Michael Moynihan (journalist)

Michael Jenkins Moynihan
Performing with Blood Axis in 2016
Born	(1969-01-17) January 17, 1969 (age 48) Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Other names	Michael M. Jenkins
Education	University of Colorado studied language and history Portland State University B.A. in German language
Occupation	writer, publisher, journalist, musician
Years active	1984-present
Known for	Blood Axis
Notable work	Lords of Chaos

Michael Jenkins Moynihan (born 17 January 1969) is an American journalist, publisher, and musician. He is best known for co-writing the book Lords of Chaos, about black metal. Moynihan is founder of the music group Blood Axis, the music label Storm Records and publishing company Dominion Press. Moynihan has interviewed numerous musical figures and has published several books, translations, and essays. In the 1990s, Moynihan was frequently characterized as a fascist or neo-fascist by some critics and fans. Moynihan accepted these descriptions with reservations in the 1990s, but in the 2000s dismissed them as inapplicable buzzwords used by "anti-this and anti-that activist types" and denounced the far right.

Moynihan was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a lawyer father. Moynihan identifies his background as entirely Northern European: Irish, English, Welsh, and German. Moynihan attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He became active in experimental music from 1984, forming Blood Axis in 1989 and releasing his first album under the name in 1995.

Moynihan collaborated with Boyd Rice from 1989, and in 1990 the two moved into an apartment in Denver. Like Rice and Thomas Thorn, Moynihan was a member of the Church of Satan at this time. Moynihan appeared as a guest with Rice and James N. Mason on a special episode of Bob Larson's Christian radio talk show titled "Manson Maniacs". During the summer of 1991, Moynihan states that he was visited at his apartment by agents of the United States Secret Service about an alleged plot to assassinate then President of the United States George H. W. Bush. Moynihan agreed to a polygraph test and no charges were filed. Moynihan stated that it was a simple case of intimidation stemming from his correspondence with Charles Manson and visits to Sandra Good. Moynihan stated that he felt that he had been monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 1984, that they had taken his luggage on an occasion, and that they had once called his father, admitting to him that they had taken a parcel from his mail. Moynihan cited his then-friendship with Peter Sotos as a potential cause.