Panzerfaust Records was a Minnesota-based white power record label founded in September 1998. Named after a German anti-tank weapon,[1] the record label distributed the music of white power bands and organized concerts across the United States.[2]
| Panzerfaust Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Status | Defunct |
| Genre | Rock Against Communism |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | Minnesota |
At the label's peak around 2000, it was the main competitor of Resistance Records,[2] and they had grown close to the neo-Nazi group White Revolution.[3]
History
editPanzerfaust Records was founded in 1998 by Anthony Pierpont, Ed Wolbank and Eric Davidson.[4][3] The organization had ties to a number of other groups, including Hammerskin Nation[2] (the "largest [US] skinhead group"[5]), Volksfront and White Revolution.[3] In 2003, Bryant Cecchini, aka Byron Calvert, joined the company.[2]
In 2004, the label launched Project Schoolyard, a United States-wide campaign to distribute free Panzerfaust sampler CDs to middle school and high school students.[6] In response, schools were notified and in some districts, CDs were confiscated or voluntarily turned over by students.[7][8] The anti-fascist record label Insurgence Records responded by offering a free downloadable compilation called Project Boneyard.[9]
Panzerfaust Records shut down in early 2005 after the arrest of Pierpont for drug possession upon returning from a sex tourism trip to Thailand,[10][11] and the emergence of evidence that Pierpont was of Hispanic descent and had dated transgender individuals and non-white women.[4][12][13] The company was reorganized without Pierpont to become Free Your Mind Productions but disbanded for good shortly after.[3] Pierpont has since supposedly moved away from racism and the white power movement.[14]
As of January 27, 2005, the Panzerfaust website was no longer operating.[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mackay, Neil (22 January 2006). "White off the scale". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d Horwich, Jeff (13 May 2004). "MPR: Top "white power" music label prospers from Twin Cities home base". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d Simi, Pete; Futrell, Robert (2015). American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-4422-4136-7.
- ^ a b W. Etter, Gregg (2009). "HIP-HOP, NARCOCORRIDO, AND NEO-NAZI HATE ROCK: A COMPARISON OF ALIENATED CRIMINAL GROUPS". Journal of the Institute of Justice and International Studies (9): 98–112. Retrieved 17 April 2024 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Foxman, Abraham; Wolf, Christopher. (2013). Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet, Macmillan. ISBN 9781137356222.
- ^ Guarino, Mark (7 August 2012). "Wisconsin shooting: how racist bands recruit for white supremacists". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "Neo-Nazi Group Targeting Schools for Music Distribution". Education Week. 8 October 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "NEO-NAZI LABEL WOOS TEENS WITH HATE-MUSIC SAMPLER". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "SEBERME FAŠISTŮM JEJICH ZBRANĚ - PROJECT BONEYARD USA" [TAKE AWAY THE FASCISTS' WEAPONS - PROJECT BONEYARD USA]. Czechcore (in Czech). 18 November 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Funk, Michael (19 March 2005). "Sex, Drugs, Hate Rock". Telepolis (in German). Heise. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ Padilla, Howie (18 February 2005). "Drug arrest killed hate-music business, owner says". Cult Education Institute. The Star Tribune. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Raihala, Ross (5 February 2005). "Racist record label closes over owner's race". The Spokesman-Review. St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ O'Hara, Carolyn (14 November 2005). "From Prussia with hate: Lynx and Lamb are Californian twin sisters hoping to become stars. But, as Carolyn O'Hara reveals, their pop-country ballads represent the latest strategy of America's white supremacists". New Statesman. Vol. 134, no. 4766. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Zaitchik, Alexander (16 January 2007). "FORMER HATE ROCKER ANTHONY PIERPONT TARGETS OLD COLLEAGUES IN NEW PROJECT". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "Panzerfaust Records: Distributor of Hate Music". Anti-Defamation League. 24 September 2004. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2024.