You know the cop has lost his cool when he resorts to “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Mad respect to them for holding their ground. Here’s the statement they published about the incident.

As many of you already know rebel inc. had the cops called on them for issuing their fans refunds outside of Baltimore Sound Stage last night after their performance was cancelled due to last minute changes regarding the functionality of the night. We had conflicting reports from Nonpoint and the venue regarding what the real issue was, but regardless of who was at fault, it ultimately hurt our fans who had purchased tickets expecting the band to perform at the promoted time of 8pm, not the 7:15pm time slot which was relayed to the band 48 hours prior to the show. We were still willing to play the show, but after an overwhelming response from our fans saying they would not be present at the new time, we decided to put our fans first, cancel the show, and offer refunds. The venue, the promoter, and the other bands, including Nonpoint all voiced their understanding of the situation. The venue was then notified that we would be outside issuing refunds to our fans. When we arrived to the venue, we were met by members of Nonpoint including their Tour manager. We then had a great, professional conversation with them for about 20 minutes discussing the entire mix up which ultimately ended with both parties shaking hands and understanding each others side of the story. They again reiterated that they were willing to have rebel inc. perform after them. What happens afterward is where the problem begins.

Regardless if Nonpoint had Baltimore Soundstage call the police, which they say they did not do, or if Baltimore Sound Stage called the police themselves is a non-issue to us. The point is that an unnecessary measure was taken without taking consideration the professionalism and character that rebel inc. has exhumed thru ought three years of a successful working relationship with the management of BSS. The fact that we were doing a good deed by returning money to patrons was completely overlooked. If Nonpoint was in fear of their tour bus’ safety, they could have been reassured by the venue that rebel inc. has never acted in violence and the situation could have been monitored by the bouncers seeing that their tour bus was parked directly in front of the venue. Instead the cops were called and rebel inc. was bullied off the public sidewalk by a cop that could not recite the alleged law that we were breaking while also threatening to have us arrested. After we eventually gave in to the cops, not wanting the situation to get any worse, we went home. That is when I received a phone call from a fan whose 4 tickets were not honored by the venue and he had to pay an additional $20 to see the show. This was the exact reason we were there, we had our fans in mind the entire time. We have since made arrangements to meet with him to give him the $20.

We then received this message from BSS:

“your actions have hurt 98 Rock and Matt Davis also. The Agency Group (one of the biggest agents in the world) will now never put another national on Noise in the Basement and after talking to them we will also never put another one on. That’s an email I’m not looking forward to sending the station manager of 98 Rock. You may think that it’s fine but no one else will”

Though we feel terrible that Matt Davis, Noise in the Basement, 98Rock, and fellow bands playing NITB are caught in the middle of this, we are in no way accepting blame. There was no incident until the cops were unnecessarily called by BSS. We already had statements from all parties saying that us cancelling was understood, and that issuing refunds was OK, but obviously BSS was not thinking about how their actions would affect those said parties as well. We know that what happened is going to hurt people that we care about, and we truly feel bad, but we had to make a stand for our fans and for bands that fall victim to situations like these. We have learned thru this process that when a band makes a stand it is called “burning a bridge”, but when the other parties fail to do their part, undermining the hard work the bands, it is called “shit happens.”

We are overwhelmed by the support that we have already received. Though we would not ever hinder anybody’s first amendment right, we ask that no backlash be aimed towards these parties. Voting with your dollar is far more effective.

We truly love our fans and would do anything we could to support you too, always remember that…

Sincerely,

rebel inc.

Special thanks to CopBlock for identifying the officer:

Aggressor: A. Faulkner #3667
Outfit: Baltimore Police Department
HQ: 242 W. 29th St., Baltimore, MD 21211-2908
Internal Investigations: 410-396-2300 or Toll Free 1-855-396-2500 option 2 for Out of State Callers
Civilian Review Board: 410-396-3141
http://www.baltimorepolice.org/contact-us/send-us-an-email

And don’t forget to visit our official website to learn more about the Silver Circle Movie: http://SilverCircleMovie.com