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The first major casualty of Trump’s new tax plan: Goth Day at Disneyland
01.12.2018
09:01 am
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The administrator of Bats Day in the Fun Park, widely known to many, unofficially, as “Goth Day at Disneyland” recently issued a statement declaring that the event, now in its twentieth year, would no longer be organized, citing rising costs and the extra tax burden caused by Trump’s new tax laws.

According to the Bats Day in the Fun Park press release:

The new tax laws going into effect in 2018 (and impacting every American’s returns when they’re filed in 2019) no longer allow small businesses to deduct anything from their taxes—and Bats Day would also be taxed on any money that comes into the event before anything gets paid out to the event’s vendors. Bats Day already barely breaks even, so adding this set of burdens makes things really tough for us. They force us to raise certain prices and otherwise jeopardize the event’s logistics. On top of this, we’ve been priced out of the hotel we held our events in for the past eight years, reducing our chances to keep this event happening for the community even further.

They did add that goths and deathrockers could still meet up on the scheduled weekend for one last Bats Day blowout—the 20th annual Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend will be held May 5-6, 2018, with an estimated 7,000+ people expected to attend.

Scheduled events include:
- The Bats Day Dark Park™: Concert event with performers to be announced soon.
- The Bats Day Black Market: A spooky shopping experience with over 75 unique vendors.
- The Bats Day in the Fun Park trip to Disneyland, CA: the world-famous event that wraps up the weekend, where attendees are encouraged to participate in as many photo opportunities and meet-up locations as they can, culminating in a “spooktacular Photo Event and Ride Experience through Disneyland’s classic Haunted Mansion attraction.”

Though certain official events are expected to cease due to the new tax laws and rising cost of operations, it is expected that goth meet-ups will continue to take place at Disneyland for years to come.

Trump, try as he might, can’t keep a good goth down.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Propaganda: The aesthetics of evil and why GOTH was a thing that had to happen

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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01.12.2018
09:01 am
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Maskull: The Gothest Album of All Time
07.03.2015
12:20 pm
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Upon hearing the very first word uttered on Maskull’s self-titled (only) album, it’s impossible to fathom the sheer duress that the singer/composer is under. It hits you with physical force, so much that it causes five out of six friends of mine to immediately ask for it to be taken off. In fact, one friend travelling with his band on tour made enemies in the van each time he put this release on, it may have even hastened said band’s demise. Not much is known about this project/person (except that it’s a Los Angeles-based artist named Troy Maskull), but this 1997 CD on Unicorn Records is comprised of some pretty traditional homemade-sounding dark, drum machine-ladensynthpop. Until that voice cracks open.

It’s a voice that makes Peter Murphy sound like Lemmy, Ian Curtis like Edgar Broughton. Words are sung delivered in a breathy drawl where Maskull is seemingly choking back the tears and/or vomit, upfront, untreated in the mix above the synthscapes sounding completely whispered in your ear. Words like “gypsayyyyyyy” and “how would you like it to be bottled for playyyyyhhhhh” are drawn out and inflected in a way akin to Lux Interior’s self-induced vibrato minus the rhythmic element, and full of misery bordering on a complete sobbing breakdown.
 

 
Where does one dwell to understand the level of what’s going on with Maskull? Despite most people I know instantly hating this music, it is extremely intriguing and after years of hearing this album I’m not even close to “getting” it. There’s a wispy element that is evocative of a long, lonely drive on a California highway at night, seeing lights and splendor pass by that one feels alien to, not belonging, always cocooned. Yet a lot of the music doesn’t synch up to cadence of the vocals; I think of Mark E. Smith using his own voice as instrument in a chaos collage of whatever is going on musically, a looming dark cloud of force and will, but instead of outward conquering of the listener, it’s inward recession into a swirling black vortex that only Maskull can understand. He is swirling around in his own vortex emitting whimpers from a blackened universe. Given a bigger budget and studio, one only can wonder if he might have beaten Scott Walker at his own late-era game.

“Might have” being past tense, because I’m uncertain whether Troy Maskull even still exists. Rumors bubble that he was suffering from AIDS at the time of this recording, others that he is entrenched somewhere in Burbank. Until then, we must look into the blackness with no reference. No photographs, no live performances, no snapshots, no missives from the void.

Just the music…
 

Posted by Brian Turner
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07.03.2015
12:20 pm
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Propaganda: The aesthetics of evil and why GOTH was a thing that had to happen
06.16.2015
08:44 am
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Founded in 1982 by New York photographer Fred H. Berger, Propaganda magazine was, at the time of its final issue in 2002, the longest running and most popular chronicle of gothic subculture in the United States. From its infancy as a punk fanzine, it grew in scope, covering the esoteric obsessions of its “Propaganda Minister”—post-punk, death rock, fetish fashion, body modification, BDSM, vampirism, horror literature, androgyny, and paganism were all tossed into its smoking cauldron. Over time, these disparate influences became codified into what we know today as “goth” culture. Never billing itself as a “goth” zine per-se, Propaganda had as much to do with developing the aesthetic of goth as any black-clad scare-band you’d possibly care to name.

Nancy Kilpatrick’s The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined called Propaganda “the only subculture publication known to just about every goth on the planet” for good reason. Its importance to that scene can’t be overstated. In fact, you could say that goth had to happen with Propaganda acting as a two-way mirror, both projecting and reflecting the dark music, fashion, art, and literature of its post-Cold War audience.

I didn’t discover Propaganda until the early ‘90s, when it seemed to be everywhere. I remember, at the time, being impressed that a zine so specifically targeted to a relatively small subculture was turning up in major newsstands and bookstores, even in the tiny South Carolina town where I lived. This was pre-Internet Age, when getting such significant distribution would have been a major struggle.  The striking, brooding images in those ‘90s issues, Propaganda‘s heyday, are burned into my mind. The models in Propaganda seemed to me, at the time, to be the most (depressingly) glamorous people on the planet.

I was able to pin down the man behind many of those images, Fred Berger himself, to talk to him about the magazine, its history and legacy, and where the gothic subculture has gone in a post-Propaganda world.
 

Propaganda publisher, Fred H. Berger, October 1985. (Photo by Wayne Arents)
 
Propaganda magazine, from the earliest issues covered punk and post-punk music as well as alternative—what could be described as “fetish”—fashion. You witnessed and reported on what became the birth of “goth” as we know it today, back when it might have fallen under the umbrella of “post-punk” or “new romantic” or “death rock.” At what point do you think disparate forms of music, literature, art, and fashion came together to form “goth”?

Fred H. Berger: I discovered goth when I saw Bauhaus in the vampire film The Hunger in 1983. For the two years prior to that, Propaganda was a hardcore punk fanzine. Propaganda’s first gothic issue was Issue No. 3, Summer 1984. It wasn’t called “goth” then – it was just “underground” or “darkwave.” I don’t think the term “goth” came into wide usage until later in 1984, and it applied to bands like Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Although Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy said, “We are not a goth band,” and Siouxsie said, “There’s no such thing as goth.” I don’t think they wanted to be labeled, preferring to be whatever they wanted to be, which I can fully understand. In the ‘80s Propaganda covered the New York underground club scene, which featured mostly European bands – primarily British but also Dutch and German such as Clan of Xymox and Xmal Deutschland which were darkwave – not goth. And New York’s underground clubs such as Danceteria, the Cat Club and The World featured more fashion shows and performance art than bands, and much of that was of the fetish and avant-garde variety. Sure it was experimental, kinky and dark, but it wasn’t really goth in that vampiric and melodramatic sort of way. American goth grew more out of West Coast death rock with bands like Christian Death and London After Midnight. I didn’t come in contact with that until 1989, at which time the New York alternative scene was fragmenting with more people getting involved in the rave and clubkid scenes which I had absolutely no interest in. I was somewhat aware of what was happening in L.A. and headed west to see what it was all about. And that was when Propaganda became immersed in what you would call “goth” in the truest sense of the word – ankhs and rosaries, black lace and velvet, capes and corsetry – it was like a scene out of a Vampire Lestat novel. And it was all about bands, versus New York’s preoccupation with art and fashion. The biggest L.A. goth club was Helter Skelter, and in San Diego it was Soil, and in San Francisco it was House of Usher. By 1992 I’d been to all of them and saw that there was a distinctly California style of goth as opposed to New York’s more avant-garde and fetishistic variety and London’s Batcave scene which was heavily influenced by punk. Propaganda covered the West Coast scene so extensively that by the mid-‘90s the whole country adopted it as the quintessentially American version of goth.
 

Issues one through five of Propaganda, charting the transition of coverage from punk to what would become “goth.”
 
As “gothic culture” developed, how much credit would you take for creating the feedback loop that codified the tenets of that culture? Obviously you were reporting on your own personal interests. How much of that reporting became reflected back in terms of narrowing the definitions of what it meant to be a “goth?”

FHB: Propaganda reported on the punk, goth and industrial movements in a selective way according to my own personal tastes and interests, and I also introduced certain elements based on that subjective criteria. David Bowie and ‘70s glitter rock introduced me to androgyny, and that is something which I focused on throughout most of Propaganda’s 20-year existence. The ideal which I sought out, and also fabricated to some extent, was that of a gender-ambiguous, painfully thin and ghostly pale creature based on Ziggy Stardust, but of a darker, more sinister persuasion. That darkness would be rooting in certain taboos, such as vampirism, demonism, fetishism, homosexuality and Nazism – things that would shake up mainstream society. But it was more about the aesthetics of evil (“forbidden fruit” if you like) rather than the actual practice of it. I thought evil had a sensual and stylistic edge over virtue, but I’ve personally always lived by the Golden Rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Propaganda never advocated Satanism, occultism, Nazism, sadomasochism or homosexuality, but that didn’t stop some people from making accusations to that effect. Being an aesthete, I see things from a stylistic standpoint, but people who aren’t often read a lot of political and philosophical meaning into the imagery. I proclaim my innocence with regard to any agenda other than art, but there were some who never accepted my “artistic license” defense. Even so, Propaganda was the biggest, most popular and most influential goth-industrial-postpunk publication in the United States throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was carried by all the mainstream retail chains and was reviewed in mainstream newspapers and magazines. Sure a few people were offended, and were very vocal about it, but for the most part Propaganda was seen as iconoclastic and artistic, and not directly associated with any of the maligned “isms” which it referenced for dramatic effect.
 

Propaganda Issue No. 15
 
The idea of one person’s aesthetic being the launching point for what becomes a cultural uniform is fascinating to me. I’m reminded of Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, whose personal style was basically lifted from The Leatherman’s Handbook—and that style becomes copied by legions of adoring (mostly straight) fans, and eventually ends up being the “uniform” for heavy metal in the ‘80s. Is it fair to say that your personal aesthetic, which was reflected on the pages of Propaganda in your photography, became a “uniform” for kids who were attracted to the music, art, and literature covered in the magazine?

FHB: Well, “my” personal aesthetic was composed of an amalgam of different influences, which can probably be described in cinematic terms as a confluence of The Night Porter (1974), The Road Warrior (1982), and The Hunger (1983). I never intended to determine what the “uniform” should be; I was only shooting what I liked and it just caught on. Nor was I really conscious of the fact that my work was having that much of an effect on the goth-industrial look, but occasionally people would tell me “you created the goth look” or “Propaganda set the style.” But more often than not those comments fell on deaf ears because I’ve always been somewhat oblivious to accolades (and criticism), being more introspective than reactive. But when the mainstream press started to give me credit for practically founding the goth movement I decided to change direction and opted for an increasingly queer and fetishized heroin chic sensibility. That happened in the mid-‘90s and remained Propaganda’s basic aesthetic until the termination of the magazine in 2003 and the website in 2005. I continued to work in the queer and fetish publishing fields until 2012, but stopped when I finally realized that everyone is a photographer and a writer now courtesy of this 24/7 wired world of blogs and social networking and file sharing where all intellectual properties are considered public domain and no one wants to pay for anything anymore.
 

Propaganda Issue No. 11.
 
Propaganda seemed ubiquitous in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The magazine had an incredible distribution for being geared to a very specific, relatively small subculture. How were you able to achieve that sort of wide reach? And how much of your buying audience do you suspect were cultural voyeurs?

FHB: Propaganda was born into the zine revolution of the early ‘80s, when all you needed was a few hundred dollars to start a magazine. The first issue had a print-run of only 300 copies, but in the ‘90s Propaganda’s press runs averaged about 22,000 copies. That doesn’t sound like much, but the magazine had amazing distribution - it seemed to be everywhere that it needed to be - hip college towns and urban centers, affluent suburbs and even isolated rural pockets of alienated youth. And my distributors told me that Propaganda had an unusually high percentage of sales – typically 80 to 90% per issue which was about double the average for other youth-oriented music and lifestyle magazines. Propaganda had a very strong cult following, and many fans preserved their copies in plastic sleeves and still have them to this day, and they often refer to them as “holy relics.” This cult status also applied to the Propaganda videozines, 10,000 of which were sold from the early ‘90s to early 2000s. And the buzz around all of this was accentuated by numerous release parties at the country’s leading goth-industrial clubs which collectively gave the impression of Propaganda being this massive multi-media enterprise. Propaganda’s heavily trafficked website and foreign expansion enhanced its image that much more. But contrary to appearances, it was all produced on a shoe-string budget with a small part-time staff and a workaholic editor-in-chief (yours truly) operating out of a 1-bedroom apartment. As for voyeurs, I really can’t say – the only one I can identify for sure is myself.


The photos in Propaganda are, if I may apply an overused term, iconic—some of these images are forever etched into my mind. You had a very clear aesthetic and a sharp eye. What were your influences as a photographer? 

FHB: During it’s twenty years in print, Propaganda had about fifteen contributing photographers, as well as stock houses, movie studios and record labels that provided us with images, but I still managed to take about 1/3 of the photos that appeared in the magazine. About half of my photography was purely journalistic, covering musical performances, fashion shows and the club scene. The other half was a body of work which I created using models, some of whom became what people called “Propaganda super models” – John Koviak, Wayne Arents and Scott Crawford for instance became household names. Most of my top models were male androgynes – which was my aesthetic ideal, and they had thousands of male and female fans. In fact some straight guys accused me of turning them gay because they were so incredibly beautiful. Part of that was the models themselves, who were in their late teens to early 20s and were naturally very attractive; the other part was my styling and art direction. Some of my models were such chameleons that people often did not recognize them from one shoot to the next. I even had a couple of female models who posed as boys and no one detected the ruse. But only one of my female models achieved super model status – Tia Giles. She and my best male models appeared in numerous photo shoots in the magazine, and also acted in the Propaganda videozines which featured my art films as well as music videos provided by various bands. Many of my influences were literary, with the most inspiration coming from gothic horror authors Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite as well as queer counterculture authors Jean Genet and Yukio Mishima. But there were also historical figures and events that inspired my Propaganda photography and filmmaking such as Joan of Arc and Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the Holy Inquisition and the Holocaust.
 

Propaganda Issue No. 3
 
I remember watching SNL when Goth Talk was a recurring skit, and in one episode they aired a parody video featuring Rob Lowe—and I remember thinking AT THE TIME, “this is totally ripping on Propaganda‘s videos,” and wondering what the people behind the magazine thought of that. Have you seen the skit I’m talking about?

FHB: I remember Rob Lowe in Goth Talk and I thought it was painfully hilarious. Although I don’t remember thinking it resembled any footage I had shot. My films dealt with witch burnings, war crimes, lesbian vampires, and human sacrifice. You may have noticed a similarity to one of the band videos, but I did not produce those – they were submitted by the bands for inclusion in Propaganda videozine.
 

Rob Lowe as “The Beholder” alongside Azrael Abyss and Circy Nightshade on SNL’s “Goth Talk.”
 
As a lifer, what do you think of the shift in gothic culture away from the original “death rock” aesthetic to the more “techno-goth” style—musically, and fashion-wise—I’m talking the shift from black lace and corsets to synth dreads and steampunk goggles. Furthermore, how do you feel about Post-Irony Age events like “Bats Day” at Disneyland or gothic cruises?

FHB: Well, I’m not “a lifer,” in fact I never was a “goth.” My appearance, my home décor, nothing about me comes across as goth. Upon first meeting me, people from the scene often expressed surprise at how non-goth I was. I come across as a pragmatic photojournalist – very businesslike. Actually, referring to my relatively bland persona and lifestyle, one of the Propaganda staff members said, “You are the least likely and least worthy person to be in charge of the country’s #1 goth magazine.” Yes, everyone called it a “goth magazine,” but in reality over it’s 20-year run it was about 10% punk, 15% darkwave, 30% goth, 15% industrial, 5% glam, 5% metal, 10% fetish, and 10% queercore – more or less in that chronological order from 1982 to 2002, although there was considerable overlap between genres. Moreover, after terminating Propaganda I became a freelance writer and photographer for a number of gay, fetish and transgender publications for the next ten years. In November 2013 I launched the Propaganda magazine Facebook page which has thus far acquired over 21,000 followers, but I don’t plan on maintaining it past the end of this year due to the rising cost of Facebook fees which commercial and promotional pages have to pay to reach their fans and customers. As for the shift in gothic sensibilities, I’ve seen the dark rock phenomenon go from Alice Cooper to Christian Death to Marilyn Manson and Black Veil Brides, and there has been a common thread of melancholy, melodrama and men in makeup, with just a hint of irony. And from the Blade movie franchise and the Hot Topic boutique chain to Disneyland and gothic cruises, there have always been attempts to corporatize and trivialize it. I’m not a purist, and I’m certainly no one to pass judgment on anyone else, but it seems to me that the more things change the more they stay the same.

The final question is simply, what’s next for Fred Berger and Propaganda?

FHB: Well, the Propaganda magazine Facebook page has allowed me to pay the bills over the past 18 months via the sale of Propaganda’s back inventory of magazines, VHS videos, calendars, and T-shirts, as well as various publications that feature my photography and writing. But that inventory will probably be exhausted this Fall at which time it won’t pay to maintain the page. Because Facebook charges commercial and promotional pages to reach their fans and customers, they need to sell something just to pay the fees. So when I have nothing left to sell, it will no longer be feasible to maintain Propaganda’s presence on Facebook. Although recently I have been contacted by a couple of companies that want to market Propaganda T-shirts and re-release the Propaganda videos, which is a promising prospect. I’m also starting to develop a Propaganda magazine page on Tumblr which thus far doesn’t charge any of its users. The other advantage of Tumblr is it doesn’t censor erotic imagery. So we’ll see how these things develop. But in retrospect I feel as if I’ve done everything and gone everywhere I ever wanted to, and whenever people suggest that I do this or that, I simply tell them, “been there, done that.” I’m quite content to leave my legacy just the way it is.

And what a deliciously dark legacy it is. Back issues of Propaganda are available directly from Fred Berger via the Propaganda Facebook page. Below is a selection of Berger’s work for the magazine:
 

Issue No. 13, “The Doomsday Issue.”  Model: John Koviak (Photo by Fred H. Berger)
 
Much more after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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06.16.2015
08:44 am
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Burger King goes ‘goth’ in Japan with their ‘Black Burger’ (and black cheese)
09.10.2014
06:08 pm
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Writing abysmal poetic laments, watching The Crow on endless loop, sleeping all day with your sunglasses on, and teasing your hair into a proper Robert Smith ape scrotum explosion can all add up to awfully hungry work, but regular food is so fucking conformist you could PUKE, and last we checked, there’s no such thing as SNACK Bar Sinister,* so when the pangs in your stomach echo the desperate, rapacious emptiness of your dismally fetid life itself, what’s a ravening Batcaver to do?

Luckily, Japan has the answer. Not the band (though they did have plenty of good tunes), but Japanese Burger King. Via Kotaku:

Burger King Japan is rolling out another “Kuro Burger” (“Black Burger”), with buns made from bamboo charcoal, an onion and garlic sauce made with squid ink, beef patties made with black pepper, and black cheese, which is also apparently made with bamboo charcoal.

There are two types of burgers: the Kuro (Black) Pearl and the Kuro (Black) Diamond with all the fixings. The burgers go on sale later this month in Japan for a limited time only

I’ve had pasta and paella colored black with squid ink, but the bamboo charcoal move is new to me. I assume it’s probably more or less flavorless in the quantities needed to render bread dough blacker than Clan of Xymox‘s sock drawer. Hopefully, Burger King’s Japanese execs read Dangerous Minds, and are working on a chicken sandwich made with Ayam Cemani chicken.
 

 

 
* Someone please do this, though.

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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09.10.2014
06:08 pm
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‘The Fun Goth Colouring-In Book’: Summer gift idea for depressed youths
07.05.2013
11:30 am
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Goth coloring book
 
A coloring book for Goth kids with the only color crayon they need: black, for the way they feel on the inside.

Via The Poke.

Posted by Kimberly J. Bright
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07.05.2013
11:30 am
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Children Of The Night: three films about early 80s Goth nightlife in the UK
04.10.2013
06:28 pm
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Some Goths, chillin’, the 80s
 
Ah, if only time machines had been invented already. We would each be free to zip back and visit the desired nightclub/live venue/social scene of our choice, to revel in a world we can now only read, or dream, about. I’ve thought about this before, of course, and most of my preferred time travel destinations were located in and around New York City in the 70s and the 80s.

But there will be many for whom the bright, shiny lights of NYC hold no attraction, and who would rather set the dials for the dark heart of Northern Britain in the early 1980s. These people will wear anything as long as it is black, enjoy nothing more than swaying to the heart-chilling sounds of The Cure, Joy Division or Bauhaus (possibly accompanied by nice pint of cider & blackcurrant juice) and can sometimes be spotted hanging out in mist-shrouded graveyards. Yes, you guessed it, these people are Goths, and if you are one of them, then here’s a treat for you: three films chronicling the early 80s British Goth club scene while it was in its infancy.

The received wisdom in the UK is that clubbing didn’t really exist here until after the acid house explosion in 1987/1988, with the notable exception of Northern Soul venues like The Mecca in Blackpool and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. Well, these videos tell a very different story, displaying a flourishing alternative club scene that existed years before acid. Offering (mostly) untampered footage shot directly from the dance floors and stages of the best known Goth hangouts of the era, these films have the aura of gold dust about them. If that’s too bright and shiny for you, consider them excellent cultural curios that give a rare peek into a then-emerging subculture. These films, which vary in length from 8 minutes to over two hours, popped up on my Facebook feed this evening, so I decided to do the decent thing and group them all in a post for Dangerous Minds.

The first film is a BBC promo for the infamous London haunt The Batcave, which was originally broadcast on Halloween, 1983. Ok, the Vincent Price/William Castle inserts are cheesy as hell, but there’s some great footage of Alien Sex Fiend performing live to make up for it. The video was uploaded by the Batcave’s original DJ Hamish (aka h808) who says:

Oh yes, 1983, when the media were all trying to figure out what came after punk…. Remember that the Batcave was born of punks and glam rockers, trannies, psychos and people turned away from other clubs - we let anyone in, trainers or no trainers, businessmen and dustmen, strippers and nuns….

 

 
After the jump “The Height Of Goth” and footage from Devilles, Manchester…

READ ON
Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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04.10.2013
06:28 pm
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‘Blue Monday’ is 30 years old today: So let’s listen to Liverpool’s Double Echo instead
03.07.2013
04:21 pm
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Image from Double Echo’s Phantomime release

Even though the hugely influential single was released 30 years ago today, and as much as I love it, there’s not a lot more you can say about “Blue Monday” that hasn’t already been said.

So instead, I would like to take this oportunity to point fans of New Order in the direction of something new that they might like, namely Liverpool-based doom pop outfit Double Echo. Yes, it may sound a little familiar, but who cares when it sounds this good?

I have featured Double Echo, and their brand of early-Cure-meets-John Maus gothic spaciness on DM before, and if you want more (including Bandcamp track links) then go here.

The band have just put out the new song “Plain Sight” via their Bandcamp page, and to accompany it, here’s a strange but inriguing video that sits somewhere between sci-fi and retro BBC tv drama. You can find more info on Double Echo on their Facebook page.

Double Echo “Plain Sight”
 

 

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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03.07.2013
04:21 pm
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Goth king Peter Murphy doing goofy interpretive dance to ‘Hollow Hills’ by Bauhaus, 1983
01.11.2013
02:41 pm
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According to his Wikipedia entry, Peter Murphy, who in 1983 had only just recently departed Bauhaus, made “some brief dabbling with acting and dance – including a slightly odd televised performance to Bauhaus’s ‘Hollow Hills.’”

Wha? Naturally I googled this “slightly odd televised performance” and of course, there it was… His interpretive dance here is slightly odd, I’d have to agree (“naff” is a word that comes readily to mind as well). You’d have to think his former bandmates would have found this sand dune ballet on-the-floor, coughing-with-tears-hysterically-funny to watch.

Speaking of Peter Murphy, I heard the craziest story last night over dinner with my friend Adam Peters, a Hollywood composer who recently scored Oliver Stone’s Savages (and who arranged and played the famous cello part on Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon”).

We had been discussing Howard Devoto’s post-punk artrock band, Magazine and he told me about seeing Bauhaus open for Magazine in Guildford in 1980. The “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” single was already out, but In The Flat Field had not been released yet. The third band was Crisis, with Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford later of Death In June and Sol Invictus, whose following included many skinheads.

Of course the Guildford skinheads had never seen anything like Bauhaus and, as skins do, started spitting at the band, Peter Murphy in particular. Adam said that Murphy tore his shirt off, grabbed a light on a stand and made like he was being crucified at the front of the stage, provoking a steady stream of gob as he stood motionless, shining the light directly into their faces, staring them down and daring them to continue. The band continued to vamp on the slow chords of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” he told me, for about a half hour as this went on, with Murphy absolutely drenched in spit.

Eventually it stopped and the skins left because this interaction had apparently freaked them the fuck out!

“That would be hard to top! Did Magazine actually play after THAT?” I asked him.

“They did, but they probably should have just tuned the house lights up. No one really cared about Magazine after that.”

If that isn’t the most Artaud-esque thing that’s ever occurred on a concert stage, I can’t imagine what would be…

Below, Peter Murphy’s “slightly odd televised performance” on Riverside, 1983:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.11.2013
02:41 pm
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Goth will never die: Double Echo’s ‘Black Morning’
10.04.2012
12:14 pm
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Calling all fans of mid-80s goth, here is some new music I am sure you will dig. And I’m talking about REAL goth here. You know, bands like Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephelim, and The Cure before they sold out (man). None of this namby pamby, nu skool, emo, witch haus stuff. Let me introduce you to Double Echo, who have just put out their first release, the three track Black Morning EP through Bandcamp.

Well, correction, there’s maybe a little bit of witch haus going on here. But not too much. One of the main influences on Double Echo is Dangerous Minds’ favorite John Maus, making this release a must-hear for those with a penchant for Maus’ drawly, slightly incoherent vocal mannerisms, or even those with open, interested ears.

Otherwise the music is as floaty and ephemeral as a wisp of smoke. Low slung baselines ride over spare drum machine beats, guitars and synths do battle to see who can conjure up the most melancholy air. You don’t need to see this band in order to imagine shoes getting stared at. But menacingly.

Info about Double Echo is almost non-existent, but from what I gather they are from Liverpool (and not the UK’s goth-capital Leeds, sadly.) However, one thing I can be certain of is that Double Echo cast no shadows and have no reflections. Whether they wear cowboy hats and trench coats, and bathe under showers of flour, is another matter.
 

 

 
You can download Double Echo’s Black Morning from Bandcamp.

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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10.04.2012
12:14 pm
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Goths on OkCupid
05.10.2012
04:03 pm
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OkCupid doesn’t seem like a very “gothy” thing to partake in, does it?

Seems like it would ruin your Goth street cred or something.

Goths on OkCupid

Via the NSFW Gorilla Mask

Posted by Tara McGinley
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05.10.2012
04:03 pm
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Bauhaus: In concert and on video
10.20.2011
11:38 am
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Gotham - Bauhaus in concert, filmed at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, on September 9th and 10th, 1998, as part of their reunion tour.

Track Listing:

01. “Double Dare”
02. “In the Flat Field”
03. “A God in the Alcove”
04. “Kick in The Eye”
05. “Hollow Hills” 
06. “In Fear of Fear”
07. “Boys”
08. “She’s In Parties”
09. “Passion of Lovers” 
10. “Dark Entries” 
11. “All We Ever Wanted” 
12. “Spirit”
13. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”
14. “Telegram Sam”
15. “Ziggy Stardust”
16. “The Passenger”
 

 
Bauhaus - Shadow of Light. More lipstick and cheekbones from Northampton’s famous sons.

Track Listing:

01. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (live)
02. “Telegram Sam”
03. “Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores” (live)
04. “Mask”
05. “Spirit”
06. “In The Flat Field” (live)
07. “Ziggy Stardust”
08. “Hollow Hills” (live)
09. “She’s In Parties”
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.20.2011
11:38 am
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The Cloak Of Unknown Pleasures
10.02.2009
05:18 pm
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Attention Obama family (or those who do their shopping for them): this Joy Division cloak will make the perfect Christmas gift for those Zapatero daughters!

(Via Coilhouse)

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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10.02.2009
05:18 pm
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