The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement

In May 1990, across the border in Toronto, Canada, skinheads George Hawthorne (real name George Burdi), Dan Armstrong and John formed RAHOWA, an acronym for Racial Holy War. They were all members of the Church of the Creator, which Dan Armstrong described as a ‘religion dedicated to the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race based on the eternal laws of nature, history, logic and common sense.’ The motto of the Church of the Creator, which originated in the States, was RAHOWA. Line-up changes followed: Dan moved to Wisconsin where he formed White Power band Centurion and Jon moved to Latvia.

George Burdi remains a colourful and controversial character. Born in 1970, he was raised by loving Christian parents, becoming an altar boy. He was a popular and academically gifted high school student who only turned to racism at age 18 to gain approval from his girlfriend’s father because ‘he thought he was in love with his daughter.’ He explained: ‘Her father was really focused on World War II. He thought the Allies were unfair to Germany and that the Holocaust was wartime propaganda… Racial literature isn’t too far from Holocaust revisionist history, and eventually I came across it.’ White Power by George Lincoln Rockwell, which he read in a day, shook the hell out of him:

I didn’t start hating people right away; I was more looking for meaning in life. And here was this heroic challenge, in which my blood was calling me to rise up and save my people from destruction. That kind of epic theme really appealed to me… When you’re young, you think you understand everything, and you want to share what you’re thinking and get feedback. But I would bring up race and people would threaten me and call me a Nazi. They said that I wasn’t allowed to think this, or that only bad people think this. I wanted an explanation. People would say six million died in the Holocaust. I’d say, 30 million died under Stalin, but it’s okay to be a communist. I had an argument for everything, but no one would listen to me or discuss it. It just galvanized my will. It’s funny, at the same moment that I was starting to read White Power, one of my black friends loaned me a tape of [black nationalist Louis] Farrakhan speaking. I thought it was great! Here’s this guy doing the same thing as Rockwell. He’s looking after his people and promoting separation of the races, because higher culture [supposedly] is produced through homogenous nations.

He went to college where he was introduced to the teachings of the Church of the Creator. He was turned off by The White Man’s Bible by COTC founder Ben Klassen, but could not stop thinking about it: ‘It said Jews and every other race look after their own interests first and foremost, and that it should be your responsibility as a young white person to promote your race first and foremost. Klassen was arguing that white people are the creators of civilization; that’s why it’s called the Church of the Creator.’ He became a member of the COTC and produced the newspaper Racial Loyalty. To spread the message of his holy creed and Creativity, he started RAHOWA. He would later acknowledge that concerns over immigration, multiculturalism, unemployment and the environment were all strong drawing cards.

RAHOWA started to play live. The first was at a Robert J. Mathews rally. Reverend Dan Armstrong recalls:²⁹²⁹ ‘We were the only band and we played after some speeches, it was good but there wasn’t that many people as they all came for the speeches and then left, strange but true.’ The next concert was a New Year’s Eve bash with Cross and Stormfront. Reverend Dan Armstrong again: ‘There was quite a large crowd and there seemed to be no problems, that one was in Montréal, Quebec. It was great to see that the language barrier didn’t get in the way of racial unity.’ RAHOWA then played Ottawa with Stormfront on 20 April 1991, the date of Adolf Hitler’s 102nd birthday. It was not that well attended.

In July 1990, Bound For Glory opened for No Remorse at the Oklahoma Aryan Fest organised by White Aryan Resistance (WAR). The band regarded this gig as one of their worst, if not the worst: ‘We had lost our drummer one week previous to the gig and so we had a fill-in drummer who had never heard us before. We had one hour to teach him about six songs, he did okay but it wasn’t the real BFG on stage.’

Chris, who was with the Springfield, Missouri skinhead crew, worked security at both Aryan Fest ’89 and ’90. Years later, he would reflect:

One thing I will say concerning the Aryan Fests back then, although it may just be personal nostalgia, but it really seemed to be the Golden Age of U.S. WP Skinheads: all of the bands, the roots of trans-city skinhead networking, organizing, and also the unity and establishing ties with the Old Guard racialist groups. The Feds must have seen it in the same light because the heat became extremely intense on many attendees after AF ’90. Many of us in the Midwest saw the OKC bombing and subsequent Fed harassment as orchestrated specifically to quash the movement before it got too out of hand. Admittedly it proved successful for them, as many of us dropped off the map and went underground, but we’re still out there. Now we look like bikers, truck drivers, etc. But YOU CAN’T KILL AN IDEAL.

Truer words have never been spoken. Skinheads and skinhead gangs were attracting more and more attention from various government agencies. The Tulsa World of 26 December 1990 reported:

Daniel Roush enjoys being a skinhead, has drawn cartoons for Oklahoma Separatist magazine and has been its ‘Racist of the Month,’ but he will not run from charges he violated minorities’ rights, friends and family say. U.S. District Judge Thomas Brett will decide whether to release Roush on bail to the custody of his attorney, Kainor Carson. The hearing appealing Roush’s detention concluded Monday. Officials say ‘skinheads’ are young people with shaved heads who incite racial violence. Roush and five others were indicted in October on civil rights violations, accused of attacking minorities and their friends with baseball bats, steel-toed boots and explosives in Tulsa parks and bars from July 1988 to August 1989. Trial is set for Jan. 22 [1991].

Roush, 21, testified he would not run away if granted bail. ‘I have no reason to run,’ he said. ‘I’m pretty certain I won’t be found guilty, so I have nothing to run from.’ When asked about being named ‘Racist of the Month’ by Oklahoma Separatist, he said he ‘laughed about it. I got a lot of joking around about it — it was all right.’ He agreed that lyrics he wrote for his band, the Midtown Bootboys, included the lines ‘throw a boot party for left-wing commie scum’ and ‘we find a drunken nigger and beat him black and blue.’

Dennis W. Mahon, Ku Klux Klan Imperial Dragon, testified Monday he has known Roush since 1986, having been introduced to him by Joe Grego, a White Aryan Resistance organizer. Grego and Roush were arrested in 1989 on misdemeanor weapons charges in Lewisburg, Tenn., while en route to an Aryan Nations march, police said. Mahon said Roush is not a KKK member, and he is the ‘most honorable, nonviolent, decent young man I’ve ever met in my life.’ Roush ‘is a pro-Aryan person. He loves his skinhead lifestyle and he loves to play music,’ Mahon testified. ‘I think he’d prefer not to live around them (minorities), but I don’t think he’d hurt them.’

Mahon said Roush and his band performed at Aryan Fest, a ‘festival for you to be able to tell a racial joke without worrying about somebody cracking you in the head.’ A recent issue of The White Beret, a KKK newsletter edited by Mahon, says the ‘Tulsa area White Knights have sold guns and equipment and gotten loans’ for money to hire Roush’s attorney. The newsletter said Roush and the others ‘allegedly rolled a couple of white queers outside a nightclub’ and the government ‘has 35 Judases lined up to testify against our Aryan Warriors.’ The newsletter urges other KKK members to donate to Roush’s defense ‘instead of spending money on “Christmas” and making the Jew merchants richer.’

At the trial David Hoover, the drummer of the Midtown Bootboys, appeared as a Federal witness. Danny Roush and Chris, the vocalist of the Midtown Bootboys, were both convicted and spent almost four years locked up.

That same summer, Rival formed in Detroit, MI when Pat left Almighty Lumberjacks of Death and decided to form a skinhead Oi band with his friend Sean, who had played bass for a short time with the Unclean. Skinner was recruited on vocals and Kenny on drums. Eventually after about seven gigs Pat and Sean decided to get a new singer because they felt they were in a rut. Jim from the Rogues offered his services so they gave him a try. When Bill from the Rogues heard this he offered to play second guitar and was taken on. The band worked well, but then Ken left the band due to personal reasons. Jim, the singer, now took on the added responsibility of drums.

When asked why the name Rival, Bill explained:³⁰³⁰ ‘We decided on the name Rival because of the way skins are viewed by the general media, as enemies or opponents. It’s a sort of sarcastic play of the term, actually you could say the opposite is true, as far as the white public is concerned.’ He added: ‘When Bill and Jim joined we were gonna change the name of the band to the Works because our style changed. We heard “the Works” is a slang term for smack (the drug) and so because of that we stuck with Rival.’

Musically, Rival was influenced by early British Oi and punk from the late ’70s and early ’80s. They were not as politically outspoken as some bands but they supported all movements that supported the interests of the white race, including WAR and the KKK. None of the band was affiliated with one particular group or party, although they were members and associates of local Detroit Skinhead gang, the West Side Bootboys.

Rival recorded six tracks which Force Majeure Records out of Detroit was going to release until Rock-O-Rama Records stepped in. Rock-O-Rama Records approached Force Majeure and the band and offered to release their debut LP. A deal was made with ROR for it to be released as a joint effort. So the band recorded six more songs and sent them off to ROR. In the meantime Force Majeure released a cassette version of the album with a ROR logo as well to ‘get the material flowing at least locally.’ The vinyl version was eventually released some ten months after the cassette was released. And was it worth the wait? The cover is what you would come to expect from ROR at that moment in time, dull and boring. Rival play up-tempo Oi with some inspired guitar licks. The album is well-produced, giving it an edge. Curiously, for a self-confessed right-wing and white power band, the lyrics are subdued, prompting one reviewer to write ‘Not a hell of a lot of extreme stuff.’ However, a surprising shout of ‘Sieg Heil’ near the end of ‘Smash’ might suggest otherwise. Most of the songs deal with social issues, everyday life and skinhead pride. Bill once explained a few songs as follows:³¹³¹

‘Put Up a Fence’ a song about the illegal mud immigration into our country everyday, ‘1991’ is about the zionist-controlled media and their efforts to brainwash the average American, ‘Dead and Buried’ is about Detroit and about how fucked up it is, ‘We Got the Right’ is basically a skinhead pride anthem.

Beyond that, ‘Loser’ is anti-drugs. ‘Kick in the Head’ is a very short tale of lies, deceit, treachery and ultimately violent revenge:

Yes, the lyrics are nothing new and not that special, but are easy to remember and sing well after four or five beers! The cover, the music and the lyrics all make for a solid debut album, but hints that Rival have much more to offer. Original vinyl copies of this album can still be found for a very reasonable price. Rival recorded a second album for Rock-O-Rama Records which the band hoped would be out by 1993. It was not. [The album The True Will Survive was eventually released on CD by B.H. Records in 1994. B.H. Records is believed to be a subsidiary of Rock-O-Rama Records. Rival also recorded a third album called Take it Back which B.H. Records released on CD.] After Rival, vocalist Skinner later formed Retaliation ’91 and later still Nationalist Rebellion.

1990 also brought forth many other skinhead and nationalist bands, including Aggravated Assault from Atlantic City and the Detroit-based Max Resist and the Hooligans. Aggravated Assault was named as such because everybody in the band had been charged with ‘Aggravated Assault.’ Brent Eaton who played guitar was not new to the challenges of playing in a nationalist band, having ‘served time’ with Doc Marten. Lead singer Sean Suggs said of forming Max Resist and the Hooligans and the rather unusual band name:³²³²

We first started jamming together in late ’90 in a town just north of Detroit. I had already been in a band (Hakenkreuz) and wanted to try again. It wasn’t easy finding people to play in a band that was gonna sing about Skinhead White Power and the like, but eventually we made it happen. At first we had no name. We had been together for six months and felt we may be ready to play a show, so we started to think of a name. We talked about other band’s names and after a few laughs, Maximum Resistance came up, which we shortened. It sounded like a person’s name and we liked the idea that our band could have a name of a fake person that also means ‘a great effort to overcome evil in our time’… We added the Hooligans as a joke, you know like Peter and the Test Tube Babies or Herman and the Hermits, but that’s starting to become too long and old, so from now it’s just gonna be Max Resist.

Max Resist was influenced by old British Oi bands like Blitz, the Last Resort and the 4-Skins, but also by new homegrown bands like Rival, the Rogues and BFG, as well as Skrewdriver and Ian Stuart, who was described in one interview as ‘our greatest inspiration.’³³³³

In January 1991, White American Youth or WAY formed in the Chicago area of Illinois ‘as there was a need for a N.S. band in our area.’ WAY was picked as a band name because ‘it’s exactly what we are’ explained the band. The song ‘White American Youth’ stated:

The band was Christian Picciolini on vocals, Derek on guitar, ‘Davey’ on bass and Tom on drums. The four of them were former classmates and their average age was 17. Besides Chris, none of the other three were skinheads or neo-Nazis. The guitarist was a long-haired heavy metal kid. With that said, all were ‘White Power sympathizers.’

In a recent interview, lead singer Chris explained how his world changed after a chance meeting with Clark Martell, the founder of the Chicago Area Skinheads (CASH), America’s first organized white power/neo-Nazi skinhead crew:³⁴³⁴

I listened to a ton of punk and skateboard music when I was a kid, before I joined the [racist] skinheads. Even when I joined at 14 and I got into Skrewdriver, I didn’t know anything about politics or race. I was smoking a joint in the alley and like something out of the movie, Clark and Carmine (which isn’t his real name) rolled up. Clark grabbed the joint out of my mouth and said, “Don’t you know that’s what the capitalists want you to do to keep you docile?” I had no idea what a capitalist was or even what “docile” meant, but I was enamored by the lifestyle and the fashion and the music, and just the way people would move to the other side of the street when they walked down the street. For somebody looking for an identity and a place to belong, it was really attractive. Clark, who was much older than I was, was one of the first adults outside of my family to really show me he cared about me enough to tell me to not do something without just saying, “That’s wrong. Stop doing it.” He backed it up with a reason. It was the first time an adult used his authority not in a generic way.

At first, I didn’t really understand or care about the politics. The music was really exciting because it was like punk rock, but it was different. It was easy to fall into. Not a whole lot of people in the world were doing it, right? Clark Martell was the first American White Power Skinhead. Blue Island had the first American White Power Skinhead crew. So, I fell into it across the alley from where I was growing up. It was partly wrong place, wrong time, but it was partly because Carmine was someone I really looked up to and emulated. He was older and he was a family friend. If it was good enough for him it was good enough for me. It spiralled really quickly.

After the arrest of Clark, he became the unlikely leader of the infamous Chicago Area Skinheads (CASH). He was aged 15. He enjoyed the intoxication he had from this position of power. He started to recruit more and more kids and a point came where almost every kid in Blue Island was either a racist or non-racist skinhead. Life was very different to the world he once knew:³⁵³⁵

I definitely created this very, very small bubble that I had to live in. I wouldn’t eat in places where food was prepared by minorities. It was so ridiculous and stupid it didn’t make any sense. There were a lot of skinheads in Chicago, both racist and anti-racist. Blue Island was known as the epicenter for racist skinheads but we had friends all over. We noticed the anti-racist skinhead scene started to grow, too, possibly as a direct result of what we were doing. So there was a lot of conflict. When we left Blue Island, we had to be careful, but we were pretty aware of it.

One day Chris came up with the idea of making music as a way to ‘get kids to come to shows, get kids to buy records, [and] get kids to become skinheads.’ It was Chris who got the band together, it was Chris who found a place for the band to practice and it was Chris who wrote all of the lyrics. Chris convinced the rest of the band that the fastest way to get noticed was through playing skinhead music. And so White American Youth, his band, played a mix of White Power, Oi and rock music, influenced by the likes of Skrewdriver, No Remorse, Condemned 84 and the Last Resort. Lyrically, they sung ‘about the problems of immigrants and zionists occupying our country, in our case America.’³⁶³⁶

WAY recorded a demo of six songs during a band rehearsal. The very next morning, vocalist Chris posted copies of the demo to Rebelles Européens and Rock-O-Rama Records. The French label offered WAY a record deal almost immediately, which Chris declined, even though he had not heard back from ROR. He was confident ROR would come through with an offer. Eventually they did after weeks of constant chasing by Chris. Herbert of ROR faxed through a contract in German, which the band signed immediately and returned. Little did they realise the consequences of what they had signed.

Within a month of signing the contract, WAY recorded an album for ROR at a local studio called Square Bear Sounds in Alsip. The album was recorded and mixed in five days at the cost of $1,372 which ROR funded. The album featured a new bass player by the name of Skinhead Mike, who had replaced ‘Davey’ at short notice when he left the band before it went into the studio for a shot at becoming a professional skateboarder. Chris did not blame him for wanting to better himself.

Called Walk Alone, the album was released in 1992. Numbering 12 songs, one is a pointless instrumental and one is a Skrewdriver cover version, ‘White Power’ with reworked lyrics for all Americans and, in particular, their Chicago fans:

The album is not musically gifted, except for ‘Go Away’ and the brooding ‘Open Your Eyes,’ but the lyrics are truly angry and hard-hitting. The album starts with their anthem, ‘White American Youth,’ about the White shaven-headed warriors of the street. ‘Martyr’ is a tribute to Robert J. Mathews who ‘never ran from the red beast.’ ‘Amerikkka for Me’ really needs no explanation. ‘Odin’s Court’ extols the virtues of Odin, who is thanked on the back of the album cover ‘for the wisdom bestowed upon us.’ ‘White Pride’ deals with the great scandal of the Holocaust.

‘Happy Death’ was about ‘the SS and how they spread fear.’ ‘Open Your Eyes’ is a call for unity because ‘the future will not be ours if we don’t unite soon.’ ‘Rights of the Abused’ is about the power struggles between teenagers and parents.

The band never received free promotional copies of the album nor a single dime as royalties from ROR. Unknowingly, they had signed away ‘one hundred percent of the rights to their recorded music in perpetuity to the label.’ No wonder they were left feeling angry and foolish! To save face, Chris scraped together the money to buy 50 copies at the wholesale price which he then sold on to friends at cost.

WAY managed to play a number of gigs. Their first live concert was in May 1991 at a birthday party at the Barn, a community centre in Blue Island. Their second show was in the living room of a fellow skinhead’s home which was interrupted by some SHARPs who ‘were put in their place.’ Chris wrote:³⁷³⁷ ‘I swung around and came face to face with April Crenshaw. She and her husband Jerry were the leaders of SHARP in Chicago, but he’d run off and left her there to fend for herself. She read the rage in my eyes… I’d never hit a girl, but she needed to learn a lesson. So instead I tore her SHARP patch from her bomber jacket. My trophy. Better than drawing blood.’ He then made her take off and hand over her DMs to him in a ‘final recognition of her defeat.’

The best WAY gig was with B.F.G. on Saturday, 5 October 1991 at the Ice Pick, Muskegon, Michigan. The band fell apart soon after the gig which had left the guitarist shaken up after he was accosted by a skinhead for his long hair. The band did not get to record their planned new album with nine new tracks.

After learning that B.F.G. was due to play in Germany which would make them the first ever American White Power band to play Europe, Chris decided he wanted to be part of this historic occasion. He formed a new band, which he named Final Solution after the old Chicago band of the same name. Even so he wrote to Clark Martell in prison, asking for permission to use the name and received his blessing. This time every band member was a skinhead. The two guitarists were from the Indiana Hammerskin crew. The drummer was a friend of the guitarists. Mike from WAY was on bass. Over the next three months Final Solution played all over the country in preparation for the German concert, which he had muscled in on without any resistance whatsoever.

In July 1991, Bound For Glory released their second album, When the Hammer Falls, through Rock-O-Rama Records. Recorded in January of that same year, the band consisted of Joel on vocals, Ed on guitars, Carl on bass and Dan on drums. This time the sound is more rock and so reminiscent of the best that late-’80s Brutal Attack had to offer, although the inclusion of a rather self-indulgent instrumental has to be questioned. Moreover, the lyrics are better crafted than those on their debut album. Again they deal with Vikings and Viking legend, white heritage, white unity, white revolution against Communism, Capitalism and Zionism, as well as the bombing of Dresden in 1945, which remains one of the most controversial episodes in the history of the Second World War.

Between 13 and 15 February 1945, the British and American Air Forces launched a series of devastating raids on the German city of Dresden. The historic centre was destroyed in a massive firestorm and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. A memo issued to airmen on the night of the attack said:

Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany and not much smaller than Manchester is also the largest unbombed built-up area the enemy has got. In the midst of winter with refugees pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas. At one time well known for its china, Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance.... The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front... and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do.

Churchill subsequently distanced himself from the bombing, even though he had always supported the strategic bombing of German towns and cities, including Dresden! ‘A number of factors have made the bombing a unique point of contention and debate. These include the beauty of the city, and its importance as a cultural icon; the deliberate creation of a firestorm; the number of victims killed; the extent to which it was a necessary military target; and the fact that it was attacked toward the end of the war, raising the question of whether the bombing was needed to hasten the end.’

The album was well-received by both sides of the pond. One review read:³⁸³⁸ ‘The record is very hard and loud. If you don’t like straightforward lyrics this isn’t your kind of record. Some outstanding songs are “When the Hammer Falls,” “Aryan Nations” and “Call to Arms.” These guys really say it the way it is. As my brother said, “They’re every Sharpie’s nightmare.” Look for out their new album which should be available soon.’ On Saturday, 5 October 1991, Bound For Glory, Rival and WAY played a successful show at the Ice Pick, Muskegon, Michigan. That December the band started to record their third album.

Rock-O-Rama Records also released in 1991 the debut album by No Alibi from Buffalo, NY. The band formed in 1986 but found things hard going because of their skinhead following and their beliefs. Nevertheless, they played with some big-name bands at the time such as Agnostic Front, Warzone, Cannibal Corpse and Youth of Today! Guitarist Chris Gawlick explained:³⁹³⁹

In 1986 when we started there was no skinhead movement in the States or in our town. We were all WP and listened to Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, Carnivore, etc.… But the ‘skinheads’ that pulled the crowds 300+ people were red bands like Warzone, AF, Biohazard, etc.… It was a decision we had to make and to this day I feel it was 100% correct. We played with these bands to give white folk an alternative to the red poison of the ‘skinheads.’ If we [had] played out alone we would have [had] five people at the gigs… After every show we played, more and more WP people started coming over and thinking this is great! This built us a following! We had to start from ground zero mud land and bring the true Skinheads out.

A well-received demo brought No Alibi more attention, including that of Herbert of Rock-O-Rama Records, who signed them up. They were very honoured to be on the same label as Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack and BFG. The band recorded an album for ROR. Brian Kirchner was on vocals, Chris Gawlick on guitar, Doug Bless on bass and Scott Wilson on drums. By now, three of the band had grown their hair out. Their sound was more hardcore than Oi with a hint of metal. The guitar sound is chunky, bold and brash. Indeed, according to the guitarist, ‘Believe it or not I added seven tracks to ‘Wickedness’ and five on ‘Knocked For a Loss’!’ However, he still feels that the guitar sound on some songs needs beefing up. Anyway, No Alibi wanted to do something different and stand out, which they certainly achieved! As for the lyrics, guitarist Chris Gawlick once revealed:⁴⁰⁴⁰

They deal with National stands such as in songs ‘Invincible Empire’ and ‘U.S. of Oi’ to fighting songs such as ‘Smashed to Bits’ and ‘Knocked For a Loss,’ to personal songs such as ‘Back on Track’ and ‘Short End of the Stick’ that deals with getting down and pulling yourself back. Other tracks such as ‘Night Patrol’ deal with smashing the drug scum that tears down our city streets. ‘Lion in the Path’ or ‘Hate For Hate’ as it is sometimes referred to is a song about just that title. If someone gives you hate like the fat rats up in office that sell out the race you give them hate back ten times over. It is a vengeance song that tells you to give what you are receiving. The title of our ROR release Wickedness of Mankind is a verse out of the Bible basically saying that God was so disgusted about the people he had created that he killed them all. It’s a lot what we want to do to a lot of people. So it fits appropriately. Songs like ‘Bullets for Africa’ our famine relief side says ‘Bullets for Africa, bullets for Africa send them death not food instead of rice we’ll send them a lead fucking bullet through the black head!’

When I do music I try to do it original as possible and not to copy off any band. I get a feeling for the song by thinking of something that would suit the feel of the song, for example on our first LP/CD from Rock-O-Rama Records Wickedness of Mankind we have a song called ‘U.S. of Oi,’ I got the riff and feel for that song by a backdrop we use on stage and the thought of truckers in America on the road alone in the night with a feeling of pride that pulls them on. I think of a riff that would describe this scene and put it to lyrics that fit. I’m very picky when it comes to these things as every one of our songs has very deep meaning to me and the band. The song ‘Lion in the Path’ on our first was made about me thinking of a lion mauling a fuckin’ nigger or pathetic Commie bastard! Haha… Hence a fast violent in-your-face short tune, if you listen close at the beginning, you can hear the deep lion’s growl!

The lyrics to ‘Lion in the Path’ come courtesy of Ragnar Redbeard, the author of Might Is Right which was first published in 1896:

Redbeard rejected equality as another myth. He believed that Anglo-Saxons were the superior race and excluded all Black, Jews, Asiatics and ‘degenerate whites’ from his class of supermen.

The album was released on vinyl and CD. Reviews were positive. The album was reissued by Diehard Records with full lyrics and bonus video footage of the band live in Buffalo, NY, 1993. Buy a copy now!

Rock-O-Rama Records was not done yet, also releasing the debut album by Detroit band the Rogues. This is all the more surprising because the Rogues were not a political band, even if two members of the band played in Rival at the same time. The Rogues had been around since 1989, releasing the Get Out Alive demo with six songs in 1990 on Force Majeure Records and a self-titled single with four songs that same year on the same label. The Rogues played upbeat, gritty Oi worthy of your attention.

During the summer of 1991, Nordic Thunder formed in the Baltimore, Maryland area to voice their political and racial views. Asked about their name, the band responded:⁴²⁴² ‘The reason for the name Nordic Thunder is because you tend to think of the sound of Vikings raging into battle when you hear the name “Nordic Thunder.” We did not consider any other name.’ The line-up consisted of Gary Delp (19) on vocals, Bob Huber (19) on guitar, Eric Simonson (17) on bass and Ryan Huber (17) on drums. Joe Rowan replaced Gary Delp on vocals. All were active members of the racial skinhead movement the Hammerskins and ran the Eastern Chapter. The band cited their influences as Midtown Bootboys, No Remorse, Brutal Attack, Legion 88 and B.F.G. A demo followed with six tracks: ‘Skinhead,’ ‘Blood on Their Hands,’ ‘Behind the Wall,’ ‘True Heroes,’ ‘Shape Shifter’ and ‘No Guilt.’ The band was rewarded with the prospect of an album on Rebelles Européens.

1991 also saw more bands and more bands explode onto the nationalist and white power scene. There was Das Reich from Wisconsin who formed ‘to spread the White Nationalist viewpoint and to awaken our youth to their heritage and the problems that face them today.’ The band was named after a WWII German Waffen-SS Division. There was The Voice out of Philadelphia who took their name from the Skrewdriver song ‘The Voice of Britain’ which the band used to cover. There were five members in the band: Tracey on vocals, Jim on lead guitar, Craig on guitar, Mike on bass and Frank on drums.

On 1 March 1992, Extreme Hatred formed in Orange County, California ‘as there were no other bands in our area who were racially conscious and we felt the need to get our message out.’ The prime mover behind the band was vocalist Martin Cox and this is the story in his own words:

I was born in Bellflower, California and I lived there for the first five years of my life. When crime became bad in our area, my father packed us up and we moved to Fullerton, California, where I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood called President Homes. I lived in Orange County all my life until I moved out in 2007. Once the cost of living and the Commie liberal politics took over, a once great state is now in ruins. I now live in Idaho that reminds me of how nice Orange County used to be growing up. The small-town feel is the best.

Fullerton was White and very conservative. Not many people liked the immigrants. The Mexicans lived in their own part of town, which they called FTT or Fullerton Tokers Town. The Mexicans were okay back then. They were respectful and nice. However, once their numbers began to flourish, mutual respect soon turned to hatred towards Whites. But, for the most part, I walked all over Orange County, heading out to punk shows where ever they were. Every weekend was a show some place. It was a lot of fun back then. A time I wouldn’t change for a second.

When I was young music really sucked. Your choices were either Disco or the awful ’70s rock. It seemed like you couldn’t get away from this music no matter what you did. Then, around 1978–79, I came across a magazine with an article about the Sex Pistols. They were cussing in the interview and they were mocking the music industry and music scene. I was like FINALLY! Someone else understands how I feel. That same day, I went to Tower Records in Brea, California and found the Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols record. I bought it and I was so excited. I played that record so much that in the end, I would put the needle on it, and it would just scratch across to the middle because it was so worn out. Once punk became somewhat popular, Tower Records dedicated a section to punk records. And this is where I became most familiar with all the bands from Orange County.

The first concert I ever went to was Black Flag and the Vandals at the infamous Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa, California. That place was the hub of the Orange County Punk scene. I snuck in the back door with the singer from the Vandals, Stevo, and hung out backstage with him and the bands. The next couple of years were literally a blur of bands. Every weekend there was a show someplace. In Orange County, at the time, we had our own place. An abandoned skate rink called the Galaxy in Fullerton. It closed down when police pressure became too much for them to stay open. But they put on shows ever Friday and Saturday. And I think I only missed one or two shows in the three- or four-year run of it being open. I also would go to the Olympic Auditorium in L.A. There is where I saw some of the bigger bands play. The bands are countless that I was able to see. Every show was the best. It was a great time to be into punk rock.

I was always into Nationalism. I was born with it in my blood. I always marveled and was attracted to that form of belief system. At an early age, I was into the Third Reich and the German military and their equipment. Punk rock, at this time, was very much right-wing. So having a Swastika painted on your jacket was just commonplace. I was never taught to be this way. It was something natural.

As a punk, I had an 18-inch mohawk. Everyone around town knew me as ‘Marty Mohawk.’ But I was one of the few punks that were allowed to hang around with the Skinheads. Simply because I shared the same belief system as they did. I first shaved my head in 1982. I decided to shave my head because they were proving to be my comrades, backing me up in fights and always being there for me whereas the punks didn’t back one another.

Asked what he made of the classic song ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ by the Dead Kennedys, Martin replied: ‘I personally think the song is okay. Originally, the song was about the jocks in school who thought they were punks. But the jocks had no idea how to be a punk. They would come to the shows and start fights and cause trouble for no reasons.’

Martin heard Skrewdriver for the first time in 1983: ‘We were in a car and the song “White Power” came on. I thought, this guy is really into it. And that’s cool. It wasn’t until later on when I heard more of them that I actually started to like them.’

Such was the rivalry between gangs that Martin never went to see Youngblood play, even though they were local, even though they were skinhead and even though they were nationalists, if not national socialists. He explained:

Oh no, we never went to see Youngblood play. It was taboo for the group of guys we were with to associate with anyone from that band. Back in the day, my group, Der Order Skins were huge enemies with the LADS (L.A. Death Squad). And Lee Stewart was in the LADS. Here is a funny story about that. Lee and I used to hate each other on the streets early on (till this day, we still don’t know why) but yeah, it was bad. Anyway, later on, my band Extreme Hatred was playing at Club Mesa in Costa Mesa and my drummer Scott came outside to meet me. He tells me, Dude, Lee Stewart is inside and he wants to talk to you. I was like, Okay. In the old days that meant we were going to fight. I walked in, and walked right up to Lee. He looked at me and we shook hands. And Lee said to me, either we drink together or we fight. I simply said, where’s the beer bro? And Lee and I became the best of friends, going on to play together in a few bands. Amazing what Brotherhood can do.

Martin became a WAR organizer and appeared with Metzger on his Race and Reason cable TV show. In 1987 he was busted for illegal possession of firearms while driving away from an Aryan Nations conference. He gained notoriety when he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and said ‘it’s a proven fact’ that Oprah and another black woman in the audience were monkeys. He was eventually thrown out of the studio for using profanity and threatening behaviour, prompting his fellow skinheads to march off the set ‘chanting with their right arms extended in a Nazi salute.’⁴³⁴³ Years later, aged 26 years, Martin came up with the concept of Extreme Hatred which eventually became a band:

Originally I wanted Extreme Hatred to be an organization, an army with a band fronting it all. We had a newsletter that we handed out for free or 60 cents if you subscribed. It featured all kinds of different information, from interviews to photos, all from different Skinhead and racial groups from around the country. Once the band started it took up most of my time and the magazine became the Teutonic Times and was taken over by someone else. The band became official on 1 March 1992.

I wanted to start a band that didn’t care about being mainstream. We wanted to show the world, Yes! We hate you. Yes! We dislike you. And it was not a crime (yet) to be White. It seemed the focus at the time was the denial of the hatred that the media was accusing us of. And instead of turning away from the media’s name-calling, I embraced it and threw it back in their faces. I was sick of these media types faking it while the cameras were on. I’d seen how they really are off-camera. And they are real pieces of shit. They are real pieces of shit, trying to call me a piece of shit for what I have the right and freedom to believe in.

Our hatred was also directed towards those that refused to wake up their minds to what was happening around them and those that had put down their guns and refused to fight for their race and nation. But most of all our hatred was directed towards the U.S. government who had sold us out a long time ago.

The original line-up was me on bass and vocals, Scott on drums and Chuck Myers on guitar. I have known Scott forever, since the beginning really. And he has always proven over time to be a close friend and loyal brother. I knew he played drums before so it was automatic to pull him into the mix.

This was not my first band. In high school, I was in a band with some pals in La Mirada called Dead Preppy. We played two shows and that was it. Two of the band members moved out of state so that was the end of that project.

We thought of a couple of band names before settling on Extreme Hatred. One of the names we thought of was Hate Crime, but discounted it because we thought we might use it as a song title in the future. So we decided on Extreme Hatred as it seemed to fit our attitude, also because of the Extreme Hatred Skinhead Unit and skinzine in Orange County that subscribed to our beliefs.

Later Jason Ludwig was recruited on bass and Paul Smith took over guitar. Musically, Extreme Hatred was influenced by the likes of Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver, Battle Zone and Bound For Glory. As to be expected from a White Power skinhead band, they sung about race, nation and working class, which they considered to be the ‘three most important things that make up a skinhead.’⁴⁴⁴⁴ When it came to specific songs and their message, the band had this to say⁴⁵⁴⁵:

‘Race Riot… Let’s Try It’ is about how we won’t be pushed about by non-white gangs. We’ll stand and fight till the death to keep our race pure and supreme. ‘Injustice’ was written for the members of the Order and other comrades who are doing time solely because of their racial views. ‘Hey’ is about being a White Power skinhead and how no one is gonna change our beliefs. ‘Judgement Day’ was written about the L.A. rioting soon after it started. By no means do we support the cops in this case or any other. Skinheads have been beaten and harassed by the cops since the movement started. We have no support for the blacks and Mexicans that rioted…

That same year, Extreme Hatred recorded their first demo at Pulsar Studios in Placentia, California. They recorded nine or ten songs. At the time the band was pleased with the demo, but later they wanted better. They had a tough time selling them. Martin: ‘We really thought we could sell them. But like everything else we do, we just ended up handing them out for free.’ Four of the demo recordings would show up on the CD released by HCStreetwear.net, Extreme Hatred — Visualize World Hatred: The Best, The Rest and The Rare.

Extreme Hatred started to play live at a few parties around town. They opened Aryan Fest 1992, but they were without the services of Martin who was serving time in jail. Neil, the singer of Storm Section, helped out and sang for Martin.⁴⁶⁴⁶ Also, to quote the band, ‘due to sound problems it didn’t turn out so good.’

The following year, Extreme Hatred recorded their debut album Now is the Time which was released by Phoenix Records in 1994. Martin: ‘Our debut CD is what set us above most other bands at the time. We loved the mix before they mastered it. After they mastered the recording, it seemed to have lost its punch. Till this day, we don’t know what happened.’

On 14 May 1992, Bound For Glory and Final Solution played a successful gig in Weimar, Germany with Kraftsclag, Martyrer, Wotan, Störkraft and Radikahl. Ed of B.F.G. said of playing the gig:⁴⁷⁴⁷ ‘It was completely over the top, it was biggest and best concert we ever played. It was estimated at about 1300 people turned out. Our plane tickets over were paid by some German skins. The hospitality to us was purely excellent. Deutschland Über Alles!’ Final Solution had a great time too.

After the German concert, ROR offered Final Solution a record deal, which Chris declined. Once bitten twice shy! However, an album deal was secured with Rebelles Européens. An album was recorded, but it was not put out by Rebelles Européens. It was finally released on CD on their own record label Viking Sounds USA in 1995. ‘Not long after, the band broke up.’⁴⁸⁴⁸ For vocalist Chris, Final Solution did not have the same spark as WAY.

1992 was another busy year for releases by American and Canadian white power bands on Rock-O-Rama Records. The best was Rise and Conquer by Canadian band Cross, who were no more by the time the album was released. Before the release of their debut album, the band recorded two demos. The first was recorded with the original vocalist, Alaric Jackson, the owner of shop IXL in Toronto and Montréal. It featured two songs, one of which was ‘Canada Rise Up.’ The second demo called ‘Armed Rebellion’ with Paul on vocals featured all the same songs that made it onto the album. The band changed vocalist just before the album was recorded. Joining Sam on vocals were Mark on guitars, Thorsten on bass and Chuck on drums. While not exactly original, the grey cover of a mounted knight doing battle is glorious.

Rise and Conquer ranks alongside the first Indecent Exposure album: the songs are upbeat, melodic, tuneful and catchy with some great guitar solos. This album is guaranteed to have the toes tapping in no time and singing along to the lyrics! The music makes the lyrics all the more appealing and thought-provoking.

‘Road to Victory’ details the rise of nationalism across the globe, name-checking Jean Marie Le Pen and the Front Nationale, the British Movement and David Duke, once described as ‘the most recognizable figure on the American radical right’ who served the state of Louisiana in the House of Representatives from 1989 until 1992. According to the chorus:

‘Great Cross of Fire’ is a humourous remake of ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ Starting with a rendition of ‘Dixie,’ ‘Armed Rebellion’ argues that democracy has failed to protect the white man, noting that ‘police protection has become a joke,’ but reassures ‘militant patriots protect our kind,’ thereby ensuring white survival. ‘Waste of Life’ calls for the death penalty for sex offenders and then rages:

And ends with: ‘We’ll take the law in our own hands and kick him out of our country.’ ‘Nordic Warriors’ makes a connection between the white warriors of today and the past who ‘fought for heritage, not money, greed or fame.’ ‘Canada Rise Up’ will fill with such overwhelming pride that it will make you wish you were born in the land of the ‘red and white’! In stark contrast, the sombre ‘Dying Man’s Prayer’ brings tears to the eyes:

Also released by Rock-O-Rama Records was the third album by Bound For Glory entitled Over the Top (RRR #133). The line-up was Joel on vocals, Ed on guitar, Carl on bass and new band member Eric Litaker on drums. Once again Bound For Glory went for a hard rock sound just like played by Brutal Attack. The lyrics were once again ‘one of strength, pride and worldwide racial unity for the oncoming revolution we are facing against Communism, Capitalism and Zionism.’⁴⁹⁴⁹ More specifically:⁵⁰⁵⁰

‘Over the Top’ is about how the white youth are on the rise worldwide and this time we will win! ‘Set Yourself Free’ is telling people to awaken and realise that America and its so-called American culture is on its way to distorting and destroying all the pure and white cultures in the world and you must open your eyes from being a blind patriot and realise who your enemy is! ‘Nothing to Hide’ is about not pulling any punches and not trying to hide in public. You’re a skinhead and you’re proud, and you will never hide from this! ‘The Good Fight’ is about a skinhead comrade of ours, who was shot in the back by Mexican gang bangers! And the justice system has done nothing to get the filthy culprits!

‘Fall of the Tyrants’ calls for a White revolution to defeat the empire of a tyrant who rules ‘with a blood-soaked hand’ and return stolen gold to their rightful owners. Other songs, ‘Stuka Pilot (Fight or Die)’ and ‘Like a Brother,’ are pretty much self-explanatory. ‘Victory Song’ is dedicated to Terry Boyce and the C.K.A. [Confederate Knights of America]. After a dispute over a perceived lack of militancy in the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, former Grand Dragon Terry Boyce split from this group in 1989 to form the Confederate Knights of America. Boyce led his followers at demonstrations and inter-Klan rallies, maintaining a phone line whose weekly messages frequently advocated lynching. The CKA quickly developed ties to like-minded skinhead groups. The most important was SS of America, who provided security for CKA rallies. And yet, curiously, BFG guitarist Ed was not supportive of the Klan as a whole⁵¹⁵¹:

I am not fond of the Invincible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan. I feel that that they contradict themselves. They are not fond of skinheads in the USA, yet they go to Europe and link with skinheads. These guys are the ones that still fly the treacherous American flag, they are also anti-NS. They’re just too conservative. The good Klan is the CKA and the white berets, they’re on the radical side of the Klan, the way the Klan should be!

Nationalist fanzines were full of praise for BFG’s latest offering. This is one example of many:⁵²⁵² ‘This is the latest release from BFG and a very good one at that. The music is bit of a cross between white rock ‘n’ roll and metal. Not much different from past BFG releases. My favourite songs were ‘Nothing to Hide,’ ‘Stuka Pilot, Fight or Die,’ ‘Over the Top’ and the best one being ‘Bound for Glory.’ It’s available through the band… The next LP would not be on Rock-O-Rama Records.

On Friday, 28 August 1992, RAHOWA played Toronto. The concert passed off peacefully. They played again on Friday, 13 November at the Roma Restaurant. Security was provided by a COTC Security Legion of ‘White Berets.’ Dave Irving was due to speak, but he had been deported earlier that day. The concert was cut short when militants of Anti-Racist Action stormed the venue.

Over the Labor Day weekend in early September 1992, No Remorse and Dirlewanger from Sweden played Aryan Festival 1992 held at a desert camp outside Los Angeles, California. They were supported by Extreme Hatred and CIS. TJ Leyden of the Western Hammerskins chapter of Hammerskin Nation organised the festival down to the very last detail⁵³⁵³:

Unlike the Napa area where the Aryan Woodstock had been shut down, I learnt that San Bernardino could do open-air festivals. I secured a million-dollar life insurance policy. I made sure I got every single permit needed and followed the law to a T — even down to the last portable potty. I used donations to create T-shirts. It took months and months, but we effectively worked out every detail, knowing where and how we had our rights and exactly how to operate so the cops couldn’t touch us. The media was going crazy because we weren’t letting them know a thing, unlike last time. Every controllable factor was put in place… In addition, I was smart enough not to get Tom Metzger involved. I knew that, like with Heick, he would try to take over and turn everything into a circus so he could get the media attention he wanted. However, I wanted the event to be successful and controlled, so I left him out of it. I knew all the laws and the rules.

Leyden secured a place out in the middle of the desert. His overplanning for every contingency was so meticulous that he was not tripped up at all. Bryon attended the festival and recalls:

NR played a great set keeping the crowd riled up throughout with songs like ‘We Fly the Swastika,’ people got in to that one waving the banner on stage, but ‘See You in Valhalla’ was definitely the crowd’s favorite with everybody singing along. However, I think CIS stole the show, they were the only band that covered Skrewdriver if I remember right, and with Grant on vocals it was like having the real thing on stage, INTENSE! During and after their set Johnny (C.I.S.) engaged the crowed with a ‘call to arms’ in defense of Randy Weaver who was being attacked just at that time, reminding everybody of the war raging on. That next morning C.I.S. and those they inspired drove the 24 hours to Ruby Ridge to confront the FBI, while NR and D drove the two hours down to a studio to record their mini-LP – DESERT STORM, apparently convincing their driver (Ashely with ANP) to take a side trip by the Hollywood sign, according to Ashely it was a must-see for the NR boys.

Well over three hundred people came to party and listen to the music. One reporter turned up, but he was swiftly ejected by the organiser. The event proved a great success, but not financially. Leyden reveals:⁵⁴⁵⁴ ‘The only thing that sucked about the event is that we didn’t make any real money. Everything was brought and paid for, and we made some profit off the shirts but not enough to pay for everything. We couldn’t afford to pay the airfare for the bands that came from Europe. However, we were able to get them demo tapes of at least two songs to take back to Europe, and that helped reimburse their costs.’

Not much is known about skinhead band C.I.S., an acronym for Christian Identity Skins. The band was the musical arm of the Army of Israel (AOI), a White Power group based on Christian Identity. In 1993, Johnny Bangerter, the leader of the AOI, claimed that one hundred ‘hardcore’ members were living in southern Utah. Christian Identity is a Bible-based faith, which teaches that the white ‘Aryans’ are the true sons and daughters of Yahweh (God) and that the Jewish people are the children of Satan and that people of color are the beasts of the field, commonly referred to as ‘mud people,’ who, along with the government, will be destroyed in an apocalyptic struggle which will see Christ’s kingdom established on Earth. The group regarded the Zion National Park in Utah as the new Jerusalem spoken of in the Bible.

More and more bands hoisted the flag of nationalism in 1992. Aryan formed in London, Ontario out of the ruins of Oi band Vacant Lot, who had landed and delivered a one-album deal with Rock-O-Rama Records. Vacant Lot ‘could have went on to bigger and better things,’ but bass player Griffin now wanted to follow in the footsteps of his icon Ian Stuart by playing in an overtly political band. Aryan was a three-piece and consisted of Griffin on bass, his brother Mike on guitar and former Vacant Lot bandmate Mike on drums.

In the summer of 1992 Involved Patriots formed in Montréal, Quebec. The band comprised Ben on vocals, Stephen on guitar, Danny on bass and backup vocals, and Ian on drums. Danny and Ian were brothers. The band got together after the death metal band Danny played in broke up. This seems a rather strange choice of pathway for Danny but through the death metal band and his girlfriend at the time he had met and befriended a number of skinheads and become interested in National Socialism. It was Danny and Ben who named the band Involved Patriots: ‘Ideas mean nothing without action, so we wanted our band name to signify that we were activists as well as patriotic to the White Race.’⁵⁵⁵⁵ Some of their musical influences were Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, Squadron, Vengeance and Bound For Glory, as well as ‘the aggressive sound of some of the death metal bands.’⁵⁶⁵⁶ Politically, Danny and Ben were proud members of the Northern Hammerskins (NHS).

Tragedy ushered in 1993 with the murder of Eric Banks, the former singer of BFG, by rival SHARPs in Portland, and a black cloud would shroud the New Year. The police said the killing was the culmination of a continuing confrontation between the victim and his companions and five anti-racist skinheads. The groups arranged to meet to settle their differences on New Year’s Day early in the morning. Words were exchanged. Both groups drove off. Eric and his friends were followed to a grocery store where their car was fired upon. Sat in the back seat of the car Eric was hit in the head by a bullet. His two friends rushed him to Portland Adventist Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Two suspects were questioned about the shooting and one of them, Thomas Tegner, was later arrested. Tegner was an ex-convict with a history of violence against women. The murder weapon turned out to be a semi-automatic SKS. A Hammerskins article angrily stated: ‘We hold all ‘anti-racist’ skins, sharps and fence sitters as responsible for this!’ Eric Banks, who was only aged 21, left behind a wife and a son. Later that month an Eric Banks Memorial Concert was held in Detroit, Michigan.

In the spring 1993 White Riot formed in Toronto when AJ and Dave left a hardcore band called Negative Response and teamed up with Steve and Greg. Steve sang, AJ played guitar, Greg bass and Dave drums. They cited their musical influences as old New York and Boston hardcore, such as Slapshot, DYS, SSD, Sick Of It All, Rest in Pieces… Later that year, White Riot recorded a demo entitled ‘Victory’ with four songs, ‘Victory,’ ‘Strength in Numbers,’ ‘Stomping Time’ and ‘The Reason,’ which was made available through the band and White Terror Records out of St. Paul, Minnesota. The demo cover is provocative, depicting a military-clad white man firing a gun in the kneeling position with his back leg on the back of a black man lying prostrate in a pool of blood. The demo was advertised for sale in the pages of Blood & Honour USA, but the cover was toned down. Well-produced, the demo saw the band venturing into uncharted musical territory for the white power scene, that of heavy metal or death metal. The songs are slow, heavy and aggressive.

Nordic Thunder recorded their second demo with tracks ‘Born to Hate,’ ‘Skinhead Bootparty,’ ‘Under Siege,’ ‘Fence Sitter’ and ‘White Riot.’ Four of the five songs would appear on their forthcoming album. This demo was released on the CD reissue of their second album Final Stand on Final Stand Records in 2004.

Encouraged and indirectly supported by the organisers of the original Blood & Honour in the United Kingdom, Blood & Honor USA now appeared, operating out of a P.O. box in Garden Grove, California. Like Blood & Honour, Blood & Honor USA stressed that ‘our production holds no allegiance to any political party or secular affiliations.’ As echoed in other productions, they encouraged reader participation in the production of what they ‘believe and hope will be a successful weapon in the fight for White Power.’ Blood & Honor USA published at least five issues before it was overwhelmed by Resistance magazine.

Later still, Canadian white power band Odins Law self-released a demo in memory of Eric Banks. This four-piece comprised Kelly on vocals, Greg on guitar, Wayne on bass and Stu on drums. The demo features five songs: ‘White Revolution,’ ‘Eric Banks Lives On,’ ‘Remembrance,’ ‘Eye For an Eye’ and ‘Back With a Bang’ by Skrewdriver, which is faithful to the original version, albeit a little slower. This is a great-sounding demo. There’s lashings and lashings of rampaging guitar, which just keep coming without the disruption of needless solos, which strongly suggests that the guitar player did not yet have full mastery of his instrument. Great bass work too. Sometimes the vocals are gruff and sometimes melodic. Their sound is reminiscent of Violent Storm and early Brutal Attack. The lyrics which can be made out are simple, straightforward and arguably pretty standard: fighting for race and nation, a willingness to fight to the death, white salvation, the only solution being a white revolution, and making race traitors pay. The pick of the demo is ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Eye For an Eye.’ This demo is a little gem. Future recordings would not sound the same. Odins Law hoped to play a concert in memory of Eric Banks which was being planned by the Canadian Chapter of the Northern Hammerskins. [The author does not know if this memorial concert went ahead.]

On Saturday, 27 March 1993, Bound For Glory, Rival, Stigmata and No Alibi planned to play the Marquee at the Tralf in Buffalo, NY, which was going to be shot on video for Rock-O-Rama Records. The concert went ahead and video footage was shot, although it was never released by ROR, which had enough problems of its own by then.

On Saturday, 17 April 1993, Nordic Thunder, The Voice, Aggravated Assault and Pale Face played an ‘Adolf Hitler Fest’ on a farm in Conyers, Georgia. The event was sponsored by the Aryan Resistance League, Aryan National Front, Aryan Sisters’ League and the Christian Guard. It drew approximately 150 to 200 participants including representatives of skinhead groups such as Confederate Hammerskins, Eastern Hammerskins, Northern Hammerskins and SS Action. The rally proved to be the largest event of its kind ever staged in Georgia and one of the largest held in the entire country in 1993.

On Saturday, 29 May 1993, RAHOWA played an event organised by the White Nationalist Heritage Front at the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa. After the concert, which was picketed by hundreds of Anti-Racist Action protestors, Burdi and Droege, the leader of the Heritage Front, marched their supporters to Parliament Hill.⁵⁷⁵⁷ As they marched, they chanted ‘Sieg Heil’ and gave the Nazi salute. At Parliament Hill, Burdi and Droege passionately addressed their followers. Burdi then led the White nationalists to the front of Hotel Chateau Laurier. Once there, Burdi charged across the street to confront the anti-racist protesters. One of the victims of that charge was Alicia Reckzin who later testified that as she lay on the ground Burdi kicked her in the face. Burdi was eventually convicted of assault causing bodily harm and sentenced to a year in jail.

On 6 June 1993, RAHOWA and Aryan played Downsview in Toronto. Following the concert, Jason Hoolans and two other skinheads went looking for trouble and kicked a Tamil immigrant into a coma, resulting in a state of partial paralysis. Hoolans’ lawyer admitted that the attack was racially motivated and Hoolans himself told the court: ‘I am proud of my achievements and proud of my country. I don’t hold extreme racial views. I am proud of my race.’ He was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated assault.

Organised by Tri-State Terror, the American-European Unity Festival was held over the weekend of 23–25 July 1993 in Ulysses, Pennsylvania. On Friday 23, Brutal Attack, Nordic Thunder, Aggravated Assault and Das Reich played. On the Saturday, The Voice, Max Resist and The Hooligans, Bound For Glory and Brutal Attack played. On the Sunday, The Voice, No Alibi, Max Resist, and Brutal Attack closed the festival.

On Saturday, 14 August, Brutal Attack, Bound For Glory, Aryan, The Voice, Aggravated Assault and Max Resist and the Hooligans played Montreal. It was probably one of the biggest RAC events to date across the pond.

Later that year, No Alibi, The Voice, and Aggravated Assault played Buffalo, NY. [The venue and date are not known to the author.]

Excessive Force formed in Toronto in July 1993. Frontman Mike said of the reasons that encouraged him to form the band:⁵⁸⁵⁸ ‘I think, at the beginning, I was really interested in Aryan and RAHOWA because I went to so many of their concerts and it just really had me going on the idea. Then for a while there weren’t many concerts going around and the only band that was playing was White Riot, so we decided to start something a little bit harder and more aggressive. We got into it because the scene was at a time when RAHOWA and Aryan were gone playing in the States. We basically wanted to pick things up again in the Toronto area.’ Musically, the band was influenced by BFG, Nordic Thunder, Involved Patriots, Aryan and RAHOWA. Aryan and RAHOWA also influenced them when it came to writing lyrics because their lyrics were ‘well put together with a solid meaning.’⁵⁹⁵⁹

One of the most important releases of 1993 was the CD album Triumph of the Will by Das Reich, which some argue remains one of the greatest American National Socialist skinhead albums of all time. The album was recorded between January and March 1993 and released later that year by White Terror Records out of California. The line-up on the album was Paul on vocals and guitar, Kory on bass and Dave on drums. The cover is a famous woodcut illustration of a German Army Corporal by Georg von Sluyterman von Langeweyde (1903–1978). This album screams Skrewdriver all over it, from the diverse and oddly compelling mix of ballads and hardcore rock to their choice of cover version. There are ten songs in total. Some have a genuinely good tune. The lyrics are of more interest, though. This band did not fence-sit! The nationalist and racist lyrics are vicious, provocative and confrontational.

The album starts with ‘Die Fahne Hoch’ (‘The Flag on High’) which are the opening lines to the Horst-Wessel-Lied. ‘Which Way White Man’ urges white males to take up arms: ‘White man wake up/Fence sitters we can’t afford/In the name of the Reich, the White man’s fight/It’s time to take the sword.’ The fight for race and nation and against Zionist occupation continues in ‘We Will Keep Fighting.’ ‘Stukas Over D.C.’ snarls with contempt: ‘There was no Holocaust but there is one coming/Fire up the ovens!/Fire up the ovens!’ ‘The Ballad of Earl Turner’ praises ‘lone wolf’ Earl Turner, the main character in William Pierce’s white supremacist novel The Turner Diaries:

‘A Gun in My Hand,’ which the band thought might be viewed ‘as being very seditious,’ starts:

The song is subtitled ‘88 Lines and 14 Words.’ No other comment is necessary. ‘Other Losses,’ which is discussed elsewhere, ‘tells how the Allies butchered German soldiers after World War II.’⁶⁰⁶⁰ The album finishes with ‘Voice of America’ which is a cover of ‘Voice of Britain’ by Skrewdriver. W.A.R. could not praise this release enough: ‘Inspiring in every way. Listen to this album one time and you will be hooked. Incredible range and musicianship with all of the racial power and pride that one could pack into a compact disc. It opens with Horst Wessel’s march, the anthem of Nazi Germany, and the rest of the album stays true to the brilliance and power of its inspiration.’ Overall, this is a great album, but the greatest? The jury is still out.

White Terror Records also released White Terror Compilation Number 1 Declaration of War featuring the Midtown Bootboys, Storm Section, Bound For Glory, C.I.S., Extreme Hatred, Hammertown and Fight For Freedom. Extreme Hatred had three tracks on the CD: ‘Race Riot,’ ‘We’ll Fight’ and ‘Judgement Day.’ Martin said of his contribution:

Oh those were recorded especially for that CD. We did those recordings at a Garden Grove Christian studio called Salah Studios. I can remember I was super sick with the flu that day of the recording. I was told to heal up before singing. I just said fuck it, let’s go. I downed some honey tea and knocked ’em out. White Terror was a great thing when it started out. I put a lot of my time and effort into helping Jason out with it. But when you work with someone that simply doesn’t even care about himself enough to do a successful business, then it was time for me to move on.

Extreme Hatred present three tracks of metallic hardcore, the pick being ‘Judgement Day’ with a long intro that sets the mood for the rest of the song.

The inclusion of Fight For Freedom (or FFF) remains a mystery. Fight For Freedom was a notorious Nazi hardcore punk band from San Fernando Valley, active from 1981 to 1983. The front man was Richard Yapelli Jr. The other band members are not known or have been lost in obscurity. They played melodic West Coast hardcore similar to their hardcore contemporaries. However, their lyrics set them apart from the other bands. ‘Their lyrics reflected the hardships of being a White minority, political themes such as their admiration for National Socialist-era Germany and the importance of changing the direction their nation was heading in before it’s too late.’

Yapelli Jr., the lead singer, described as a ‘student of the Third Reich and military tactics,’ formed a gang of like-minded individuals around him who had to adhere to a four-part code he had authored: 1. Be yourself 2. Live your own life 3. Fuck social values 4. Fight for freedom. Even a police spokesman was forced to admit that Yapelli proved ‘charismatic’ as a gang leader. This gang, also named FFF, brought chaos and violence to an already violent underground scene. The violence escalated. Consequently, by 1983, the band was banned from every venue across Los Angeles County. This probably spelt the end of the band, not the street gang who grew in numbers and eventually gained the reputation of being one of the most dangerous and feared gangs in the Los Angeles area.

The band was thought dead and buried, but, remarkably, in 1989, Fight For Freedom released an album on cassette which had been recorded in August 1988. The band is listed as Stuka on vocals, Stine and Fritz on guitar, Durham on bass and Mickey on drums. Yapelli Jr. did not sing. On the tape inlay the band thanks, among others, Skrewdriver, Tulsa Midtown Bootboys, CASH, American Front, SS Action Group (Detroit) and ‘the L.A. Underground scene we helped to destroy.’ Called Ganglife, the album featured eight songs, including the two that ended up on the White Terror comp CD some four years later, ‘The Truth’ and ‘March of ’42’ played to the well-known melody of ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home.’ ‘March of ’42,’ which has the most extreme lyrics on the tape, concludes:

The author does not know how a defunct band came to record some five years after breaking up and how two songs from that recording were released four years later. That would make for interesting reading!

This compilation CD also includes two songs from the Midtown Bootboys, ‘Set the Prisoners Free’ and ‘Bang, Bang,’ which were probably lifted from the ‘Bootboy 88’ demo because two band members were still languishing in jail. Musically, the songs are raucous guitar-driven Oi with absolutely no thrills whatsoever with gruff, glass-chewing vocals. As for the lyrics, ‘Set the Prisoners Free’ calls for the release of incarcerated members of the Order and vilifies God’s ‘chosen race.’ ‘Bang, Bang’ is violent and racist, and probably explains why the Midtown Bootboys were so revered at the time and why they continue to be some 25 years later (and it’s not because of their musical prowess):

C.I.S. rock out with crazy vocals and some mean guitar riffs. The guitar solos on ‘ZOG Will Pay’ are wild and ridiculously over the top, but will bring a smile to your face. However, their sound lacks bollocks. New to the studio, the band should have focused on filling out their thin sound rather than the niceties of overambitious guitar solos. Anyway, if the former band members ever get to read this smallest of criticisms then please do not be disappointed because your contribution of three tracks to this compilation is a great taster of what the band had to offer live at that time and hints at much more to come.

There’s not that much to say about the musical contributions from Storm Section and Hammertown other than mid-paced rock. They would be instantly forgettable if it were not for some of the lyrics, which are strong and offensive, particularly if you are Jewish or non-white. Overall, this compilation is solid enough. Clocking in at just 38 minutes, it could have featured a few more bands or more songs from the same bands. Nevertheless, it showcased what was stirring in America even if one of the bands was now defunct and two are filler or a poor afterthought.

During the summer of 1993, aged 23, Canadian George Burdi founded Resistance Records to release material by his own band RAHOWA. What started as something small and quite personal continued to grow and grow as he explains⁶¹:

I felt artistic expression was more important for the movement than political organizing, and I had always had the most success with the band. A French label called Rebelles Européens had sent us money to record an album but then folded. So we had the disc recorded and had nobody to release it, and fate kind of pushed me to start my own label. I printed up some mailers and let people know. The intention was only to release Rahowa stuff, but I started getting demo tapes like crazy from other bands. I thought, hey, maybe I can release some of these as well. It cost only $2,000 to record a skinhead band, and it was easy to flip the profits from one into the next one. Soon we had a magazine, five or six people working for us, and 12 or 15 bands signed. There have been all kinds of rumors about different people giving seed money to start Resistance, but in fact there was no one. We established a viable model that other skinheads could follow, and the whole music scene grew from that. We explained it to anyone who would listen. Suddenly, it went from a couple of white power labels to a couple of hundred. I’m sure many were just a P.O. box and a guy living at his mom’s house, but it worked.

At first he operated out of his home in suburban Windsor, Ontario, and later moved his operation to Detroit, Michigan, thereby avoiding criminal prosecution under Canada’s strict hate crime laws. However, there was more to his choice of Detroit:

That’s what people always thought, and we weren’t ignorant of that benefit. But we would not have put it in Detroit if it had not been for the involvement of [American COTC member] Mark Wilson and some other original people from the Michigan area. We were working jointly with COTC people from Wisconsin and Michigan, and the idea was to have a central location. Michigan was perfect because it was an equal distance between Milwaukee and Toronto.

Speaking to the Toronto Star, Burdi admitted that ‘racialist’ rock lyrics are replete with offensive words and images, guaranteed to attract the young and offend the old: ‘Some of the music being put out is raw hatred. It is just so offensive, it is just so crude that it can’t help but attract attention just by the sheer audacity of having the guts to be so politically incorrect.’

Burdi said that no matter what the Canadian authorities decide to do with their music — ban it or ignore it — it will sell. ‘I invite the system to try to stop it. I invite them to, if they did ban an album, everyone would want to have it, and it would spread like wildfire in the underground. Music is fed on controversy. Ignore us and we get huge because we can develop unhindered. Attack us and we get huge because you create controversy and the youth want to hear us. Either way, we win.’

Burdi was right and he knew it. The market for White Power rock was phenomenal in the States and all too soon he would have a monopoly on it. He probably started the White revolution with RAHOWA Declaration of War CD (catalogue number CRA-001A), which had been recorded in December 1992. The line-up was George Burdi on lead vocals, Steve on guitar, Jon Latvis on guitar, keyboards, piano and backup vocals, Joe on bass and Myke S. on the drums. Jon Latvis, who composed most of the music for the band, also sang lead vocals on ‘Triumph of the Will,’ ‘Victory Day’ and ‘Avenge Dresden.’

RAHOWA was a real melting pot of musical influences. George Burdi⁶²: ‘Our musical influences are very diverse, which is strongly indicated when you listen to our album. Personally, I’ll listen to anything that’s White and is good. Our guitarist likes Slayer and Metallica. Our drummer likes Rockabilly, and our other guitarist likes Rockabilly and Oi! Our second album will be just as diverse sounding as our first, and I’d personally like to see diversity as our hallmark.’

Thirty-seven minutes long, this album is truly something different, from hardcore to rock ‘n’ roll, from rock ballads to folk, and more! Numbering 11 songs, some work, others don’t. There’s one surprising choice of a cover version, ‘Solidarity’ by the Angelic Upstarts, which was recorded live but the guitar work is horrible. The tune of Jerry Lee Lewis’ classic rock song ‘Great Balls of Fire’ is stolen for ‘Third Reich.’ Some of the production is thin, the musicianship haphazard, and Burdi’s vocals are sometimes off-key and strained on the high notes. The lyrics, which are reproduced in the booklet, are predictable and in the same vein as the new crop of white power American bands exercising their constitutional right to ‘freedom of speech’ on domestic produced releases, no longer ‘shackled’ by the anti-hate laws of Germany which ROR had to operate within.

If the album’s title was not statement enough, ‘White People Awake’ declares the start of a racial holy war to save the White race and then comes out in support of the Church of the Creator:

The following track, ‘Triumph of the Will,’ whose chorus urges the White man to ‘stand, march, and kill,’ also preaches the divine glories of the Church of the Creator:

‘Fallen Hero’ honours the memory of Brian Kozel, a Hammerskin and Creator, who was killed by a gang of Mexicans while distributing Church material on September 15, 17 AC (1990), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His death is forever commemorated in the Creator calendar as Martyr’s Day. ‘The Trial’ makes mention of another martyr of the White Race, Robert J. Mathews, who ‘gave his life in sacrifice’ to ‘free our once White Lands.’ The song also portays white, racial comrades as ‘soldiers in the holy war,’ encouraging them to ‘stand tall, stand true’ against the eternal Jew and to be prepared to ‘pay the highest price’ just like Robert J. Mathews.

Burdi would later admit he was ashamed he ever participated in singing those lyrics. If he could he would have made a personal apology to ‘everyone who was ever affected by that song.’

‘Exodus’ warns the nigger, the left-wing race traitor and the hooked-nose Jew that their time is coming and they better start running, thereby triggering a modern-day exodus of all aliens from the ‘promised land’ of America. Again the song offers a religious solution to secure the future of the White race:

‘Avenge Dresden’ laments the massive loss of life in this ‘terrible holocaust’ and makes mention of David Irving’s fight to uncover the truth about that night in 1945. Some commentators have claimed that Irving exaggerated the death toll in Dresden for his own political ends. Then again, in January 1990, he gave a speech where he asserted that only 30,000 people died in Auschwitz, all of natural causes, which he claimed was equal to the typical death toll from Bomber Command raids on German cities. Similarly, in a television interview in November 1991, he compared the death toll in Dresden with Auschwitz when he said that 25,000 people were killed at Auschwitz, but that ‘we killed five times that number in Dresden in one night.’ And while on the subject of exposing the Jewish Holocaust as a hoax, the song concludes:

‘White Revolution’ and ‘Race Riot’ require no detailed explanation, repeating the sentiments of other songs. The pick of the songs are the ballads, ‘Fallen Hero’ and ‘The Trial.’ Overall, RAHOWA should be genuinely applauded for trying something different, but the album does have its faults as discussed. This is a highly memorable album, sometimes for the wrong reasons, but it’s an album all the same that has to be heard to be truly believed.

Resistance Records also released albums that same year by Aryan, Aggravated Assault, Nordic Thunder and The Voice. The most important was the debut album Born to Hate by Nordic Thunder (catalogue number CNT-001A). Although dated 1993, the album was not released on CD and cassette until the following year. Nordic Thunder was now a five-piece with Mike Tweed joining on guitar. The album features 11 songs, one of which is a Legion 88 cover. Well-produced energetic hard rock from start to finish, this album hits hard like a panzer division on the attack, leaving devastation in its wake. The guitars are loud and punchy. The drums keep pounding. The vocals are unapologetically aggressive and in your face. The lyrics, as to be expected, are angry, extreme and violent. The anger of being an embattled White man wanting to secure a future for his children spills over in ‘Born to Hate’:

‘Never Back Down’ continues the fight against the corrupt system to keep ‘our nation White’ and argues ‘When survival is at stake taking arms is a must.’ ‘My Honor, My Pride,’ the album’s standout track which is suitably stirring, promises that this ‘White man on the street,’ a skinhead who is ‘loyal to my people, my race and family,’ is willing to die to ‘destroy the Zionist way and keep my land White,’ even though he is ‘cursed by my people and shunned by my kin.’ ‘United, White & Proud’ celebrates different groups of skinheads across the length and breadth of America for leading the way to ‘take our Nation back’ to its past state of White dominance:

‘Skinhead Bootparty’ is in a similar lyrical vein, encouraging skinhead violence against commie scum, punks and baldies, and non-Whites. The blood will flow… It already had. ‘Rising Above All’ is basically a ‘party political broadcast’ on behalf of the Hammerskins, described as ‘a noble breed of warriors’ and ‘an elite group of skinheads’ who are fighting for a ‘White Nation’ and ‘the future of White Children.’ Again the Jew and the ‘Zionist Occupation Government’ are identified as the enemy to this skinhead brotherhood and the racial movement in general. ‘True Heroes’ honours Robert J. Mathews and the Order. He’s described as the Aryan Robin Hood who ‘stole from the Jews to support our cause.’ ‘Back to Valhalla’ combines a short lesson in Norse mythology with the dramatic tale of a White warrior’s battle to the death whose ‘honourable death’ on the battlefield promises him a glorious entry into Valhalla.

Overall, this is a great album, even genre-defining. The album was later reissued on CD and then as a picture disc LP.

The death of Ian Stuart was also greeted with shock among skinheads in the White Power scene. Few had met him, but that mattered not. They mourned and remembered the man whose music and ideals had influenced the paths they had chosen, their way of life and perhaps the bands they played in. They would never forget him. His contribution, spirit and music would live on. His tragic death had left Blood and Honour in England without its founder and backbone. Appeals to ‘co-ordinate our efforts and work together under the Blood and Honour banner’ were dismissed and ignored as Combat 18 stepped in. There was no such schism in North America. In fact, the White power scene was ‘stronger than before.’ There were more bands than ever before, releasing more albums than ever before and playing more shows than ever before. Despite the death of Eric Banks and then Ian Stuart, truly 1993 was proving to be a real turning point for the cause in North America.

On Sunday morning, 17 October 1993, Jay H, Blood & Honor staffer and head of White Terror Records met with John Metzger of White Aryan Resistance at radio station KNAC in Long Beach, California. They were there to discuss on air the racialist music scene with the host of KNAC radio’s ‘Pure Rock Talk-Back’ show, Mike Stark. Blood & Honor continues:

Also joining them in the studio was Dave Castagno, publisher and editor of Screamer magazine. The most recent issue of Screamer (November ’93) contains a six-page cover story entitled ‘Hate Music: Lunatic Fringe or Cause for Concern?’ which includes photos of Das Reich and No Remorse, as well as an interview with Jay H.

The radio program lasted approximately an hour and a half and included phone calls from local listeners all over the Los Angeles area. Most of the calls were positive… so much so that the host afterwards suggested that we had ‘stacked the deck’ in our favor by having our friends call in. (Of course, we’d never do anything like that.) The only problem at the station came in the form of a bomb threat which turned out to be a hoax. Several officers from the Long Beach Police Department had responded to the parking garage but left empty-handed.

Both the magazine and the radio interview featured our mailing address and Mr. Metzger was able to get his address out over the air as well as WAR’s ‘Aryan Update’ number.

Unable to play venues made of bricks and mortar, many White Power skinhead bands resorted to playing ‘desert gigs.’ Byron recalls:

In ’93 I moved to Arizona with friends and during that summer a few dozen skins came down from Vegas with the band C.I.S. A rally was held on the state capitol in full regalia and banners flying, it turned into a full march down the boulevard, and later that night a gig took place out in the desert on public lands. Again later that year (maybe the next) another desert gig was held in southern Utah, with C.I.S. and Frontline — both bands are Las Vegas bands, but by then most members lived in southern Utah. There’s not much to say about these gigs, no noteworthy incidences, but I mention them because that was the common thing in those days in the southwest states, ‘desert gigs.’ Music and drink around the bonfire at night, target practice during the day, good times to be had for the combat-skinheads on the western front. AF ’92 was a desert gig but on private property, but most of the time it was up to the local skins to scout a good site on public land and set up camp. One interesting thing about the Utah gig was that the local sheriff attended the concert, apparently to make sure the FBI did not stop the gig, as they threatened to do. In many of the southern Utah and Nevada counties the sheriffs were at odds with the Feds who always tried to trump the sheriff’s authority over their own county. They certainty did not support the racialist agenda, but did support the rights of the citizen; this was the time between Weaver and Waco, and even the sheriffs were questioning the government’s heavy hand.

I do remember that show. That was a great time. I remember the trip out there. I remember the maps to get you there. Haha! It was one of those hand-drawn maps that said things like, when you see the cactus that looks like a fork turn left until you get to the boulder halfway onto the road and turn right ¼ mile past that boulder. Till this day, I have no idea how we even made it there. But I remember the area was super cool. It was like a huge sound stage with concrete slabs, like it used to be a flood canal or something. The sound was outrageous.

And this is where we leave the story of the North American White Power music scene on the verge of a break-through, similar to what happened in the United Kingdom in 1989. Which way would it go?

1. Fanzine Blood & Honor #3, 1993.

2. Interview with John of Doc Marten, fanzine Pure Impact Skins #3.

3. Interview with Doc Marten, fanzine Last Chance #5, 1990.

4. Interview with Doc Marten, fanzine Hammer of Thor #5, 1990.

5. Interview with Townsend of Moonstomp, fanzine British Oi #8.

6. Interview with Townsend of Moonstomp, fanzine British Oi #8. However, on the album, the last line is: Choose to walk or choose to attack.

7. Fanzine British Oi #12.

8. Reported in newspaper Chicago Reader, 23 March 1989.

9. Ibid.

10. Interview with Brian of the Arresting Officers, fanzine Pride of the North #4.

11. Ibid.

12. According to fanzine Hammer of Thor #3, ‘West German record company Rock-O-Rama has been forced into bowing to the forces of censorship. “Nazi” symbols will no longer be acceptable as illustrations on record covers. The first victim of this new “morality” has been the American skinhead band The Arresting Officers. They intended to include Odinist rune stones on the cover of their new LP Land & Heritage. ROR had to say no.’

13. Interview with Fran of New Glory, fanzine British Oi #11, 1988.

14. Interview with Eric Owens, fanzine Blood and Honor #5, 1994.

15. Ibid.

16. Interview with Joe of the Allegiance, fanzine British Oi #12.

17. Interview with Joe of the Allegiance, fanzine Welsh Leak #6.

18. Interview with Joe of the Allegiance, fanzine Last Chance.

19. Interview with Joe of the Allegiance, fanzine British Oi #12.

20. Interview with Joe of the Allegiance, fanzine Unity #2.

21. Interview with Hakenkreuz, fanzine British Oi #13.

22. Interview with Jay and Terry, fanzine Unity #3.

23. Arno Michaelis, book My Life After Hate, page 166.

24. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine British Oi # 19.

25. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine Hammer of Thor #5, 1990.

26. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine Final Conflict #2.

27. ‘Baldie’ was a slang term for anti-racist skinheads, but it was originally a direct reference to the anti-racist skinhead gang from Minneapolis who called themselves ‘the baldies’ (which itself was a reference to the bald multi-racial leather-jacket-wearing gang from the late ’70s film The Wanderers).

28. Youth Defense League may have played a second concert with Doc Marten on 5 July. Venue and year are unknown.

29. Interview with Rev. Dan Armstrong of RAHOWA, fanzine Last Chance #10.

30. Interview with Bill of Rival, fanzine British Oi #25.

31. Ibid. ‘Put Up a Fence’ does not appear on ‘We Got the Right.’

32. Interview with Sean of Max Resist, fanzine British Oi #35, 1995.

33. Ibid.

34. Interview with Chris by Jamie Ludwig, Noisey blog, November 2014.

35. Ibid.

36. Interview with WAY, fanzine British Oi #18.

37. Christian Picciolini, page 169, book Romantic Violence (Goldmill Group, 2015).

38. Fanzine On the Frontline #1, 1992.

39. Interview with Chris Gawlick of No Alibi, RAC Magazine #5.

40. Interview with Chris Gawlick of No Alibi, fanzine On the Frontline #2, 1993.

41. Interview with Chris Gawlick, 1999, grammar and English corrected.

42. Interview with Nordic Thunder, fanzine British Oi #23.

43. Reported in Los Angeles Times, 5 March 1988.

44. Interview with Martin of Extreme Hatred, fanzine On The Frontline #2, 1993.

45. Interview with Extreme Hatred, fanzine British Oi #25.

46. Extreme Hatred was booked to play with No Remorse two years later, but again Martin missed out: ‘We were supposed to play with them at the Wisconsin show, the one where Joe Rowan was killed. We paid over $2000 dollars for a four-day Amtrak ride to Wisconsin to play a show that we were told we were on the bill to play. We were told both by Resistance Records and our own record label, Phoenix Records, we would be on the bill and we would be taken care of once we got there. When we got there, we were promptly told by George Burdi that we were not going to play and that we can watch in the stands. It’s a really long story about this trip, but in summary we didn’t get to play, a great man was murdered on his 22nd birthday and we never got reimbursed or taken care of once we got there. Also, I went to see No Remorse in their hotel room in Wisconsin. I was pretty excited to meet Paul, but he turned out to be a stuck-up rockstar. I couldn’t believe it. I ended up telling him his music sucked and he was a fag!’

47. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine Skinhead Power, 1992.

48. Christian Picciolini, page 248, book Romantic Violence (Goldmill Group, 2015). However, the date is questionable. Chris got Final Solution back together to play its farewell concert in 1993, which suggests that the band became a studio project for two years before finally breaking up after the release of the album in 1995, which the author does not believe. Another possibility is that the band broke up in 1993 and then got back together to record the album, which again the author does not believe. This then leaves us with the scenario that the band broke up after recording the CD, which was either in 1992 or 1993, rather than after its release some two years later.

49. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine Final Conflict #2, 1992.

50. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine Skinhead Power, 1992.

51. Interview with Ed of B.F.G., fanzine The Raven #1, 1992.

52. Review, fanzine On the Frontline #2, 1992.

53. Leyden, Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope, pages 88–89 (Streetwater Books, 2008).

54. Leyden, Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope, page 90 (Streetwater Books, 2008). The book adds: ‘Unfortunately Rebellious Europeans [sic] released their American soundtrack as soon as they got back [not true] and were quickly rated [raided?] and shut down by the French government. The racist message they were spreading was against French law.’ The reason stated for Rebelles Européens closing down is quite possible.

55. Interview with Danny of Involved Patriots, magazine Resistance #8.

56. Interview with Danny of Involved Patriots, fanzine Blood & Honor #5.

57. Most sources state or imply that the concert was not disrupted. However, two sources disagree. According to the Toronto Star reporting on the conviction of Toronto neo-nazi leader Burdi, ‘the concert was broken up by anti-racist protestors and the Ottawa police riot squad’. According to an anti-fascist source, the concert was ‘shut down.’

58. Interview with Mike of Excessive Force, Resistance magazine #8, 1996.

59. Ibid.

60. Interview with Das Reich, fanzine Blood & Honor #2, 1993.