Scottish punk band The Exploited came through San Francisco last weekend, playing a typically raucous set at DNA Lounge on Saturday, March 8. While the show went off without a hitch, it raised a debate — again — about neo-Nazi symbols and associations in the subculture of skinheads and Oi! music.
Those working-class scenes have longstanding ties to anti-fascist and anti-racist action, expressed in lyrics and personal politics. But others in the subculture also have ties to Nazis, white nationalists and explicitly fascist political groups like National Front; bands like the infamous white power rock group Skrewdriver leaned heavily, and unironically, into adulation of Nazi imagery, Adolf Hitler, and a dislike of non-white people.
Then there’s the folks in the middle, proudly claiming to be apolitical while mocking, trolling, and satirizing pretty much everyone else. It’s a space The Exploited has occupied since it first released music in 1981, and the band has a loyal fanbase for it.
But it’s also true that frontman Wattie Buchan has for years been dogged by accusations of being willing to hang out with problematic people and crowds, while claiming ignorance of the fact he is doing so.
The accusations are so common that they arise in seemingly every discussion about the band online; the frequently cited evidence ranges from a swastika tattoo on his left arm to being in a photo filled with Sieg Heil salutes to repping a band (Haggis) roundly criticized for embracing fascist culture and playing festivals that are “as far-right as you can get,” as it literally posted online. He’s also been pictured with a member of Skrewdriver, the aforementioned hardcore neo-Nazi band.
Then there’s Buchan’s vintage interview with Record Mirror, in which he openly expresses his hatred for Pakistani people (and uses an anti-Pakistani slur), defends wearing a swastika, and claims he is “not really racist” because he technically hates more white people than he does Pakistanis.
The owner of DNA Lounge, Jamie Zawinski, told Gazetteer SF that while four people had contacted them with concerns about The Exploited’s ties to the neo-Nazi punk scene, the Saturday show went off successfully with no issues. (He also pointed to the themed cocktail for the band, dubbed “Fascists Fuck Off.”)
In the past, Zawinski condemned a misogynistic act and kept them from playing at DNA Lounge, and I asked him what was different this time around. He sent Gazetteer the same statement he sent in response to concerned people who reached out to him.
“DNA Lounge is not a platform for fascism, hate speech, or racism. If we thought these guys were Nazis, we would not be doing this show. But they're not,” he wrote. “Quite the contrary, they are one of the original anti-fascist punk bands. We spent a lot of time looking into these accusations and have yet to find any real specifics on what someone thinks the band has said or done. We can find vague innuendo about some things, most or all of which the band have denied.
“Their Wikipedia doesn’t reference any particular scandals, unlike many other problematic artists. Many of the club's trusted friends and allies have actually come to the artist's defense pointing out that their drummer is Black, their road crew is Mexican and the singer's girlfriend is Middle Eastern.
“We appreciate that encroaching fascism is on everyone's mind right now — ours too! — but this one really seems to be a complete mis-fire, a set of baseless accusations.”
For some punk fans, the circumstantial evidence is enough to deem Buchan guilty by association. Others reject the claimed offenses by noting that the skinhead and Oi! scenes are politically fluid, marked by a history of brawls between left and right-leaning fans. While Buchan has a swastika on his arm, it is also true that a number of musicians, including stars like Sid Vicious and Siouxie Sioux, chose to rep swastikas as simple agitation: A troll-like jab at the staid middle-class and mainstream culture, rather than a genuine embrace of white power.
Elsewhere, The Exploited is known for having, in its history, a nominal neo-Nazi fanbase; a young fan was stabbed to death in 2017 after confronting another group, who were chanting the Russian translation of “Sieg Heil,” outside of an Exploited concert.
(The band was upset by the incident: “If we had seen any c--t sieg heiling [sic] at our gig we would have had them kicked the f--k out,” the band wrote in a response posted to Facebook.)
It is a complicated context that resists easy condemnation; the band’s arrival to Santa Cruz prior to the S.F. show ignited a storm of criticism, but it largely came from people who were unfamiliar with the band or the subculture it rose from.
Did DNA Lounge host a band that cozies up with neo-Nazis, willingly or otherwise? Zawinski says no way, but the better answer might be: Maybe.
