Swim Team Denies Involvement in Lost Lands Lip-Stapling Incident

Swim Team Points to Firehouse666

A viral video from Lost Lands 2026 showing a man stapling his lip to a table sparked widespread criticism aimed at Swim Team, a mosh collective known for intense pit activity. In a statement posted to Instagram, Dvino of Swim Team said the group had nothing to do with the stunt and instead attributed it to Firehouse666, a stunt-oriented music and apparel collective. Firehouse666's website describes the project around "music clothes shows stunts," and the group has since sold merchandise referencing the incident.

Collective Defends Its Moshing Practices

Swim Team has become a focal point in a broader backlash over aggressive moshing at Lost Lands, with videos and attendee reports circulating online showing intense pit behavior. Dvino rejected the characterization that the collective engages in reckless or harmful conduct. "We are a community of the hardest moshes in the game, and there's nothing but love in those pits," he wrote, adding that members help fallen attendees, check on injured participants, and use a designated flag to identify their pits. "We're always careful and help each other up. I've never witnessed any issues of the Swim Team purposefully hurting people like most of you are portraying us to do." He also argued that "swimming," the group's chaotic mosh style, should be reserved for certain heavy dubstep, riddim, and tearout sets.

Artists and Attendees Weigh In

Nimda, whose Lost Lands set became associated with some of the weekend's most intense pit activity, addressed safety concerns in his own statement. The DJ and tearout producer, who has played in hardcore and beatdown metal bands, emphasized that anyone not actively participating in the pit should be left alone. "If someone isn't moshing, they are NOT part of it," Nimda wrote, later adding, "please no more staplers lmao." Some attendees have argued that increasingly extreme pit stunts are being staged for social media virality and shock value rather than functioning as organic expressions of the music.

The incident reflects a cultural tension within heavy bass music as moshing traditions from metal and hardcore cross into large festival crowds. "With the growth of the Swim Team, I want people to be able to mosh safely and have fun while doing it," Dvino added. The statement is an attempt to draw a boundary between Swim Team's version of heavy moshing and the stunt that came to symbolize the weekend's controversy.