Controversy followed the last Swollen Members performance in Prince George in Sept. 2010, yet the same promoter made the Vancouver-based hip hop group a late addition to the Tech N9ne concert last Saturday.
Chelsie Grobins was the organizer when Prince George gang members took the stage alongside the popular rapper to show their affiliation - and a bustle of bad energy followed.
Adding to the optical issues was the well known history of drug addiction and Hells Angels affiliation by one of the group's members, Mad Child, although he has since insisted that life is behind him.
Grobins told The Citizen this week the gang presence came of its own volition that night and security measures have been added so that the Swollen Members stage is not hijacked again.
"To the best of my knowledge [Swollen Members] are not associated with organized crime," she said. "They put on a good show with loyal fans. This is not about organized crime this is about music and putting on a good show. There has been no problem of any kind at any of my shows I have thrown."
This is her sixth concert involving Swollen Members, she said, and they are, in her estimation, no problem to deal with and the shows are a good experience for the audience.
Police Sgt. Shinder Kirk, spokesman for B.C.'s combined-forces Gang Task Force said he had heard there were some concerns around their last concert in Prince George, but insisted the group was not a concern for police going into Saturday's event and their concerts elsewhere in the province were not a problem for law enforcement.
The Prince George RCMP might have a regular presence at the Tech N9ne concert, he said, but the provincial team had no plans to station their uniforms in the crowd.
"Swollen Members have done work and a song with Tech N9ne and I thought it would be a great fit," Grobins said.
"Regardless of what happened at the last Swollen Members show I have had over 50 requests from all sorts of people asking when they are coming back... I am trying to provide concerts that people enjoy and I have no desire to promote anything other then music."
TAMER CHILD
Mad Child won't diss the Hells Angels, and still swears a tight friendship to one of the members, but the Swollen Members frontman called The Citizen to insist he is no longer involved in a lifestyle of drugs and organized crime.
"It is one of those things that isn't going to go away overnight, that's for sure," said the hiphop star [real name Shane Bunting], looking back on his music videos featuring Hells Angels members, the police raid at his house, the refusal to allow him to cross the U.S. border, the loss of his Nettwerk Records deal, the loss of his wealth and the damage done to his personal relationships.
All of it happened because of a severe addiction to drugs and an unchecked life of excess.
"The way I live my life now, my focus is on my music, my group, my family, staying sober, and enjoying life," he said. "I have been sober 11 months, I don't frequent any bars or clubhouses or nightclubs, I don't drink, I don't do drugs. I'm just on my own personal trip trying to rebuild my life."
Swollen Members performed in Prince George Saturday night, the first time since a gig in Sept. 2010 that got a lot of police and media attention for the overt presence of Prince George gangsters.
Mad Child said he had nothing to do with any of them being there. He admitted to knowing one of them from past socializing but he was as surprised as everyone in the building when some of them got up on stage flashing their gang affiliations.
They told him backstage that some of the local rival gangsters had called a truce that night, and indeed no violence took place.
"I had no awareness of how bad the gang activity was in Prince George," he said.
He knows more now, and that is built on awareness from his own past, growing up involved with a street-level gang in the Vancouver area and then into the glam life at a young age when Swollen Members took off.
That was followed by years of sickness battling an addiction to the prescription painkiller Oxycontin (also called Oxycodone or Percocet) which he believes is too readily available and abused without government intervention.
"I am interested in spreading the word, and I'll be honest with you, I am concerned for our next generation," he said. "It has gotten out of hand. I can't help but feel partially responsible for promoting and glorifying that type of stuff in the past. It is something I'm just not going to do anymore."
NO POLICE ISSUES AT HIP HOP SHOW
The Tech N9ne concert, also featuring Swollen Members, attracted no undue police attention Saturday night. The hip-hop event was initially cause for concern because of all the organized crime members who showed up to their last performance in Prince George, although not in any apparent way at the behest of the band or promoter.
"Given the previous history, we can't neglect to look at that," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. "We are encouraged to do that anyway [walk through any large public event], depending on resources and how busy we are on other files. Often, extra resources are brought in and I can't say what was done specifically for this event."
Douglass said there was one call for police help at the show's venue, it was early in the evening's events and did not happen due to gang activity. It was a consensual fight between two females.
"I can say it was a busier than average night, a lot of alcohol-related complaints but considering it was the long weekend, and only the one file associated to CN Centre, I would have to say there was no problem with that event."
Several rap and hip-hop acts were featured at the concert, headlined by Tech N9ne and Swollen Members, including a number of upcoming local artists.
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