Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #220
Hope everyone found last months "listeners guide to the hardcore revival" useful. So many records have come out since I wrote it that it's already out of date. What can you do, hardcore is blazing forward and can't be stopped. I've been warned that there will someday be a backlash and "thrash" will go out of style and I'll be holding the bag with thousands of DS 13 and Tear It Up records. So fucking what! I love this music, I'd put out the same records no matter how many people are interested. Different genres of music go in and out of style but I'll always stick to what I'm into whatever the trend.

I don't do this sort of thing much, but I'm going to talk a little bit about changes I've made with my own label. I hope it serves to illustrate some of the issues involved with running a DIY punk label today. When I started Havoc Records in 1992, I never thought it would grow as big as it has today. I figured I'd do one or two 7"s a year and that would be it. However, when Overthrow collective offered to sell me their t shirt and tape distro in 1993 I took it over and expanded into shirts patches and tapes. For several years I did a few 7"s a year, mostly by new bands and some 80's re issues. I dropped the patches and built up the shirts and tape distro. From the beginning the 7"s have lost money or just broken even. I sell my stuff for real cheap just to get the music out and support the bands. The T shirts however, have always been profitable, and in effect subsidized the record angle. I started off doing everything by myself and gradually hired on some help. Today I've got one part time worker doing mail order and one doing the screen printing. I deal with the bands, stores and distros and the mechanics of manufacturing the records. When I started there were a number of bigger DIY labels such as Profane Existence, Tribal War and Sound Pollution that I considered to be the "big leagues." I sort of figured on Havoc as being a minor league label that would do 7"s by bands that would then go on to bigger and better things with larger labels. Those labels would have the budget and distribution muscle to really support the bands. Many of the bands I worked with in the early days such as Aus Rotten, Civil Disobedience, Bristle, Masskontroll, Brother Inferior etc. did go on to do LPs on other labels. As time went on I expanded my distribution and simply by nature of longevity gained some experience in making and selling punk records. When I hooked up with DS 13 I found a band whose music I was really into and would literally do anything for. So I decided to start doing LPs, at first just to help out DS 13, then because other bands who I really liked needed help, Holding On, Skitsystem and Nine Shocks Terror. So here I am with two LPs out and two in the works. This means I'm also getting deeper into the CD business. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate CDs. I think they are a cornball format soon to go the way of the 8 track. I also think it's totally bogus that CDs cost less to make than a 7" yet sell for twice the cost of an LP. My first CD was a Code 13 discography, and I have to admit CDs are really good for discography releases. I hope to do Misery and Nine Shocks Terror Discography CDs in the near future. I'm not really into CDs though and like a lot of other things, go along with it just because it's what everyone else is doing. I was really leery of the internet at first but was won over by the ease of communication it offered internationally. One thing I'm still having mixed feelings over though is e-commerce. More specifically taking credit card orders over the internet. I've set up my web site with a shopping cart program and all that to do online orders. I personally don't like credit cards or banks or the crazy sums they charge to let you use your own money. However, the "kids" these days expect you to take orders with credit cards, in fact they complain when you don't. Other DIY distros like Sound Idea and Blackened have been doing credit card sales for sometime with good results so I followed suit. At the same time I realized my tape distro was becoming more of a liability than an asset. I had grandiose dreams of expanding the tape distro to include hundreds of live and demo tapes by bands from all over the world. However, the amount of shit work involved got to be insurmountable and bigger more important projects like DS 13's LP and tour loomed larger and the tape distro sat for ever on the back burner. Don't get me wrong, I'm still totally in support of tape trading. I just hate to do something half-assed and that' what my tape distro has been run like for a few years so out it goes. Another regrettable thing is that I've had to raise my prices. The Post Office keeps raising the rates and recently really jacked up the international rates. I've absorbed all the increases I can but sooner or later rising costs mean increased prices. All of these changes have made me feel more like a sell out, like I'm losing touch with my DIY roots or something. But I feel like I've just done what I had to in order to keep up with the times. I don't think I could continue as a 7" only label without going massively into debt. Although I'm doing bigger and bigger projects I still feel like the same punk kid who was filling orders for Profane Existence 10 or more years ago. I still have a full time day job that pays my bills, in fact without it I could never pull off the expensive projects I've embarked on lately. I lucked out with some bands like DS 13, Tear It Up and Nine Shocks Terror who are currently popular and play out a lot. But I think I would have released those records based on the music and people involved if only 200 people were interested rather than 2000. So let me set the records straight on one thing. Havoc records is totally independent, every last record was paid for with money I made from roofing houses and laying ceramic tile. And of course re-investing the money I've made selling records and t shirts. There are no "investors" no "financial backers" no press and distribute deals, no exclusive nothing. I own it all lock stock and barrel. To me that's the definition of being a DIY label, I'm in control of the labels destiny and answer only to two groups of people, the bands and the fans. I see the growth of the label as a natural progression from a simple DIY distro to a more ambitious punk label and distro still run along DIY principles. I'm sure somewhere some super DIY extremists are furiously attacking me and Havoc records for taking credit card orders or putting out the DS 13 LP on CD. I'm certainly going back on some things I said I'd never do. It's always a balance you have to strike everyday between your ethics and reality. I continue to live and learn in the continuing adventure of being a DIY punk music enthusiast.

The recent spy plane controversy between the US and China has gotten me thinking quite a bit about how politics are over simplified in the punk scene (and for that matter among young people as a whole). Every action of US militarism is greeted with protests on college campuses, slogans and bumper stickers. I feel that in their rush to condemn the USAs militarism and sabre rattling abroad many people find themselves excusing the actions of equally if not more despicable regimes. It's no secret that without the Russians to kick around the US needs a major power to oppose to justify its huge military expenditures (most of which is corporate welfare writ large, not pay, benefits or housing for soldiers who are drawn principally from the working class). China, which is rapidly growing and making a grab at global player status would fit the bill. Except that the US buys 20% of China's exports and desperately wants to open Chinese markets to US goods. The capitalist class in the US and China are so far up each others asses at this point it's hard to take the international tensions seriously. Here is one sickening result of globalization. The needs of corporations and big business are placed above the needs of the people or even the nation state. Therefore, human rights abuses in China are overlooked in favor of cheaply made goods and more open markets to US products. Eventually the US and China will clash. Within the next 20 years the US will probably be at war with the Chinese either by proxy or the real deal over control of the Asian economy. I no longer think there is the political will in America to go to war over Taiwan. I think it would take a Chinese attack on Japan to motivate the US to really strike at China. As a result China will grow stronger for 10 or 20 years until it feels it can take on America and we might have some sort of third world war situation going on. Alternately, corporations could become so powerful that nation states are meaningless and everyone is working for one big corporation in China or the US. You really can't predict the future with any certainty. But here is my point. Communist China is a totally fucked up place (any Chinese punk rockers who want to write in and give us their views feel free). China is a communist dictatorship. A one party state with no contested elections, no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, no freedom to join a union or go on strike, strictly controlled access to the internet etc. Total big brother type state control. I'd have to say China exhibits some of the worst aspects of capitalism and communism mixed together. Anyone speaking out against the system in China gets thrown in jail and used as slave labor making cheap products for the US. The Chinese government massacred student protesters at Tienanmin Sqare, just a few years ago. China brutally invaded and colonized Tibet and continues to oppress other ethnic minorities. China invaded Korea to back up the bogus North Korean communist regime, which it continues to support. Jose Palafox recently called the US intervention in Korea imperialist, I have a hard time seeing what American corporate interests were at stake in 1950's Korea. I give all the leftist college kids who come on strong with the Marx Lenin bullshit a choice-would you rather live in South Korea or North Korea. South Korea has its problems I know, corruption, labor unrest, etc. but compared to starving under a militaristic communist dictatorship I'll take South Korea any day of the week. I'd like to see most student communist types singing the glory of Marx and Lenin after a few years of busting ass in a North Korean rice paddy for starvation wages. Back to China. I know people argue that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and all that but I can't see supporting the equally fucked up Chinese Communists or for that matter Saddam Hussein and his mob just because they oppose American corporate imperialism. In fact given the choice I'll take western capitalism over communism any day. Not that I really like either system so much but just because it's the lesser of the bad options. I can't really go out of my way to support either side or system. In the future as US-China tensions heat up I look forward to the hypocrisy of leftist students driving their Saturns around with a "Free Tibet" sticker on one side and a "Stop US Sanctions on China" sticker on the other. I'm reminded of the Rudimentary Peni song about the Boer War, "Dutchmen." You can't really feel sorry for the Boers or the Zulus who were all "murderers just the same with their own code of hate." Not to discourage anyone from following their conscience and protesting whatever the cause of the day is, I just think you have to look at everything from all the angles and ask yourself what you are supporting when you protest.

Which brings me to something that has bothered me for quite some time. The use of fascist symbolism in the punk scene. I see so many punk kids wearing anti fascist patches, t shirts etc which is great, I think its important to take stand against fascism. However, I think the typical anti fascist patches and slogans no matter how direct are almost always misinterpreted by the general public. I used to wear anti-fascist patches and t shirts but gangsters always wanted to beat me up for being a nazi. No matter how many times you explain that the swastika on your shirt is crossed out, smashed, broken etc and no matter how large you emblazon slogans like "Smash Nazis", "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", etc people are always going to take it as the exact opposite meaning you intended. I can guess why. Something like 20% of the US population is illiterate, in my experience a far greater number are functionally illiterate. Most Americans never read or think, they just watch TV and do what they are told. Many of the people you see or meet on the streets every day know nothing about punk rock, very little about fascism, and have extremely poor critical thinking skills. To them a Swastika is a swastika means Nazi and that's about as deep as they get thought wise. I was on the bus once and had to talk some militant Jewish guys out of beating up a young punk kid with a "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" armband on. No matter how many times we tried to explain to them it was against fascism they wouldn't buy it. "Right there he's wearing a nazi armband!" they kept saying. They interpreted it as something like "we're nazi punks, so fuck off" the red line through the Swastika didn't even register on them. They just jumped to a conclusion based on what they wanted to believe about punk rock. Even worse is the "put trash in its place" graphic with the guy putting a Swastika in a trash can. This didn't seem too hard for me to grasp but I got into a big argument with the old Landlord of Extreme Noise about it. Someone had posted a flyer on the bulletin board with the "Put Trash In Its Place" graphic on it. The landlord, who was Jewish, interpreted "trash" to mean Jews and thought we were supporting fascism in our store. I tried to explain it, but he just didn't get it. His mind was made up and he made me take down the flyer. The Gegen Nazis patches (now kind of out of style) were pretty open to interpretation too. The fist smashing the swastika seems obvious enough, but to most people it's just a Swastika, says Nazis and has some other word in German. They just assume it's a pro Nazi patch unless you school them. Go ahead and wear whatever you want but remember this, it only really has any meaning inside the punk scene. To the general public you are some dumb kid who is probably a Nazi and listens to Marylin Manson or something.

Which brings me to another thing about the use of fascist imagery. In Germany and a few other countries the wearing and display of Swastikas and other fascist symbols is illegal. As we saw with Skuld records' court case, this law is enforced on the leftist anti-fascists who use fascist imagery in a negative context just as much if not more than it is used against right wingers. I have been involved with two records that used swastika imagery prominently on them. I don't think the bands were thinking much about it when they laid out the records, but both releases have several times been siezed by German customs. I have to take the lyric sheets out of the Masskontroll 7"s before I send them to Germany for fear of having the recipient fined and the records confiscated. The government there uses laws meant to crack down on the fascists as a tool to fuck with the punks and anti-fascists. I would urge bands to refrain from putting Swastikas on their records, even in a negative context, because it could lead to problems like Skuld had.

I don't want to come off as conservative or impose on anyone's freedom of expression. I've just always felt that involvement in punk rock should give you some sort of built in Bullshit Detector. Punk to me is about thinking for yourself, not buying every bumper sticker slogan or patch that comes down the road without really thinking about what it means.

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

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