CROWBAR's KIRK WINDSTEIN Explains MARYLAND DEATHFEST Stage-Diving Incident

CROWBAR frontman Kirk Windstein has spoken out about the incident this past May when a fan made his way on stage during the band's performance at the Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore, crashing into Windstein and causing the guitarist/vocalist to react by giving the fan a quick kick to the head (see video below).

Speaking to Echo Asylum's Insanity, Windstein said: "I kept shut for a while about the incident and just called it an unfortunate incident, and it is. But this is my perspective."

He continued: "We just finished playing in July the This Is Hardcore show in Philly. They don't even have monitors. The stage was this big on purpose. We know it's a hardcore show. We played all of our fastest, most aggressive songs. The second we hit the first note, there's 20 people on stage doing flips off the stage, and that's fine, because it's that kind of show.

"The show we played at where that unfortunate incident happened was a no-stage-diving, no-crowd-surfing [event]. The fucking barricade was from here past that wall from the stage, so we were at an environment like a festival.

"When you're at a festival, you don't expect people to be on stage. And, you know, when I look back at the video, I can see… Only I know what I saw and what I thought, which was… When I had my eyes closed and I was singing, and I got hit, and I didn't get hit hard and it didn't hurt bad — it shocked me. But when I looked down and I saw the security guy had tackled the kid, all I thought was this kid was trying to fucking attack me or whatever. And, believe me, I didn't exactly strap on a fucking a Tom Dempsey cleat from 1970 and kick his fucking teeth in. It was kind of, like, 'You stupid fucking asshole.' But after seeing it [on video], I understand why people got aggravated, because they've got a kid jumping up and down and the security guy came out like fucking Ray Lewis and tackled the kid and flew ten yards into me. But I'm thinking, and keep in mind, we're playing Alrosa Villa [in Columbus, Ohio] the next night… the next night we're playing the place where this happened to Dime [where PANTERA guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott was murdered onstage in 2004]. So ever since that happened… And it's weird at Alrosa… We'll play it again — we played it twice — but it's a weird, creepy kind of feeling to us. And we were playing there the next night. I'm not using that for an excuse."

Windstein added: "The point is, in all honesty, it was not a stagediving type of show. We welcome that… A place like tonight, c'mon. The stage is this tall, there's no barricade, help yourself. Do your best not to knock into the musicians. But, I mean, other than that… whatever.

"It's one of those things. It's no different… When it's a show, and we know it's a smaller stage — no barricade, no security-type thing or whatever — then they're gonna do what they wanna do and we're cool with that. But in this particular thing, it was the exact opposite of that. It was a high stage with a barricade about five, six feet away, with security guards everywhere .So you don't expect… He wasn't supposed to be on stage — bottom line. And, to be honest, he probably got up there and jumped up and down a little bit and said, 'Oh, fuck. What do I do now?' If he would have dove, he would have hurt himself or somebody else really bad, because it wasn't like… he wasn't just on a stage like tonight where people could help him right back in the crowd."

Kirk also fought back against online criticism of his response to the incident, saying that modern technology has made it easier for people to chime in on subjects they know little about.

"You know what it is? Everybody is very brave behind the keys of their computer," Windstein said. "I mean, I'm not sitting there acting tough. I'm just saying, instead of calling me an asshole, why don't you let me explain the situation from my point of view, which I was not allowed to do, because it would have caused more shit. So I just let it fade away, and just like everything else, it does fade away. Because something else happens and it just takes over. But there are certain things, like Blabbermouth and a lot of these things, they thrive on all this gossip. And a lot of the people that post on there constantly are… we call 'em trolls or haters. All they do is look around and try to find something to bash some band and I always feel like… You know what?! 'Oh, they were terrible at their show in fucking London?' Well, guess what? At least I'm playing in London. Where's your band playing? Your fucking mom's garage?"

He continued: "I tried not to get involved with [the Internet hoopla surrounding the incident]. It's one of the things. It happens. The thing is… In this day and age, with technology… What happened there has happened a thousand times in the past, where there were people on stage who didn't belong there and… whatever… [you] got a little nudge. But now, you can't take a piss without a camera on. I mean, in the old days, if you jumped onstage at a fucking WHO show or something, Pete Townshend would crack you over the head with his guitar. It's like the Mike Curtis tackle on the fan… Mike Curtis used to play for the Baltimore Colts. Some guy ran on the field and the guy was a linebacker for the Colts and he ran out and fucking knocked the living fuck out of [him]. Now that guy would get sued, fined, kicked out of the NFL and everything else. Some fucking dude running on the field that doesn't belong there…"

CROWBAR's latest album, "Symmetry In Black", sold around 3,900 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 68 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Symmetry In Black" came out in North America on May 27 via Entertainment One Music. The CD, which was made available in Europe on May 26 through Century Media Records, was produced by Kirk Windstein and Duane Simoneaux and was mixed by Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA).