Panzerfaust Records

Last updated
Panzerfaust Records
Founded1998 (1998)
Founder
  • Anthony Pierpont
  • Ed Wolbank
  • Eric Davidson
Defunct2005 (2005)
StatusDefunct
Genre Rock Against Communism
Country of origin United States
Location Minnesota

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]

Contents

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

Panzerfaust 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

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References

  1. ↑ Mackay, Neil (22 January 2006). "White off the scale". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Horwich, Jeff (13 May 2004). "MPR: Top "white power" music label prospers from Twin Cities home base". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 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.
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. ↑ Foxman, Abraham; Wolf, Christopher. (2013). Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet, Macmillan. ISBN   9781137356222.
  6. ↑ Guarino, Mark (7 August 2012). "Wisconsin shooting: how racist bands recruit for white supremacists". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Neo-Nazi Group Targeting Schools for Music Distribution". Education Week. 8 October 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "NEO-NAZI LABEL WOOS TEENS WITH HATE-MUSIC SAMPLER". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ Funk, Michael (19 March 2005). "Sex, Drugs, Hate Rock". Telepolis (in German). Heise. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  11. ↑ Padilla, Howie (18 February 2005). "Drug arrest killed hate-music business, owner says". Cult Education Institute. The Star Tribune. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Raihala, Ross (5 February 2005). "Racist record label closes over owner's race". The Spokesman-Review. St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ "Panzerfaust Records: Distributor of Hate Music". Anti-Defamation League. 24 September 2004. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
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