Oakland venues Elbo Room and Oakland Metro Operahouse are scheduled to host a black metal festival with neo-Nazi ties called Never Surrender on Oct 18 – 20, 2019. Never Surrender Fest is organized by labels known for distributing Nazi metal: Iron Bonehead Productions based in Germany and Nuclear War Now! Productions based in the Bay Area whose website serves as the biggest online community for Nazi metal [Update: On October 18th, the day after this information was released, Nuclear War Now! took down its online forum.] Some of the bands booked for Never Surrender are known to have Nazi associations including Black Witchery, Bone Awl, Volahn, and Blue Hummingbird On The Left.
Iron Bonehead Productions/Patrick Kremer
Patrick “Traumatic” Kremer, who runs the metal label Iron Bonehead Productions is said to have a neo-Nazi background and was a co-owner of a Berlin record store “Metal and Hell” which was eventually shut down due to the fact that it sold NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal) records and other neo-Nazi material. Kremer continues to release and distribute Nazi metal on his label Iron Bonehead.
Patrick “Traumatic” Kremer was in the thrash metal band Witchburner and the black metal band Nema who released a split with Moonblood who use the white supremacist version of the Celtic Cross symbol in their logo and have album titles like “Blut und Krieg” (Blood and War) and “Taste our German Steel”.
Some of the Nazi metal Kremer sold at Metal and Hell included bands on the NSBM label No Colours Records (a German mail-order specializing in neo-Nazi and white power releases) such as Graveland, Nargaroth and Satanic Warmaster, as well as Luror which has ties to NSBM bands Absurd, Wolf Moon and Cryogenic.
Luror’s mastermind Sven “Unhold” Zimper (who was also in Absurd) runs World Terror Committee Productions (WTC) which also releases and distributes numerous Nazi metal bands such as Horna (who Elbo Room’s Matt Shapiro booked at Oakland Metro for a March 2019 show that was eventually canceled when Horna’s extensive NSBM ties were exposed), Sargeist, Graveland, Hate Forest, Absurd and Grand Belial’s Key.
Satanic Warmaster, a Finnish Nazi black metal project of Lauri Penttilä (aka Werwolf/Nazgul) who was in the Finnish Nazi metal band Horna until 2001, collaborates with NSBM bands like Aryan Blood and Gestapo 666, has lyrics glorifying the Third Reich and anti-semitism (“Sieg Heil!” “Enthroned Aryan spirit the resurrection of our Reich” “semite creation in ashes”), album titled “Gas Chamber” and samples Nazi rallies.
Sven “Unhold” Zimper is the current vocalist of Virgnia-based Nazi black metal band Grand Belial’s Key. Alexander Halac aka “Gelal Necrosodomy is the founding member of Grand Belial’s Key and death metal band Arghoslent (as “Pogrom”). Both bands are known for anti-Semitic lyrics and Nazi imagery, and promoting anti-Semitic violence and neo-fascism.
Grand Belial’s Key’s former vocalist Richard P. Mills aka “Grimnir Wotansvolk”/”Grimnir Heretik” owned New York-based NSBM label Vinland Winds which released Nazi bands such as Graveland, Spear of Longinus, Sigrblot, Der Stürmer, Sunwheel/Swastyka, Thor’s Hammer, Arghoslent, Grom
Richard Mills of Grand Belial’s Key/Vinland Winds label was affiliated with National Alliance, a white nationalist organization founded by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, the author of The Turner Diaries – a novel about exterminating non-white races that inspired Timothy McVeigh.
Absurd is one of the most notorious Nazi black metal bands and one of its members Hendrik Möbus aka “JFN” is an active neo-nazi and convicted murderer who runs Darker Than Black – the largest NSBM label currently operating. He is the founder of the German section of Heathen Front.
Patrick Kremer’s Metal and Hell record store also carried releases from the American Nazi metal label “Satanic Skinhead Propaganda” which has a well-documented history of associations with openly racist and anti-Semitic bands preaching fascism and ethnic cleansing (including Black Witchery who are also on Nuclear War Now! and in the lineup for the Never Surrender Fest date at Oakland Metro), founded by neo-Nazi “Antichrist Kramer” – the frontman of the Nazi metal band Intolitarian. One of Satanic Skinhead Propaganda releases is a compilation called ‘Declaration Of Anti-Semetic (sic) Terror’ featuring bands like Sturmführer, Satanic Warmaster, Nyogthaeblisz, Hellvetron, 88MM, and Der Stürmer, and songs like “Smash the Fucking Jewish Kik*s” and “14 Showerheads, 1 Gas Tight Door”.
Iron Bonehead Productions has released gnostic-fascist band A.M.S.G (Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam) which has members of neo-Nazi band Ouroboros and anti-Islamic band Weapon. A.M.S.G. are on a split with anti-Islamic black metal band Svolder, a right-wing noise act Arrogance, and Hostium who are on NSBM label Darker Than Black. Ouroboros, Svolder, and Hostium have all released on Iron Bonehead.
The band photo of House of Atreus (who are signed to Iron Bonehead and are in the lineup for the Never Surrender Fest at Oakland Metro) shows a band member promoting Nazi metal bands Arghoslent and Grand Belial’s Key and the “anti-Islamic black metal” band Svolder who are also on Iron Bonehead.
Other releases by Iron Bonehead include Czech NSBM band “Triumph, Genus”, FRONT (“Iron Overkill”/”Heathen Resistance”), and Bölzer.
Bölzer, from Switzerland, features frontman Okoi Jones who has multiple tattoos of Swastikas, Wolfsangel and Celtic Cross symbols. Jones has stated: “My sunwheels, my swastikas, my whatever you call them, it’s an ancient symbol used by basically every culture on this planet at some time or another for more or less the same reason, to express their adoration for the sun, the solar power.”
In an interview with Bardo Methodology, Bölzer’s Okoi Jones has stated that while he is not enthusiastic about eugenics, he thinks “it would be a great disservice to cultural and ethnical diversity if every folk would indiscriminately breed with one another the world over”. Jones also stated that while he is “most certainly no racist” that he is against “dissolving borders and tribal identity” and that “in the name of cultural preservation and the importance of biological diversity, I believe countries and their inhabitants have a right to remain where they are”.
Nuclear War Now! Productions/Yosuke Konishi
Nuclear War Now! Productions is owned by a wealthy biotech chemist Yosuke Konishi and, like its longtime partner label Iron Bonehead, releases and distributes Nazi metal/noise records. The Nuclear War Now! website’s forum has long served as an online hub for those who produce and consume Nazi metal.
Along with NSBM label Satanic Skinhead Propaganda, Nuclear War Now! has released Brazilian neo-Nazi metal band Goatpenis who glorify Nazi atrocities with songs like “Zyklon-B” (the gas used in gas chambers during the Holocaust), openly support neo-Nazi bands like Der Stürmer (also on Satanic Skinhead Propaganda), and have performed at Nazi metal fests like Hot Shower and Deathkult.
Members of Goatpenis are part of the Brazilian neo-Nazi skinhead scene. Goatpenis’ 2002 release titled Trotz Verbot Nicht Tot (“Not dead, although forbidden!”) is a reference to an often used slogan by neo-Nazis that originated with Hitlers’ Minister of Propaganda Josef Goebbels.
Nazi metal band Inquisition (who have released on Nuclear War Now!) has a song called “Crush the Jewish Prophet”. Neo-Nazi Jason “Dagon” Weirbach of Inquisition also has a electronic/noise side-project called 88MM (with song titles like “14 Showerheads, 1 Gas Tight Door”) and has been convicted of child porn charges.
In 2017, Nuclear War Now!’s Yosuke Konishi described the area around the 10,000 sq. ft. warehouse in East Oakland he bought for his label with help from investors as “currently filth-ridden but there are signs of things changing” and mentioned his plans for opening a store front at the same location. In 2018, Konishi announced the opening of the storefront for his new record store Eastern Front Records at the location of the Nuclear War Now! warehouse: 7800 MacArthur Blvd in East Oakland.
Nuclear War Now! owner Yosuke Konishi is a fan of Japanese fascist Yukio Mishima. In a 2017 Bardo Methodology interview, Konishi recommends “reading Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima”.
Yukio Mishima was a Japanese right-wing nationalist who had formed a militia in an attempt to restore power to the Japanese Emperor. Likely due to Japanese Nationalists having been heavily influenced by Italian Fascism, Mishima has been particularly popular among Italian neo-Fascists. Mishima was said to have thought highly of Mussolini in his school days and his diaries from the 1940s made frequent mention of Mussolini. In 1969, Mishima published a play called ‘My Friend Hitler’ and in one production even performed the role of Hitler. The play was about the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler’s 1934 purge when Nazi General Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA (“Storm Troopers” aka “Brown Shirts”), was executed. Röhm believed that gays were superior to straights and saw homosexuality as key principle of “Brave New Fascist Order”.
A significant number of articles dedicated to Yukio Mishima can be found on the Counter-Currents Publishing website, run by White nationalist Greg Johnson, author of the book ‘New Right vs Old Right’. Counter-Currents distributes books on themes such as anti-Semitism, the war on European cultures by the likes of Generation Identity, and glorification of Adolf Hitler.
Counter-Currents has also published the transcript of a 2011 lecture on Mishima by fascist Jonathan Bowden who was a self-described “Pagan Modernist” and a member of the British National Party (a fascist political party created by members of the fascist National Front).
Yukio Mishima has been a major influence for Douglas Pearce, an openly gay neo-Fascist of the neo-folk band Death In June (named after the Night of the Long Knives). Death In June albums inspired by Yukio Mishima include the “Brown Book” album which features a rendition of “Horst Wessel Lied”, the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. In a 2006 interview, Douglas Pearce stated that he appreciates the work of people like Yukio Mishima particularly because “they were also gay”.
The CD booklet for Current 93’s 1992 album Earth Covers Earth includes a photo of Douglas Pearce with Rose McDowall of Strawberry Switchblade and David “Tibet” Michael of Current 93 at Yukio Mishima’s grave on Christmas day 1988.
In 2014, Death In June released “Tribute To Yukio Mishima & Jean Genet” double album. Jean Genet was a French novelist who was posthumously exposed for his anti-Semitism and fascist ties (Note: The mention of this fact does not imply that support of Jean Genet makes someone a fascist. Genet is also known for having supported the Black Panthers and other leftist causes. Genet’s complicated past along with his sexuality probably does play a part in Douglas Pearce paying tribute to him but the focus here is on Pearce’s obsession with Mishima). Douglas Pearce’s ties to fascists is well-documented. In 2018, 3 members of British neo-Nazi group National Action were convicted for being members of a terrorist organization who were preparing “for a “race war”, plotting an assassination, and advocating violence against and extermination of Jews and “non-whites”. Evidence revealed that its members had direct ties to Death In June and other fascists including Michael Moynihan and Troy Southgate.
The website of ex-Church of Satan member Jack Donovan (aka Jack Donovan-Malebranche) of Wolves of Vinland has had a section entirely dedicated as “A Tribute to Yukio Mishima”.
Jack Donovan, author of ‘The Way of Men’, is a masculine anti-queer homosexual who rejects the label “gay” and promotes “paleomasculinity”. Donovan has openly identified as an “anarcho-fascist”, “white nationalist”, and “racialist”, and has spoken at alt-right conferences including a lecture at the white supremacist National Policy Institute conference in DC.
Wolves of Vinland is a violent, White Nationalist, Norse neopagan, bio-regionalist “tribalist” group influenced by fascist esotericist Julius Evola and draws from Nazi era Norse imagery, total misreadings of Germanic and Scandinavian paganism, Men’s Rights Activist ideology, and the power lifting and black metal subcultures. It was started by self-styled fitness coach, motivational guru and white supremacist Paul Waggener along with his brother Mattias and its chapters have spread across the US, attempting to spread ethno-separatism through neofolk and black metal projects. The Waggeners are also behind “Operation Werewolf”, a right-wing strength cult that acts as a feeder group for Wolves of Vinland. The name “Operation Werewolf” comes from the guerilla German resistance force organized by Adolf Hitler in 1944 during the decline of Nazi control.
Blue Hummingbird on the Left
On June 29th, 2019, Brazilian neo-Nazi metal band Goatpenis (on Nuclear War Now! label) played in Los Angeles with Blue Hummingbird on the Left (on Iron Bonehead Productions and Nuclear War Now!) along with Defecrator (on Drakkar label with Nazi metal bands Grand Belial’s Key, Arghoslent, Watain, Deathspell Omega, Peste Noire) and Psychotomimetic who opened for Finnish Nazi metal band Horna earlier in the year.
Hector aka “Nezahualcoyotl”, the bassist of Blue Hummingbird on the Left also played in Desolator (Lyrics: “lead armies of genocide, I strike with hatred”) named after a song by Sweden’s Nifelheim (closely associated with Watain who have NSBM ties and known for Nazi salutes on stage).
Blue Hummingbird on the Left and Volahn – who are both scheduled to play at Never Surrender Fest at the Oakland Metro Operahouse – have supported neo-Nazi Hendrik Möbus of Absurd and NSBM label Darker than Black (DTB) Records and both bands have said “they also hate Antifa”.
Volahn/Black Twilight Circle (Crepúsculo Negro)
Eduardo Ramírez aka “Volahn” – who has a black metal project also called Volahn – is the ringleader of Black Twilight Circle (Crepúsculo Negro), an indigenous-rooted Mexican-American collective of black metal bands themed around Native American (mostly Aztec) mythology. Volahn routinely play with bands like Nyogthaeblisz and opened for Nazi metal band Inquisition on their 2017 tour, and was at the Ulfheim Wolves of Vinland fascist day-camp in September 2018 where Ramírez was seen shaking hands with Paul Waggener of Wolves of Vinland/Operation Werewolf. Eduardo Ramírez has also been seen wearing the shirt of the Polish NSBM band Graveland.
Black Witchery
Black Witchery, one of the bands on the lineup of Never Surrender Fest, have released with Nazi metal label “Satanic Skinhead Propaganda” and Nuclear War Now! with lyrics such as “Bestial command for Holocaust / Torment the souls of weakened blood / Crush the race of holy filth” “Demoniac legions calling forth antichrist Holocaust / Eternal victory over Jehovah’s throne”
Black Witchery has close ties to neo-Nazi Antichrist Kramer (Intolitarian)/Satanic Skinhead Propaganda, along with Inquisition, Conqueror, and other bands close to that circle.
Bone Awl
Bone Awl, who are also on the bill for Never Surrender Fest, also has several Nazi metal associations including the use of Nazi imagery on their records. Eduardo Ramírez aka “Volahn” has also played bass in Bone Awl. A member of Bone Awl has a project called “Amofas” which uses a white supremacist version of the Celtic Cross symbol in its logo.
Bone Awl’s Night Is Indifferent album features a Nazi SS Totenkopf symbol in the album art.
Bone Awl has released a split called “Vinland – Finland” with a Finnish NSBM band Hammer who use a Nazi Swastika in their logo.
Bone Awl also released a split with Furdidurke which features Swastikas in the album art.
Metztli, another band with Nazi associations, has done a cover of a Bone Awl song on a split with another Nazi-associated metal band Maquahuitl. Metztli is scheduled to play at a Nazi metal festival called “Panquetzalizti V” with other Nazi metal bands including Maquahuitl in Glendale, Arizona in December 2019.
A member of Bone Awl also owns Klaxon Records which uses the Iron Cross in its logo. Klaxon Records has put out a split featuring Finnish Nazi metal band Horna and Woods of Infinity from Sweden.
Woods of Infinity are on the Eight Acts of Origin compilation (limited to 488 copies) by Raging Bloodlust Records featuring bands like Italian NSBM band Gaszimmer who use Iron Cross in their logo, Akitsa, Ash Pool, and Pagan Hellfire.
Akitsa – a black metal band on Profound Lore Records who have also released on NSBM label World Terror Committee Productions (WTC) – have done splits with many Nazi bands. Akitsa’s “La Grande Infamie” album is on the Nazi label Christhunt. The fact that Akitsa’s “Auprès de la mort, triomphant!” album is limited to 489 copies and that they’re on a compilation limited to 488 copies (their track appears on Side “88”) are references to the Nazi code “14/88” (variations of 88, 488, 148, etc. are also commonly used) which combines two white supremacist numeric symbols. 14 = “14 Words” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” 88 = “Heil Hitler” (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet).
Pierre-Marc Tremblay aka “O.T.” of Akitsa is the owner of Tour De Garde label which has released numerous Nazi bands including Acherontas, Blood Stronghold, Drowning the Light, Hunok, In Ketten (RAC (“Rock Again Communism”) band tied to Absurd), Kristallnacht, Legion Totenkopf, Peste Noire, and Satanic Warmaster.
Elbo Room and Oakland Metro Operahouse
Both of the venues of the Never Surrender Fest had been reached out to previously and their responses have been dismissive while claiming to take these issues seriously. Following the release of the information detailed here, Matt Shapiro (the co-owner of Elbo Room) has attempted to gaslight anti-fascists with accusations of “lies, mistruths, and misdirection”.
Matt Shapiro, who booked the Never Surrender Fest at his venue Elbo Room and at Oakland Metro, had also booked the Finnish Nazi metal band Horna at Oakland Metro for March 2019 show which was canceled after an article came out detailing Horna’s extensive NSBM ties.
Nazi Metalheads Fuck Off! #ShutDownNaziMetal #FuckNSBM #MetalAgainstFascism
Neo-Nazi ties of Never Surrender Fest (Iron Bonehead and Nuclear War Now!) 