What could it be that draws neo-Nazis to western Maricopa County town of Tonopah? Desert vistas pregnant with ennui? The occasional corpse dumped next to the Interstate? Exhaust from the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant?
Whatever it is, Tonopah will once more be the place for the booted and braced come October 24 when it plays host to the home-grown racist music happening Oi Fest II, dedicated to "Oi" music, a subgenre of punk that was kidnapped by white nationalists sometime in the early '80s. (So don't get it mixed up with the Yiddish expression, "Oy, gevalt," though it's tempting to apply such irony to the racist skinheads involved.)
Already, "Preacher," a supremacist with the Tonopah-based White Knights of America is shilling for it on Stormfront.org, and on WKOA's own Web site, where the WKOA represents itself as "a group of proud men and women who are fighting against the anti-Nordic politics, policies and laws which are being forced upon us as the world is being assimilated into a one-world order."
Anti-Nordic? Are Scandinavians discriminated against? Are Norwegians being forced to the back of the bus? Swedes told they can't rent in tony neighborhoods? IKEA boycotted? Ingmar Bergman films declared verboten?
I kid the Nordic ones. In any case, the WKOA isn't the only organization sponsoring the event. Also kicking in with both Doc Martens are the Death's Head Hooligans (fun bunch, that), and the Sons of Aesir Motorcycle Club, which is dedicated to the promotion of "the values represented in the culture and heritage of the White race." You know, like 400 years of domination. But who's counting, anyway?
No word on the ticket price yet, but entry into last year's Oi Fest cost $20. The line-up of bands looks to be about the same as well, with the Orange County-based White Knuckle Driver scheduled to be there, as well as a band called White Wash. Anything with "white" in the title is popular with this crowd for some reason.
Stormtroop 16, hailing from Sacramento, California, will likely play some tunes from their album Steel Capped Justice, which features on its cover a photo of some dood getting boot-stomped. (Probably a minority or a commie.) The band Slaghammer also features some boot-stomping on the cover of its CD All Cops Are Bastards, with a member of law enforcement being the subject of the "boot party" in question. Let's hope there's a copy of that CD on their dash should these nudniks get stopped by local cops while visiting Sand Land.
Detroit's Max Resist is one of the best known bands of the genre. They played the 2004 Aryanfest, which took place just north of Fountain Hills and was described in the February 2004 New Times' cover story "Barbecue Nations" as a festival where "shaved-headed men hugged each other like they were at a gay pride picnic." Um, not that there's anything wrong with a gay pride picnic.
Indeed, you can observe for yourselves the paucity of femmedom available at last year's neo-Nazi wing-ding from the pics posted to WKOA's Web site. There are some "skinbyrds" pictured, as racist chicks are called, but sweaty oafs in wife-beaters reign supreme.
Still, thanks for sharing, guys. Though in the non-Nordic realm, we get to dance with the women. You fellas should try it sometime. Really.
