Nazi Punks, Fuck Off: Part One

How Not to Accidentally Attend a Nazi Gig

Punk ain't no religious cult
Punk means thinking for yourself
You ain't hardcore 'cause you spike your hair
When a jock still lives inside your head

Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks FUCK OFF!

You might never be interested in going to extreme metal/hardcore gigs - fair enough, by design it’s some of the most aggressive, unhinged and abraisive music ever made. But I’d urge you to read on, because the means by which fascists steal-from and infiltrate subcultures is remarkably similar. Nazis will do this to any subculutre that attracts the young - from metal/hardcore, to gaming, to soccer and anime fandom. Even catboys are not safe.

Alongside working in economic policy and ‘high finance’, I’ve also been consistently involved in extreme metal/hardcore punk since the tender age of 12.

When I travel to new cities, I often attend metal and hardcore gigs on my own - because I spotted a cool flyer with spidery writing, or I met someone in a bar with rad knuck tats who recommended it.

99% of the time, I make new awesome friends who’re into enviromental protection, feminism, First Nations advocacy, or aiding the homeless. 1% of the time, I end up in a room full of fucking Nazis.

It goes like this:

I turn up at the typical abandoned warehouse/dive-bar venue hearing some sweet Blast or D-Beats¹ rumble from the depths. Sick.

I walk in, and start spoting warning signs:
Warning sign 1) “Fuck, it’s almost all Dudes” - this is not that uncommon for extreme metal gigs (although, thank the Metal Gods, that has changed a lot in recent years). But this gig is even more Dude-ier than usual. Fascists tend to view women as subservient incubaters, so their gigs are generally sausage-parties. NOT FUN.

Warning sign 2) “Urgh, those are some ugly looking runes on that guy’s jacket” - fascists often disguise their political allegience through a bunch of runes stolen from Nordic cultures [see below]. Nazis hide their Nazism so they won’t:

1. Be attacked by their political enemies (i.e. most folks who aren't Nazis)

2. Monitered by the Feds²

3. Get banned from venues for their genocidal ideology

4. Be dismissed by normies, so as to maintain plausible deniability while slowly indoctrinating new recruits (i.e. ‘hiding their power level’. Remember, there was nothing that jumped out at and screamed ‘NAZI’ to me on the gig flyer.

Many Nordic symbols are used by people/bands who aren’t into fascism at all - they’re just fascinated by Odinism/pre-christian religions… so it’s tricky.

By no means comprehensive. A bunch of these were emblasoned on the weapons and clothing of the Christchurch shooter. They may also be innocently tattooed on your gardern variety pagan hedgewitch.

Warning Sign 3) “Bunch of these dudes are wearing red laces on their Doc Martins without any left-leaning patches/tattoos” - Red [or white] laces on your boots is another dog-whistle by which Nazis signal their allegience. Again, some leftist/punk folk also wear these because they look cool and believe Nazis shouldn’t get to own any cool trend (especially when they didn’t invent it - we’ll get into how Nazis stole the largely anti-racist Skinhead culture in Part Two). Coupled with some of the runes displayed above, red laces are probably a bad sign, but again it’s tricky…

This Tokyo guy is probably not a Nazi at all (although I could be wrong)

Warning Sign 4) “People are snarling at my Crass patch, and generally treating me like a bad smell”. Nazis will be super-friendly to new-commers without a political allegience - and generally cower from left-leaning folk unless they’re in a position of overwhelming strength (in bodily stature, weaponry or numbers). If they’re in a big crowd of their mates, they will actively be a cunt/attack you if you’re wearing something on the wrong side of the political spectrum.

Warning Sign 5) “Oh no. There’s the fucking Nazi flag on the wall. Time to GET THE HELL OUT”. Do not argue with Nazis if you’re hugely outnumbered. You will get bashed 5-on-1. Nazis are cowards whose overwhelming preference is to gang-bash people. When In Doubt, Get The Hell Out - we’ll deal with pratical and safe ways to shut them the fuck down in Part 3.

Piecing together How The Hell I Made This Mistake (on my way home):

“I guess the band name ‘FreeKorpse’ was actually a reference to Freikorps [the proto-Nazi right-wing militants of the Weimar republic]… not just your average wholesome Grindcore band who sing about fisting corpses while raising money for Bushfire relief.

The band ‘Werwolf’ is also missing an ‘e’, dumb dumb [Operation Werwolf was also a Nazi war strategy].

Also, there’s a Algiz Rune (𐌙) in that band’s logo, Fuckwit. Man I messed up.”

Unless you’re really into studying hard-right-wing signifiers, you can see how I missed these subtle cues, especially when the band names all look like the below:

Fun Facts: The top band logo on this jacket is Pretty Nazi - the bottom two logos are not at all. The wearer of this jacket may be a Nazi, or possibly the “politics should stay out of music enjoyment” type… either way, Probably a Dickhead.

Metal and Hardcore culture is a great disguise for Nazis

The band logos are often unreadable, the lyrics unintelligable to most folks ears - and more importantly, extreme music has an aura of cool that allows them to access young new recruits.

Metal and punk often confront and explore topics which are taboo, frightening or confronting - murder, domestic/state/racially-motivated violence, the occult - which is also a great cloak for Nazis to actually promote different types of violence.

This can result in some really awkward conversations with normies unfamiliar with the scene, particularly your parents:

"Listen Dad, I went to the gig to listen to songs describing racially neutral mass murder, but they turned out to be about Auschwitz- and that's a bridge way too far."

“Mum, can you come pick me up?...
I accidentally went to the MÜRDERGRIND gig with a valknut in the 'M'. I thought it was the MÜRDERGRIND that raises money for women's shelters....
I thought it would be chill because they guy who told me about it had ACAB knuckle tats...
I'll explain later, come quick, a bunch of them are outside and they are non-ironically wearing red laces...
It's a problem because I'm in a 'Fukpig' T-shirt....
Yes, these ones also hate the cops...I'LL EXPLAIN LATER."

UP NECKST IN PART TWO: How Nazis stole Skinhead culture from Carribean Immigrants, and most of their aesthetics from Nordic Odinism.

For now, here’s really great film that captures the Vibe and Aesthetics of accidentally arriving at a Nazi Metal/Hardcore gig. It happens:

Green Room [Horror, 2016]

1. Both these are just examples of Blastbeats and D-Beats, not Nazi bands. I will not be linking to any Nazi bands, because fuck those guys.

2. Federal police types are progressively more interested in Nazis because they keep doing a terrorism: