DENIED RE-ENTRY TO THE USA - SENT BACK TO AUSTRIA - ALL US-TOUR DATES CANCELLED

hey everyone,

we are devastated! We were denied re-entry into the USA at a Canadian Border and were sent back to Austria. This was the worst thing that could happen to us and we are deeply sorry to have to cancel all the shows in the US.

What happened was, we were playing these great shows in Canada, that we had working permits for, and were heading to the next show in New Jersey on Monday. We didn't have any working permits for the US and we knew that, so we made up a little story on how we are just travelling with the Jetty Boys and are just friends of them, and tried to sell it so they let us back in. It was stupid, 2 Austrians in a van full of gear with 2 Americans (Eric and Jon of Jetty Boys)... I mean, hey, we all look like we were in a band, because we are... and we admitted to having played shows in Canada, because we had the permits for that. So the border patrol googled our bands' names and found all the dates, while we kept on lying. BIG MISTAKE! SUPER STUPID! So they were after us, treating us like terrorists, we apologised for lying and told the truth of course. We never expected getting deported, we thought we will have to pay a fine and pay for permits there or something. It would have all been easier if we wouldn't have lied to the cops there first. They hated us for that, threatening us with doing time and all.

Then, they found out that we have already played a show in the US, in Lansing, MI. This was a violation to the ESTA waiver program, which is the tourist visa we had. So Matt and I are now banned from it for life. This doesn't mean we can't come to the USA anymore, but it's gonna be harder for us to get a visa. We have to go to the US-embassy in Austria and make an appointment and all that. Matt and I will set up an appointment soon to find out how we could travel to the USA again, as tourist or as a band. We will do whatever we can to make it back over there and play, all legally from now on though. Playing the show in Lansing was seen as a criminal activity, so we had to swear an oath and they took all fingerprints and had mugshots taken. We now have a criminal record in the US, which won't make it easier for us going over again. We'll see...

Just to make this clear though, we brought all this upon ourselves. We were stupid enough thinking we can do this without permits and sneak in as tourists. There is no one else to blame but us.

We are very sorry for having to leave the tour with Jetty Boys, that was the hardest part. We were fighting tears all along because those dudes rule and we had such a great time together. Especially Eric, who is not only a great bass player, but also a great friend. He learned all our songs and helped with booking all the shows. Sorry dude, we miss you!

Also we have to apologize to Direct Hit, especially to Nick, who booked most of the shows for us. Sorry for the troubles with our cancellation now!
I hope both bands enjoy the rest of the tour, I'm sure they do! We wish we could be there with you guys!

Thanks to all the promoters who had us booked and we are so sorry for the cancellation! To all the fans out there, sorry you can't see us play and thanks for all the support, we really hope we can come back over again soon!

Here is a video of us playing at the Ottawa Explosion Weekend on Saturday - this would have been the set we would have played on the rest of the tour...

We are now back in Austria again, which sucks, but yeah... The trip back on such a short notice was all but cheap. We lost a ton of money unfortunately. If you wanna support us, we left some merch with the Jetty Boys, so you can grab our stuff at their shows. Also, if you wanna be supportive, you can download our music and donate some money on our Bandcamp-page. Or order/buy our records at the Monster Zero Store online.

SORRY AND THANK YOU
Mike // DeeCRACKS