Brown stunned by ‘Fire’ use in massacre

Horrified by the use of his song “Fire” in a video stream by the accused New Zealand mosque murderer, Arthur Brown canceled a weekend performance in Austin, Texas.

Brown played his 1968 hit song during a SXSW festival performance at the Empire Garage on Thursday, just before Australian Brendan Tarrant allegedly began his shooting rampage at two Muslim mosques in Christchurch.

Tarrant posted video of his deadly actions on Facebook and the live stream included “Fire” blasting while he was in his car. The suspected killer sang along to the song.

Brown then pulled out of a second Austin performance at a well-known local record store.

“As co-writer and performer of the song ‘Fire’, and creator of ‘The God of Hellfire’ persona, I would like to express my horror and sadness in the use of ‘Fire’, in an act of terror in New Zealand. My heart goes out to all the victims and families of victims of this atrocity — and to all the communities affected,” Brown wrote on his Facebook page.

“I should like to say that I support no group or individual that uses terrorist tactics and killing as a means of dealing with other beliefs than their own.

“I believe that all religions reach for the same root in the human being. I believe all people of all colours and all races deserve equal respect. I also believe that all people have a duty of care towards each other and all creatures on this earth.”

Brown had been set to perform with Carter Arrington at Waterloo Records in Austin. “OUT OF RESPECT for the victims of this horrifying act in New Zealand and following the advice of respected local authorities, I have decided to CANCEL the ‘in-store’ performance,” Brown wrote.

Several rock acts have had to deal with the use of their works in deadly crimes over the decades, most notably the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and “Piggies” by the Charles Manson cult.

President Trump also has been dealing with fallout from the mosque killings, as the suspected murderer named him as an influence.

After the massacre, one radical Christian web site pointed to Brown as the “Satanic connection” in the shootings while citing him, inaccurately, as “the father of heavy metal music.” The Christian web site made a connection between Brown’s onstage use of a flaming headdress with worship of a demon idol. Brown and his band have no connection with Satanism.

Brown’s God of Hellfire character came out of the British singer’s interest in opera and shock theater. It was a character represented in a song cycle on “The Crazy World of Arthur Brown” album, born of a nightmare.

“The God of Hellfire was an authentic figurehead and mouthpiece for the fears and concerns of a generation (in the turbulent year of 1968),” Brown’s web site says.

Psychedelic Sight (this web site) agreed, in naming “Fire” one of its top psychedelic songs: “The violent and twisted events of that year — the Tet Offensive, the King assassination, race riots and the rest of the chaos — played like a fever dream by October, when Brown’s single “Fire” found itself at the top of the U.S. pop charts.”

Shindig! magazine profiled the singer in recent years as living an old-school hippie lifestyle, complete with rural property and comfy yurt. “Let us hope we have many more times where our ‘separateness’ drops away and we musicians and audience are left sharing joy and love together,” Arthur Brown writes in a welcome message on his web site.