Metal duo Wargasm and the Face Down rock club night have demanded action from London venue The Scala, after the band's Sam Matlock was allegedly assaulted by security guards there.
The incident occurred after Wargasm performed at Face Down on Friday night, with the band saying in a statement on social media: "While we were trying to load out, a bouncer was verbally aggressive to our female tour manager, leading to Sam having to step in".
"After this, in a completely overzealous and unnecessary use of force, three bouncers then dragged Sam into the backstage toilets, where two of them slammed his head against the toilet seat and held his head in the toilet bowl while the third bouncer held the door closed with his foot", the statement continues. "At this point, luckily, another member of our touring party was able to intervene and remove Sam from the situation, not without injury".
The statement goes on to say that Wargasm's management has since been attempting to contact The Scala about this "to no avail", saying that: "We feel that anyone visiting or playing at this venue should be aware of our deeply shocking experience and the treatment of our team by the current security staff. It's now been made very clear to us that as long as this current security team are under employment there, from our experience we do not consider Scala a safe venue, especially for women".
Showing their support for Wargasm, in their own statement organisers of Face Down said: "We are aware of an incident with the security at Scala involving Wargasm. Firstly, we would like to extend our sincere apologies to them for this. While we do not employ the security at our events, as this is the venue's responsibility, we do not appreciate people being manhandled in this way, be it someone in the crowd or backstage. This has been communicated to the venue and we await their response".
The Scala has so far offered no comment.