Landser (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Landser was a neo-Nazi rock band from Germany. Landser is an old-fashioned colloquial German word for a low-ranking soldier. The band, which is officially outlawed in Germany, was previously called Endlösung (or 'Final Solution' in English) and was founded by members of the neo-Nazi group Die Vandalen-Ariogermanische Kampfgemeinschaft (The Vandal-Aryan Germanic Fight Club), which was founded 1982. Compared to many far right bands, Landser's musical skills and production values are usually considered high. They performed only one concert open to the public, and did so wearing masks. However, they held several private concerts in restaurants in Berlin, Germany.
Contents |
[edit] Legal action
In Germany, the group has been deemed a criminal organization. Three members of Landser were convicted of "forming a criminal gang organization" in December of 2003, under laws that make publications of materials which defame the deaths of World War II, or are found to incite race hatred, a crime in Germany. Two members received nearly two years probation, while the band's leader, Michael Regener (also known as "Lunikoff", or "Luni"...Lunikoff was a brand of Vodka in the GDR), was sentenced to more than three years in prison, making it the first time a band has been declared illegal in Germany and its members incarcerated. On March 10, 2005, Germany's highest court (the German Federal Court of Justice) rejected Regener's appeal of his sentence.
Regener was still producing CDs while waiting for his appeal. After the forced breakup of Landser, Regener parted ways with his bandmates and founded a new band, called Die Lunikoff Verschwörung (the Lunikoff conspiracy), in 2004. Thus far, they have made several CDs, including 2004's Die Rückkehr des Unbegreiflichen, Amalek Vol. 1 & 2, and Niemals auf Knien in 2005. The lyrics of these CDs were vetted by lawyers to make them not actionable according to German law.
On October 21, 2006, approximately 750 Neo-Nazis launched a protest outside the jail where Michael Regener was being held and demanded his release, [1].
[edit] Production
Landser recorded its music in Germany, but had the CDs manufactured abroad, mainly in the U.S., Canada and Eastern Europe. The music is distributed online, by underground dealers through peer to peer networks or purchased from music labels inside the United States and in some countries in Europe where such music is legal (again mostly in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom).
[edit] Music themes
Some of their songs are non-political and inspired by old volkish beer-drinking hymns ("Totsauflied" "Dead Drinking Song" and "Zeit zu geh'n" "Time to Go"). Others praise German icons like Frederick the Great or take an anti-drug stance ("Vom Frühstück bis zum Abendbrot" "From Breakfast 'till Dinner"). However, most of their songs espouse an aggressively nationalist perspective of the world and are highly critical of the Federal Republic of Germany, its surveillance and censorship agencies (i.e. the BfV), liberalism and the left. A number of songs speak against communists, pedophiles and homosexuals, as well as foreigners in Germany, such as the Chinese, Blacks, Jews and Turks.
Their music derides African-Germans ("Afrika-Lied/Afrika für Affen" "Africa-song/Africa for Apes"), Turkish-Germans ("Wieder mal kein Tor für Türkiyemspor" " Yet again no Goal for Türkiyemspor" (a soccer team from Berlin-West founded by Turkish immigrants), the Polish ("Polackentango"), and communists ("10 kleine Kommieschweine" "10 little commie pigs").
Landser's first major release was Das Reich kommt wieder (engl. The Reich Will Rise Again). Other Landser albums include Republik der Strolche (Republic of Thieves) and Ran an den Feind, (engl. Get the Enemy), where the title song -- a RAC remake of the 1940 German military march "Bomben auf England" -- calls for the bombing of Israel. One song glorifies Nazi martyr Rudolf Hess and, in "Opa war Sturmführer" "Grandpa was an Assault Leader", Regener pays tribute to his grandfather, who was a Waffen SS officer.
[edit] Discography
- Landser: Lunikoff Demo '92, ~1992, MC/later CD.
- Landser: Das Reich kommt wieder, 1992, MC/later CD - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Republik der Strolche, 1995, MC/CD - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Berlin bleibt deutsch, 1996, CD (identical with "Das Reich kommt wieder", Bootleg) - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Deutsche Wut, 1998, CD (called "Rock gegen oben") - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Best of..., 2001, CD. forbidden since October 2005.
- Landser, Stahlgewitter, Hauptkampflinie (HKL): Amalek - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Ran an den Feind, 2001, CD - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Sampler, 2001, CD - illegal in Germany.
- Landser: Endlösung - Final Solution: The Early Years, 2002, CD - illegal in Germany.
- Tanzorchester Immervoll, 2002, CD.
- Rock gegen ZOG - hepp, hepp..., 2003, CD.
- Tribute to Landser, 2003, CD.
