Post-hardcore band killthelogo acts against the present social economic climate in new single/video 'The Warehouse Moguls' • GRIMM Gent

The past month, the “new” Belgian post-hardcore outfit killthelogo posted several messages on social media, in anticipation of the new single/video ‘The Warehouse Moguls’, which is online now. Not with the usual stereotypical previews/teasers of the new video or audio snippets. Instead with pictures of what the band calls “the warehouse moguls“, including their total net worth plus a short description how they gathered that wealth. With as the closing judgement: “The sort of people that give philanthropy a sickly, foul aftertaste. And no one in this chain of command is ever (ever) held accountable.”

‘The Warehouse Moguls’ is the follow-up for the first single/video ‘Riot As One’, released in January6 of this year. The debut album will be released this Autumn through [PIAS].

“If you brand yourself a winner for your total lack of empathy,
Here’s a thought that may seem new to you – it’s called ‘accountability'”
[from: ‘The Warehouse Moguls’– killthelogo]

In both killthelogo’s recent posts on social media and the lyrics of the new single, the term ‘accountability’ (ofwel: responsibility, justification, amenability) is a keyword that means for them that (economic-political) influential people should serve social responsibility.

A couple of “the warehouse moguls” and -according to the band- even “sociopaths”:

Phil Knight (businessman, Nike,Inc); Michael S Dell (businessman, Dell Technologies); Alice, Jim C, en S Robson Walton (Walmart); Steve Ballmer (businessman, investor, ex-Microsoft, LA Clippers/NBA); Gautam Adani (industrialist, Adani Group, port development, mining, energy, resources, logistics, agribusiness, real estate, financial services, defence and aerospace); Charles Koch (businessman, Koch Industries, oil refining, chemicals); Jack Ma (business magnate, investor, Alibaba Group); Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (Heiress, L’Oreal); Mukesh Ambani (businessman, Reliance Industries Ltd); Larry Page (computer scientist, internet entrepreneur, co-founder Google); Sergey Brin (computer scientist, internet entrepreneur, co-founder Google); Bernard Arnault (investor, businessman, art collector, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton); Elon Musk (early stage investor, SpaceX, Tesla, Boring Company, Neuralink, OpenAI); Carlos Slim (investor, owner of Conglomerate Grupo Carso); Mark Zuckerberg (internet entrepreneur, co-founder Facebook, Inc.); Larry Ellison (investor, co-founder & the executive chairman of Oracle Corporation); Bill Gates (software developer, investor, author, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation); Amancio Ortega (founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group); Warren Buffet (investor, business tycoon, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway); Jeff Bezos (internet entrepreneur, businessman, media proprietor, investor) and Michael Bloomberg (finance, software, data, media).

killthelogo:

“This is a song about the big shot sociopaths. The self-proclaimed enlightened entrepreneurs. The fake advocates of change and social revolution that brutally protect the status quo through oppression, corruption, discreditation, human rights abuses and even military action.
If only 8 people (yes, eight) currently own 50% of all global wealth, it may be time to acknowledge that the system is truly broken. And that there is no fixing it without aiming for the linchpins. If we neutralise the controlling effects of the 1% richest people on this planet, redistributing and reallocating their wealth to the social and ecological benefit of us all, we will eventually tip the scales into balance.
Everything is warehoused these days: from nano-chips to humans. Apparently our value is measured by the same parameters used for raw materials. But we are real people! How fast can our desperate energy be converted into wealth? And how fast can this wealth be extracted from our reach? Someone is responsible, but no one is held accountable.”

(why) killthelogo? 1996-2021

“What happens in the factory, will stay in the factory,
And your only real legacy is that you redefined slavery”
[from: ‘The Warehouse Moguls’– killthelogo]

The “new” Belgian post-hardcore band killthelogo rose from the very successful crossover/hardcore/nu-metal formation .Calibre, that rattled cages in the zeroes in their own country and beyond. .Calibre (that came from that other Belgian band Facedown that was well-known in the crossover/hardcore/nu-metal underground circuit for years) released its first and only album ‘Kill The Logo’ in 2002 through Warner Music, and was received very enthousiasticly. .Calibre performed at some of the biggest festivals like Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop and had a major hit on Studio Brussel and TMF.

When exaggerating a little bit, you could call killthelogo the Belgian Rage Against The Machine. In that sense that these 5 guys also act in their lyrics against the present social and economic state humanity is in, and puts the finger on several sore spots, of which especially the bizarre global wealth distribution.

On the website of killthelogo you can find some sort of a manifest in which the band explains their “how & why”:

“In the full spirit of our prequel: .calibre, this new band seeks to help translate the drivers of social and political change to the larger public. As a branch in the wide scope of artistic expression, we want to be an extra and loud voice in the social debate and the ‘separation of powers’ that safeguard the balance in society.”