An apology to Death In June, Tony Wakeford, and "Alwc"
This post has been heavily edited, for a variety of reasons.
It turns out that my acceptance of some of the research sources I utilized was perhaps premature. If that is the case, I will apologize. I was mistaken on a few levels.
Initially, I will concede that the possibility that Stewart Home accepted as truth various facts and historical sequences that were not exactly true, or by people claiming to be the individual’s in question. After giving this matter some thought, it would then make sense for Home to sensationalize the events and perspectives as much as possible, even if they lose their objectivity towards the truth. Also, the Wikipedia Talk:Stewart Home discussion page also was quite eye-opening, especially when compares it to what he claims on his own webpage, mainly regarding the level of contact he has made with Tony Wakeford, Douglas Pearce, etc.
With regards towards Home’s opinions on “Waldteufel”, while I am not familiar with them, I agree with “Alwc” that Home made serious mistakes and lapses in judgment when issuing blame. Furthermore, his idea of definitions are very broad indeed, giving him the maximum amount of leverage for accusations against bands/individuals he chooses to dislike.
I was especially surprised at the Uncarved blog post regarding the “Above The Ruins” where Home caustically and viciously claimed that poster “Anathema23” was either a Nazi or a sympathizer (again, based on his broad definition). I applaud her well-written and concise response to Home’s rambling accusations.
In short, I will retract any opinions that could have been applied to Sol Invictus. It seems that the absolute truth in this instance is rather nebulous and grey from both sides. Also, to be completely fair, when I have the chance I will also check out and/or review one of Sol Invictus’ albums. I think I owe them that much, at least.
When considering Death In June, I also felt the need to re-assess and re-define some of my opinions regarding that band. Perhaps the most important difference is that I have a distaste for the history of the band, mainly their persistent use of fascist imagery, and the questionable nature of some of their songs (such as the lyrical content of “Till The Living Flesh Is Burned” and the musical content of “Brown Book”). I will concede, however, that the lyrical content of most of their music is abstract enough to not be offensive to the average listener and that their musicianship is not as bad as I had claimed.
I still have an intense dislike for Boyd Rice. Sorry.
Also, I am still a huge fan of David Tibet and Current 93.
In conclusion, I offer an apology for what I had written previously. While researched to a certain degree, it obviously was not researched enough. “Alwc” opened my eyes to the true nature of where I was receiving my raw materials for my opinions, and I thank them for that. As stated above, my opinions regarding the above-stated bands have changed completely, and while I am not to the point where I can enthusiastically recommends them, I certainly will not persuade anyone NOT to check them out.
In regards to the links, I will keep the links I have previously provided up, along with the important websites that “Alwc” has provided. There, you can come to your own conclusion regarding the matter.
Hopefully this will go a small way in putting things to right.
PS The original article I wrote (though for obvious reasons I do not like to look at it at the moment) has been saved if anyone absolutely has to read it.
PPS Now that I hopefully have achieved closure on the verbal/ideological hole I inadvertently dug myself into, new reviews should be forthcoming very soon (including, if all goes well, the Leagas review). Stay tuned! 🙂
—
WE MEAN IT MAN: PUNK ROCK AND ANTI-RACISM (S.H. article on DIJ, R.A.R., etc)
TONY WAKEFORD, SOL INVICTUS & ABOVE THE RUIINS (article on Tony Wakeford, etc)
Stewart Home Society
Death In June
Brainwashed Death In June Page
Wikipedia Death In June page
Tony Wakeford (Tursa)
Wikipedia Sol Invictus (Edited On Multiple Occasions)
6 comm (Patrick Legas)
Wikipedia Patrick Leagas
MySpace 6 Comm page
Uncarved Org Blog
Uncarved Org : Satan Is Dead (mentions Rice, reasons why Satanism fails, etc)
Stewart Home Wikipedia Talk Page (alternate perspective)
Uncarved.org blog post (Anathema23 vs. Stewart Home)
John Lithium 
I came across this post while browsing, and while I am not unbiased, to be sure- I am a fan of the music of both Death in June and Sol Invictus- I would strongly dispute the claims it makes. To say that Stewart Home isn’t the most objective observer is to put it very mildly indeed.First off, I despise racism and white supremacism, and thus when I started getting interested in this music I did a lot of research into the controversy surrounding the scene, as I don’t want to support actual Nazis any more than you. The conclusion I came to in the end was not that of Stewart Home, or of this post. I won’t really get into Death in June for now, (I’ll just note that it’s rather hard to believe that a neo-Nazi band would, as Death in June did, play in Israel, speak warmly of their Israeli fans, and then put an Israeli flag on the front page of their website for a while, right alongside the rainbow flag- Douglas P. is gay, of course.) but I wanted to address the allegations against Tony Wakeford.Home’s article is a complete smear job, and yes, I did read the whole thing. To mention a few things Home leaves out- Wakeford’s wife is openly and religously if unorthodoxly Jewish, and the current lineup of Sol Invictus includes her as well as two lesbians. I assume you saw the “Message from Tony” up on the front page of the Tursa website- Home includes it in his article, I suppose because even he couldn’t be dishonest enough to pretend it wasn’t there. I have found no reason not to take Wakeford at his word on that. With regards to the personnel of Sol Invictus, Gary Smith left the band about twenty years ago, which fits what the Tursa message said, and as for Ian Read, the accusations against him don’t hold up. I haven’t been able to find anything that credibly links him to Myatt and the Order of Nine Angles or Iona, and as for the Illuminates of Thanateros, I haven’t found anything indicating that the group has any far-right ideology, and in fact, according to their Wiki article, they kicked somebody out for membership in “an ultra right wing mind control cult.” Frankly, a lot of the time, Stewart Home’s source for these claims seems to be… Stewart Home.The first few Sol Invictus albums did imply a right-wing worldview lyrically at times, though never National Front-style racism, anti-semitism, or what-have-you- and after those, they are fully apolitical. The later Sol Invictus albums actually have a distinct jazz influence- particularly the very respectful cover they did of the old blues standard “The Thrill is Gone” on the 2002 album “Thrones.” A jazzy cover of a classic blues song does not strike me as something a far-right band obsessed with “protecting the ‘European culture’ from ‘outside influences'” would do. I can’t find it off-hand, but I would also note the letter I saw from Wakeford online to some white-supremacist magazine that had claimed him as one of their own, informing them in no uncertain terms that he no longer believed as they did, that his wife was Jewish and he wanted nothing to do with them. There’s also an interview somewhere in which Wakeford says he likes Ezra Pound’s poetry but disagrees with his anti-semitism. Home’s only bit of “evidence” that Wakeford is a Nazi as of today is the Richard Moult thing- this post is too long already, so for now I’ll just say that I have serious doubts that it’s the same Richard Moult. Now, as for Home- well, have a look at this, and who wrote the introduction to the lyric book. Also, his Wikipedia talk page, under “the feud with Green Anarchist.” A Google search on “stewart home”+”green anarchist”+wakeford turns up some interesting stuff, shall we say, which would seem to lend credibility to what’s on the Wiki talk page. The impression all this leaves me is that Home’s primary motive in his anti-Douglas P./Tony Wakeford crusade has more to do with inter-anarchist squabbles and restoring his own ideological credentials than anything else, and he’s perfectly willing to stab some former friends in the back to do so. I might be wrong, of course, but that’s how I see it.And finally, to give you an idea of how careful Home’s research is, note this thread. In Home’s article, he implies that Waldteufel as a Nazi band. Someone claiming to know the band leader Markus Wolff takes issue with this, and Home, while attempting to smear the poster as a Nazi, reveals his “evidence”- a guy on Stormfront using the screen name “Waldteufel.” That was it. The first poster points out that the Stormfront guy’s name is Dan, not Markus, and that he lives in a different location from the band. Home does not respond, and his article continues to imply that Waldteufel is a Nazi band. He also claimed in that thread that “all references to Waldteufel were deleted from Wakeford’s site after I made my July 4 post mentioning them.” I hadn’t remembered any mentions of them at all on the Tursa site at any time, and on looking through older versions of the site via archive.org, found none. Suffice it to say that in my opinion, all of this does not make Stewart Home look like a very reliable or credible source for, well, anything.There’s a lot more I could say, on Sol Invictus and the other subjects involved (I haven’t even touched on David Tibet, for example) but this is way too long a post as it is. I’ll leave it at that for now.
Thanks. I changed my mind and opinion. Hope that helps. Sorry for the previous opinions. Take care. 🙂
Having seen the updated version of this post, I just want to say- thank you, very much. Not so much for changing your opinion in and of itself, (though I’m happy that what I see as a false accusation isn’t being perpetuated) but just for being open-minded enough to consider new information. Sadly, that’s often a rare thing to see on the Internet.I should say that I don’t care at all if you or anyone else hates the music of Death in June and/or Sol Invictus, or even decides that there’s too much general shadiness surrounding them to feel comfortable supporting them- it’s just that allegations of full-fledged Nazism are very, very heavy things to throw around, and since I think they are false in this case, I wanted to offer some opposing evidence, which you took into account. Also, no need to apologize for your past opinions- based on the information you had at that time, they were a reasonable conclusion.On Death in June, I actually think Douglas P. probably does have somewhat dodgy politics, to the extent that he has them. I can’t quite tell what those politics are, but I really don’t think they are actual white supremacism or neo-Nazism, since as I had implied before, he has shown no trace of anti-semitism whatsoever- quite the opposite, if anything. That said, it is a truly confusing, ambiguous issue, and the more I research it, the more so it becomes. I suspect that is exactly how Douglas wants it. Tony Wakeford’s case is much more clear cut, in my opinion, but I’ve already given my views on all that.Though I’m a fan of Death in June’s music, when it comes to their more recent stuff I actually think you made a decent point in your original post- at this point, I think Douglas P. has gotten pretty lazy, and much of his newer work kind of seems like self-parody. I tend to prefer their earlier albums- “Nada!” is probably my favorite album by them, and it is incidentally the one Patrick Leagas had the most influence over- he sings on most of the tracks (and he is an excellent vocalist in my opinion, the best Death in June had), and the album actually is quite a diverse one, much more so than most of the later stuff. I also like the one following it, “The World That Summer”, a lot- as I recall, David Tibet had a pretty heavy influence over that one, and he shows up on one track to sing some lyrics which I imagine he probably regrets now.And actually, I share your dislike for Boyd Rice, as well. I think he really is pretty much just what people say he is.If you review a Sol Invictus album, “Thrones” might be a pretty good place to start- it’s not quite my favorite of theirs, but it’s the one I would most recommend to a new listener. Tony Wakeford’s voice is, well… not great (he’s one of those vocalists who has nothing going for him except conviction and emotion, though that does count for a lot), but at that point it’s improved considerably, and it’s just a very musically interesting album in my opinion- very lush, with, as I say, a distinct jazz influence. The cover of “The Thrill is Gone”, which I had mentioned before, is sung by an excellent female vocalist (Sally Doherty), and is probably the high point of the album. (The song before it, “Driftwood Thrones”, is the other contender, even though Wakeford sings it.)Anyway, thanks again.
http://www.whomakesthenazis.com/2010/09/tony-wakeford-on-manoeuvres.html