Printer Threatened To Boycott DFC Album

Perth death metal band DeathFuckingCunt came very close to falling at the last hurdle when it came to putting out their long-awaited debut album Ungodly Violation after the company hired to press the CD copies refused to go through with the job.

According to a Facebook post from the band, it was profanity and bad taste that forced the printing company to be none too pleased with the idea of being responsible for helping put the release out into the world and made them baulk at the last minute.

“Yesterday, we came within an inch of not having our albums printed in time for the launch,” the band said. “Our "Printing Company" cited 'profanity' and 'bad taste' as reasons for not printing our cds. Fortunately, we were able to sway then by signing a legal waver [sic] absolving them of any responsibility.

“Who would've thought songs about semen-hoarding priests and catching AIDs from rape would strike such a nerve?”

The band's drummer and lyricist Dan Grainger gave some further insight to theMusic.com.au this afternoon.

"They called us the very next day," he said when asked how long it took the company to refuse to print the product. "I suppose it gave them long enough to actually check out the product. We usually just refer to ourselves as 'DFC' so that would've been the customer name given."

While the exact details of what the company took issue with are still unknown, Grainger seems to think they might have been lucky the printers didn't delve deeper.

"From what we can tell, their main issue was with the band name," he said. "Whether or not they actually went into the lyrical content remains to be seen. However, that may have resulted in them flat refusing to print it altogether."

While DeathFuckingCunt haven't caused too much of a stir with the content of their output before, they're pretty happy that their new material, which they describe as a step-up from previous work, is making an impression.

"Our previous song and album titles have never really raised as much ire as they have levity amongst fans," Grainger said. "With this release the band felt we really needed to step up the songwriting, album production and impart some atypical brutal metal themes that gave the right impression and left a sour taste."

The album's title track.

More than anything, Grainger says that the band and their fans are shocked at the reaction from the company, given the age we live in.

"Obviously, our fan-base at large has been supportive, and given the predilection of Australians to use at least two-thirds of our bands title in almost every sentence, one would have thought such an enduring company would've been desensitised to colourful language by now."

As for the waiver the band signed to have the record released, Grainger sees it as a complete overreaction, but said the band were happy enough to sign it.

"It was simply a disclaimer absolving (redacted) of any legal responsibility should anything 'untoward' arise from people being offended by the title or its contents. We signed it happily as i think they are overreacting in a big way. The barcode on the rear will bear the companies name however, we do appreciate they have to cover their bases."

In closing, Grainger makes no apologies for the image his band are pushing.

"Given the rise of metal in the past 5-10 years, it stands to reason that people have been unwillingly exposed to this kind of music and themes, whether they set out to find them or not.

"For the same reasons, metal bands today don't chose to be offensive or edgy as it may limit their market. Safe names, like Born From Ashes or The Day We Die or some similar crud don't conjure any images or push any boundaries. When you hear our name and see our art: there can be no doubt."

Thanks to Lochlan Watt's Adamantium Wolf column – published in Inpress and Time Off tomorrow – for the heads up.