Jamie Hope from I Killed the Prom Queen
Australian metalcore band I Killed The Prom Queen are being held by Malaysian immigration after they were arrested for performing at the weekend without a permit.
Immigration Department Director General Mustafa Ibrahim said he hoped to deport the five-member group who are touring Southeast Asia as soon as possible.
“Members of the band from Australia were arrested for performing without a valid permit,” Mustafa said.
“I want to release them as soon as possible and send them back home. I do not want the news of their arrest to go viral.”
Guitarist Jona Weinhofen tweeted on Sunday that the band were arrested on Saturday night by immigration officers, some of whom asked for their autographs.
“Weirdest part is some of the immigration officers asked us to autograph stuff & one is wearing a Prom Queen shirt. Still locking us up tho,” he tweeted.
He referred to the Paris terror attacks, in which scores of people were killed at a gig by the Eagles of Death Metal, a US rock band.
“Things could definitely be worse and our situation pales to other recent events,” he tweeted, adding that they were being well treated.
Metalcore is a fusion of punk and heavy metal.
The group, who have toured the United States and Japan, played in Kuala Lumpur as part of a week-long Southeast Asian tour which has already visited Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Kuching. A final show was scheduled for Solo, Indonesia, on Sunday.
The band formed in 2000 in Adelaide, reaching success with albums When Goodbye Means Forever… (2003) and Music For the Recently Deceased (2006).
Foreign bands deemed to offend Islamic sensibilities often have difficulties playing in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Weinhofen said the promoters for the Kuala Lumpur show had failed to get them proper visas.
