Former Warm Soda Frontman Matthew Melton Dropped from Castle Face Records After Anti-Immigrant Rant

Matthew and his wife Doris spoke out in defense of ICE and against feminism in an interview to promote their band Dream Machine

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jun 23, 2017

Seventies psych outfit Dream Machine, led by Warm Soda frontman/record producer Matthew Melton and his wife Doris, recently released their debut LP through John Dwyer's Castle Face Records. Now, the label is distancing themselves from the group following the couple's controversial comments surrounding refugees, immigrants and feminism.

Speaking with Still In Rock, Doris revealed the two had moved to Europe after finding that "American musicians (hopefully not Europe too) are getting increasingly politically correct and it started getting on our nerves." Matthew added that despite the move, he still feels like a "red-blooded American. And just like the waves of refugees pouring into Europe I will also not be learning any new languages or culturally assimilating."

Things continued to get contentious when the two weighed in on festival organizers at SXSW threatening international acts with deportation should they play unauthorized shows. 

"Playing a big festival in the United States of America is a great opportunity and a privilege and it's understandable why they wouldn't want international acts diluting their draw by playing unauthorized shows," Matthew said. "That's part of what they agree to to be able to come and play in the first place so if they break the rules then I see deportation as a fair and just consequence."

Doris added that "ICE is just doing their job, and I'm glad they're finally starting to work on deporting criminal illegal aliens too. It took ages for me to get my green card here legally and because there's so many illegals coming in they make it hard for the people who do want to become part of American society the right way."

Upon being asked about something that got her angry about the current music industry, Doris called out "girls have mostly become lazy jellyfish and are starting these horrible feminist bands just to try and 'show men what they got.'"

"The safe space mentality has made them weak," she said. "They don't even know how to play their instruments! They'll make songs about being 'sexually assaulted' or about how 'empowering' abortions are or some shit and it's fucking retarded, they're embarrassing themselves. If men did that they would be crucified! You see the longing for a gender supremacy under the guise of 'equal rights.' What happened to the incredible female singers from back in the day with real talent, singing about finding true love and wanting to be a good woman?"

Castle Face released a statement saying the were made aware of the duo's "ugly opinions," adding that "Castle Face does not agree with the statements on ICE, immigration, feminism, and sexual assault and they are in no way representative of Castle Face or the other artists on the label."

"While we can't do much about this record that's just last month come out, or the 5 or so before it, we will not be working with them again," the label's Matt Jones wrote in the statement. "Both John and I are appalled. We've urged them to make a statement, but it's no longer our prerogative to be financing, promoting, and endorsing their music any more than we already have.

"For our part we're going to find a decent charity to donate our end of the profits from the record to, though something tells me this won't exactly send it flying off the shelves," they continued. "Peace love and respect to all humans, refugees, and victims of violence - we're horrified and ashamed by this and we appreciate people being upset but respectful in letting us know how they felt about it."

Find the complete statement from Castle Face below.

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