francis cameron

Yesterday I went in search of Mick Mercer's "21st Century Goth" but
there were none left in Borders. Instead I came away with Dave
Thompson's "The Dark Reign of Gothic Rock" [Helter Skelter Publishing,
2002] which filled in many a gap for me. It's a breathless resume of a
quarter century of a phenomenon I'd hardly been aware of apart from
Siouxsie & The Banshees who'd penetrated my consciousness while I was
otherwise involved with developing a personal repertoire of classical
organ music for weddings and funerals. Now some of the names I find on
the internet slot into place. Bauhaus. Sisters of Mercy. Fields of the
Nephilim. The Cure. Even a single passing reference to Julian Cope whom
I relish for his "Modern Antiquarian". But that's a different story.
Dave Thompson's last chapter - Epilogue - rallentandos into an obituary
I would rather do without. Is the future already past? Perhaps there's
more I need to know before I can understand.
--
Francis

amberapple

Hi Francis;
from where I am sitting goth music and lifestyle is far from dead.
There is at least one Goth dance night at a local club here in Boston, MA.
For a while there was a sort of goth "lounge" night (low volume
music, sometimes an occasional acoustic act, people would talk,
socialize, read, merchants would set up a table with their wares) but it
is now looking for a new home.
I have a friend who has been hosting a goth radio show for years and
it is still going strong. She still puts on shows, too but the
variety of bands is wider now (she sponsored Garmarna the Swedish
folk-rock band, for example). Sometimes attendance is not very good but
this could be due to timing or the line-up (there is one really
horrible band she insists on booking from time to time).
Some contemporary bands these days do not pigeon-hole themselves into
one appellation; in other words, a group might be "goth-trance-Celtic-rock"
(like the Moors) or "goth-pop-ethereal" (like Splashdown)(to name two
local faves). It seems some music appeals to the goth set without being
specifically goth music (like Basque, or the Medieval Baebes, or Dead Can
Dance). Some bands keep reinventing themselves (like Requiem in White
morphing into Mors Syphilitica).
The bands you mention (Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, etc.) have mostly
moved on but many musicians follow in their footsteps, like Faith and the
Muse or Black Tape for a Blue Girl (it also seems like there are a lot of
lookalike or soundalike bands, but the best new stuff IMHO is from groups
who manage to also be original). Your own Incubus Succubus is an example
of a pagan goth rock band, I'd say.
I do not listen t o a lot of new music these days but when I do it is
usually in this sort of genre. I'd say it is very much alive.

best,
peg

will

| Hi Francis;
| from where I am sitting goth music and lifestyle is far from dead.

Then it's not trying hard enough.....

Will
(ex-Batcaver)

francis cameron

In message <20030823091822.05395.00000482@mb-m16.aol.com>, Amberapple
<amberapple@aol.com> writes

Thank you for all your news. It's good to know goth is alive and well in
your part of the world.
--
Francis

cyberspice

Well up here in Yorkshire there are roughly two clubs a week. Off the top
of my head I know of:

The Wendyhouse (Leeds)
Enshrouded (York)
Deviation (York)
The Black Sheep (Leeds)
Oblivion (Leeds)
Betfink (Sheffield)

And if I want to head over the penines to Manchester or pop up to County Durham or
Teeside there's more. The scene is very much alive.

Melanie

* mike hubbard

: <*wibble*> <m8DQKiFlNRU$EwTU@topdeck.demon.co.uk>,
: <*fizzle*> francis <francis@topdeck.demon.co.uk> <*burble*>
:

More goths than you would know what to do with! Although I'm not a goth
myself some of my best friends are gothic. There are several clubs and
bars, but in particular Satan's Hollow on Princess Street, which is
decorated like something out of Dante's Inferno. There also used to be a
vampire poetry club that was very gothic, but I think it isn't running
any more.

I'll ask some people and get back with more information, if nobody else
here can help.

--
Mike Hubbard <*>
"When cigarette advertising is outlawed, only outlaws will advertise cigarettes."
Zen spam blocker active - there isn't one, but it looks like there is.
So leave the NOSPAM in.

francis

In message <3f54733d.10069031@news.demon.co.uk>, * Mike Hubbard
<mhubbardNOSPAM@yahoo.co.uk> writes


Thank you, Mike. This is all very useful for when I'm next in that part
of the world
--
Francis

cavalorn

In article <m8DQKiFlNRU$EwTU@topdeck.demon.co.uk>, francis
<francis@topdeck.demon.co.uk> writes


There's a long-running goth room in Jilly's Rockword (Oxford Road) on
Friday nights.

Cybergoth can be found at Sin City on certain Saturdays - posters are
usually plastered all over town.

Satan's Hollow has wonderful decor, but the closest they get to gothdom
is a nu-metal night.

Cav
--
Give me a woman who's taken her knocks,
Who's tasted both gutter and stars.
Give me a lady with holes in her socks.
Give me a princess with scars.