I found out on February 4th 2021 that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Winter Solace Productions to be some type of Hate Group, I was also contacted by a local newspaper to respond (which is how I found out about it) and that been provided below. As that response has to be consolidated for the general public, I've posted a much more in-depth and lengthy response on my labels website. It's worth stating that I do not support the SPLC, I see it as a corrupt (which if you research it, it is) left wing law firm designed to act as a litigious attack dog, amplifying many already complex issues to divide parts of society through distortion, lawsuits and other actions. While on the surface they appear well meaning, championing overall positive issues (which should be championed) and have done a lot of important work in society, underneath that is just more political driven identity politics. They have for years over amplified RAC/Skinhead music as a terrorist threat, and now that much of that "Hate Music" scene has died off, they moved onto the much smaller paper tiger of National Socialist Black Metal, of which due to my releases, contacts and distribution network I have now been targeted.
Much of the institutions listed as "Hate Music" in 2020, by them are very small, and of the Black Metal companies I am likely the largest due to 12 years of activity. One listed company is confirmed to have closed after Charlottesville and I know the owner of that, did sell everything to another party. Another listed company also closed and relaunched as another company on the list. The owner of another one of these companies is currently in Jail due to other Criminal Activities and had sent me viable threats via email (which were reported on file with local police and the FBI in Milwaukee) over a business dispute. Most of the remaining entities on this list release things in runs of 100 copies of less. The point of stating this, is to remind everyone that there is no viable or logical threat to what these people are doing to warrant such an extensive over-reaction other than a publicity stunt.
Winter Solace Productions (hence forth referred to as Winter Solace) has been at odds with both the NS and RAC communities for our work with numerous non-white bands, the fact that I've openly stated numerous times that I am not a racist and that we still do the type of work we do to advance NSBM, while not fitting the cookie cutter definition of NSBM, nor openly denouncing the sub-genre. Other people (including the SPLC) label Winter Solace as an NS label, racist, a right-wing political label or otherwise. I don't dispute or debate these labels, because I simply don't care and have better things to do with my time. I outgrew any adherents I had to the ideology years ago, in favor of my own worldview similar to modern populist anti-establishment conservatism.
Metal-Archives, Discogs.com along with probably Numerous other places have posted without my consent my real name, photos of me, numerous opinionated distortions and most recently my PO Box address. As Modern Law has not evolved to allow for this information to be forcibly removed (and many of these leftist institutions (or their staff) refuse to do so) in order to either allow for me to live a normal quiet life, the only option I have is to simply post online responses to these things. I do not apologize (nor will I ever) for the content of the products I sell in the context presented by this current situation, as I firmly believe that if somebody finds something either offensive or problematic, they should just not buy it.
As is stated on the main page of the website, it's not possible for Winter Solace to have a unified ideological consensus as I've worked on 500+ projects many of which have different and conflicting viewpoints. Certain releases, have also for many different reasons been disavowed, no longer being a proper representation of Winter Solace, and I've said numerous times that releasing them had been a mistake. This statement isn't and should not be seen as a retraction or "walking back" by people within black metal, as many of these overall statements are useless in general, but more about additional context to match reality. The idea that one must stubbornly exist exactly as they always were without any type of personal growth is entirely contradictory to any type of sound reason and the worst ideological cancer within black metal, outside many of the entirely fake individuals that are usually presenting themselves as an immovable stubborn bastion of ideology.
I have openly stated numerous times that I openly detest fame and notoriety, yet I now have to respond as such a person who has these things in order to simply continue to operate. I don't go to concerts, I don't seek attention from metal press, as I realized along time ago I simply don't have the desire for those things. I just want to live a quiet existence, promoting this music and my outsider art in a world free of cancel culture, speech codes and instant gratification. Other people say whatever they want about this label, and I support their right to do so but I've always pushed for people to judge either myself or the world in general with their own free thinking minds.
===(This portion was submitted as a statement to a local newspaper)===
Winter Solace Productions (hence forth referred to as Winter Solace) does not agree with the labels of "NSBM" nor with the designation placed upon this institution by the SPLC, however does not have the legal resources, nor any real desire to contest them. The SPLC is a law firm that seeks to use these designations to raise money from Donors by over-exaggeration of the small and misunderstood NSBM sub-culture. Every human being of reasoned and sound mind knows that discrimination of individuals based upon skin color, sexual orientation, religious and political (even though modern society has forgotten it) beliefs is 100% wrong, rooted in ignorance and contradictory to American values. Winter Solace has always been at odds within the black metal & NSBM (which is a sub-genre of black metal) music sub-cultures for going against the traditional stereotypes common to those sub-cultures by embodying through our catalog of work that unless it poses some type of security problem to the institution, discrimination against customers, free speech, political ideals or artists with a patriotic viewpoint to their work is wrong.
Most Winter Solace releases be them compact discs, cassette tapes or vinyl records exist in pressing of less than 300 copies (some were pressed in runs of 500) and are distributed worldwide to a private audience of collectors, designed for playback in the privacy of their own home. Due to numerous different reasons, I have disavowed some of my previous releases and no longer support them or see them as an accurate representation of my work, which has lasted 12+ years. All of my releases would be dismissed by listeners unfamiliar with extreme metal or black metal as not even being music. The lyrics to most black metal songs can't be understood and the context is always provided by either the album art or lengthy statements written by the bands. For the general public, black metal is just misunderstood people who can't function within society whining to distorted guitars in their bedrooms. If people wish to make music about difficult or unpleasant subjects, designed for private audition they should do be able to do so.
The reason we have been placed on this list by the SPLC is due to their interpretations of 3rd party information about products I've either released or may have sold. Legal resources to remove or provide context to information posted on the internet without someone's consent do not exist to match the reality of today's climate. It is worth stating that unlike many of the other companies listed by the SPLC, Winter Solace seeks to operate in a private capacity, does not promote at concerts, our products are not sold out of any type of brick and mortar location and I do not seek notoriety in either metal press publications or any other type of political media. My overall reach is likely less then 700 people located all over the world and my reputation (as I perceive it) within the NSBM community is that of an extremely anti-social outsider. I just want to be left alone, and while most people within black metal would decline to respond to these types of requests, I've done so to simply state that unless you are a listener of the music, to just leave it alone as you likely won't understand it nor would want it explained.
On my labels website can be found information about mainstream press coverage this label received in the South China Morning Post for our work with patriotic bands from Malaysia, Aljazeera on a slow news day covering some bands affiliated with Winter Solace being kicked off Facebook, an Interview I conducted with a printed magazine in Bolivia (that will further put me at odds with people among the Black Metal music scene) and a more lengthy response to the SPLC's designation geared to my customer base. I would like to state that the reason were listed specifically in Wausau is because of somebody posting (without our consent) the location of our post office box online, and that no physical transactions of business related to Winter Solace is conducted within the city of Wausau. In closing, I'd like to thank the [local newspaper] for contacting me and giving me chance to provide context on the matter.
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