NILE mainman Karl Sanders has slammed fans who insist on shooting photos and video at the band's concerts, saying that they are not "involved in the show" and are cheating other people out of a place where they could be enjoying the music.
Asked what it feels like to be looking at the audience at NILE's concerts and seeing so many people holding up their cell phones during the performances, Sanders told Metal Wani's editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi during a recent interview (hear audio below): "When you are taking your phone, your cell phone, or your video camera, or whatever it is, and you're busy filming the show, you are not in the show. You are no longer a part of the experience.
"When people are involved in the show, when you're listening to the band, you're watching the band, your fist is there, you're headbanging, you're moshing, you're involved, then you are part of a singular community experience."
He continued: "All of us are focused on the same energy, and that's an incredible experience. And you can feel that — it's real — and the band and the fans, they unite, they're together… So when I see people out there, you know, with their cellphones, texting or, you know, filming the show, or whatever, they're missing out on an incredible, wonderful live experience that they could be part of. And that hurts me, that discourages me.
"What if you are in bed with your girlfriend, and you are making love with her, and she's texting?
"In fact, it bothers me so much that if people do it right in front of me, I will take their cell phones from them. If they're going to, like, stick a camera, or a cell phone camera, or a video camera right in my face, I'd say, 'Fuck you, Go away. Go twenty feet back.' Because that place right in the front, that should be for someone who really wants to be at the show, who wants to get involved. And if you are texting or whatever, you're cheating that fan out of a place where he could be enjoying music."
NILE will tour the United States once again this April and May, with 27 shows supported by three of the best local bands in every market. NILE will play a massive set with music spanning their entire prolific career, including several never-performed-before-live songs.
NILE's seventh full-length album, "At The Gate Of Sethu", sold 3,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 131 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD landed at position No. 2 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
