taz: Mr. Hindrichs, you are a musicologist and observe the right-wing rock scene in Germany. On Friday, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla attended the AfD campaign launch for the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate. Julia Juls provided the musical accompaniment. Who is that?
Thorsten Hindrichs: This is an extreme right-wing songwriter from the southern Palatinate. She used to be active in the Kandel women’s alliance. She sings sad songs about the bad world, the evil Antifa or “Protect us from the Greens” and stuff like that.
taz: Right-wing rock includes all styles of music that are played by the extreme right. What is the overall state of the scene in Rhineland-Palatinate?
Hindrichs: There aren’t very many bands, musicians or concerts. But the musicians that exist are very active. The most prominent example is Nico Roth, who goes by the nickname “Wiesel”. He currently has seven different bands. At least. He has a hand in every other production. I am observing that Rhineland-Palatinate is developing into a relevant right-wing rock hotspot. Especially when it comes to labels. Overall, my assessments and those of the Rhineland-Palatinate security authorities differ somewhat.
taz: To what extent?
Hindrichs: I think the Office for the Protection of the Constitution could become much more transparent. This may also be due to how state politics wants to present itself to the outside world. She is trying to start a lot of programs against right-wing extremism. This is also incredibly important, I don’t want to downplay it at all. But then my observation that the extreme right-wing music scene is continuing to expand its structures here is counterproductive.
taz: The labels are more active than the musicians and bands?
Hindrichs: Germany is the largest and most important location for the production of right-wing rock. In no other country in the world are there as many labels and distributors as here. We have it in Rhineland-Palatinate most important and also most powerful label boss: Malte Redeker. As far as I know, he is still the European Secretary of the Hammerskins. Over the years he has managed to get many labels under his control. Often through middlemen, such as Opos Records in Brandenburg. Along with PC Records, they have been the most important right-wing rock label of all for years.
taz: Why is Germany so prominently represented there?
Hindrichs: There are historical reasons for this. Germany is still a place of longing for Nazis from outside. And there are also many international bands who release their records on German labels.
taz: To come back to the music: In 2024, a video from Sylt circulated in which young people with polo shirts and wine glasses bellowed a racist variation of “L’amour toujours”.. That doesn’t necessarily fit with the classic idea of right-wing rock, does it?
Hindrichs: Sylt is a very exciting context. This was not a project from the extreme right, but from the so-called middle of society. People like right-wing rapper Kai “Proto” Naggert have observed this very closely. He drove himself to Sylt very quickly and shot this disgusting deportation master video. Less than a week later, the video was on YouTube and had more than a million views within a year. This is once again evidence that the extreme right is closely monitoring what is happening in majority society and reacting very quickly to it.
taz: How do you rate the most recent song? former mainstream rapper Kollegah? Right-wing ideologists celebrate this as a success.
Hindrichs: Kollegah is the ultimate role model for Kai “Proto” Naggert. And that ties in with the “Sylt” context. When a mainstream rapper like Kollegah adopts extreme right-wing talking points, that is just the pop music version of what can be observed in the rest of the political discourse. And that ultimately only helps the extreme right. Of course they celebrate him for that.
taz: Does that mean the scene no longer reaches younger people with punk or rock?
Hindrichs: Not necessarily. I received a lot of inquiries from colleagues who wanted to know why there are so many old Böhse-Unkelz things on TikTok videos. My working hypothesis is: The young people have no idea who the Böhse Onkelz are. They just need a soundtrack for the TikTok video and then enter the relevant keywords. And then, interestingly enough, they mostly get Böhse Onkelz or Landser suggested because algorithms are sluggish. The older scene is viewing this development rather skeptically. Also because you can’t sell records or CDs with it. This is similar to AI music, where labels can’t make money
taz: AfD and Generation Germany constantly use AI-generated images and music on TikTok and Instagram.
Hindrichs: I find AI very exciting. The old-school far right is against AI. According to the motto: No AI bullshit, we like handmade music. Probably because they can’t make any money with it. And the problem isn’t just with the right-wing music scene, but with all music scenes. They will probably soon be unemployed if everything is generated from AI.