Whats in a name?

Since excitedly posting on my new recent musical adventures in a band called 'Nazi Disco', I have been challenged on the reasons for the name.

For background the word NAZI was a nickname given by their opponents and taken from the letters N and Z which stood for Nationalen Zocialisten or the 'National Socialists'. The Third Reich did develop from the National Socialists, but by the time of the war all pretense of being a political party had ultimately been discarded. The catchy nickname however remained and it seems, has stood the test of time.

To qualify, I do not support, genocide, imperialism, intolerance, mass extermination, censorship or white supremacy in any forms. I do however support free speech, equality, historical awareness, tolerance, collaboration and progress.

I didn't think up the name but in its defense and as I have explained elsewhere, its not about the Germans, or the Nazis. The name is about the relentless mechanisation of the world and the widespread and continual intolerance, violence and persecution across all cultures. to this point we are all "dancing the Nazi Disco' a petrol fuelled, idealised humanity, marching, bang-bang-bang along the autobahns, towards our own destruction and trampling ourselves in its way. It is supposed to be ironic?

Alas that symbol, the dreaded swastika, despite being a 'borrowed' perversion of a peaceful bhuddist symbol, is mythologicaly powerful in popular culture . this power really needs to fade, to be ridiculed, deflated and danced on.

The Sound device which sounds more like Balinese Gamelan than the teutonic oompah of the hordes of doom happened to come into being at the same time as the band. Truthfully as a Pom I grew up on old war movies, army kitsch, hippies wearing army german surplus, toy soldiers and many a Tommy comic full of swastikas and German soldiers crying 'Achtung Englander!", much to our amusement. The device has a sort of crude technological look and could be a stolen radio device or some other esoteric secret N**i device, like many that were the basis for the post-war industrial age and economic boom (Vorsprung durch Technik), rocket flight, radio telescopes etc.

I dont just do 'pretty pictures' and I feel that as well as celebrating the good it is important to challenge the bad. Hopefully in doing so we break down some of those barriers that stop us from seeing the complex truth of our reality and history, which is never black or white. To do this one must critique and one of the most effective forms is parody, pastiche, to amplify something until its own inherent deficiencies are obvious to all.

Of course ultimately the idea is suppoed to be that the Nazis, the Swastika are not what we have to worry about. They are no danger to us now, they were beaten thoroughly and that form of unashamed supremacy, will not occurr in that brazen form again. Whatever neo-nazi groups are left are imbeciles at best and really not clever enough to be dangerous(they would be pleased at the fear and power exterted by their old logo). However the same mentality of oppression still exists, the same persecutions are going on, whether it's religion, sexuality, colour, tribe, caste, people preaching religious intolerance, starting wars for profit, exploiting the poor and on and on and on....these are the people to be scared of, except that now they are not wearing easy to spot uniforms with distinctive symbols anymore. They are sublimated through the system, through business and their borders are not defined by the old national boundaries. They still want to rule the world at any cost, they have always existed and always will.

...and remember sometimes past victims become the aggressors, the bullied become the bully and not only is that dangerous but ultimately, as inexcusable as the original offence?

So feel free to challenge me on the name, I am not going to spend too much time making the obvious point that I am not a NAZI, but I am still doing the Nazi Disco Ja, just like all of you.

Nazi Disco

Saturday night, 9th May saw the first performance by tribal-noise-punk act 'Nazi Disco', comprising of the Reverend and Adam Elliot. A small but enthusiastic crowd watched the bands 20 minute set at Stink Magnetic Records HQ in Whanganui.

Despite its awkward moments and 'technical difficulties' the dynamic duo, pummeled the audience with heavy rhythms and discordant riffs, soaked in noise, enduring wolf-whistles and sardonic requests for the Eagles! The next gig will be at The Mutton Club, Whanganui - Da Sein Oder 'Square' Sein!

Experimental Sonic Research:

This menacing looking device was discovered by the Reverend in an old chest, hidden at the end of WW2, until now. This sonic weapon, utilises organic and man-made items to create an astonishing array of sound, that appears harmless acoustically, until amplified, when its true and frightening potential is made clear. A recording of this weapon in use, was found with the device, but efforts to transfer the signal to a digital recorder, unsurprisingly scrambled the 21st century technology!

Audio:
Song Recycle (Excerpt)

Metonymy 09

If selected 2 new works will be exhibited in Auckland from this weekend. The Metonymy 09 Exhibition is held as part of the Auckland Writers Festival at the Edge Gallery, Aotea Centre, Auckland, 9th - 23rd May. Visual artists and writers are paired up and given 4 weeks to collaborate to produce new work.

I was teamed with Desiree Gezentsvey a poet and playright. We selected 2 poems with language as their theme (Lingua Franca and Penned In).

The paper itself was hand-made form a crossword dictionary to add to the literary reference.