As the coronavirus pandemic has shut down live music worldwide, two acts Reverend Horton Heat of psychobilly and Scottish punk legends Exploited remain on the road.

Heat, whose first name is Jim Heath, wrote on Facebook: “Reverend Horton Heat is not canceling any concerts because of Covid-19. All concerts canceled will be canceled because the promoters canceled. governments restrict rock and roll to push back. Write emails and call your local government agencies to remind them that we have the right to come together. They can’t stop rock and roll! “

In the comments, many fans criticized his decision, calling it “stupid”, “wrong” and “irresponsible”. Heath responded to them with his justifications. “It’s stupid to panic so much that you give up your First Amendment right to a meeting,” he wrote to one. “Don’t be a sheep for an authoritarian government. Many younger bands and a music legend have texted me thanking me for the message. My band and my team have mouths to feed, to hire and to pay. They also have a first amendment right to the assembly. “

Many other responses from Heath point in the same direction that there are people in his organization who are financially dependent on him.

“Damn coronavirus!” as Walter “Wattie” Buchan, the longtime frontman of Exploited, was quoted on the DRW Entertainment Facebook page. “I’ve had five heart attacks, a quadruple heart bypass and a pacemaker. Cancel concerts for a virus?

The 62-year-old, who suffered one of those heart attacks on stage in Portugal in 2014, then referred to the title of his band’s 1981 debut album, “Punks Not Dead!”

The Exploited started their New Zealand and Australia tour last night in Auckland. Horton Heat has a solo show tonight in Tampa, with many dates still scheduled between March 28 and May 7.