The Slants

Read More The Slants I decided to pick up a few of The Slants' albums after hearing about their ongoing case with the Supreme Court. Their music is a ton of fun, a mix of post-punk rock and synthy-pop dance. …

Oregon-based The Slants recently won a nearly eight-year court battle over the use and trademark of their name. You can view the interview with Ronny Chieng at the Daily Show on cc.com.

To me, since The Slants consists of Asian men (vocalist Ken Shima, guitarist Joe X. Jiang, drummer Yuya Matsuda, bassist Simon “Young” Tam, and sound tech Peter Cho), they get a free pass. The same can be said for the all-black members of N***** With Attitudes (NWA) and the all-women band The Slits. I don’t have a problem with this, because the band members know and understand what these words means to them.

What is not cool are four white men calling themselves Viet Cong. After numerous protests from the Vietnamese community, the Canadian band changed their unintentionally racist name to Preoccupations in 2016. I also behind the rejection of the Washington Redskins. I empathize with American Indians who finds the name (and that Mohawk hand chomp) rather offensive.

Anyway, it’s good news for The Slants, they will be heading out on tour in support of their The Band Who Must Not Be Named album:

6/25/17 - World Beat Festival - Salem, OR
7/14/17 - Tokyo in Tulsa - Tulsa, OK
7/15/17 - Tokyo in Tulsa - Tulsa, OK
7/21/17 - Ash Street Saloon - Portland, OR
7/28/17 - MechaCon - New Orleans, LA
8/10/17 - Otakon Matsuri - Washington, D.C.
8/11/17 - Otakon Matsuri - Washington, D.C.
8/12/17 - Otakon Matsuri - Washington, D.C.
8/13/17 - Otakon Matsuri - Washington, D.C.
9/28/17 - Supreme Court IP Review Conference @ Kent College of Law - Chicago, IL

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