Former Misfits singer Michale Graves is a potential witness in a possible Capitol insurrection trial after joining the Proud Boys last year.
According to Reuters, Graves (real name Michael Emanuel) was in Washington, D.C. on January 6th — the day of the riot — to play a private concert organized by a group called “Latinos for Trump” on the request of a fellow Proud Boys member. Graves told Reuters that he didn’t think the Proud Boys were capable of participating in the attack that left five people dead, including a D.C. police officer.
“These guys have a hard time getting an order together for McDonalds,” Graves said of the Proud Boys in the new interview.
One of the defendants charged with the insurrection conspiracy and prominent Proud Boy member Ethan “Rufio” Nordean said in a court filing via lawyers on Monday that he had planned to hold a “carefree music party” on January 6th that would have featured Graves.
That’s where Graves comes in. Nordean’s lawyers are using the planned party — which never occurred — as defense, stating that the event was scheduled for the same time as the Capitol riot, thus contradicting any pre-meditated conspiracy to “topple the government.” Graves allegedly was supposed to be playing the private party when the Capitol building was stormed by Trump supporters.
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Graves said he met with Nordean a day prior, when Nordean asked Graves to play the private show on the 6th between 3 and 4 p.m. at a rented house. The concert was meant to boost morale for the “Latinos for Trump” group after Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested on January 4th on gun charges.
Graves agreed but said that he and his manager “ghosted” the group and the other Proud Boys on the 6th by exiting the area as soon as the insurrection began. Graves’ manager Arturo Santaella seconded his client’s recollection.
“They are not this well-oiled machine,” Santaella said of the Proud Boys.
Graves was the lead singer of the Misfits from 1995 through 2000, appearing on the albums American Psycho (1997) and Famous Monsters (1999).
Another musician embroiled in the insurrection chaos is Iced Earth guitarist John Schaffer, who is being held without bond until his trial begins. Photos and video footage that from the insurrection appear to show Schaffer charging at police officers inside the Capitol while wearing an Oath Keepers hat. The guitarist has since admitted to using “bad judgment”, while other members of Iced Earth have quit the band and condemned the events of January 6th.
