"Wrest" Jef Whitehead

June 16, 2011

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CHRIS

I have spent  the better part of 30-years being a fan of heavy metal music. I have invested most of my life to the music I love and spent endless hours promoting, ingesting and defending it from all outside influences, both foreign and domestic. Growing up a metalhead in the mid-80’s was no easy feat, my friends; yes, it was a wonderful era and I’m truly honored to have been a part of such a viable and important movement, but at times it was extremely difficult with the ignorant prejudice and being ostracized. However, I never faltered and never gave in, and neither did millions of fans all over the planet. We are a proud institution, that’s for sure. 

One of the things that made our music movement great was the camaraderie we shared with fellow metalheads. I used to walk around Ford City mall circa 1986 a little eighth grade pissant in comparison to the myriad of high school ‘heads that permeated the underground shopping area known as Peacock Alley where all the rock stores were. I was persona non grata to these older kids until I wandered around the mall in my Venom, Metallica, or even Bathory shirt (which I recall having to send away for and paying nearly $20 overseas). Then the older ‘heads would give me the obligatory nod of the head, which I returned in passing. I was not one of the guys yet, but I was deemed ‘okay’ by the milieu of the mall metallers, and that was fine with me. My own generation would kick in the following year and the cycle began anew….

In recent months our wonderful music collective has managed to disappoint and even enrage me with its blatant, albeit unsurprising lack of support or tolerance for some of our own. The recent coming out of Gaahl has spurned a pretty dead-even split between the fans with half defending and praising his honesty and the other half narrow-mindedly calling him every four-letter word in the book. So much for metal music driving against the norm, right? While my spiel on Gaahl has been well documented before, this latest about-face for the metal community comes by way of Jef Whitehead, a.k.a. Wrest, of Leviathan and Lurker of Chalice, as well as the so-called ‘supergroup’ Twilight. He was arrested in January and charged with Aggravated Assault and Sexual Battery, but without giving away too much detail so as not to pollute his defense the woman in question has a long history of accusations of this type against tattoo artists (Jef is also a renowned tattooist). Jef was recently released from Cook County jail on $100,000 bond after it was lowered from $350.000 and is currently working with his lawyer in attempts to clear him of the charges that can lock him up for a minimum of 20-years and a maximum of 48-years. As a man of 44, this is essentially a life sentence for Jef Whitehead, and the court of public opinion already has him tried and convicted. That said I’m not here to debate the facts of the case; hopefully it will all come out in court and the right people will be exonerated. My issue is with the so-called fan base that claims total and blind allegiance to its bands and ideals.

I cannot begin to put a number on the articles from supposedly ‘reputable’ outlets that have turned this unfortunate event into a circus of incredible design. In one such piece I actually read that Jef had committed murder! As a member of the media I always, and I mean always make it a point to have my facts before I undertake a venture, be it musical or otherwise. I worked for a college newspaper for a few years and know well the importance of facts and the horrible ramifications if these small, seemingly inconsequential details are over looked or, disgustingly, ignored. It was a lesson I learned each and every day, and it might have made me a hellish co-worker at times, but it also made me a multiple award-winning writer, a feat I’m very proud of due to the lessons learned along the way. Am I perfect? Of course not; who among us is? I have made my share of mistakes and will undoubtedly make more along the way. I merely take serious umbrage with the people from both sides of the fence (fans and fellow musicians) that have turned their backs on Jef Whitehead while he fights to clear his name or, at the very least present his case for evaluation in the court system, and then write the most damaging and uninformed pieces and claim them as fact. Blake Judd of Nachtmystium has been one of the only people to publicly stand behind Jef; the two share time in Twilight, not to mention a friendship of many years, and to his credit he has not sold out his friend for the sake of this jargoned ‘public opinion’. Occasionally I’d read the comments on some of these stupid news boards and where I couldn’t stomach the sad attempts of humor at Jef’s and even the woman in question’s expense the comments are no less infuriating. Some people claim to know Jef and the woman personally (though a blurb response on MySpace hardly constitutes a relationship of any depth, people), others simply vie to play armchair attorney and prejudge Jef and the entire case right there for all of us laymen to enjoy and consume like raw flesh to feed our carnivorous appetites. What the hell do we need the courts for when we have all of these wonderfully brilliant people wasting away in front of monitors all over the world? I guess I missed the quick four-month community college class that would set me up there with the gifted echelon among us, because I guarantee I’d run circles around all of them with the same amount of ‘education’ simply because I can. After all, I took four criminal justice classes, so at this rate of thinking I’m ready for Supreme Court Justice! The utter lack of thought and intelligence from some people shouldn’t astound me anymore, but it still manages to irk me into random fits of anger and a feeling of being insulted to a high degree.

Look, do I know for sure Jef Whitehead is innocent? No, and if I said different I’d be as irresponsible as the idiots I’m calling out from these garbage metal boards. Do I know one of our own is accused of some pretty heavy charges and might very well be getting shafted with an extremely jaded history from an accuser? Yes. That’s why we have courts to hopefully find the truth, and while I’m no strong supporter of anything governmental, local or otherwise, due to my own personal feelings that are of no importance here in this article I find it shameful on all levels that our own community, a collective I always praise as being one of the most loyal and structurally sound of all groups, has pretty much abandoned Jef Whitehead. Yes, the charges are extremely ugly; yes, the fact is that violence against women is as disgustingly high as it’s ever been; yes, there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. It just shocks me that some of the same people that claim this total lifestyle choice to the black metal underground put Varg Vikernes on a pedestal of infallible gold, rendering him a practical real life Robin Hood who can do no wrong, yet the same contingent turns its collective back on one of our own that has yet to be given his day in court. When faced with the facts of both the Vikernes case and Whitehead’s the latter’s appears much more sadistic in nature, I understand that; again, I’m not here to preside over the case one way or another. I simply would call out those ‘fans’ that find it funny or applicable to take shots at two people in this case in obvious need of help and guidance.

As a human being and fan of Leviathan and Lurker of Chalice I of course hope that Jef is the victim of some terrible fallacy generated by a disturbed person in need of attention or medicinal assistance; what he could really use right now is some support from both the tattooing community and the metal movement, and so far the tattoo community is out in force for him.

What about us?

The trouble with the common person is that he or she is too susceptible to a sheep mentality; it’s so easy to follow the crowd and go along with the masses when in actuality it’s a true leader that deviates from the flock and forges a new path. Of course you should pick and choose your battles accordingly, and no one says you have to even agree with or support Jef Whitehead if that’s your particular stance. However, irresponsible journalism that borders on yellow journalism does nothing to help him or our peers. I implore you to keep an open mind with regards to Jef Whitehead and pretty much anyone in his predicament; the prisons and cemeteries are lined with the faceless many that have been wrongly accused and/or convicted, and it’s very easy to take pot shots at those in these predicaments. I just know for a fact that when this smoke clears and if Jef is fortunate enough to be cleared there will be a million-and-one people lined up saying, Hey, I knew he was innocent all along…He’s a great guy…I was there with him all along...blah, blah, blah.

It’s time to put up or shut up, folks; as the dearly departed Chuck Schuldiner once famously remarked, Support music, not rumors. 

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