Jason Mendonca

Jason Mendonca is the vocalist and guitarist of the British progressive blackened death metal band Akercocke.

In the late 1980s, Jason formed Salem Orchid with long time friend David Gray, but the band split up in 1992, and Jason relocated to North London where he listened solely to electronic music. Some years later, in the mid 1990s, he got back into metal and met up with Gray again. Thus, in 1997, Akercocke was born. With the release of their fifth full-length album, "Antichrist", the band were faced with controversy from Christian groups. A printing plant in the United States even refused to print the album's inlay booklet due to supposed "satanic materials". Jason said he did not find the booklet "overtly anti-Christian" and the printing plant's unwillingness was "really ugly. And it smacks of fascism to me."

When Akercocke scheduled a tour date in Belfast on May 18 2007, the band received more controversy, this time from Northern Ireland's Christian groups who claimed they were spreading a satanic message to Northern Ireland's youth. On May 16 2007, Jason appeared on BBC1's debate programme, Nolan Live, where he defended the band's right to play the gig.

References

#cite web |url=http://www.akercocke.com |title=Akercocke official website |accessdate=2007-12-21 |format=HTML |work=