THE MICK 50 master

THE MICK 50
December
2009
COLLIDE
(((S))) ~ DEATHCAMP PROJECT ~
LA PESTE NEGRA ~ ACTION DIRECTE
Appeal for
PHOENIX MARIE
PHILIP
BUTLER
SCARLET
LEAVES
There was a time when music writing had a purpose as if you were
known for understanding a certain style, you were one of the few
people followers of that music took seriously. That made you useful,
which was interesting, in retrospect, as you didn’t think that back in
the 80’s. Nowadays everything is different, with opinion available
everywhere and usually genre-specific. I’m more of a noir scattergun,
set in my ways according to some, but it depends what those ways are.
My way is to look to the future, discover what’s exciting and share
that information. Not simply new music, or something trendy, but
quality. Self-indulgent won’t do, it has to have real character.
It’s been a crap year. Extended family illnesses of great severity have
caused extended stresses in their wake, Shelly Cat getting very poorly
and then dying, with one spell of two months where I barely slept,
which is not a state I would wish to recreate. All that was missing was
some water-boarding to make me feel wretched.
At least I know what I am doing for the next few months as THE
MICK is something I can now control in a flexible manner, as well as
bringing out the Author’s Version of 21st Century Goth, which will be
dvided into two volumes, Music and Lifestyle. There will be
compendium style books of THE MICK itself released every month
until we get right up to date. There’s two more Specimen photo books
coming, followed by Alien Sex Fiend, Ausgang and Flesh For Lulu,
and the enormous Bull & Gate project gets underway shortly, which is
a bit scary, given that it should run to forty books!
A shame, as I’d started the year well with issues 47-49 keeping on
schedule, and what great music there has been. We’ve already had
reviews this year of Adam Ant, Adoration, Anders Manga, Ataraxia,
Atomizer, Black Ice, Brotherhood Of Pagans, Camp Z, Chanson Noir,
Dead Sea Surfers, Demented Are Go, Doktor Finistra, Dyonisis, Elika,
Europeans, Feeding Fingers, Giant Paw, Goth Town, Guana Batz,
Ikon, Inca Babies, Judder And The Jackrabbits, Katzenjammer
Kabarett, Long Bone Trio, Lucid Dementia, Lux Interna, Mark
Steiner, Medium Medium, Midnight Syndicate, Pale Heather, Para
Bellvm, Piker Ryan’s Folly, Quidam, Reactive Black, Rome Burns,
Scarlet Leaves, Spinefish, The Drowning Season, The Eden House,
The Eternal Fall, The Ghost Effect, The Scourge Of River City, The
Spiritual Bat, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, VV Morgue, Whispers In
The Shadow and some great compilations. That was just up to March.
The rest of the reviews will be packing out this issue and THE MICK
52, which will also be up before the end of the year and looks to have
a great line-up already, which is something you will find continues in
January as I also intend doing two that month because there have just
been so many great records this year that I wished to base interviews
on but simply didn’t have the time because of outside influences. Now
that everything seems calm, I will finally be able to settle on doing the
magazine properly, as I see it.
Having a burst of activity this month has shown me what I have
missed. I don’t intend doing the magazine on a monthly basis all my
life. I’m 52 for God’s sake, and I am aware it will be getting in the
way later when I want to get onto novels seriously, but I don’t want to
reach issue 100 by this route, then switch to a quarterly basis. This
still means years lay ahead covering music consistently, which is key
to it all.
So, this issue – some wonderful interviews with great bands, all of
which I hope you enjoy, but something much more serious too.
The article on Phoenix Marie. We have seen fundraising occur within
Goth for people before, driven by caring and optimism. What makes
this one different is it’s all quite clear. A year of medical treatments
need to be paid for, to stop her being doomed to a dire early death.
One year’s treatment, and sensible monitoring for some time
afterwards, where donations play a vital part, and there also auctions
of items, and photos, which spreads the impact and ways people can
help.
Phoenix Marie has led an amazing life, so I am sure you will enjoy
reading about her life, and I also hope you want to help afterwards, by
spreading the word, making a donation online via her myspace page or
the fundraising page itself, or buying some photos. Knowing you
actually can help, because of her specific situation, makes helping so
much easier.
Please do read it, please do help.
Thank you.
I go now.
5
He likes his anonymity does (((S))) but I know his real name! Well, I think I do, but
I cannot reveal it lest he have ELO reform and play in the back garden nightly. His
‘Ghost’ album with its silven pop is one of the top ten releases of this year, so I prod
him until he explains why. Sort of. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY: Steen Madsen
The enigmatic nature of what you do will probably hinder
you in some ways as people like to see as well as hear.
Are you just a very private person and don’t relish
publicity, or will you find a way to be less
“... or it’s a way to be different! But actually most of all it’s just about
playing with roles and names and identity. In my case it’s a way of
making the audience a little bit more curious and to focus more on the
songs and not the person. But at the same time I see that the image
will always be written about so it’s a two edged sword I’m playing
with....
“Besides that I’m not that goodlooking, so my shadow is my biggest
visual asset.
“Funny thing: Actually I’m Mr Ungoogable cause the search machines
can’t seem to deal with the brackets in (((S))). And that is quite an
accomplishment in this digital echalonic times of ours.”
‘In The Shadow Of a Shadow’ – a very easy way to usher
us in, with some ambivalent lyrical thoughts. You say
you’re influenced by a lot of post-punk stuff but the roots
of that song seem a lot older to me.
“First of all it’s a tribute to a girl I once knew, who committed suicide.
A very tragic story. And I do like different kind of genres , so maybe
you’re right that the postpunk sound gets ‘infected’ in some ways.”
‘Mesmeriszed’ - this is just gorgeously tuneful and so
catchy. I’m assuming you’ve been in a band before, are
you going to admit to any past endeavours? Normally solo
creators lack this sort of flow. To what they create, things
seem stiffer.
“I have a past, but no I ‘m not gonna admit to anything, thank you :) I
just wanna be floating into your picture from one side and
disappearing out the other...”
It’s also an odd sound to equate with someone maintaining
a sense of distance. Most people looking at your record
sleeve probably expect some curious ambient work, but
this is like some blessed out pop.
“Haha, yeah you’re probably right about that one. It’s quite poppy this
album. I plan to do at least two more records as (((S))), so maybe time
will reveal the artistic táke on the aesthetics. We’ll have to see about
that!”
‘Mamachild’ - a deeper pull to this, pretty Gothy too, as in
a pretty form of Goth, the languid elegance especially.
How much Goth is in your blood? Previous bands? Please
tell me more about the pelican.
“If there’s any psycedelic traces on GHOST, then it’s in the lyrics of
this song. It’s just free flow form kinda picture upon picture lyrics.
“It was written the night before my daughter was born, while the
mother was in labour and none of us could sleep, so it’s a lovesong to
an unborn. So the pelican should probably have been a stork :)
“By telling you this I’m kinda betraying my own project of
anonymity. Doesn’t this knowledge about the pelican just make the
song smaller or less poetic??”
‘Deathrip’ – that cheeky little sound nudging away behind
the vocals, it’s brilliant. It could be guitar or synth – which
is it? I wasn’t sure what the deathtrip aspect was? I get the
brightest photo/darkest neg part, but not the easiest hello/
hardest goodbye. Are you a life half full or half empty
kinda guy?
“Half full! But in a half empty way!!! The background thing is
actually a bass loaded with a whole lotta effects. It’s just a song about
a love that will never be. Nothing new there.....”
‘Naked’ – this is very cute. I’m thinking you don’t spend
much time in church? Unless it’s taking a picnic to
funerals?
“Hihi, you’re right about that. ‘Naked’ is a cover of a 60’s danish
bubblegum boyband. called “Lollipops” (Can’t get more stickier than
that) And they managed to write and record this one, which is quite a
good song. I don’t think church when I listen to it. It’s more like:
“behave yourself in this life. Remember to do the right thing – you’ve
only got one chance” I had a certain person in mind when I chose it....
“I have a past, but no I ‘m not gonna admit to anything, thank
you :) I just wanna be floating into your picture from one side
and disappearing out the other...”
“I have this crush on not so obvious covers. Instead of choosing a 80’s
standard postpunk classic, it’s more challenging to do “Naked” or
“Help”, which originally were written in another context.”
‘Fall With Me’ – what’s the story in the song, I didn’t catch
it all, or are you admitting you use a claim to be a fallen
angel as a chat-up line? Or are you one of those weird
people who believe in angels?
“An angelbeliever I am not, but sometimes people put their own
stories into me, when I talk to them. ‘He’s so mysterious’ etc, so I
guess I’m just playing along for fun of it. All I want is to be invisible
– sigh...............”
‘Hungover’ – this is very 80’s pop isn’t, very Sting-like.
You’re a strange one.
“No, I noticed that in you review. To me it’s just another one of the
songs on the album. Not the best but not the worst.”
‘Dying’ – this is a drowsy yet lush way to finish but it does
seem quite at odds with how the album all started off. Was
the album the result of virtually everything you’ve
recorded, and you have a few different styles, or did you
go for a mixture?
“Why? The record started with somebody dying and it ends in the
same way, but with another message. This is a song for the future....
“Uh I’ve got load of songs. The only thing that’s stopping me from
releasing two albums a year is money. Nothing wrong with the good
old creativity.
“Sting!! Wow I didn’t see that coming.... Maybe it’s just another
popsong on a very popsongy record? And I guess it’s more about a
lovehangover more than anything else...”
“I think I just happen to like all sorts of music, so why let yourself be
limited too much by a particular genre. That’s boring. Again I believe
that it’s when things clashes a little bit, sounds may appear that you
never heard before...”
I’ve never had a hangover once in my life. What’s it feel
like?
If you write everything do you go by instinct or are there
people close to you that you test song ideas out on?
“Well come around to see me some night and I’ll show you the next
morning....”
“I’m the instinct type. Feelings nothing but feelings. Later comes the
doubts and questions. And in the end I use my friend James B as a
consultant. He has an exquisite taste, when it comes to the(((S)))
universe.”
‘
What is fusty about Denmark?
‘Help’ – actually you’re evil. The Beatles??!!!
“‘Evil’ is my middle name :)”
Now you made that song painfree for me, which indicates
you went about things strangely. What did you do?
“Maybe I should take you into my Beatles therapy class. Where we
listen to 217 Beatles songs recorded and interpreted the (((S))) way.
Just to ease your pain :)
“Have you ever been here?? (I have, and it seemed lovely, although it
never got dark, so I didn’t sleep for four days - Mick.) ’This is a city
where even the air is painted grey and slowly the fog is penetrating
peoples minds.’ (Coincidentally I was able to quote myself from a
song from the next (((S))) album called ‘Phantom.’ I hope it’s even
more catchy than GHOST :) We’re heading for a release in March
2010.)
“Well the point is that Lennon on the peak of his career wrote this
song. Instead of calling it “Yeah” or “I’m rich” or “COOL”, he wrote
“HELP” as a kind of cry out. That’s fascinating I think and a paradox
as well. And I love paradoxes – when things clash.
“First of all the last month or so has been one big grey river of
nonlight, which brings out depression and negativity in your average
Danish citizen. (that’s me!)
“And of course I counted on some reactions from the dark community
covering a Beatles song. It’s been mentioned in nearly all interviews
and reviews :)
“And secondly there’s a general consensus of materialistic
conformative way of dealing with the important things in life. (that’s
not me!!)
“Not all songs can be made into (((S))) songs though. This one
succeeded by slowing the tempo down and minimizing some of the
chord changes....”
“But please don’t let that bring you down....”
‘Who Loves The Lover?’ – nice and noisy. How come you
do all the music but not drums? What’s wrong with
drums? Also, how and why did you learn everything?
“I don’t know how to play the drums, and besides my good friend
Tomas O is a well respected and brilliant drummer, so I am a lucky
guy at that point.....
“I’m self-taught through an endless row of lost battles....”
‘When The Well Runs Dry’ – this is where things sound
fine but went a bit weird for me, like this was a psycheflavoured indie band at work. Does it sound any different
to you?
www.myspace.com/fustydk
and vocals up and down in tandem. ‘Perfect Clone’ is craftier and
seeps delightfully, strangely brackish, pleasant on the surface and the
melody, but crunchy underfoot. ‘Crossed’ begins gloomy, like an
austere ambient experience awaits, whereupon it does, which is a
seriously well disguised closer. After that you get two remixes, with
‘Crossing Waters’ sounding arthritic, and a ‘Scifi Mortix mix’ allows
‘The Rain On Seattle’ to start like the Village People out recruiting,
but descends into soft twittering, which actually takes the gloss of an
very interesting album, but that’s remixes for you.
Forget the last two, love the rest.
www.myspace.com/the3coldmen
80TH DISORDER
SIMPLE PLEASURES
Melotrik
The ‘Transform’ EP was great, so this debut album from the New
Wave Finnish foursome was something I was looking forward to (they
sing in perfect English, so don’t back away) and it never disappoints.
3 COLD MEN
PHOTOGRAMM
Wave Records
While reviewing other albums on the excellent Wave label recently it
made me recall in the dusty segments of what I laughingly call my
mind that this record was knocking about somewhere and, as per
usual, it recently surfaced in a box of quite unrelated items and I have
been enjoying listening to this electronic brew throughout the day
which regular readers will know is quite a rarity for me. I am not
averse to pop but generally ignore it, and electronic fare, whether
intensely introspective or outright bleepy, usually does nothing for me
whatsoever, due to generic blandness of technical sterility. 3 Cold Men
have crossed my path before, and I enjoyed their precocious touch, as
much as I laughed at their image. This time round they are dressed
soberly, and the ideas have grown in their songs. So whoop a little,
and consider them.
‘Red Brain’ trundles slowly and spaced out behind the drowsy vocals
until a basic electro trot develops and rises gently into a pop crouch,
the vocals referring to Joan Of Arc begging to be burned, as well
developing a shifty, terse character. ‘Babies (Are Not My Friends)’ is
truly weird, ‘and now it’s time for me to leave, I know I’m not your
son, but I’m so in love with myself I couldn’t stand to share’ and
general commitment-phobia dawdles with noble disdain through the
softly rustling song. ‘Written Upon The Portrait Of My Dead Father’
isn’t exactly normal as the singer sings about an unhappy childhood
trying to please his dead father, the vocals dominating the music. ‘I
Need To Know’ lists many things, in a fizzy pop charade, that he
wants to know about, but he also expresses confusion about someone
watching him practising yoga. It’s that sort of oddness, which appeals.
I don’t quite get the title of ‘C’ Was’, or indeed at all, but it’s a
plaintive bouncy experience with some moody patterns overlapping.
He’s always asking questions and in ‘Crossing Waters’ appears to ask,
‘please tell me where my love is dead, or in my heart, or in my head,
or in the land of ancient kings?’ I think we can rule the last one out,
surely? In the stiffly rotating ‘My Greatest Greta’ he sings through a
list of years and yearns to have experienced classic eras, like a
lovelorn fool. It’s a cute idea I have not heard done before, so that’s
another big tick. Not like a gigantic bloodsucking parasite, as that is
hardly a sign of recognising quality. Not in this world, not ever.
In ‘The Rain On Seattle’ it appears his sense of humour makes her
suffer, the bastard, and the rain tends to get him down. Get over it,
you big ponce! Embrace the weather, that’s what I always do, and then
you don’t notice it any more. A milky song, just a simple steady beat
‘103’ is a cute opener, as our singer informs us he doesn’t wish to
share the details of a daydream he’s just returned from, and this is a
perfect example of how easily they can involve you in a little spot of
lateral explanation. You’re drawn in as the drums casually corral you,
the keyboards inflate quietly and glow, the guitar and bass creep
around, all gradually building up behind the passionately genuflecting
vocals.
‘The Chapter’ is very cool, its easy drum and tickly guitar opener,
under which keyboards wriggle, quite brilliant. The vocals simmer
then explode, and as the guitar lights the way the mood darkens,
sustained with a vibrant tension. Things calm down a smidgeon during
the balmier finesse of ‘Justine’ but even though the keyboards and
guitar swish around elegantly these are velvets fists pattering against
your dopey face as you try and understand what they’re doing. Fizzing
and seething to the close, it’s the way it never seems outright in
unruliness which impresses me, because it’s an internal energy.
‘This Still’ dovetails a lilting rhythm and vocal with cunning guitar
nipping in and around, recreating the early 80’s post-punk guile
anyone serious would hope to emulate as they take us up, then down.
‘Swine And The Taste Of Liberty’ gets the saucy bass plunking, the
vocals waltzing through the perfumed rumpus and ending so sweetly, a
continual knack they have. ‘No Place Like Home’ charges along, a
ridiculously catchy soiree with sunny guitar outburst and although
totally different in feel to Mega City 4’s song of the same name it’s
just as good. ‘The End Of Time’ gets down and dirty, feedback and
trenchant bass, ebbing and flowing moodiness, with a steely decline.
Days’ lively, and ‘If Only I’ bobs and scurries, turning upwards and
spewing with character.
Following on from that power the bass and drums introduce the
supreme control of ‘Vapour’ which reminds me of early Spear Of
Destiny, if Kirk Brandon had a gentle tone instead of ferocious, if you
can picture that; the extended vocals notes somehow providing an
actual mood inside the rhythmic atmosphere. ‘For That Advice’ is
comparatively flat as an experience, terse and one-dimensional,
although it manages to glower darkly and have brighter vocal flecks,
so there’s added grit on the album. There’s also subtler drama at work
in ‘Plastic Dance’ with a ridiculously attractive vocal demeanour,
having the sort of allure that Keane manufacture, except that this is
the real thing, not soppy indie slop.
‘Sugarfiend’ isn’t just insufferable but unstoppable shite, like a
central sewer bursting overground. A request is made of someone that
they give them all their loving, and I’ll bet there’s no g, but a limp
apostrophe. They also rage and rave about drugs. Then it’s off to the
café for fish fingers, no doubt. Like an unholy union between Bad
Company and Lynyrd Skynyrd it’s just as awful as that sounds.
Apparently they want some sugar in their veins. That way leads
diabetes.
Magnificent.
www.myspace.com/80thdisorder
ABIGAIL’S MERCY
AFTER THE FALL
Pure Darkness
While this appears to be an
album for those people
unable to leave the house
until they’ve strapped a
sword with an unfeasibly
ornate handle to their backs,
or for those who can’t hear a
clumpy drum without flailing
their hands in the air, they
also bring a resolute dignity
to the blurry landscape of Gothic Metal, because they’re really a
direct, fantasy rock outfit, blathering happily on about salvation and
destiny. (Excuse the sleeve, it’s a promo one, so it doesn’t contain the
actual imagery they’ve selected.) Now minus Terry they still fluctuate
between male and female vocals, and have a meaty guitar sound
dripping melodic blood over the steaming carcass of sound.
‘The Hand That Rocks The Candle’ goes all sentimental with some
pan pipes thing, and folky female contemplation and the rumbly
‘Summerland’ agonises melodramatically but with an emotional basis.
‘Until My Dying Day’ falls back onto its hoarier rock haunches as the
guitar glows like Thin Lizzy being conveyed around by sedan chair,
then it speeds up and whisks around friskily, which is fine. ‘Dante’s
Fire’ also crawls grimly as lighter vocals gyrate through the hot ashes.
‘RIP’ brings out a giant gong and some piquant piano, then off it
waddles, twisted and resentful, with the demure rain-accompanied
‘Precious Child’ a very strange and brief closer, of vocals and piano.
A weird band, but that’s always good. One for the rock crowd rather
than anything Goth, although even someone like myself would rather
they stuck to the noisy stuff, as they do it very well. The soppier side
tends, ironically, to give me a headache.
www.myspace.com/abigailsmercy
‘After The Fall’ rolls sleekly into place after mass vocals, and they do
the nagging riff thing well, as well as a staggered lurching
development, from which some guitar leaks giant globules of leisurely
slime. ‘Destiny’ is more chrome than cast iron, with more taut guitar
bullying the song as shouty vocal leaps around like a scalded imp.
More filthy guitar keeps the wrath-strewn drama of ‘Blackest Of
ACTION DIRECTE
SLAV TO THE RHYTHM
Own Label
When I heard they’d split up I thought, ‘you silly bastards!’ because
we don’t have enough noisy bastards in this country who have attitude
as opposed to mental angst overload. Action Directe had the old
school punk defiance in their lyrics, instead of the modern inward
looking depressive delving. The mixture of throbbing contemporary
melody but with a lyrical target made their rapacious romping highly
desirable.
Also, what does splitting up achieve after having existed a while? Just
means you start something new up which has a statistically smaller
chance of satisfying creator or audience. That’s the Law. Stick
together and you can go tsar.
‘Slavs To The Rhythm’ limbers up dynamically behind some vocal
samples I can’t quite understand, but I daresay it’s all jolly important.
Seems to be news reports about war.
Then the roaring, direct beat and vocals stamp around a lot, as
colourful synth scores full Karl Marx for wrapping some cool shading
around them, and there’ll be more puns to come, although I haven’t
worked out how to include Lodzamoney.
Is Bolshevik there? No, that’s rubbish. ‘Line In The Sand’ has some
great creaky guitar and with a flattened rhythm and grave vocals it
readies itself, then Pushkin comes to shove and the song shakes off the
dust and gyrates, albeit it slowly, creating an active but more
restrained approach than you might expect, which is interesting.
‘Smoke & Mirrors’ is a pockmarked, brittle dance thing, vocals
hesitant or streaming, the music spry and dry, and I’m not sure it quite
works as a whole but the lunging aspect is effective.
‘Total Kazakhstan’ rips off a wailing spaghetti western motif but has
a brash, grating assault in store, ‘Exit Plan’ is pretty and nagging
melodic compliance makes it a cool merging of energy and decoration.
Then ‘Unholy Lands’ staggers around woozily, before a flaming guitar
forces its way through and they start to gurn and burn.
It’s over too quickly for me and you could argue that with the
enhanced melodic attractions that their potential for rickety riots is
diminished somehow, but I’m sure they’ll find a way to have some
extremes, because it would also be interesting to see an even softer
side just as it would be to have the bellicose blasting still lurking
around the corner.
I have a strange faith in these idiots.
They’re playing The Fenton in Leeds tomorrow.
www.actiondirecte.co.uk
www.amalgamation.org.uk – good upcoming festival line-up
ACTION DIRECTE
UNDER THE PAVEMENT, THE BEACH
Oktober
Any of you tickled by the recent EP might like to delve further into
their fractious brew of a sound, found here on a compilation that
tackles everything from 2000 onwards and begins with ‘The
Internationale’ which is obviously a cover version.
Unfortunately the CD-R promo they sent doesn’t play so let me
simply say (gulps impressive deep breath) ‘Hymn Of The Soviet
Union’, ‘Relentless’, ‘Kicking Love’, ‘Bullet’, ‘Gattaca’, ‘Anthem Of
Youth’, ‘Left March’, ‘Home’, ‘Oktober’, ‘Compatriot Games’,
‘Zealots’, ‘Dissidenti’, ‘Playing With Monsters (Part One)’, ‘Better
Dead Than Red’, ‘Spirit Of ‘89’, ‘England’, ‘State Violence State
Control’, ‘60 Million Guns’, ‘Sufferation’ and ‘Strike First Strike
Hard.’
closeted dub. ‘A Storm In Heaven’ flickers, a candlelit prisoner, with
another gorgeous side to their sound, entrancing and, dare we say it,
mature? But a touch mental too, as if The Goons formed an orchestra.
‘Red Dawn’ is old style AD, fiercely resolved, with samples sliding
off the brisk, tubercular frame. Then ‘We Can Rebuild Us’ has such a
wistful tone, but still upright, and unbowed, yet wide open
stylistically. They don’t do pointless ranting, and there’s real charm to
the simplest of touches in the gradually dissolving, revolving and
moving experience.
Now I’m on my high horse occasionally (I don’t know if you’ve seen
me? It’s all rather impressive) and when bands split I always take the
long view and think you bastards! So I’m pleased AD only halted
temporarily. I denounce bands for their selfish ways, in what I know to
be a purely selfless manner, because of what we lose when bands
don’t continue. It’s not what they feel that matters, I explain to
somewhat disinterested cats (who are actually masking their genuine
sense of intrigue and, let’s be honest, awe), it’s what they can create
and provide which matters – the lifeblood of the human soul, the
fools!
ACTION DIRECTE
VANGUARD
Oktober
The sound of a jackdaw, stamping on a human face, forever.
And yet the press release is worrying as it hints at a softer side of
Action Directe, which would be a bit like selling styling mousse to
guillotine victims, so it’s just as well it isn’t true. Action Directe’s
sound has spread outwards without actually signalling implosion,
which is good. They’d be rigid bores otherwise. There’ll also be plenty
of time for ‘Lady In Red’ covers when they’re in their eighties. (Fuck,
can you imagine?!!) For now they have a fight on their hands, even if
it’s only territorial fleas.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of Britain’s least pretentious and
most consistently high quality bands, with a seemingly subdued but
hectoring ghostly style, and you’ll be able to download this entire
album from their website. It seems sad, I think you’ll agree, that when
the time capsule I have buried is found by peace-loving aliens, come
to understand our sad demise three millennia hence, the small bundle
of Action Directe records they will discover will probably have them
at each others’ throats in no time. Apparently they’re singing here of,
‘failed rebellion, defeated political radicalism and fragile isolation
only redeemed by outbreaks of random and ritualised violence.’ Me, I
blame the students.
‘Storming Heaven’ is a good start. The steady synth line allied with a
rhythm stirring is invigorating, all with an ambient wash and grave
vocals showering down. A bellicose chorus spins on its head and the
song spits, held in place. ‘Frontline States Of Mind’ shows another e
quixotic blend where simple beats and stark synth meet. They could
do with brining the vocals forward, grumpily aghast though they are.
‘The longer I exist, the less I live’, or something. Without hope then,
without ever being hopeless.
‘Break You!’ flails around, the brighter notes penetrating like spikes
through a thigh, as polished as any trusty weapon. ‘Epiphany’ is
beautiful, a soothing motif over a soli,d morose tread, and that’s one
of their things: they never pretty things up, but they have some
essentially cute ideas. ‘Natty Droid’ is fun, as you’d expect, like a
I’ve been making copies of certain records I have been selling recently,
and while I decided to have a massive clearout there were some items
which are sacred. Armed guards patrol the Ataraxia collection and the
Dancing Did bootlegs. Of the current UK bands I’d have to say that I
regard the individual work of AD, HOG, Zombina and SBA as
something which needs to be kept together, the audio equivalent of a
wine cellar. Together it grows in importance. Characters, making
music of character. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
It is. It’s why I love writing for you about what I often believe really
counts, no matter how dense I may seem, especially with bands whose
music will maintain its distinct, separate quality for decades yet. The
best bands sound good whatever the situation, whatever the era, bands
always matter more than they ever realise, with Action Directe being
one of the ones who matter most because they make records like this,
with what comes through in the sentiments as well as in the music,
which pisses over the endless synthy nonsense which exists the world
over. So there you go…..
Now the dust around them has dissipated it also seems they’re
gigging.
www.actiondirecte.co.uk
“Does my
tum
look big
in this?”
En Garde!
You can’t keep a good band down, and ACTION DIRECTE are about as good and defiant as they get. It’s been as noisy a year for them as it has been busy so of course we
have to investigate. Joel sits up in the gutter just long enough to make sense.
An EP, weird compilation and album - a very busy year. How has
it seemed? Methodical, inspirational, chaotic?
“Chaotic – it wasn’t our intention to churn out product all year, but
once the joys of free online releases became evident then it becomes
addictive! One pint too many and you wake up in the morning to find
yourself having released free spoken word mp3 downloads of Soviet
politburo minutes overnight. Still, having not done anything in 2007
or 2008 we kind of thought a severe bout of creativity was about due.
At the end of the year it seems like we’re finally back, although along
the way it’s been tepid, frustrating, tortuous and bizarre. A bit like
Leeds United’s back four.”
There is a different musical tone evident, but what did you
consciously set out to, hopefully, achieve, when approaching
‘Vanguard’? What did you want to come through differently?
“The issue was that we’d reformed without any particular musical or
stylistic brief – our industrial punk period had pretty much run its
course with Intervention in 2006 and since then we’d been kicking our
heels, waiting for another vision thing (the idea, not the Sisters
album). The Slavs EP was daringly patchy, even for a free six-track
EP. The final idea was almost retro-futurist, soviet space-age
cyberpunk – like Sigue Sigue Sputnik crossed with Discharge, on the
set of Mad Max 3. Musically, the plan with Vanguard was to
overcome our marked commercial and critical decline by making the
most bog-standard EBM album we could make. Fortunately we got
that totally wrong, and we came up with something much better than
that.”
Who joined and where from?
“The current group of cadres includes Dan (also of Digicore),
Charlotte (also of Mourning for Autumn) and Andy (of no fixed
previous musical abode). Our long-term strum-merchant John has
recently left to pursue his interest in international relations.”
‘Storming Heaven’ – why are the drums more upfront than the
vocals? It’s not always easy to follow what you’re seething
about, so what’s this? There’s something about timing, and lots of
grimness, but isn’t there always? Kindly identify your target.
“I like the sound of a Thunderous Drum (™ more than my own gruff
bark – plus I hate the way that goth records have the vocals WAY UP
FRONT for no particular reason. I like the vocals to be ceremoniously
buried under a mound of guitars and synths, only to emerge victorious
from the wreckage – like, say, Leeds United will. ‘Storming Heaven’
is about that particularly fatalistic moment in everyone’s lives when
you just think – ‘fuck it, let’s do it’. I think the theme of the album is
that once you lose hope, you’re liberated.”
‘Frontline States Of Mind’ – speak up! Do the vocals get
recorded next door or something? What are these ‘good old
days?’ Propaganda and paranoia? Where is this war of which
you speak? Is it endless, or do you have a happy ending in mind?
“The war is…in the mind! In the heart! That track is basically like
biting on the dull rag of resignation, regret and anger – we used to
think we could fly rockets to the moon or win the commanding heights
of the economy by hand or brain, but now we now we can’t even
manage our own lives or relationships without fucking them up
completely. So our conflict becomes more internalised the older you
get, as we realise that we’ve never made a right decision in our
increasingly grey little lives. Plus it’s a pun on words – frontline
states, geddit?”
According to wikipedia Action Directe is a famously difficult
sport climb in the Frankenjura, Germany. Have you tried it?
“Alas, no – I have a limited track record of anything involving the
words ‘difficult’, ‘sport’ and ‘climb’. It’s a bit humbling to be
outshone by a mountain, but at least that keeps things in perspective!”
According to googleism Action Directe is a remarkable
organization begun nearly 10 years ago with the “adoption” of
two children in a Sokod neighbourhood. How are the kids getting
on?
and if any goth bands want a producer for some goth-dub antics then
look no further!”
‘A Storm In Heaven’ – now I’m not totally senile yet. Storming
Heaven and A Storm In Heaven? Discuss.
“That is what we call in the trade a shit pun. It does fit into the
general sci-fi vibe that the album has, but it also has a different
meaning. The samples you can hear on the track were taken on
someone’s ham radio in southern Italy, and are signals they picked up
from the atmosphere of people speaking in Russian who appear to be
cosmonauts trapped in their crafts and trying to escape. No records
exist of those launches or what happened to the craft – so in a way,
this is a sort of a silent tribute to them.”
“No, I’m not one of
Action Directe.
They just didn’t
have enough
photos. The
bastards.”
“If we keep things nice and civil, the kids will be fine…”
‘Break You!’ – frisky dance pincer movement! Who’s the woman
wittering on at the start? You are a determined demander of
change, but have you considered that people believe everyone
becomes reactionary as they grow older? Picture yourselves in
ten years time – a season ticket at McDonalds, voting Tory…
“The sample at the beginning is from ‘Escape From New York’, as
cyber-terrorists hijack Air Force One. How very cosmic nothingness,
2009-style! I think random and unstructured items of dour and dated
‘substance’ are our perceived stock-in-trade these days, so if we
ditched the hammer and sickels we’d soon be wearing pool goggles on
our heads and putting all our money into making a computer game of
ourselves as pirates fighting giant parrots. I intend to get more
militant the older I get – I was a Communist ten years ago, a Maoist
last week and am now a full-blown hardline Hoxhaist. The easier we’d
be to market, the more apparent it would be that we have no talent.”
‘Epiphany’ – this is very sweet, like ’60 Million Guns’ on antidepressants. Are you softening? A cover version of ‘Happy Talk’
next?
“We are softening, indeed – like rotting fruit! I was very pleased with
the result; although it is never the intention to write a lovely, lilting
melody, it is very environmentally unfriendly to waste a tune. Action
Directe – we never put a healthy riff down!”
Actually what is the weirdest song that people would regard as
being totally out of character, that you’ve ever played live?
“‘Russians’, as originally by Sting, which we played a few times a
few years ago. It was shit.”
‘Natty Droid’ – lovely again, isn’t it odd how little reggae you
hear crossing into people’s work these days compared to the
past? Still lots of ska out there, and actually too much TripHop,
the easy way out, but very little reggae, especially anything dub.
“I fucking love reggae and dub, and like to shoe-horn it into things we
do especially after getting away with it on ‘Sufferation’ a few years
back. Industrial dub seemed like a very simple idea which worked very
well, although I think it’s not technically accurate to try to ‘create’ a
dub from scratch as a dub is caused by an absence of sound from the
original mix, so especially working on a computer it’s only a facsimile
of the real thing. I am tempted to dub some of our older tracks though,
Musically you can have a wonderful effect. Of course you’re also
usually hammering away ranting and railing. Have you
considered doing different types of records at all? Like lovely
ones, angry ones? Moving ones, moody ones? Or are you just
happy with the a largely cantankerous mixture?
“We did have an idea between the new album and the last one – I
worked on some moodier, more atmospheric material in late 2006 and
didn’t work on them again until early 2008, by which point John and I
had about a dozen tracks at various levels of completion. That was
going to be an album based on a ‘pan-Slavic’ theme called ‘Troika’,
with elements of Russian folk music and folklore, but when the band
broke up in 2008 we didn’t work on them again until we got back the
following year, by which point it was too late and too old an idea to
resurrect.
“Three tracks from ‘Slavs to the Rhythm’ – ‘Line In The Sand’,
‘Total Kazakhstan’ and the title track – were earmarked for that lost
album, and we still have a few odds and sods knocking around. It may
see the light of day at some point, you never know!”
‘Red Dawn’ – you can barely hear what’s going on. Are there
lyrics or just mutterings alongside the samples?
“No lyrics – just a tour of every awful U.S cold war 80s blockbuster
ever made. I think once you’ve got samples from ‘Red Scorpion’ and
‘Die Hard’ on the same track, you’ve reached some sort of cheesetastic nirvana.”
‘We Can Rebuild Us’ – what did you want to do with this,
because it has a curiously uplifting effect?
“Ah – this is where the hope, conspicuously lacking from the rest of
the album, comes storming back. Although the tone of the song is
quite final and bleak, the message is actually quite reassuring and
warm – that even if you’ve lost something, or everything, you can get
it back or try to get it back. Nothing is lost forever. There is also the
note that as a species, we’re all in this together, and we can work it out
and move forward. Musically it has a revolving and evolving sound
and quite possibly a very commercial, melody approach – even though
the overall sound is very dark and bleak. VNV Nation remixes
Hawkwind, with an added touch of eco-fail!”
Well, what’s next?
“The plan is to approach 2010 in a positive light – it’s our tenth
anniversary, and I intend to spend the whole year firmly ensconced in a
Russian sub, chain-smoking cigars and downing shots of Russian
Standard. But first of all, we’ll be doing some more gigs as the last
bunch have been awesome, as well as working on a couple of new
tracks. This is the best live line-up we’ve ever had, and I’d like to get
it on tape for posterity. Plus, maybe relaxing and enjoying the ride for
once would be good. So watch this space!”
www.actiondirecte.co.uk
‘Epiphany’ is a demure and lovely vocal display over sensitive
backing, the chiming ‘Heritages de l’Angoisse’ twinkling on a more
furtive level, but still designed to charm and the delicate ‘Ferlyse’ is
equally divine, before ‘To End’ grandly swoops and terrifies, with
‘Worldiscence’ left to tidy up, organ puffing, everything escalating
and spinning, clumping and squeaking, the spoken male vocal an utter
mystery to me.
I leave their mad world none the wiser, but each time you find yourself
increasingly more comfortable between the tumult and the teasing. As
wonderful as it is weird.
www.myspace.com/adombra
ANDREAS GROSS
HAIL TO THE EMPLOYEE
Echozone
Although they choose the generic
tags of Trip Hop / Electronic / Gothic
on their myspace page this foursome,
based primarily around maestro
Andreas and vocalist Tabitha Anders
(cellist Isabel Walter and guitarist
Thomas Stumpf being the other vital
ingredients) begins with ‘Revealing’ as a doe-eyed Ethereal ball of
soft fluffiness. They slide into ‘My Fears’ like an amiable alt-folk
lament without malice and ‘To Die For’, which is a nice title, is like a
supreme supine slice of academic pop.
AD OMBRA
MAGNA CHARTA ILLUSORUM
Rage In Eden
This is weird. Romanian classical Goth with a vigorous ambient
overlay. The work of George D. Stanciulescu, aided by three vocalists,
Alexandra Damian, Ilinca Olteanu and Andrei Apostol, it swims
around alarmingly, conjuring up a scary atmospheric world. I guess
that’s what a lot of us want, so that works.
‘Templum Stugialis’ seems doomily ambivalent, vocals occasionally
peeking out from behind opulent enticing shapes and shards of
imposing noise, simultaneously jarring and soothing! Crazy. ‘Disquiet
Opera’ has a spooky shrieking female behind a softly spoken male,
the sound skittering and flaring, ‘M’illumino do Sangue’ is like a
cinematic shootout, an old silent horror movie come to life, with a
weird, slowly tilting balance, but ‘A Coeur Posthume’ is quite
beautiful, close in spirit to Ataraxia, haunting and gloomy, exquisitely
dramatic.
The air thins a little during the quietly daunting ‘Uranogeca’ and you
need to take my word for it that this is the real classical deal at times,
interspersed with quasi-Industrial power surges, dancing hither and
thumping thither.
‘Mimes Of The Occult’ seems
muddier and jumbled, like
interference cutting through a
rare concert broadcast,
‘Desdichado Tango’ sounds
supremely confident, cheekily
funereal, soaring sultry and free,
then circling like a drunken
magpie of a piece.
‘Hopeful Despair’ evokes precisely that feeling, in muted colours,
with a beguiling melody and modest stature, ‘Lazarus Effect 1’ a
gauzy stream of musical thought, ‘Bloodkiss’ softly sensitive musing
in a lightly luscious manner. ‘Everything’ introduces a mild historical
air on the acoustic but it is actually a genteel modern bout of
resignation, and superbly deft, also managing to be sadly catchy.
‘Malfunction’ does the slurpy drum thing, which implies a bit of Trip
Hop, but it’s a fairly passive experience. Increased bass burbling in a
salty, soured ‘Hail To The Employee’ again implies something deeper,
but I didn’t work out what. ‘Under The Line’ is another gradual
sweetheart of a song, blossoming slow as you like, with the lumpen
‘Lazarus Effect 2’ waddling happily into a fuzzy distance.
Frequently too bland for me, it has a nice mixture of modern artistic
slumbers to fall into and some subtle moods, perfect for anyone of a
nervous disposition.
www.myspace.com/andreasgross
ANDY FAIRLEY
FISHFOOD vs BIRTH OF SHARON
Bristol Archive Records
This is a weird one. The first three tracks come from the Fishfood
entity, formed by Howard Purse and Doug White, with former
Cortinas drummer Dan Swan, and a local poet, master Fairley, and
these songs came out through the local magazine The Bristol
Recorder, which I’d forgotten all about! That had quite a reputation.
The final songs come from a secondary line-up of locals, and it’s from
these, according to the press release/info sheet, which I have every
reason to believe, that have achieved something approaching
legendary proportions, having coalesced over time, although you need
to wait right to the end to see why.
‘Dry Ice Hot’ sounds like Talking Heads gone in a wonky post-punk
direction, ‘Seventeen Eels’ could be a certified edition of Play School
hosted by a cheap Captain Beefheart impersonator. With a soothing,
swaying bass ‘Modern Dance Craze’ at least carries you along, with
some cute guitar scratchiness, but the repetitive host annoys me
intensely, but that’s poets for you.
So they split up, but this
Purse character, who’d gone
on to be in the posh indie
crossover stink of Animal
Magic found Fairley again,
gathering up former Animal
Magic drummer Rob
Bozwell and an artist called
Jim Galvin on guitar. They
created the final six tracks
which is where the claim for
amazement lies, as it
reckons they predated
Portishead recent work by
25 years. I dispute this. Firstly Portishead’s latest work is crap
compared to their first recordings, being a pale retread, which is why
it took so long to come out, and so this would make Birth Of Sharon
fifteen years ahead, at best.
In a local music scene already familiar with The Pop Group the
blaring, linear angst of ‘Now’ wouldn’t have sounded unexpected,
surely? I can accept that people using tape samples early on, and synth
which wasn’t stodgy but incorporated naturally into a heady funked
indie stew was unusual but that’s as far as it goes, because this is also
like an artier form of Stump during ‘Film Titles’, with fabulous
drumming. ‘The Art Of Wanking’ has a brooding bass pattern, jittery
guitar splashes, and some more sheltered, ruminating vocals which
suit him better than the outright mental delivery elsewhere, and there’s
more stylish drumming along with a groaning base on which they tilt.
The one thing I always associate arty scenes with is bleating
saxophone, and that makes an unwelcome appearance in ‘Sex Is A
Language.’ This stumbles on its shuffling beat, and sounds pretty
crappy, like Gang Of 4 trying to have fun. Dismal. ‘Man Made It So’
is swirlier art-jazz rumbling and mumbling with more of the same
tightly corkscrewed funk guitar, lightly knitted across a scrolling bass
motif and gargling, anguished vocals. On the grand slurry that is
‘Volition’ they do appear to be entering new territory, with a fierce
ambient undertow and some fascinating rhythmical pulses that nobody
else would have been doing back then. This one track highlights
something very special. It’s just a shame the others don’t come even
close. It’s also an instrumental, really, which implies Fairley wasn’t a
particularly vital part?
www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/Andy_Fairley.html
ANIMALS AND MEN
NEW EP
Convulsive
A record like this really does blur reality, having a band from way
back then still doing it now with an infectious simplicity. There’s an
updated perspective, as they know and think more, and understand
how to get and do what they want, but there’s a delicious link to their
past with a brash confidence and rudimentary shapes. So they wobble
happily through the lumpy, bumpy chanty ‘John Of The Sword’ and
many of you might be shocked by the brevity of the arrangement, but
it’s quite brilliant. No idea what it’s about, mind. ‘Driving Stupid’
also meanders hungrily, the drum bomping, a bass in big boots, guitar
sonically slanderous, vocals dripping down the mike and the question,
“is how the world ends, not with a big bang but the driving stupid?”
Er….
A coy harmonica flutters during the rigid but roving, bitter joy of
‘Sugar Town’ and while there’s an offhand casual vocal again that’s a
ruse. It’s all economical, all stripped down, because they know
precisely what they’re doing, and it keeps it raw and fun. ‘I’ has a
chunkier, furred-up exhaust, belching a diseased post-Velvets
distemper and carrying the biggest feel with it as it carries you along.
Their own classic ‘It’s
Hip’ gets dusted down,
and then some newer
dust rubbed into it, as
they come over all
truculent nonchalant, the
song as linear as you
could hope for, the
drums dour and
determined the guitar
brusque but intentionally
honed. The
comparatively demure
‘Dreaming Of Babylon’
will remind some of you
of The Raincoats, The Slits, maybe even a grouchy Delta 5, because it
has that timeslip going on, and a duff drum ending, but that doesn’t
matter because you can’t fake this charm and I doubt there’s many
bands in their late teens who can now carry off what band did back in
punk days as there’s a different attitude in the air. Things are easier
now, things are calmer, and that breeds complacency if not contempt.
I’d like to be prove wrong, but tonight I’m quite happy being
impressed by this.
Bands like Animals And Men are weird, very British in a nicely
strange way, and a musical sorbet after the immaculately prepared
meals you’ll usually be served.
www.myspace.com/animalsandmenterraplanes
ANIMALS AND MEN
SOME SONGS
WFMU
It’s not actually called ‘Some Songs’ I don’t think it has a title. Ralph
sent me these and they’re ridiculous charming songs which have been
placed online free with the ‘Convulsive’ EP from earlier this year. So
head off to the Free Music
Archive and you can have
them, gratis. ‘Just A Dot’
is pure string-thin punk,
with flyaway bass and
some cheekily brilliant
clipped vocals. ‘I Never
Worry 09’ is wonderful,
gently vibrant but also
steady as a truculent rock.
Susan sounds about eight
but can’t distract me from
that harmonica being
Beatlesish! (‘Love Me
Do’, or whatever it’s
called?)
‘(I’ve Been Bitten By The) Bug’ is hilarious. I think the spoken intro
has that deadpan effect of Peter Cook as a judge reading Beatles
lyrics, although it may be unintentional. The band were doing a gig in
Lyon and had a chance to try a few things, which is why these six
songs got recorded. ‘Oh Death!’ is something traditional, or was until
they do their par-boiled, somewhat detached version which at times
makes the grim experiences within the lyrics sound curiously cheerful.
It’s weird. ‘Dragon Fly’ is rangey and well mannered, chirpy punk,
like they’re tight-ropewalking simultaneously. ‘Easy Riding’ keeps the
vocals bright, the guitar sedate but busy and the rhythm a bit
grumblier.You need to get the punk simplicity of their work, but surely
only some muso covered in moss wouldn’t? Then away you go.
http://freemusicarchive.org then search for Animals & Men (not
Animals And Men).
ANNIVERSARY CIRCLE
ANNIVERSARY CIRCLE
AC
Strange, mysterious and
interesting, that’s this band,
whose Yorkshire-based origins go
back to the 80’s, when they
rejoiced in the name of Edo La
Tree Le Plastic Elephants, but
then they spilt off into Skeleton
Crew and Malak Brood. Martin
Johnson (guitar/vocals/keys) and
Keith Young (bass/guitar/vocals) reformed in 1989 with the illadvised name of Fruit Eating Bears (which was also once a dire punk
band). That came to a very hasty finish, but still the pull exists, and
they’ve been back a few years now tinkering away towards a greater
purpose, for which they have recently been joined by Ed Morgan
(keys/prog) and Estelline Kermagoret (vocals), so things are getting as
serious as they are engaging.
Both tracks are very cool and actually end up frustrating because they
sound like to openings tracks of what would be a great album, and
where is the album? It isn’t here. That disgraceful omission aside,
‘Anniversary Circle’ starts ominously, with rasping synth noise over a
steady, solemn bass, with gaseous vocals flowing through. The mood
is tense, the sounds juicy, like something ambient on fire, with vocals
caught in the embers. It’s a powerful sound, with a steady vocal
guiding presence, which gradually subsides and slips away, much like
a suicidal vicar. ‘Take’ ups the Gothy ante, the female vocals creeping
around the smouldering bass, with some rapacious guitar thrusting
across, and gradually the vocals assert their genteel qualities, leaving
the track to again ebb away carrying less threat and more charm.
Curious.
Where’s that album?
www.anniversarycircle.com
www.myspace.com/anniversarycircle
ANOTHER SPECIES
LOADING…
ASA
Man’s Recognition’ is very odd
and as minimal as it gets.
Dancing like a wizened seer
with rickets ‘The Time Will
Come’ sternly sets about being
oddly enjoyable, comparably
frisky, and it’s the comparable
shifts which bring out the
character in a compressed
world of sound like this. It isn’t
just a landscape of shale and
shadows. Gloom is the natural
language, but conversation
isn’t depressing. ‘Sinister’ is
lumpier, and bumpier, and again blessed with disturbing imagery, ‘No
More Of Me’ is doomy and a touch messy, as it labours along, which
is a shame because with a stiffer backbone this would have greater
impact, the bassy tone almost singsong.
With ‘Dark Room’ the mood develops in a more complicated
direction, the vocals refined into a cosmopolitan spell, the music
oozing out eerily and fans of La Peste Negre or Quidam will be into
this. ‘Diseased Mind’ floats on a bass tic, slumping rhythm splashes
and nervy synth behind the haughty vocal presence. It rolls on
musically, gathering more dust and resonance. ‘(I Don’t Want To Be)’
ups the punky lunacy scale a touch, rustling and shuffling all puffed
up, declaiming hotly, with ‘Existence’ in even greater turmoil.
‘Dragged Under’ gets a slinky rhythm mooching through its peaky
asphyxiation. ‘Phobia’ is open and purring, and they should throw
more of this fluid simplicity into their work because it brings it
naturally into life instead of the listener slowly submerging into a
world of pain. In repose ‘Unreflected Love’ is their most interesting
piece, stretched out and agonised but filled with attractive fleeting
touches, before we drift off with ‘In a Trance’, a sombre delicacy.
Now unremitting misery either appeals ore it doesn’t, but for those
who get it as a contemplative backdrop this takes some beating at the
moment due to the basic nature of everything, and the fact there are
different, noticeable stages it goes through ,indicating that
compositional strength exerts a healthy effect. Inject some more
potent urgency next time and they’ll be onto a winning streak.
www.anotherspecies.co.uk
There is much to admire when duo’s get stuck into a project and Erika
and Nic Species are one such couple, who invest great dignity into
their ostensibly sullen world, where you pick your way through the
disgust and alienation, but pick up much satisfaction from the simple,
sometimes compulsive slices of rhythmic life. They also manage to
ease a bulging colour booklet into the CD case, which signifies how
much they care about it. Full colour, full lyrics. Because they care I
have found myself shrugging off the mind-boggling heat of the past
two days to grapple with their drk beast of a record.
ATTRITION
KILL THE BUDDHA! The 25th Anniversary Tour
Projekt
The instrumental ‘The Beginning Of’ starts casually grim but
admirably artistic, then ‘Hunger For…’ assaults your senses with
harsh atonal female vocals that you have to get used to, but there’s
weird lyrics to follow as the guitars keep their distance sensibly and
the percussive touches are delicate dry-brushing. ‘Vector-bourne’ is a
quiet horror, intentionally claustrophobic, ‘Forgetting Or Never
Regretting’ pulls at the leash with some pushy bass, whirring backing
and tighter, pinched vocals, full of aggression, the guitar whining and
aiding the song’s trajectory, as though they were a striped-down
modern Xmal.
‘Invisible’ lumbers along, and the basic nature of the recording brings
the clumping chaos closer. It might seem messy and angstypunkalunkum but it’s got a shapely idea stuck right in the middle.
‘Don’t Stop Just Go’ wheezes and coughs up an early Banshees lung,
then stamps on it, although I think you need to appreciate bleak postpunk to stick with it. The persistently pained and sedentary ‘Dead
‘Invitation’ doesn’t actually count, a mere fraction of a piece, then
we’re into the anondyne tone of ‘Favourite Things’ which is offset by
the rather creepy list that is reeled off. ‘The Head Of Gabriel’ slides
freely, mutated sirenic vocals and a despotic male maniac like smow
motion pinball between musical sparks. ‘Dante’s Kitchen’ maingfains
the curvature with amusing Reade vocal wiggles, while but for any
thumbed bass ‘Dreamcatcher’ is like a serial killer in The Mighty
Boosh landscape.
An impressive live record of the tour across the Europe, America and
Mexico through 2006 and 2007 by Martin Bowes and Laurie Reade,
who are natural ever presents, but with various synth players. Step
forward Edward Davidson, Ned Kirby, Simon Stansfield and Leonardo
Martinzez-Vega. Now step back, and we shall begin.
‘I Am Eternity’ is a quivering merrygoround, gone off the rails
through a murderous waltz and ends all floaty. ‘Two Gods’ is mild and
drowsy, with some claim there’s a saying that if you see the Buddha on
the road you should kill the Buddha? I’ve never heard this said, but
maybe I don’t know anyone psycho enough, and anyway you want to
watch no Buddhist Fundamentalists get on your tail or you might
come back as a Chelsea fan.
‘The Mercy Machine’ does the
hypnotic swirly thing with angst
trapped within, ‘The Long Hall’
skitters and bleats and weeps and
soothes, then they end gloriously
on ‘November 18th, 2006’ with a
big singalong! Then they find out
Martin’s a vegan after they’ve got
the cake. ‘So he may not like all of
it.’? He can have the flames. Oh
no, he’s blown the candles out!
A lovely, modest record.
www.attrition.co.uk
AUTUMN ANGELS
ENDLOS RADIO
Shadowplay
More electro Gothic sounds
from a duo courtesy of
Shadowplay, like Purple Fog
Side, but here we have the
sepulchral sensibilities of
Bianca on vocals and Sven on
everything else, the album sung
entirely in German, thereby
highly mysterious, but
musically revealing common
ground aplenty, for everyone. If anything it’s a touch too easy on the
ear. Goth Lite.
‘Endlos’ starts ominously, the synth gathering like mist and doing it
delightfully, when suddenly the tune opens up, on a nimble melody
with a vigorous static beat, the vocals waking up and rolling gently
away. ‘Einmal Noch’ is a fairly relaxed affair, mildly troubled beats
roving beneath the vocal sweetness, quite blissfully catchy and with
subtly resilient bass tones for company. I don’t know if it’s a real cello
or synth strings but there’s a brooding air about ‘Nachtliche Fahrt’
which is lightly stormy with the doomy percussion and gloomy male
vocals.
‘Lied Der Traume’ introduces some stylish dark gliding, the various
vocal spirals coming off a robustly swish mood, then ‘Die Zeit
Zwichendrin’ scampers away from its bright start and then melts into
the initially weirder but ultimately bland ‘Nacht Am Ufer.’ ‘Endlos
Rdaio’ bounces back to form, albeit in brief supine and glossy
surroundings, before the more forthright ‘Radio’ wanders along,
although this is all a bit too A-ha for me. ‘1984’ purrs away like an
extended splinter before ‘Nicht Bei Mir (The Freak Song)’ lopes
along, engaging but without the connection of words I can’t tell if its
meaningful or amiable fluff. ‘Engel’ is more of this lean cuisine but
with some calm and committed singing over a pottering percussive
direction, with a weirdly dovetailed ending with more bass and if you
wait a while you get a secret steadfast ambient track which is very
simple and gloopily attractive.
It’s a strange mix, I guess. More conventional than you would expect
from its look, yet also disarmingly engaging overall.
www.myspace.com/autumnangelsband
that the previous singers refused
to sing them, resulting in a much
changed lineup!
How bizarre is that?
Elysabeth Grant, Athan
Maroulis, Nicki Jaine and
Michael Laird have stayed true
to the cause, and also hauled
willingly on board, once they
have queued to slap Sam’s face,
are Brian Viglione of The
Dresden Dolls riding shotgun and Attrition’s Laurie Reade who has
been very busy lately.
It’s not all mid-life musical crisis of course. I have never been the only
asking what might happen if there was a more conventional musical
setting for their work, and here we have some of the answers.
‘Tell Me You’ve Taken Another’ is fabulous indie crossover which
makes exactly the kind of direct connection I’d expect, the melody
stronger the more the atmosphere is opened up, and the furtive or
salacious lyrical content made weirder because of the refined
surroundings, with a haunting flute wending through the filth as the
singer proclaims, ‘I never separate the shame from the pleasure it
arouses,’ sounding a bit mental. All in all it’s like a less melodramatic
Marc Almond soiree.
‘Inch Worm’ contains the hallmarks of early BTFABG, and a twirly
thing it is, with a chorus which would have been much better without
the words ‘inch worm’ involved, as that’s a bit prissy (despite being
inspired by a Courtney Cox blog), leading to something like a
corrupted nursery rhyme.
Great lyrics litter the jauntily sauntering journey including, ‘at least I
won’t be embarrassed when I meet you in Hell.’
There’s a similar flow to ‘Sailor Boy’ and while there’s an intentional
cabaret feel to both of these tunes, it’s also got a historical, bellicose
quality amidst the naughty nautical allusions.
I’m not sure what ‘Caught By A Stranger’ is, other than another lurid
tale, as the music moans and slithers along, before we get the
‘expurgated’ version of ‘Sailor Boy’ and that’s that.
It promises to be an unusual album, clearly. The fetish themes and
cabaret stylings are all old hat of course, as these have been done to
death since the mid-90’s, but in this group the sound dynamics are
different, as are the contrasts between word and music, so weird
things will emerge. Reading the press release it seems more than
likely.
I am a complete innocent about such matters, but apparently the songs
concern dom/sub, furries (a cover of ‘Memory’ from ultra-pervathon
Cats perhaps?), police state fetishists (eh?), pro-anna (no idea there
either), exhibitionists, humiliation, pain, self-destruction, cuckholding
fantasies (what!) and anonymous sex.
The bit that amused me is where Sam talks of being a father and how
children represent the clean slate and people can screw them up
because of their own issues.
Flash forward a few years.
BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL
QUADRANOTICS
Projekt
“Dad, can we listen to some of your records?”
“Of course you can! Er, not that one….”
Well! This is a promo EP of sorts to promote the album ’10
Neurotics’ due later this year, in which Sam Rosenthal descends into a
world of seedy hedonism at will, with topics so diverse and lubricious
www.blacktapeforabluegirl.com
Oh, what’s the album like? Read on diligent one, read on….
Actually packaging first. The booklet is so luscious it smells. It’s
gloss. The cover shot of a crouching girl with the bad spots touching a
radiator? I don’t know what’s she represents, but there’s a nude cover
as well, in certain territories, as well as a luxury booklet with
beguiling imagery.
‘Sailor Boy’ is a rollicking, lolloping rasping, gnarled encounter with
someone caught in the old master/slave relationship and barking
dementedly, as Athan swaggers, and you can sing along. ‘Inch Worm’
is also absurdly slippery, slinky and catchy, Laurie purring proudly
and this one is apparently ‘pro-ana’ which is an anorexia thing?
Would I have known if someone hadn’t told me? I doubt it. The song
has almost an old school fantasy feel rather than anything seedy,
slipping into the surreal, and delivered with scrupulously sublime
melodic sensibilities.
BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL
10 NEUROTICS
Projekt
The advance press release for this made clear that the subject matter
Sam Rosenthal had thrown himself into, immersing himself in a world
of observational lyrical sin, had resulted in former singers associated
with Black Tape For a Blue Girl declining the opportunity to be
involved. It is certainly an unusual and refreshing album for its more
forthright musical tone, kissing goodbye to the ethereal atmosphere
and carrying on through the Revue Noir experiment into more
traditional sounds. He has a band who include some stalwarts of old
such as Nicki Jaine, Michael Laird and Athan Maroulis, with Dresden
Doll’s Brian Viglione and Laurie Reade from Attrition leaping abroad,
and Lucas Lanthier found among the luggage on this creepy voyage.
Sam says, “I set out to create an album that looks at our sexuality,
obsessions and fetishes with a mature (rather than sensationalized)
eye. Our life is a constant churning of desires, sometimes overtaking
us - more often subverted, submerged and repressed. I wanted to
directly confront reality: who are we when the disguise is stripped
away? I wrote from real life as a way to plug directly into the core of
pure experience without filtering it, I developed something genuinely
fresh and vital.” That, or he wants to rock out with his cock out. (I
hope they work a cover of ‘The Internet Is For Porn’ into their live set,
because this isn’t some po-faced encounter.)
There is disturbing material to consider but just how controversial the
subject matter here actually is I’m not sure. Having always been
supportive of people’s fetish-related confessions and interests when
doing my books, knowing it did represent a growing trend during
certain times, whether that was the fetish dress of the 90’s, the ‘furry’
developments earlier this decade, or whatever might be poking
through these days, none of it has ever been of any interest to me. I
actually find it hard to stop regarding such things as strangely
ludicrous, so I can’t imagine the passing listener would hear a song
and either find topics alluring or repulsive. (Mostly.)
True, some might having decided in advance that whenever they
approach any album they require the full blueprints, of lyrics, personal
testimonies, weather conditions when recordings took place, several
sharp HB pencils, graph paper, set square and an attractive hat, but
these people are very rare. When dealing with themes of body image,
body abuse, body worship, is it really that challenging? A truly
controversial album would probably be where someone admitted to a
delirious interest in rape, incest, bestiality and necrophilia, sometimes
all during the same family Christmas party, with Miss Marple in
attendance to give it that much-needed frisson, and I can only hope
nothing like that ever crosses my path.
‘Tell Me You’ve Taken Another’ which concerns a man who likes
being cuckolded clearly won’t outrage anyone, although the fact the
term cuckholded is still around might, but the smooth throwback to
80’s crooning which wouldn’t have been out of place in Glenn
Glegory’s mouth, is bound to impress.
It’s quite beautiful, and the addition of Brian Viglione comes into its
own with his relaxed drumming strength and succulent bass, Lisa
Feuer also reappearing with some chaste flute.
‘The Perfect Pervert’ sees the mood darken while actually becoming
lighter, as people ‘play non-consensual’ Laurie and Athan tripping
over somewhat clumsy lyrics and really it’s all rather embarrassing. It
sounds sweet musically, but the words are sixth former wank. ‘My
hand makes contact with your skin, I push you down, I plunge
within’? Oh, God, they’ve gone and woken Hugh Hefner. Here he
comes, dressing gown flapping with excitement.
‘Marmalade Cat’ covers furries, although someone singing about
being a cat needn’t necessarily go so far as someone believing they’re
a cat when dressing up, and I never considered all furries have a
fetishistic attitude, more a tribute of sorts, but I could be wrong. It’s
not like I ever look too deeply. There’s a cool gloomy post-punk aura
about this one. Ponderous but uncoiling with a tremulous ache.
The plainer acoustic ‘Love Song’ doesn’t paint a particularly happy
picture of a relationship but beyond that I don’t know where we’ve
gone with Laurie’s depiction of a dismal character.
‘Rotten Zurich Café’ finds Nikki back in swaying, haughty cabaret
tones, and again someone’s created a bad violent, dismissive example,
but it’s vague and decayed.
‘Militärhymne’ is a mesmerising little slice of sound, with some
warmly rising vocal noise, and deceptively inspiring, while the dark,
doomed ‘In Dystopia’ is only marred by the spoken end effectively
repeating the same words when lines could have gradually lessened in
length. It’s a tale of intentional suffering, I guess.
‘The Pleasure In The Pain’ covers the same territory, with people
accepting abuse, and Athan juggling clunky words skilfully. A fullblooded post-punk majesty unfurls and it’s a surprise it all seems so
short. The delicate ‘I Strike You Down’ just confused me, as I had no
idea who was doing what to whom, or whether it was intentional, as
Elsyabeth’ Grant’s vocals swirled around the sparse setting. ‘Caught
By A Stranger’ is another exquisitely ghostly blend of the exotic and
the moody, but not the erotic for this boy. It concerns exhibitionism
but I’m lulled by the knobbly percussion and weird remote sounds
weaving their way through and behind Laurie’s smoky vocals.
‘Curious, Yet Ashamed’ is slightly mental, Lucas trembling with
excitement and dementia, over panoply of pervy possibilities.
We end with something awful in ‘Love Of The Father’ but not in any
ineffectual way. Anything involving child abuse will always be
upsetting, and here we have something strikingly painful, through the
eyes of a child, denying God through the obvious wrongs of his
situation, with a controlled, plaintive vocal delivery and a tensile
backing, creating an image of desolation and despair which is
seriously powerful.
It also has an open-ended aspect in that you don’t know if you’re also
hearing of further debasement or simply the knock-on effect of abuse
then creating unstable relationships further down the line. Either way
it’s a bit of sledgehammer to the senses after the disguised and
dimpled debauchery of previous tracks.
With the exception of ‘The Perfect Pervert’ this is a compelling album
and one which marks a totally modern Black Tape which can reach out
to a new audience almost, as well as carrying existing followers along
into new areas, just the way Ataraxia do with the unpredictability of
their output. The question I guess we have to ask is will Sam ever now
go back into the shadows, or is he fully out there in the light, ready to
rawk? Well, not that far perhaps, no Sigue Sigue Sputnik outfits being
prepared, but you know what I mean.
There may be some odd themes here, for some, but really it’s a stylish
collection of songs every bit as evocative as they may be provocative,
and I think that’s what interests us most, isn’t it?
www.blacktapeforabluegirl.com
www.myspace.com/blacktapeforabluegirl
http://10neurotics.blogspot.com – this is brilliant.
again the words lob subtle lassoes and the chorus becomes a
surprising singalong success!
‘Poison For Tomorrow’ is brisk, polished and a bit melodrama-bynumbers, but the descaled Bowiesque frills of ‘Frontiers’, with a
neatly dovetailed ‘The Cunning Of History’ more interesting for its
subdued hues and smart repetition. ‘When Worlds Collide’ opens the
windows, lets cooler air dispel the dust and spins us back into the
creamy world of early 80’s post-punk melodic giddiness, although it
seems empty-headed slop. ‘Running wild on a world in motion,
building bridges over every ocean’? Step away from the Tears For
Fears albums! ‘The Believer’ is a relaxing if blustery closer, moving
like a primped Psy Furs, and dead catchy and that’s the album done. A
fine album it is too, although I have a reservation about how pristine
everything is. Despite the energy clearly being present, and the feeling,
it’s somehow too produced for me, which robs certain songs of
genuine atmosphere and gives them a recognisable stance instead, as
though a great band has been trapped inside the hermetically
ventilated studio of a maniacal collector of bands. A Dr Who type
situation, with anguished musicians continually forced to wear smart
clothes. (You know what I mean.)
However, they are a great band because while they have all manner of
identifiable influences waving sneakily from the shadows, or
sometimes right out front, they sound like the band in charge
throughout, and as we lost Bell Hollow, it’s up to Blacklist to carry the
mutant hybrid torch representing old-meeting-new, but next time a
little less restraint chaps, okay?
www.listofblack.com
BLACKLIST
MIDNIGHT OF THE CENTURY
Weird Records
Everything about this is BIG. From big
sounds being forced out of already
tigrish melodies, to big traditions being
respectfully upheld, this is like a direct
transfusion for anyone whose senses
are buoyed by the spirits of 80’s indie
greats, which is no surprise given the
band hold the names of The Sound, Chameleons and The Sound as
sacred.
Coming on like The Comsat Angels with their pockets stuffed full of
early Cure bootlegs ‘Still Changes’ cuts a scalded figure dancing like
a bastard in the gloom. ‘Your faith ran out and see us free, from the
stranglehold of destiny, we’re letting go of hollow laughter and
stupid charms and apocalyptic fantasies, we’re in command.’ Oh, I
was going to say that! The vocals are coyly paraded by loaded with
meaning as though someone’s pushing the deadliest ammunition into
an old musket regardless of the consequences, the guitar leers out of
the mix with filthy happiness and the drums shake anything not nailed
down, as a carefree bass operates like a musical glue canister.
‘Flight Of The Demoiselles’ cavorts gloriously on the grave of early
Simple Minds, ducks down low, whips around and flashes its arse with
a rising chorus which the guitar constantly buffs up. It makes you feel
ready for anything, without actually knowing what’s going on. ‘Shock
In The Hotel Falcon’ sets out it’s enormous rhythmical traps for
people to be gripped by, as the vocals pick their way through the
spaces, and then mischievously it becomes quite poppy, with a spring
in its seedy step, and guitar gargling to create some woozy variety.
‘Language Of The Living Dead’ is a brief succulent hotspot, with dark
yearning, a softly morbid chorus and the lushest guitar caresses, but
‘Odessa’ isn’t as strong, having a strong acoustic heart which is never
going to carry the same weight, being spirited fluff. ‘Julie Speaks’ is
wired and bulging with power from the off, the guitar spinning out
extended wiggly notes and capricious peaks as the sullen bass
marches alongside terse drums, the mood frostily indignant but once
BUZZ
1984-1989
VAUDOU ELECTRONIQUE
Own Label
This electro bunch are weird, with
their strictly perfect and pertinent New
Wave sensibilities and Post-Punk
outlook, making them more slinky and
fun than the Cold Weave scene which
also fits them loosely. If you look at
their myspace page you see the great Ski Patrol among their top
friends, just as you’ll also see Adrian Borland and Red Lorry Yellow
Lorry alongside The Young Gods and Suicide. You may even have
heard their early work as many releases were on Danceteria and
seemed cutely dimpled at the time. Looking at their bio you also find
mention of them playing with Anne Clark and Minimal Compact so
yes, they have a history (even a remix by David Harrow!), but they
went into hibernation ages ago, reforming in 2006. Since then, a
veritable flurry of releases, two of which we have here.
So the main album here is a retrospective release of their eighties
adventures and, interestingly remixes precede originals, which
presumably tells us something about the new replacing the old? Being
old it’s also quite lightweight, and pumping up the volume has little
effect. ‘Berlin’ burbles and whistles into action, guitar picking at the
synth bones with their bright optimism, creating a wriggling contusion
from which cheeky vocals burst through.
The ‘Kennedy’ remix goes a bit syndrum-happy, but the cool synth
keeps things moody, a bit like slo-mo Cassandra Complex, with the
original ‘Kennedy’ a touch more dour. The ‘Marinneti’ remix
highlights how it’s the nifty beat and skimpy guitar which propels the
song forward, the vocals eager, the ‘Picasso’ remix swoons with
playful female vocals, a light pungent synth simplicity, with ‘Picasso’
a bit duller. ‘Marinetti’ is a chunky pop song than the remix creates.
It’s got a bounce and a deadpan commercial shape. ‘Lo Sai’ continues
in that way with a sublime vocal catchiness and a bittersweet musical
motif. ‘Sexe’ puffs and pants, steamily, then ‘El American Dream’
sashays cockily like a very early Salt n Pepa shuffle. ‘Contract’ is like
anti-wine bar, graciously dark, with ‘1984’ a very French affair,
wheezily grim but still furtively fluid.
It ends with a series of live songs. ‘Prega Per Noi’ doesn’t do much,
‘Berlin’ is as from the vinyl but with beltier vocals, ‘L’ocange
Mécanique’ damn lively and fruity, ‘Kennedy’ brittle but gnashing,
and ‘Petite Poupée Japonaise’ a winsome drifter “Vaudou
Electronique” translates apparently as Cyber-carnage, and comes from
a February 2009 live recording at Radio Aligre, Paris. It’s a limited
edition in a single case, signed on the inside, with a hand drawn label,
which is very cute. There’s only eight songs, and no titles, but it’s
friskier in tone, with greater weight, mooching below ground, darting
softly across glacial spaces and glittery humps. Initially they allude to
punk rock, like Metal Urbain in waistcoats, then off they go, swishing
alarmingly into disco mode for ‘Berlin’, rotating like modern day
witches on heat. They also creating some thicker moods, leaving a
solid trail of pulsating music, which the earlier recordings couldn’t
create. Home-based technology has move on somewhat and become
their trusted friend, helping give ‘Kennedy’ a deeper, less fractious
allure. There are moments of blandness, but these are brief compared
to the glowing consistency, and either record should be intriguing
finds for electro historians.
COLLIDE
TWO HEADED MONSTER
Noise Plus
www.myspace.com/buzzbiz
www.nordwaves.fr – magnificent site, indispensable for tracking
down info on classic French bands.
I like the warmth of Collide. For all the complexity of the layers, and
for two people they sure erect a stern musical firewall, yet inside, and
outside, of all the quivering power they remain resolutely human when
some pairings find themselves sterilised by the whole balancing act.
CHILDREN OF THE GUN
FROM THE SEA TO THE OCEAN
Shadowplay
‘Tongue Tied & Twisted’ starts of all musically taut and vocal
intentionally dithery, then shrinking and crouching when brutal guitar
slashes intersect the supple undulations, all of which is good, as you
learn to listen out for different aspects of sections while retaining a
sense of a definable course.
There’s a very smart start to this Goth album with an orchestral ‘Let
The Ride Begin’ that is brief as anything before ‘Ride The USA’ takes
up the metaphorical baton and lopes away with it, classic spindly Goth
guitar behind the aching vocals. Chilled piano and eager drums sees
‘No Reason’ bustling along behind cheery vocals which has such a
gregarious atmosphere, celebratory until the gentle slope into silence.
Delicate, dowdy organ blinks through a tiny piece called ‘Warped
Spaces’ then ‘Dreary Halls’ mopes but
keeps its grim chin up with an
attractive flair, as the gentle melodic
incline of ‘Insanity’ with its thin,
massaging guitar is lovely too.
‘Forever’ goes all flossy and gushing
in a pop sense, which is a bit weird,
yet with its hopelessly optimistic
feeling it’s deeply becoming. It’s one
degree removed from normality, then
‘1000 Miles Deep’ goes for its own
insane drama, with vocals hung out to
dry in anguish over pulsing synth misery: talk about contrast!
‘From The Sea To The Ocean’ jingles and jangles back in full Goth
effect, down in the mouth but with shining teeth, the lyrics grey as the
guitar is fluorescent. ‘Burning Butterflies’ does a strange acoustic
thing with a sense of confusion then they’re off again in ‘Shining
Waterfalls’, darting forth with busy guitar and sticky bass, and emptyheaded vocal jollity. ‘Lost In Summer’ is equally mild but absurdly
appealing with regret couched in such lithe surroundings and the
stately ‘Everything Goes Away’ sits there in its acoustic splendour
wittering on about the weather.
How Goth it is, I’m not sure, how far it fits in with thoughtful indie I
don’t know either. It’s a bit like a cosy version of The House Of
Usher.
www.myspace.com/childrenofthegun
They also mask the melody which then walks straight across in front
of you, like a shire horse at a traffic light. ‘Chaotic’ is far noisier yet
still enjoys exploring the basement of sounds, wriggling and dusty,
spaces allowing the feverish electronic sparks some light, while the
vocals stick to the shadows, the battling percussion and swerving
guitar distracting us.
‘A Little Too Much’ has no such modesty, the vocals exuding purpose
as the music courteously falls back, and a sumptuous feel bathes in
melodic sunlight, with a beautiful slowly blooming chorus, and there’s
some tweaked, sour guitar to frisk the air up a little. A subdued
opening to ‘Pure Bliss’ doesn’t disguise the wayward dreaminess, the
cutely absorbing lyrical flourishes, or the coiled tension.
‘Spaces In Between’ swipes the best china off the table and slaps
down tectonic plates instead, the rhythmical fizz scampering as the
vocals remain imperiously controlled, the song like a giant figurehead
of a ship transplanted onto a lethal skateboard. Looming, zooming.
It’s a crazed little caper, and we all like those.
The bleached bones of ‘Silently Creeping’ wobble like a hall of
mirrors, hot with that fake mirage effect. ‘Head Spin’ is vocally
saucier, the sound still a deceitful hammock, restful but jabbing you
with playful little shocks, lulling you cheekily. I’m not sure what the
mildewed intensity of ‘Two Headed Monster’ represents, seeming
shorter and pretty open-ended, and there’s more tortured drowsiness
about ‘Shifting’, a downcast post-Portishead opulence evident. Closer
‘Utopia’ moves from hazily choked to timidly vanishing, which makes
for an odd end.
embracing ‘classics’ with David Essex thrown into the mix, which
appeals to me.
‘Breathe’ is a new one on me, but it’s by Pink Floyd which explains
my ignorance, as they’ve never appealed. It’s attractive slow-drip
electronica, then up pops none other than ‘Nights In White Satin’
devoted to all mechanics turned footpads, with a soft, luxurious
atmosphere and ache, although the original did too, so the supportive
press release blather of devastating new arrangements isn’t necessarily
the full or honest picture. They’re sharing the same wavelength,
making it blossom as it fills the air.
‘Come Together’ is by those Beatles bastards, even I know that. This
broods at the bottom and acts sneaky at the top, retreating into its
shell like a ninja tortoise.
You can’t go by one listen or you might think it’s got a delicate gloss
and doesn’t demand as much as previous releases, or provide as much
variety, but the weirdness aspect is actually quite high, and at other
times they’re at their most accessible. I’d have preferred some more
noise at times myself, but the resounding impression is that here is a
gorgeous record.
‘Creep’ is very coy, not like a pram-recording of the infant Katie
Garside about to throw her rattle through a bank window, but graceful
instead of wrecked and wracked with vocals dominating, all but
ignoring the guitar clutch shift. ‘Rock On’ is inflated rather than the
even sparser approach I was expecting. It actually makes it less
exciting to my ears, as though decorating. ‘I Feel You’ is cool though,
like an arthritic robot finding freedom ice skating.
COLLIDE
THESE EYES BEFORE
Noise Plus
‘Space Oddity’ sounds like a concerned Kate Bush, and a chunky
guitar serenade. ‘Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing’ is wonderful, with an
early touch of glam T Rexiness, a ‘Sign O The Times’ wilting vocal
and some general jerky potency. ‘Tusk’ opts for some inverted tribal
darting frothiness, a bit like The Bangles hits pulped in a blender.
‘Comfortably Numb’ is another Punk Floyd song, closing as they
opened from which I deduce, brilliantly, that they mean something to
Collide who are dramatic, rolling around in the tune, and swaying like
a resentful ark.
It’s surely worth mentioning that on the way to see ‘2012’ Lynda and I
were debating the term Knights Of The Road. We’d already discarded
the highwayman derivation and I was supporting the notion that this is
how people regarded AA or RAC men when they first on motorcycle
patrols, as they would be seen coming to a damsel’s distress back in
the 30’s, or whenever. And, I pitched, they were obliged to wear white
satin.
That seemed to be the clincher. Now, after the superb ‘Two Head
Monster’ album, Collide offer us their interpretation on ten perceived
classics, and it’s a conservative choice in most ways, being all-
Strange and fun.
www.collide.net
EYE CONTACT
Another band known for consistently high quality releases COLLIDE have excelled themselves
recently and we dwell here upon
their unusual choice of material
for a covers album, from the
conventional to the mind-boggling, in a world where Depeche
Mode meets David Essex!
PHOTOS: Dave Keffer
COLLIDE
We’ll do an interview when the next Collide album proper
comes out if that’s alright, but for now I think this idea of a
covers album is quite odd. How long has this been burning
in your brain?
kaRIN: “Hmmmm burning brains. Actually, we have had the idea for
awhile. In the last two years we released a full length called Two
Headed Monster and a side project called The Secret Meeting With
Dean Garcia (Curve). We were not quite ready to head back to the
studio...yet we can’t stay away either...so it felt like the right time to
tackle the cover CD.”
Statik: “It had been in our brains for at least 4 years. I think it was
booked in kaRIN’s brain while we were working on the DVD. We
actually did a rough cover of Breathe while we were doing the acoustic
songs for it, and ending up using some of the guitars that we recorded
then on the final version.”
Without flummoxing me with facts is there anything
stopping bands covering any song they like, or do you
have to seek permission in every case? (Might seem like a
dumb question but I never asked anybody this.)
kaRIN: “You can cover any song you want, but you have to pay for it
prior to releasing it. The amount is based on how many CDs you press
and the length of the song. It costs the same amount to cover a well
known artist as an unknown artist. An agency called Harry Fox
handles a lot of these transactions, otherwise you need to contact the
individual publishers directly to pay them.”
Statik: “It makes it way easier to do it through the Harry Fox agency
because it’s pretty much an automated system. There were some songs
where we had to contact the publishers. There were a few songs we
were interested in with multiple publishers, that we opted to not do
because it would be more complicated.”
Do you get any feedback on what the original artists
thought?
kaRIN: “Not yet, I hope one day we will.”
Statik: “I’m sure kaRIN wouldn’t mind lunch with David Bowie.”
kaRIN: “That’s true =).”
Let us slip through the album if we may. First off, Pink
Floyd twice. I’m assuming this band mean a great deal to
you?
kaRIN: “Yes, I spent my growing up years listening to a lot of Pink
Floyd. To this day they remain one of my favorite bands.”
Statik: “As an artist, they were more influential to kaRIN than myself,
although I have always loved Comfortably Numb, and can remember
listening to it over and over as a kid. The Wall was a huge album, and
when I saw the movie, I don’t think I had every experienced anything
like it.”
So why ‘Breathe’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’, what speaks
you in those two?
kaRIN: “I find their words touch me to the core and are so timeless.
Words are important to me. I can’t sing words that I don’t feel
connected to.”
Statik: “I wasn’t that familiar with Breathe before I met kaRIN, and
she introduced me to that song. To tell you the truth, I just really liked
kaRIN’s vocal performance so much that that was one of the reasons
we decided to do two Pink Floyd Songs.”
I know nothing of the band, so can you give an example of
how you have done things differently?
Statik: “It was harder to get away from the original on Comfortably
Numb, but I know that kaRIN’s vocal phrasing was quite a bit
different. She had her own laid back way of doing it. Most of the time
when I do a cover, I try not to go back on listen to the original very
much. I find that what I remember in my head is sometime quite
different than the original, and sometime very different. It really just
depends on the song.”
‘Nights In White Satin’ – this is a real old chestnut isn’t it?
I remember as a child being plagued by this forever on the
radio, what appealed to you about this and can you
remember why it first made an impact? You seem to have
spiced it up but stuck very faithfully to the spirit – I
daresay it’s hard not to?
kaRIN: “Another one of those songs when I heard it as a child, it just
stopped me in my tracks and crept inside.”
Statik: “This was actually suggested by one of my best friends a few
years ago. I never really gave it much thought until we started on the
album. I had the album on vinyl, and gave it a re-listen. I really loved
the chord changes on this song, and the string parts. The only thing
that seemed really necessary to change was the bridge, as the original
was a bit too dated sounding...if kaRIN started singing about unicorns
there, we knew we were on the wrong path.”
‘Come Together’ – it’s a bit weirder, obviously, but what
did you want to do with this? Why this from their entire
catalogue?
kaRIN: “Good question...there was a lot of Beatles songs to pick
from. I really liked the Beatles sort of drug era music the best, which
is probably because that was the time when I started to appreciate
them the most. I was also wanting to do Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds, but we decided Come Together would be a better choice
for us. Again, I love the words...they are so whimsical and visual. I
love the chorus because it is very uniting without being corny, or
sappy.”
Statik: “It was a one of my favorite songs of theirs because of the bass
part. I just always remembered that. It had such an infectious groove.
It’s a simple song, in arrangement, but perhaps that’s one of the
reasons it’s so good.”
‘Creep’ – I was waiting for that massive guitar moment, but
you avoid it and it seems more floaty, less tense? You
obviously had your plans, so what were they?
Statik: “I’m not a huge Radiohead fan, but we both thought that that
song was great. I know that at this point Radiohead pretty much hate
the song, but it’s simple chord structure and melody and arrangement
is brilliant. I wanted to make it more electronic, but keep the build that
the original had. kaRIN is a floaty singer, and sometimes the superguitar-loud-singing thing just doesn’t work for us.”
kaRIN: “I can’t say that I have listened to a ton of Radiohead, or was
very familiar with any of their other songs. Creep was just one was
one of those knock you over the head songs. For me it’s the
chorus...everyone feels like they are odd, or weird, or isolated in some
ways. In my thoughts that’s a good thing though.”
‘Rock On’ – David Essex?!! Why on Earth would you have
David Essex in your sights? Don’t get me wrong, he has
great taste in football teams and I’ve always liked the
bloke, including ‘Gonna Make You A Star’, but why this
one? Why not ‘Lamplight’?
Statik: “I don’t know any other songs by David Essex, so as an artist,
he wasn’t someone who influenced us, but we both really liked this
song. I had it on an old compilation (cassette) tape that I used to listen
to over and over again. Again, for me, it was all about the bass, and
groove, and the vocal delay sound. Simple, but a groove that was
great. Also, I don’t think that a lot of younger people even know of the
song, so it would be kind of a cool way to have people re-introduced
to it.”
kaRIN: “I don’t know if I have ever really heard too many other songs
by him either. It was another one of those songs you heard on the radio
when you were a kid and it struck you. It is hard to say why some
songs penetrate your core and some do not. I feel like the melody
hooked me on this one.”
‘I Feel You’ – it’s very pretty, but what moves you here?
What inspires you? It’s like Portishead sharing a ride with
ZZ Top then it gets weirdly moody.
kaRIN: “We looked at a lot of Depeche Mode songs and picked this
one. Ultimately, I think we were drawn to the guitar line.”
Statik: “Ok, ZZ Top...I think I feel slightly insulted, but I’ll take the
Portishead reference. We both liked a lot of Depeche Mode songs, a
lot of people do covers of them, so we were a bit hesitant for that
reason, but this one was fun for me to play on guitar. I’m not really a
guitar player, I just pick and poke, but this one was one I could do.
Groove again is most important to me, as vocals are important for
kaRIN.”
‘Space Oddity’ – a spacious song, so there must have
been loads of ways this could be approached. Why your
way? It seems quite happy, like drifting away in space isn’t
such a bad thing.
kaRIN: “David Bowie is another of my all time favorites...I just tried
not to screw it up too much. Space Oddity touched me because it is a
meaningful song with amazing lyrics. Vocally, I may have suggested a
little more abstractness in the feel of the song, which is pretty
common for me in my own writing...so that you may draw your own
conclusions.”
Statik: “On this song, I found it much easier to get away from the
original on the first 1/3 of the song than the last part, but it just kind
of morphed into what it did. Like so many of these songs that are
classics (in my book anyway) one of the main goals, first and
foremost, was just try not to screw it up...then do your own thing.”
‘Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing’ – a new one on me, I’ll admit.
Why didn’t he become a huge name? What grabs you
about this song in particular?
kaRIN: “It’s a sexy song. The one that I really wanted to do by Chris
Issac was Wicked Game, but Statik was more attracted to Baby Did a
Bad Bad Thing. Ultimately, we had to pick songs that we could both
feel like we could interpret.”
Statik: “When I thought about Wicked Game, I couldn’t really hear
where I’d go with it. This one just seemed a bit more open to us doing
our own thing. I think we both though that it was a very sexy song.”
‘Tusk’ – I never really got the whole Fleetwood Mac thing,
or during this period of theirs was it more a Stevie Nicks
thing? Can you explain it, and what you’ve done here?
kaRIN: “This was Statik’s pick. He has this thing when he loves a
song... he plays it over and over until it’s deeply embedded into his
brain... so this was one of those songs for him. I think it was the band
thing rhythmically because Statik was a band leader in his school
days. I enjoyed the CD Rumors, but probably would not have picked
any of the songs because they were a little too commercial for my
taste. I was not familiar with Tusk at all before we did it, which was
www.collide.net
www.saintsandsinners.tv
surprising to me as it was supposedly a big hit of theirs. I think the
final decision to do this song was that Statik wanted to be able to
include a live marching band on the song. In the end, I really like the
song.”
Statik: “I don’t think that there is another Fleetwood Mac song that I
really like, but this was one of their more odd songs, and it just stuck
with me. I was in a marching band, and I loved the idea of having a
marching song in a pop song. This was actually a Lindsey
Buckingham song, and I think the label wasn’t too impressed with it at
the time, as it was a little “too out there” for their taste. The biggest
hurdle when we did it is working an actual marching band into our
recording, which we were luckily able to do, because it was the thing
which I really didn’t want to try to synthesize.”
Was there a definite set of principles established before
you began selecting?
Incidentally, I’m assuming you like all the people behind
these songs but that may not be true, you may just like the
specific song. Is that true in any cases?
kaRIN: “Hopefully they all worked. Originally we planned to do a few
extras and drop some out...but we loved all the babies.”
Statik: “We were able to get rough version of all of them going pretty
quick. The thing for us that takes the longest is all of the little details
that go into it, but ultimately that’s my favorite part.”
kaRIN: “Yes, as covered above... some were picked for love of the
artist in general and we had to decide what song to pick and some
were chosen just for the song.”
Statik: “Most definitely. There are a ton of songs on my ipod that I
have just one of by a certain artist.”
I couldn’t even begin to wittle my favourites down to a top
ten, how long did it take you to reach the final selection?
kaRIN: “It really came down to songs we loved and songs we thought
we could Collidize (new word).”
Statik: “Well, it wasn’t a top ten list of songs, but it was 10 songs that
we both liked, and had vocal parts or words and melody that kaRIN
could work with, and some aspect that I could hear us doing
something with. There were some songs, say some by Queen (who I
love) for example, and I just love too much, and are so ingrained in my
head, that I just couldn’t do anything different with.”
What decided whether a song could be used? Did you
have to just know you definitely wanted the song done in a
certain way, were some rejected because you knew you
might muck one up, were some up for experimentation?
kaRIN: “Quite a bit...we spent hours going through every song we
could think of to narrow it down. Some songs got knocked out because
of the words and some songs were too sacred and untouchable. Some
songs got knocked out because we both were not hearing it...like
Queen...Statik loves Queen...we never found a Queen song to do.
Lately, I always hear him playing Queen...I think he may be feeling
Queen repressed.”
Did they all work, or did you try some one way, have to
stop, and then go back?
Did respect for the originals actually get in the way at all?
Most were pretty recognisable to me pretty early on. It
doesn’t seem like you’ve gutted an entity and virtually
rebuilt?
kaRIN: “Yes, definitely respect for the originals intentionally got in
the way. If you ever listen to our version of Son of a Preacher Man,
which was one of the early covers we did...we completely re-wrote the
song...EVERYTHING about it is different. In this case, we wanted to
pay respect to the original integrity of the songs. Sometimes I would
mess around changing things, but we were were not there to totally
alter them just because. Some songs we did not even want to touch for
this reason.”
Statik: “I think if you are going to gut a song entirely, there should be
a good reason for it. I think we both felt that on these songs, there just
wasn’t that reason. It is a fine line between respecting the original and
making it your own, so we just did our best.”
Which songs didn’t make the final cut? Were there any
you began work on and couldn’t finish?
kaRIN: “All the ones we started were finished.”
Were any disasters, no matter how hard you tried?
kaRIN: “You tell us...any disasters.”
Statik: “Yes, we had a major hard drive crash that set us back a
month. We do pretty frequent back ups, but at one point my backup
drive died a quick death. It was still under warrantee, and as I was
waiting for the replacement to arrive, our main recording drive died
too. I should have been better and quicker about getting another
backup drive, but I guess it just taught us a lesson. Nights in White
Satin suffered the most there, but I was able to get back to where we
were though a few bits of good luck.”
I never count remixes, so your albums normally weigh in
at 10 or 11. Is there a mystical reason behind this or are
more practical/aesthetic considerations at play?
Statik: “For us, I think the biggest reason is just the time that it takes
to finish a song.Sometimes we try to do more, and maybe a few fall by
the wayside, but mostly, it’s about how many we can get done in a
certain amount of time.”
kaRIN: “Making music is very consuming for us. Ultimately, we
would rather spend more time on fewer songs to make sure that they
are as good as we can make them.”
I see from your blog you’re considering, ‘A brand new
category called Special Packages where you can do fun
things like go out to dinner with us, come to the studio,
create with us, or go biking with Statik.’ Which is
something I have heard of others doing. Is this is a new
way bands have to expand what they do to bring in
finances?
kaRIN: “I think musicians now are considering all things for
continued survival. In the articles I read regarding the subject... the
headlines are things like “Adapt or Die.” We are obsessed with
making music, so we must figure out how to afford to continue.
Making music for a living is very satisfying and very challenging. It
takes a lot of energy.”
Statik: “There are a few bands I can think of that I would love to do
some of those things with. I try to put myself in the position of fan and
see if it’s something that I would be interested in. It’s a premium type
thing, but a lot of people liked the idea of us doing it....we sort of put
it out there on Facebook a while before to test the waters of doing it.
The personalized Birthday song has been our biggest “hit” of the
packages so far.”
What if someone goes biking with Statik and ends up
falling into a ravine, hmmm? The insurance premiums!
kaRIN: “Yes, they will have to sign a liability waiver.”
Statik: “But on the bright side, they won’t beat me to the top.”
kaRIN: “I think that is a challenge...Statik can be very competitive.”
What do you envisage people ‘creating’ with you?
Something elementary like potato prints, or did you have
music in mind?
kaRIN: “That would really be up to them.”
Statik: “I don’t want potato prints from people, no. I can honestly say
it has never crossed my mind.”
Do you do the new ticket thing as well, where people do
the meet the band thing and backstage?
kaRIN: “Our focus has never been live so not really...they can come
have dinner with us, or drink with us.”
Statik: “If we did more live shows, it would probably be an option.”
Is this all because of the net impact on music, have things
worked out well or badly for you? You now what I mean,
the whole CD sales falling, downloads weighing in as
heavily as anticipated. How is the situation for Collide
compared to, say, ten years ago?
kaRIN: “We have been around for quite awhile now and have
definitely seen a lot of changes. When we started making music, the
whole internet thing was new and exposing your music that way was
revolutionary. It meant that a band like ourselves could release music
on our own terms, and gather a following without touring.We did not
even play our first show until tens years into it. Back then it was
exciting to have access to so much exposure and information...now it
feels that they are immersed in too much, so it is no longer as special.
That’s just my take on it though.”
Statik: “It’s just really about an artist finding a way to keep making it
work. I read where Trent Reznor said he thought that people thought
of albums more like magazines than novels, so he was going to make
music keeping that in mind. For me, I’m not really that way. There are
still lots of things to try...subscribing to an artist, and hearing songs as
they come along, or one offs instead of whole albums. I’m not closed
to anything.”
Is your firm Saints & Sinners kept entirely separate? I
wondered where all the know-how for this actually
manifested itself.
kaRIN: “They are two totally different entities that help feed each
other. I was a designer long before a musician. I am lucky to have two
creative fields that I am completely passionate about. I have always
felt obsessed by creating...early on it was my way to control my world
around me. I was a sensitive child that needed outlets.”
Scents?!! Specially blended? Doesn’t this cost or do you
link up people in different areas and combine talents?
kaRIN: “The perfumes on the site were custom blended for us by Neil
@ Planetary Vapors. He wrote to me to ask me if he could send me a
perfume inspired by our music. I was flattered...I felt like J-Lo and of
course I liked the scents, so I added them on to the site. When I was
young I used to try to make perfumes myself. I would take all my
Moms perfumes and blend them together to put on my stuffed dog
Pinky...but that is as far as I got making perfumes.”
Do you find yourself seeking out new skills to acquire like
artesans of old, or do people ask for things and you then
work out how to create them?
kaRIN: “I always just do my own thing...usually inspired by what I
want next. I began with jewelry, then as a painter moved on to other
items that I could use imagery on. I am fascinated by anything
handmade, or creative and always want to know how to make it. When
I first began jewelry, I was a starving artist and had to figure out how
to survive with nothing... so I learned to design in my head and make
things out of anything I could find. I have used everything from
eggshells, nuts & bolts, street glass, guitar strings, paper & paint.
Now years later, my designs are a little more evolved.”
Statik: “I think those who don’t try to acquire new skills are foolish
and usually get stagnate in whatever they are doing.”
What comes next on the Collide agenda, a new album next
year presumably?
kaRIN: “Well...we are barely recovering from the last one but yes
always anxious to get back to the next one. We have some plans...too
soon to tell yet.”
Statik: “A year seems to be about the minimum that we can do an
album in, but we will do our best. It still blows me away how groups
like Queen could write and record these really intricate albums, and go
on worldwide tours, and do an album a year. We aren’t even touring
and it still takes us that long.”
while ‘Bring On The Ravers’ is a well known bit of Bowie-flavoured
gristle, but be afraid when there’s anything called ‘Frodo’s Song’ on a
record. Apparently this was intended for something entitled ‘The
Lords Of The Rings’ although I have no idea if this was an intended
stage musical, a concept album, or what, but the way it prances about
with little steps suggest this was for the stage? (‘The Boxer’ a few
tracks later also came from the same sessions/project.)
‘Rooms And Pictures’, the nicely cranky ‘C.O.3’ and ‘Angel Stations’
appear in demo form all with a touch more upfront life than the more
orderly studio versions. ‘Razor Games’ is a mad stab at pop with
occasional nonsensical outbursts. ‘Every Time’ is a bit longwinded,
but then there’s ‘The Boxer’ which suggests their take on LOTR
maybe got things wrong, or did so intentionally, especially as this is
the Simon & Garfunkel thing. What’s going on? ‘Big Ship’ is
refreshingly unpretentious and ambitious, creating a post-punk pop
style that’s a little more open, and old-fashioned, than someone like
Psychedelic Furs, but in that same shady area. ‘The Big Until’ seeps
moodily and ‘It’s A Shame #2’ flickers and twirls proudly.
It’s a worthwhile release and old fans will be happy, although I’m not
sure what it adds in any depth. There are truly wonderful sleeve notes,
both intimate and detailed info on songs and character, as well as
some great photos. Hopefully that’s enough for people.
CUDDLY TOYS
TRIALS AND CROSSES
Jungle
www.myspace.com/guillotinetheatre
We’ve had them here before, when the last compilation came out with
some cool dvd footage, and here they are again, part post-punk, part
pop, with a sour glam sauce always stuck in any wrinkles. For a band
with split musical personalities and once managed by wrestler Kendo
Nagasaki life was always bound to be a bit odd, but having previously
been in the twisted Punk experience of Raped, Sean Purcell (R.I.P.)
was prepared for anything. There may be nothing that great going on
musically, with they’re being such a mish-mash, but for these sort of
releases, with exhumed rarities added, it’s whether diehards fans will
find it appealing, and I think it works just as well as the other did,
with a high quality, detailed booklet, and two CDs providing decent
quantity.
‘It’s A Shame’ staggers happily along, maintaining the their
unavoidable punky Bowie theme, then the busy, burbling ‘Trials And
Crosses’ flares and disports like a primitive Duran Duran, and that’s
not that surprising given their musical interests and development.
They were always a bit camp, a bit futurist in their pop. ‘Action’ is
arch and quivering, a little bit weird and dramatically naff, with the
modestly pretty instrumental (the vocals not really counting)
‘Columbine’s Song’ makes for a weird little diversion.
‘Fall Down’ is scampering pop, strangely mature but still fun. ‘One
Close Step’ hops about like it’s got some ska blueprint it’s hoping to
absorb and the dark twinkles of ‘Normandy Nightfall’ are interesting,
if jumbled, with some atmosphere mixed in along murky lyrics, but
the way they try to make things accessible by being perpetually perky
rather undermines the more artistic side of things. ‘Lo And Behold’
sounds like Aha trapped in a garden shed and getting high on some
old Martini they found. ‘Malice, Thru The Looking Glass….Pierrot
Lunaire’ is pretty gross, trying to be arty and challenging it’s a bit like
early Spandau Ballet suffering from stress. ‘Angel Stations’ capers
hotly and efficiently, pushing a little more power into the spruce pop
shapes and that feel is maintained through ‘Rooms And Pictures’ so
that some character get to settle, as far everything’s been slipping one
way, then sliding another, indicative of a band who had no ideas where
they were going, or how to get there. ‘One Close Step’ bumbles back
into view, this time frillier and garbled.
On the second disc we have what are referred to as bonuses, including
some demos, which is always a good sign. ‘Someone’s Crying’
slithers infectiously, ‘Dancing’ is similar although an instrumental,
‘Broken Mirrors’ skilfully brisk. ‘Slide’ wobbles about and clatters,
CYCLOTIMIA
DÉJÀ VU
Shadowplay
I greatly enjoyed watching Jonathan Meades on a show about Scotland
sneering wisely at the need for people not born in the country to
discover their ‘roots’, in that actively seeking the past demeans us an
individuals, reducing any notion of the self, lambasting the dire
ancestry industry, and in turn rubbishing the recent invention of
‘Celtic’ music as a genre, for its implicit victimhood, romanticising
with a rosy glow periods of intense privation and torment, and quite at
odds with the Gaelic language he admires. He also sniggered soundly
over Wiccan practices as being at best a few hundred years old, but
mainly derived from studies conducted at 1970’s polytechnics. I
wonder what he would make of modern ambient artists who select
historical atmospheres at will? He’d probably yawn.
‘Misere MMI’ soothes even when sounding like monks and sirenic
sisters mooching mischievously through a sunlit, dusty factory, the
voices and noises off coalescing harmlessly, evocative of anything you
care to make it and before you know it this bleeds anaemically into the
gently simmering electronic nuances of ‘Gross Market’ which fritters
its time away happily.
‘Empty Fields’ is an ambient daydream, wilting as wispy as it entered,
‘Same Time’ eerie but reliably recurring female vocals amid the muted
muttering. Same Place’ then introduces a clankier beat, but still keeps
everything in suspended animation. ‘At Office’ is pretty vacant, with
‘At Home’ prettier, but vaguer, winsome ambient breezes both.
‘Paradise X Dub’ is pleasing, sinuous electronica, ‘Lifestyle’ wayward
spacey entreaties, ‘Metamorphosis’ a droopy tonal thing, a shimmery
‘Lament’ is warmer, ‘Bugs’ slightly unsettling but watery, ‘Distance’
sparkling dimly, with ‘Nomansland’ airily creeping around from
behind you, then trailing off and vanishing in front. It’s that kind of
record, where ideas gradually inflate or swiftly dissipate, offering you
a series of subtle washes for when you’re feeling a bit grubby.
‘Drift Away’ is pleasantly aimless, with ‘Nothing’s Ever’ fleet of
rhythmic foot and agile of flicky guitar, with the vocals slipping into a
more disparate indie style, which proves far more amenable than their
hoary rock style. ‘Falling Man’ started to irritate me again wither
jazzy rock flow, because this really does represent pre-punk rock to
me. ‘Give Me A Reason’ is floaty and partly overblown, as passion
and gusto mingle. ‘This War’ has strings, which suit the vocals well,
and this melancholy very much appeals, because it has a natural
beauty which the jerkier efforts lack.
‘Somebody’ is dramatic, advising the secret to life is to watch your
back. Drums patter, vocals stride eagerly, guitar frets but purposefully
and after a rest they carry on bending weirdly into their own wind, so
the second half of the record redeems the earlier dreariness, but
they’re a bit too off over there somewhere for me. A bit too art-hippyrock in a way, but with a sense of unseemly decorum.
www.darkblueworld.ca
www.myspace.com/cyclotimia
DARK BLUE WORLD
PERILOUS BEAUTY OF MADNESS
Big Blue Records
The press release mentions cabaret by way of King Crimson, and it
really is nearly that bad.
‘Demimonde’ allows you to imagine the results of Marlene Dietrich
floundering around in the company of a prog rock outfit, busy drums
filling every space possible as some horrible guitar pisses on its own
shoes. ‘I Looked For You’ is the opposite, empty with lazy guitar
strands of idle speculation and wistful vocals turning their back on the
listener, then haling itself up and threatening to rock, but falling back,
restful once more, like Curved Air on their tea break, after someone
threw away the violin.
‘Tracking The Detectives’ brings a more modern, claustrophobic feel,
the vocals sliding off as the sounds skitter and scrunch up, like
Garbage in a well, which may be where they are for all we know. ‘On
A Wire’ is less fussy and fussy, the melody allowed to rove as the
vocals ride the tune properly, although there’s some pretty horrible
teeming guitar outbreak, but doleful touches throughout are
imaginative.
The album features Tony Wilson on guitar and Peggy Lee on cello, but
I suspect they’re namesakes. Better still ‘The Luck Of The Draw’ has
a western storytelling style and includes the lyric, ‘mother hangs her
sorrows up, kisses the toilet goodnight.’ Creepy!
DARK DISSOLVE
SORROW LEND ME WORDS
Own Label
So here we are with another impressive debut, all Gothy with a folky/
orchestral crossover atmosphere going on in suitably empathic
shadowy intrigue, and a bit of punk grit thrown in .
‘Solstice Song’ sounds sweetness and, well, blight really, as apparent
calm coalesces with lyrical loathing, ensuring an abrupt slap of reality
slots into place while musically the harp falls like gentle rain across
the balmy rhythm. ‘Go Away’ has more mournful strings, with the
vocals revealing, ‘I hope you never learn, how much I really loved
you’ which works if the person never hears the record I guess. The
tune marks time to allow the message its full weight of self-inflicted
woe. The boot’s on the other foot in ‘This Misery’ with our
protagonist hoping for freedom, but the tune sounds a bit weird,
because the vocals are a bit droney/moany, and instead of providing a
sharp contrast the guitar seems almost wilting in the mix.
I enjoyed ‘Normal’ best, beginning with more luminous harp and soft
strings stirring then it has a dual life, a place of jaunty relief but also
nimble dark twists, the song pouring, then trickling. ‘Zombie Nation’
betrays their punkier roots, implying that in the modern world we’re
already dead and scampering around in an effective way but here, if
anywhere, they could have explored the percussive possibilities of a
harp I reckon. It doesn’t have to be a sweeping, shivering instrument
of beauty and if you’ve got one, use it, that’s always been my harprelated motto.
the honest emotional punky indie it will do just fine. There are some
shaky elements but overall the songs themselves are well thought out
and sensitively handled. With bells on.
www.myspace.com/darkdissolve
www.myspace.com/deadcurtis
www.myspace.com/plasticfrogrecords
DEAD GUITARS
FLAGS
Echozone
There’s something quite classic about the songwriting Dead Guitars
create and maintain which means I need to mention individuals,
because these may well mean something to you, although I confess I
wasn’t aware of many of them. The band is large enough, but invite
others to be part of the grand occasion. Having previously a link with
Adrian Borland, and in many ways reminding me of The Waterboys in
their output Dead Guitars are as follows: Carlo Van Putten – vocals,
Pete Brough – acoustic, Ralf Aussem – guitars and bits, Patrick
Schmitz – drums and Sven-Olaf Dirks – bass.
DEAD CURTIS
AN ALTERNATIVE PLACE
Plastic Frog Records
So basically Udo and Klaus were once in a punk band back in the mid80’s whose existence was terminated early when all their gear got
nicked, after which they dabbled musically apart, then reunited three
years ago and this is their first album, moving easily over onto some
post-punk solemnity, aided by B. Rotte and Jean Paul (drum machine).
‘The Will’ starts with some monastic pleasantries, then cuts into some
plain but attractive gloom, the vocals bare and tremulous, the rhythm
almost expiring, the guitar a shadow, yet with a charming chorus.
‘Party Girl’ is a punky lament over lost love, and although it’s a bit
tatty, the music rescues the vocals because the song itself has been set
out well, no matter how basic it actually is. Even the drippy guitar is
quite sweet.
‘Never Forget’ is moody indie with a fledgling synth wash. It has a
dignified air, and swirls around gently. ‘Just You And Me’ potters
along quite bravely given they’re not totally there in some aspects, and
sounds like a rough punky nephew of early Cure. ‘Lies’ then buzzes
around guided by the simple guitar impact, along with some quite
alarmingly poor bass but ends up emulating New Order’s delivery.
Odd.
‘Dark Night Of June’ stumbles on with the guitar lithe around a
moping synth and the vocals are all but flat out with dreaminess.
‘Tonight’ opens up a little, with a lusher atmosphere and more
assured, stretching vocals, although the mood retains a dour simplicity
which accentuates a pretty, downcast tune. ‘Deep In Frost’ has a wirier
punk snaking along low to the ground and grows in stature as it
builds, with keyboards adding a piquant twist to ‘Yesterday’s Over’,
with acoustic and violin graciously inflating the relaxing ‘You Kill
Me.’
‘Face The Truth’ is a bleak outing but its melodic sunny side, showing
them at their spryest, ‘Lost Words’ is a cross between a lo-fi Chris
Isaak and Joy Division, believe it nor, with a sleepily sultry air, before
ending with the delicate instrumental ‘Sunset At The Sea’ an unusual
but fitting ending for an album (although a droney punk number
finishes it off as a secret bonus) which will never appeal to people
who require everything nicely polished but those with a hankering for
‘Pristine’ finds Mark Gemini Thwaite joining in on guitar as a doomy
underswell nuzzles into sweet vocals and sleek drumming, with a
creamily uplifting
chorus and no way
to cut through the
ambivalent lyrics.
‘Watercolours’
swelled by a chorus
and Markus Türk on
trumpet is pretty
drifty indie. I can’t
quite relate to the
Quasi-Oasis feel
(i.e. Beatles Lite) as
that sluggish 60’s
retread never
breaches my
resolute mental
barrier. ‘Isolation’ is
a maudlin delicacy,
with Wayne Hussey
on vocals, and sleepily catchy and the intriguing, shadowy ‘Blue’ has
Rich Vernon on bass and soft curves around the central, ticking bomb
of despondency. ‘Goodbye Wildlife’ is an organic mid-paced jangler,
‘Raise Your Flags’ starts audaciously quiet with slumbering vocals
and gradually fades out, as befits a brave curio. ‘Slowdown’ is their
Stonesy stomper, all brown and sugary.
‘Sacre Coeur’ is a diminutive, dripping instrumental, then the
bleached western bones of ‘Miss America’ wail discordantly, then
smoothes out its wrinkles and builds towards some emotional wailing
like Bono in a nightmare, eventually dwindling away as it came in.
‘On A Trip To Elsewhere’ includes Georg Sehrbrock on all manner of
keyboards and Michael Von Hehl on what I assume are guitar
contributions, and it’s another deceptively leisurely piece which is
actually packed full of tiny details which keep you hooked in, lulled by
its genuine hypnotic beauty. ‘Silver Cross River’ manages to exhale
some blissful vocal drama, about something I can’t quite fathom, then
some old fashioned guitar bleeds into the mix, but the return to
normality is heartfelt and strangely touching.
They finish with echoes of something Pink Floydish in a semi-ambient
‘Lazy Moon’ which is a fitting close to a record so modest in tone but
deeply rewarding, and just a little mysterious.
www.myspace.com/deadguitars
www.deadguitars.com
PHOTO: Bartosz Sarama - yesternight.pl
WELCOME TO THE
PLEASUREDOOM
DEATHCAMP PROJECT made an impressive album in WELL KNOWN PLEASURES,
which I believe you need to track down, because the moods can be expressive and
encircling, the excitement wildly contagious, and that makes for a great band; noise
and atmosphere, and a lot of thought, as you will find from this interesting interview.
Translation: Pawel Chatizow
DEATHCAMP
PHOTO: Krzysztof Marianski
You always sound very confident, so how have things been
going leading up to the album? Brilliant? Or more than that?
Void: “Not quite. As you may know we were mixing and producing
‘Well-Known Pleasures’ ourselves. The process of giving birth to the
album was definitely too long and painful. We recorded first sounds in
2004, the album was ready in 2007, but in the end it was released in
2008. Hopefully this is behind us now and currently we are
concentrating on the ‘Well-Known Pleasures’’ successor. We hope that
this time things would be far more brilliant.”
Are you Poland’s most exciting band then?
Betrayal: “Probably yes (laugh), though there is a couple of really
good bands. For sure, we are one of the more recognizable and
characteristic Polish bands. But then, we can of course talk only of
rather underground popularity.”
What other bands there we should be looking out for?
B: “If we assume that in Poland there were 3 waves in which bands
were born, with which we identify and which created the alternative/
gothic scene in Poland, then the first wave, which represented the
sound of a border between post punk/cold wave, hit in the beginning
of the 80's and left us bands like Siekera (“Hatchet”), Madame,
Joanna Macabrescu, 1984, Made in Poland, Variete. The last three
still exist and to this day create music and for sure it is worth while to
take a closer look at their work - though for example Variete evolved
to such a degree, that today their music is something more of an avant
jazz.
”During the second half of the 90' a bit harsher form of gothic rock
became more popular, sometimes even turning towards gothic metal,
the forerunner of which was and still is Closterkeller. On the other
hand other bands formed which were bolder with inclusion of
electronics in their compositions, for example Fading Colours, which
turned during the end of the 90's from playing cold rock to genuine
dark wave. Currently they’ve returned after 10 years of silence, with
their new great album ‘Come’ in which dark inspirations meet psy
trance or even trip-hop.
“The new decade of ’00 was definitely more varied, first of all the
return of Polish cold wave - some really valuable bands were formed,
honouring the old school, like Wie|e Fabryk (“Factory Towers”), Eva
(now Hatestory), Psychoformalina - all of which had some regressive
sound, but at the same time refreshing. Also Miguel and the Living
Dead formed, one of the first Polish bands playing music of something
between psychobilly and deathrock, and Agonised By Love offering
more romantic sound, to finish with bands playing harsh electro - like
Red Emprez or Controlled Collapse.”
What pets have you got?
B: “I once had a pig but hopefully it moved out... Here I mean an ex
room-mate (laugh). But seriously - I like animals a lot, but my way of
life and often business trips etc. would not allow me to take care of my
pet the way I should.”
V: “I am an animal love and in my house there is all the time an
ongoing debate about having a cat, dog or even a rabbit. Currently
though I don’t own any - similarly to Betrayal’s case my way of live
doesn’t allow it.”
PROJECT
PHOTO: Piotr Kempa
“The anxiety and something
unidentifiable, dreadful. A moment of total
resignation, anger close to madness.”
You’re all weepy in ‘Another’ – that’s not confidence, that’s
misery which seems to be half the songs I hear these
days.
Why is there some daft woman at the start of ‘Rule And
Control’ and this is the complete opposite from the first
song lyrically. Are you fantasizing?
V: “The Dualism of human nature. We can be confident but still in
some situations do not handle things the way we would like to.
‘Another’ is a song both about passing away and the repeatability,
cyclicity of certain things. The subject which is perpetual and trivial as
life and death, but still affecting us every day. First euphoria, then
routine, doubt, indifference, end...and all over again. New beginning,
new love, new, conscious life, and in it we - richer and smarter through
experience. Ready to face everything again, not making the same
mistakes. New path, on which despite our efforts, we will probably
again repeat the same scenario - make the mistakes made by us in the
past or those of our parents, those we swore not to repeat in our
lives.”
V: “Of course! We are just some sad old Goths. The world took
everything from us already, life is slowly taking away the rest - can’t
we afford a bit of fantasizing ourselves?” (laugh)
B: “When it comes to music layer of ‘Another’, I agree with you
100% - one can hear something like that in about half of all gothic
songs... but that is exactly what we wanted to attain. When it comes to
“classic gothic song” it is very hard to come up with something new
and original. Deep vocals, leading bass, backing vocals during
refrains, guitar styled at early The Sisters of Mercy. It is our tribute to
good old British school of gothic rock - without even trying to be
original. Besides nobody in Poland plays like that, so certainly it is
one of the factors which distinguish us at our home scene.”
‘Mirrors Of Pain’ is another song which pushes us around,
but in the lyrics there’s more loneliness?
V: “‘Mirrors of Pain’ is a song inspired by a nightmare, a vision
similar to that in which you hold a mirror in hand and direct it towards
another one, ending up with infinite number of copies of your own
image, while in a way holding your own portrait in your hand. Dream,
from which you can’t get out, and when you open your eyes you see
yourself sleeping... a bit like in The White Stripes’ video – ‘Seven
Nation Army’.”
‘Away From You’ is an interesting mixture with a strange
mood. I will trust you to explain why that is.
V: “It’s a heavy and gloomy song - a bit continuing the thoughts and
atmosphere of ‘Another’ - but in comparison to it, there is a spark of
light slowly emerging out of the heavy dose of pessimism. It’s like a
landscape after a catastrophe - after the dust felt down, turmoil faded
away, the sun slowly starts to look through the clouds.”
B: “I think it depends on which country he currently is... being on a
trip to Poland - God would drink vodka for sure (laugh)”
V: “Indeed we do. The song tells about a situation, in which we are a
neutral witness and which does not affect us directly. But still in our
hearts we do not agree with the situation - almost feeling disdain
towards that stance. The feeling that soon everything will come to
light overwhelms us. This kind of message, that “you can think that
you fooled them all”, but there is always someone near who knows
and is looking at you from behind.”
‘Circle Of Silence’ – it’s got another interesting rustling,
creepy atmosphere. Give us an idea of how something like
this develops and comes into being. It’s also obviously
something very personal?
‘Fuckin’ Deathrock’ – well, someone’s got you angry. I
assume troublesome nuns have been lining your street
sweetly imploring you to sing some more Deathrock for
them? Why so angry?
V: “Hahaha I wouldn’t put it in words better - exactly like that. There
is a couple of ‘nuns’ like that in the neighbourhood. The song has this
ironic taste - dirty punk/deathrock sound and a dose of cynical sense
of humour. A kind of a manifest and protest against (according to us)
an artificial division of scene and music. A never-ending tale of
labelling us, trying to tell us what we are or should be according to
someone.”
‘Divine Words’ is a great rush of a song, but are you sure
you heard God, you were drunk after all. Any idea what he
was saying?
V: “Yes of course - he ordered us to cease any flirting with the
deathrock genre (laugh).”
What does God drink?
V: “I’ll inform you as soon as I get to know it.”
V: “It is one of our oldest songs. I was inspired to write it by a real
event. The death of someone close to me. The anxiety and something
unidentifiable, dreadful. A moment of total resignation, anger close to
madness.”
B: “The first, definitely poorer version of ‘Circle of Silence’ appeared
on our first demo ‘End’ in 2001. Practically all the music there was
fashioned in a similar way, in that gloomy atmosphere. That was
strongly connected to from where exactly did Deathcamp Project come
BOTH PHOTOS: Bartosz Sarama - check out the fantastic www.yesternight.pl site.
‘Behind’ – who’s that about? I don’t expect a name, just
give us an idea, as you sound quite vengeful here.
PHOTO: Piotr Kempa
www.myspace.com/deathcampproject
respect to it as we can. It was similar during the recording of the
material for ‘Well-Known Pleasures’. We are happy that the majority
of the reviews of our performance of this song are positive. It means
that we were able to attain out goal - we gave a well deserved tribute
to Joy Division - while not desecrating their masterpiece.”
2009 – is it going to be epic for you?
V: “Let’s hope so! We are going again to perform at the Castle Party the biggest Goth festival in East-Central Europe, and also we are
going to be a headliner at Night Side festival in Prague, Czech
Republic. We plan to release an EP and to record a couple of new
songs for our second album - at this time we already recorded 4 of
them. And also I need to say that we hope to be more active when it
comes to concerts this autumn. We hope that we will be able to play in
a couple of new places and to visit those in which we already had a
chance to play, let’s hope UK too. We will see...”
‘Dead Hours’ - a sacrifice? You ‘see everything’? What is it
that you’re seeing?
V: “It is not important what do I see, it is important what do you see
when you close your eyes. This few simple words give a lot of space
for interpretation, while projecting the state of mind I was in while
writing this text. It is a song about waiting. Waiting for what is
inevitable, inescapable. We wait hoping for a positive solution while
the subconsciousness gives us the most logical and worse possible
scenario. A fight between common sense, consciousness and faith,
hope.”
‘New Dawn Fades’ – well moody, and strangely beautiful,
so how did you approach doing this cover?
V: “Thank you for these words. ‘Unknown Pleasures’ is one of the
first records I consciously listened to, an immense impression it made
on me lasts to this day. I don’t like doing covers - far more better I like
creating own new material. But ‘New Dawn Fades’ is a very special
song for me - one of those I always wanted to sing. We wanted our
interpretation to bring in something new while not loosing the tragic
and the spirit of the original version. We cared much about an intimate
and full of respect performance. We wanted to underline as much as
possible the emotional load this song has. We gave it all we could and
I’m very happy because of your opinion.”
B: “‘New Dawn Fades’ is one of the most important songs for us simultaneously one of the most beautiful of Joy Division. Each time
we play it during concerts we always try to put as much attention and
PHOTO: Bartosz Sarama - www.yesternight.pl
from - it was suppose to be a home studio project, and the main
inspiration of the ‘End’ was an impact made on us by the Christian
Death’s album ‘Prophecies.’ I recorded a couple of songs to which
Void created vocal lines and lyrics. Quite soon after doing the first
demo we stopped to treat Deathcamp Project as a side project (we
have to mention that during the time DP was starting to get it’s shape
- we both played in another band). I think it’s that ‘fresh attitude’, but
with a big dose of ‘youthful inspiration’ which gives birth to songs
like that.”
THE DELEGATES
SHELTER FROM THE HARD RAIN
Bristol Archive Records
This is an unusual band in the Bristol Archives series as they’re late
eighties, and seemingly ran aground at the very end of that decade, so
it’s a whole different ball game, more rocky than Post-Punk. I’d stop
reading now if I were you.
Some fluttering brass keeps ‘Mr God’ from sounding too much like
Jesus Jones, and it is a rocky chokehold on the vocals, so Claytown
fans might go for this, but ‘Original Sin’ sounds like some truly
hamfisted Waterboys so I’m not
looking forward to this. ‘Never
Going Home’ starts getting a
little more believable, feeling
crackling among the MOR rock
folds, but ‘I Need You’ has
lyrics as vacuous as Bon Jovi at
their worst and my patience has
rapidly worn so thin that….well,
the rest of the songs are called
‘My Love’, ‘Highlander’,
‘Shelter’, ‘Living In A Different
World’, ‘Take Me’, ‘Leaving It
All Behind’, ‘The Way It Goes’
and ‘Look At You Now.’ I’m wasting no more words on this.
If you were into them you’ll enjoy knowing this exists. The rest of you
can move swiftly on. Nothing to see, nothing to hear, as it’s all very
forgettable. Hopefully.
http://bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/
The_Delegates_biog.html
DEVOLUTION MAGAZINE (+CD) #21 £3.00
The information may not always be useful but you can learn things
from magazines, such as Children Of Bodom being ‘Finland’s finest
Metal titans.’ It sounds almost a hippyish name to me, but if they have
titans down in their passport, which I trust they do, who am I to
judge? On the other end of the social spectrum you’ll find a cute news
mention of the Swindon Goth Meet (www.swingoth.co.uk for
anyone localish), so all life is here, in glorious colour, and the issue
manages to feel even glossier.
Loads of reviews, in which you can hear that Cannibal Corpse blew
Finland’s mightiest titans offstage and think yourself lucky you were
nowhere near the
Hellfire Festival, a well
intentioned article
traipsing through Gothrelevant genres, an illnamed The Dirty
Youth, Mick Priestley
of The Green River
Project does the Saint
Or Sinner? page, a
deadly serious
Godhead, and a look at
Katatonia.
Poison The Well are,
well, stoked, frankly,
36Crazyfists are a bit
different but I think
One-Eyed Doll waltz
away with the biggest
impact quite easily,
even though we also
get Therapy? who I figured were dead and buried ages ago. Still we
learn….
Lifestyle-wise, there’s the Brighton Tattoo Convention, models
Nitrogene and Giselle Bourignon, an enchantingly weird spread of
bouquets, cake presentations and ice things, for odd nuptial
celebrations, photographer Dean Wilkinson, Club Antichrist spotlight/
spotlit, and artist Aunia Kahn (a nicely strange thing indeed), as well
as part 5 of Plucking Hellfire which I still don’t get!
There’s also a CD, which is recommended ‘Summer listening.’ I’ll bet.
Loads of half-arsed metal kids who spent half their time playing that
Guitar Hero thing while weeing on their Nintendo?
Let us see.
THE DIRTY YOUTH wee all over ‘Requiem Of The Drunk’,
TRIAXIS idle through the painful metal bombast of ‘Aurora’,
dreaming of concept albums to come, DROWNED IN FLAMES rustle
creepily through ‘Another Day In Hell’ while their drummer builds a
shed and their singer seems to be eating his arm. BLIND AMBITION
are actually quite sweet in the well thought out ‘Judgement Day’,
although that’s probably not their intention, but far better than the
hideous noise ATTICA RAGE manage in the first half of ‘First Life’,
which crawls back to interest late on.
DRAGKING’s ‘Cocksucker’ is a waste of space, BREED are pretty
predictable in the shaking, raking ‘Hate Culture’ but the bass is cool
and it’s brief. GODSIZED are ghastly in ‘Fight & Survive’, but in a
raw, good way, making you marvel at their measured tenacity.
IRUKANDJI are noisy but too bland in ‘Turning The Blood’ as I
suspect many prog metal bands from Norwich are.
EVESTUS are interestingly demented throughout the ever-changing,
twisted ‘Nothing’, LYCAN opt for a wee waterfall in ‘Clouds Of
Deceit’, QUARTERBLIND have rasping nonsense called ‘Bleeding
The Guilty’ but RESIST save your brain with the catchily tutored
‘Tattooed.’ DEVILUTION twirl and bicker stylishly in ‘Devil In Me’,
HEADKASE slink the carnivalesque ‘Cocaine And Caffeine’ away
and THE SHANKLIN FREAK SHOW’s exclusive ‘This Ain’t A
Love Song’ makes for a wickedly winsome closer, so you see it’s
usually worth sticking through the pain for the good stuff as the record
builds to a decent finish.
www.devolutionmagazine.co.uk
www.myspace.com/devolutionmagazine
DEVOLUTION Issue
22 £3.00
The large interviews are Metal-friendly, as you’d expect, so there’s
The 69 Eyes in poll position, flanked by Theatre Of Tragedy, with
decent pieces on Leaves’ Eyes and Epica. The smaller items mix the
content up more, perusing 45 Grave, Lahannya, Maleficent, The Eden
House, alongside tinier slivers on Pysdoll, TyLean, Omega Lithium
and Diablo Swing Orchestra.
Colourful, varied, with an
odd CD, so that’s good,
yes? Well, you’re half
right.
There’s a stab at some lifestyle accoutrements, with jewellery and
knick-knacks but in a magazine this small I think they should bin that
for more music as it could have doubled the three brisk live reviews
included (NIN, KMDFM, Specimen), and while I am honoured to be
mentioned in the dvd/books section, if the mag remains at 16 pages I
think that could be dropped for more mentions of unsigned bands
(here represented by Fangs On Fur, Methodcell, Psydoll and
Touchstone) as something like Dominion can really help bands reach a
broader audience. The reviews are all lively with twelve records
covered – Theatre Of Tragedy, Anni Hogan, VNV Nation, Diablo
Swing Orchestra, Dope Stars Inc., Lahannya, Letz Instanz, Lunacy
Box, Kirlian Camera, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Tapping The Vein
and Witchbreed.
It starts with an
interesting switch on the
norm, with ‘alternative’
male model Seef, tons of
reviews, Part 3 of a What
Is Goth? Examination,
with a look at how shit the
UK is. Laura Billing
shows some historically
inspired photo-surreality,
and the Dolls ‘n’ Divas
cards project is cute,
although maybe too twee?
Micky Satiar of Dear Superstar cops the Saint Or Sinner? Page,
before I nodded off during the Download Festival report. Mick
Priestly pops up in the middle and there’s a CD included of his band
The Green River Project. You’ll get a sneak preview of the
‘Doghouse’ movie (Dan Schaffer/Jake West). On other lifestyle
matters, you have The Alt Collective which seemed a nice idea, albeit
slightly baffling, a report on Heresy ‘n’ Heelz, model Wednesday,
photographer Elliott Morgan and Purpur Fashion, before Acey Slade
shows how optimism and effort works for bands. Then it’s the musical
meat of the issue with The Birthday Massacre, Spinnerette, VNV
Nation, Maleficent, a fairly unnecessary look back at Placebo, and
possibly the geekiest looking band in the world, Cancer Bats.
If this can continue it is A Very Good Thing Indeed, as it is refreshing
to see a Metal mag giving up some space in this manner, and monthly
status would be even better.
I couldn’t find a Dominion-specific url, so for the first time in my life
I type:
www.myspace.com/dominionmagazine
www.terrorizer.com
EL CLAN
NADIE ESTA MEJOR MUERTA
Discos Intolerancia
It’s bright and bubbly throughout. Great fun.
The CD is a five track offering of The Green River Project and their
retro-rock. ‘Dig Your Grave’, ‘No Return’ ‘Interlude: The Flight Of
The Bumblebee’, ‘’Nowhere To Run’ and ‘Summer – Presto.’ It’s so
horrendous I resent such shite being in the house, and it will be in the
bin outside before you have read this!
www.devolutionmagazine.co.uk
www.myspace.com/deolvutionmagazine
DOMINION Magazine
This new slim Goth magazine comes free inside TERRORIZER
magazine #189 (October), alongside a free CD (thankfully not sent
my way), and a Paradise Lost/Arch Enemy Poster. A welcome aid to
the Goth scene in general, appearing on a quarterly basis, it is written
and edited by Joy Lasher, who
you may know by other names.
16 colour pages, it is pretty
much stuffed full of content,
mirroring the Terrorizer style
generally, who don’t seem to
waste an inch of their pages, and
all highly professional. There
isn’t massive UK content, so it’s
good to see Maleficent get the
cover, as it is to find an
interesting news story, in
Griffinvox’s Greenpeace-backed
green campaign, Goth For
Earth.
www.myspace.com/
goth_for_earth
Here’s an interesting band from Mexico, formed in 1991, debut album
in 1993, appeared at the first Goth festival in Mexico City with The
Last Dance and Human Drama, and gone from strength to strength,
offering some very noirish rock, as things follow fairly conventional
routes, but delivered with a dignified passionate sensitivity.
‘Nada Por Arder’ has punchy-drunken vocals woes, gliding
dramatically into play across a gentle throb of a tune which instils a
very cool atmosphere, then the drums agitate as the guitar oscillates
into action. ‘Parallel Worlds (Beware Of The Tree Of Science)’ is one
of the songs sung in English and I like their direct stance –
‘Knowledge and ignorance, Humbleness and arrogance, Crop fields
and land mines, Virginia Tech post-Columbine, Computers and bomb
cars, Innocence and soul scars, We can go into space, We can blow up
this place.’ They writhe in subtle fashion, reminding me much of
anther cool dark rock entity, Secrecy, and then hit out like The Mission
on heat. Serious themes obviously litter the album, although I miss it
all due to the language, but there’s quotes throughout the booklet from
Camus, Orwell, Philip K. Dick, Maximus, Jorge Luis Borges,
Flaubert, Baudelaire, Dumas and a host of others who I have never
heard of.
‘Embals-ámame’ is some demure rock, with a sly catchy chorus and
some rocky guitar outbursts but things are kept fairly low key.
‘Arcadia’ has a similarly sedate start but then starts to spill over into
flamboyant vocal decorative outpourings as the guitar mooches
magnificently, creating a weird hybrid. There’s no denying some of the
guitar touches are very rock, but the setting in which that exists is
rather unusual, keeping you constantly on your toes and it’s brilliantly
worked out.
‘Vengo Del Interior’ is prettier, the keys picking away behind the
vocals and the glinting guitar, and although I don’t know what it’s
about it’s clear we have a serious story being played out in genteel
surroundings, but heavy with meaning and there are grim twists
‘Express The Inexpressible’ has more quivering rage at human
stupidity, with splendid guitar poise, shadowy bass and a dry, filmic
sense of portentous momentum and the vocals certainly get quite
frantic just before the abrupt end. ‘Detrás Del Himalaya’ sounds a bit
like The Police (!) and it actually does seem like a slow motion
‘Message In A Bottle’ (without any gross, hyperventilating chorus)
although I can’t imagine that was the intention. It reasserts its own
individuality with some smart singing, elegant guitar and rhythmical
buzziness, confidently climbing up steep, inhospitable terrain.
towards the end. ‘Crash On Ego’ is odd, with some weirdly wavering
guitar set against the most placid and charming melodic vocal
approach imaginable. It’s like the sunniest little pop ballad! ‘Carpe
Diem (Vox Tanatos)’ returns to sounding concerned and anguished,
eventually purring into some flame-grilled metal seething, and lusty
vocal grimacing.
I don’t know what ‘Sed De Fuego’ is about but Ricardo Lasalla really
lets rip with the vocal pan over its stately deportment, then ‘Ajenjo’
takes us back to the odder grandiloquent ballad stage, richly
impressive and artistically teasing at the close. ‘Abduction (I & II)’
comes on like mood music for a Dan Brown movie, down in the
cloisters, only for some spindly but effervescent gawf guitar to burrow
its way out as it takes off, returning to some introspective mystery
then streaming off for a fizzy finish. And so an absorbing album
actually ends with ‘Ahora’, some spicy rock showiness percolating
through a intricate introduction, with doomier bass and guitar cutting
into centre stage, the vocals light but driven by feeling flooding
through, drums flashing coyly, guitar glittering, everyone clumping
deliciously to a curious, evaporating denouement. Really weird,
through mixing the wholly conventional and the emotionally stirring,
and really unusual musically, creating either subdued sentimental
studies, or ravishing rips in the noir fabric. That works for me.
www.elclan.org.mx ~ www.myspace.com/elclanmx
My favourite amber rings (in case you needed to know).
We attended a medieval day at Sissinghurst Castle
Garden. The man on the left has good reason to
fall because blunt-ended or not an arrow in the
bollocks is no laughing matter (apart from to all
women present!).
ELECTRIC GUITARS
JOLTS
Bristol Archive
‘Eternal Youth’ is an unusual opener for an unusual indie band who
shimmer with intelligent energy, keeping the songs restrained but
bulbous ideas-wise. The backing vocals irritate through being
overplayed and merely repeating the title 4endlessly. It’s just got a
nicely dark melodic flow. The jabbering vocal stance used early in
‘Genghis Khan’ is very David Byrne, which must still have appeared
new at the time, because there’s nothing copyist about the band
elsewhere, and indeed the song develops to an enthralling close, with
witty keyboards and winsome guitar. The gentle sing-song capering of
‘Cloud 9’ is equally interesting, fractured and oddly filmic.
This band ran ’79-’83 and, coincidentally, I saw the Dancing Did play
with them, with Electric
Guitars were also
unfortunate enough to be
on Stiff Records. It was
that era, where people just
started becoming wholly
individual and wilfully
perverse. Cheekily wispy
keyboards lift ‘Voice of
Sound’ well and then off it
wiggles, incorporating a
brief train and shivery
vocals, the whole song
appear to flicker.
‘Scrap That Car’ happened to be recorded when the singer had his
balls trapped in a vice, but he carries on regardless and they go loopily
funk, which is a happy habit of theirs. Like Gang Of 4 without the
academia. ‘Stamp Out The Termites’ has a ditsy, plinky pop thing
going for it, but the keyboards add a queasier feel to it, and the
individual instruments do tend to have a tweak and twinge here to
always just shake up the jittery silliness, and threaten to take the song
somewhere weirder.
‘Start Up The New Life’ has some gorgeously Star Trek style
keyboards going for it, as well as a snakey rhythm but ‘Food’ is pretty
annoying, bordering on ‘quirky’ pop, and nobody needs that, yet once
again the fantastic keyboards make it something memorable. Richard
Truscott, take a bow!
‘Ja Ja Lunar Commander’ has a bit of Star Wars no doubt, so we’ll
pass over that on principle, into the squeaky madness of ‘Interference’
that could even be a demented cuckoo clock. ‘Fat Man’ glides around
like a headless XTC, and wit the watery guitar ‘Language Problems’
faffs around a bit too pretend-dippy for its own good, trying hard to be
interesting and negaging pop, but not quite getting there, like early
Wham! With a toothache. Although there are voices off, ‘Don’t Wake
The Baby’ is essentially a reggae instrumental and makes for another
strange twist on this corkscrewed record.
I gather they only released some singles apart from this and so, like
the mighty Dids, they were snuffed out too early. Interesting band, if
slightly maddening.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/
Electric_Guitars.html
In the summer we have to keep a recuperation bowl handy for the frogs we
rescue from our cats. And this year a surprise, in the form of a cute toad.
ELLA JO
ALTER EGO
Diamond Seeds
Awakening’ slips away without really grabbing me, but it’s a blissful
little number, ‘He Who Dares Wins’ is some scampering weirdness,
and the moodier ‘Can’t Happen’ makes for a smooth ending but they
could have reversed these final two for a stronger finish.
I wanted to wait until I’d reviewed the UK Decay album before
covering this, as Spon is involved with it. Ella’s later album, the
excellent ‘Limits Of Milk Weed’, was covered here a few weeks back,
and now here we have a more demure affair.
‘Anytime’ is light and airy jazzy pop, delicately and easily catchy,
with more roominess and rhythmical boominess to the dusty but
urgent ‘Shock To My Senses’ which boasts modest but strikingly
pretty vocals. ‘Cut Me Down’ is equally charming but with some
spirited truculence going on, then after a weird sample about
flatlanders the gentle ‘Memories In Red’, perfumed by cool bass, is
slick, sweet and surprisingly brief.
The rightly diminutive
‘Little White Shell’ is
succulent and for a while,
I kid you not, like a
grubby version of Wham!,
then ‘Prayer Of Isis’ does
a heartfelt folky thing
which is very cute.
Militaristic visions crackle
through the noisy
‘Dissolver’ which shapeshifts from smoky
desolation to buzzy drum
and bass patterns. ‘The
The odd thing is how little she throws full focus on her voice, the
strongest element involved, which shows how important she believes
the effect of the songs must be. That’s the sign of a true artist.
ELLA JO
LIMITS OF MILK WEED
Diamond Seeds
Some people are strange, with an ability to move in and around
various styles, either in cunning disguise, exploring to stretch
themselves, or because they have so many interests they need to rove
at will. One such person is Ella here, who abseils down credible styles,
then swims leisurely through the occasional commercial caprice.
Guiding and abiding is none other than Steve Spon who played on,
then produced and engineered it, and Terry Bartlett is equally
important having provided some of the songs. Put all that together and
what you have is quite lovely.
The notes on her myspace page indicate her travelling obsession,
around the world in appreciation of the natural and mystical, although
the album has a spicier feel. ‘Amarylis’ moves off a carnival start into
unravelling pop freefall, with fresh and buzzy insertions making the
creamily sinuous ‘Sub Plane High Way’ constantly appealing.
Although Ella optimistically mentions Holiday and Bassey on her
page I hear a cool Morcheeba empathy in ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, both in
the vocal silk and the warm guitar.
‘Goodbye To The Monsoon’ is as fabulous as it is fascinating,
conjuring up the ghost of Suzanne Vega as it is vocals only, which gets
better the longer it goes along. This is something quite special.
‘Dancing In The Shade’ will cheer up any All About Eve fans,
graciously doomed, emotional travails shot through with glossy
vocals. ‘Perception’ skitters around like a shamanic Bauhaus chillout,
but the mood changes weirdly with the dozy pop of ‘Heartbreak Girls’
which is part Soho when good, and part Irene Cara when ordinary.
‘Himalaya’ offers us sincere and moody folky pop, ‘Must Be A
Mystery’ gets by on the loping uplift because the jaunty charm makes
up for the trite lyrics, and we slip out to ‘Diamonds Don’t Go’ with an
interesting nagging beat and epiglottal fun, a deeply inviting tune and
a great end.
I don’t hear a lot of music like this but I always judge its effectiveness
on how much the music seems to transport me. In this case I’d say
more than half the tracks had me losing concentration on what I was
working on while it was playing, and it takes a lot to drag my focus
sideways.
www.ephemeralmists.com
There’s a curious variety on this record, linked by her vocals,
obviously, and with the exception of one track I found it all interesting
and enjoyable. There are two more albums available and hopefully I’ll
get the chance to review those shortly.
www.myspace.com/ellajotaro
EPHEMERAL MISTS
MOON RITUAL
Mythical
This is Brett Branning, known elsewhere for his music with The
Synthetic Dream Foundation and Abandoned Toys. He can do
electronics to classical but here dallies with a New Age/World
approach to Ambient, which means that by relying one existing
musical traditions it has form and substance, and allows for
exploration and cross-fertilisation. This means ‘Awakening Spirits’
has surges of energy working within uplifting Eastern washes of sound
and perky percussion, so you get Tibet mixing with India, Western
bass synth patterns mixing with Arabian dreams. All very attractive.
‘Eastern Channels’ is a fast, fluid spacey dance piece like chilloutplus. Very seductive. ‘Transcendental Visions’ is a light tangle of
Eastern atmospheres. Very dreamy. ‘Gardens Of Reflection’ shimmers
but echoes and sways, building its powerbase cautiously, and softly
seething. Very hypnotic. ‘Rain Sculpted Dreams’ isn’t remotely wet,
but churns on a healthy pulse. Very Incan. ‘Where The Wind Is Born’
has more shuffling rhythm and plaintive pipes. Very mysterious.
‘Moon Ritual’ itself then sees us out politely with quixotic bustling
and subtle ululations. Very.
FADING COLOURS
COME
Big Blue Records
A curious band, Fading Colours long ago left the flushed Goth sounds
they did so well and, as the press release admits, have gone to
investigate trip hop, trance, ambient and oriental styles, but who
hasn’t, let’s face it? The cold edge is still there in their sound, no
matter widely styles move, and it’s rarely still enough for trance/
ambient, too electronica-rock for any triphop sensitivity. Instead it’s a
bleary, gritty 2CD set divided into the two presumed states. The first
is called ‘I Had To Come’, the second, shorter disc ‘Time Of
Returning.’
‘Thorn’ is peculiar, having set a roving and eerie mood it allows bright
synth notes to accentuate a shift into a more curvaceous deportment,
but with the rhythm remaining plain and moving straight on, the
vocals clipped and stern when they appear as we all move down a dark
tunnel together. ‘(I Had To) Come’ quivers with some floating singing
delicious strung between spiky guitar and oily, spreading bass and as
the guitar assumes some phased dominance the vocals scatter and
ascend. ‘Be An Angel Again’ is dancier, the vocals swirling and
higher, in keeping with what they best known for, with ‘Fade Away’
more brooding, but just as catchy in a steady-drip manner.
‘Distingmiproba’ heads for the bazaar and slides as it glides, brief
ululations mixing with a crunchy synth sediment.
‘Seems Strange’ indicates we’re on a journey of sound as we’re now
thicker and bolder with an internal energy and conspiratorial vocals, a
space of optimism only appearing at the very finish, then into the
oblique electronic buzz of ‘Salamantra’ with male vocals having fun.
‘Teutonic Girl’ then takes the fun and churns it into further slithering,
spacey dance shapes with a pounding density rather than anything
fleet of foot. ‘Priestess Of The Unfulfilled’ stays busy but essentially
sedate until vocals fracture at the finish and we find ourselves
accompanied by an initially delicate ‘Rose’ which throws aside
ethereal sackcloth to incorporate a vexatious spirit. ‘Be An
Angel…Again’ has a more outright club dance skip to its jaunty killer
steps, and then the minxier, cheekier ‘Feel’ burns and bustles us out
Things take a turn for the luxuriant and deviantly exciting when we hit
the Time Of Returning disc as ‘Eager House’ is a saucy dance outing
with slippery cuts and purring vocal stretchiness. The music comes
alive and goes into sinuous ecstasy. ‘My Lips Flourish With Fire’
extended the same approach, then ‘Sirensong’ gets a wirier guitar
infusion and rotating vocal rush. ‘Time Of Returning’ itself is a dub
growler of a classic cut. ‘Drop That Mask’ returns to dankly dancey
contusions, the vocals constantly buffeted between synth agitation,
then ‘SaLIEva’ drifts contentedly out doing the same.
It’s a weird record, the two sides distinctly separate in style, with the
vocals seemingly ambiguous, when De Coy has one of the greatest
voices out there, yet gets to have so little effect.
approach. Raw vocals lean out over a glittery balcony and rant at the
baying imagined populace blow. Stylish and a little freaky.
The shouty chorus of ‘Bullet Train’ is the liveliest part of their more
orthodox sound, in which the synth can add the bright lights through
the grumpy steroidal pop but in a way that’s no blight, because their
songs are quite basic for all the life, and all but supercharged when
they get energetic which means it’s right in your face and quite
unavoidable. ‘Come On, Come Out’ rolls along anguished in an
interesting, gutted way with a chattering chorus still slipped in,
although ‘Still Alive’ is more interesting in that it steps firmly aware
from the dance groove and comes on like a post-punk country furore
and with an other utterly beautiful chorus, which is a ludicrous turn of
events. The vocals sound a bit weird exposed like this, but that’s
obviously his voice.
‘Connections’ purrs noisily on another dance excursion, like frothy
club jousting, empty-headed and spinning. ‘One’s Not Enough’ is a
gnashing jumble, complete with vocal hoarsemanship and keys
treading darkly, and ‘Pretty Mess’ is an artier slab of noise, so they’re
breaking up their own territory strangely. ‘Yaz & Alize’ dances off
with itself, ‘Don’t Kill For Me’ weeps softly, and a little spookily,
with delicate touches and memorable trickles. ‘Bar Fly’ is fun,
reminds me of that Scandinavian hiphop lot who did the great vid
where the kid on the train finds he can fast forward and rewind the
people around him. No idea what they were called. ‘Win, Loose, Die’
ends it in a way I wasn’t expecting, a winsome traipse over an
acoustic with a wilting bar room vocal collapse. Very cute.
It’s still strange that they oscillate wildly in fractious kitsch dance, yet
also have other elements that smack plaintive qualities around, as this
gives you almost as much frustration as it does fun, but having plenty
of fun is no a crime.
www.myspace.com/femmefatality
www.myspace.com/fadingcolours
FEMME FATALITY
ONE’S NOT ENOUGH
Stickfigure
‘Introduction’ slaps you with a corny electro interpretation of rap style
in a desperate 80’s style, and before you’ve had a chance to react they
frisk through the spiky, loopy ‘Lucky Lover’ and this ruthlessly
spanked behind of a song glows red in the mania of their mental
FIXION
EN LA OSCURIDAD
Fonam/Sondor
It makes you all warm and tingly to hear a real Goth band in full flow,
the power surging, the vocals controlled and confident, the guitars
bright and busy, the drums hard, the bass positive. That’s Fixion to a
tee as they ease past the instrumental enigma of ‘Cenizas’ to purr and
pound through ‘Tierra Abandonada’, occasionally dropping back to
stillness before rebuilding. Gothic glories from Uruguay, you know it
makes sense.
The vocals start contentedly slumped across some grazed guitar as
‘En La Oscuridad’ crawls from a stoop to twirl infectiously, the guitar
flying into abrupt silence, the bass creeping beneath its flamboyant
darkness which is kept in its place by the atmosphere the vocals
themselves create, where they don’t wish to push out, but stay
enclosed. By contrast the pulsating ‘(No) Quierro Ser Dios’ has the
polite vocals tossed by vitriolic guitar which has a beautiful
understanding of audio keyhole surgery, notes twisted taut and lustful,
keyboards fluttering in to stir the mixture as the bass rolls, the vocals
whisper. It’s a dramatic sound, without excess, as everything works to
accentuate the saucy skeleton of sound.
‘No Me Puedo Perder’ is rockier, in its upright stance, but the vocals
fall away in an even sweeter fashion, and the tone could almost be
ambient-plus, with a reassuringly yearning chorus and palpitating
guitar, and they’re doing Goth the way it was, and is, without allowing
anything daft to get in the way. They have the melodic imagination
keep it varied, they have the understanding of evocative noir, where a
feeling can be conjured, without losing any of the energy.
‘El Amor Es Un Juego’ gyrates angrily, the singer crouched as the
wiry guitar burns brightly, under your skin and wriggling there within
seconds. ‘Contigo Hasta La Muerte’ is comparably relaxed, despite its
statuesque qualities, then they wander through ‘Up’ with gruff
twinges but with a dominant female vocal skipping across the
wasteland.
‘Sed Y Sangre’ also goes the more rock route, but circles back on
itself well, avoiding bombast. ‘En Blanco’ is all scooped out and
shadowy but still clamouring smartly, the rhythm nice and creepy.
‘Abre Tus Labios’ keeps tense throughout, as light at times as it
lethal, in with the sin crowd.
They finish with a cunningly angular cover of ‘Severina’, bursting
with life but also tucking itself out of sight between surges, showing
they do things their own, which has to be applauded.
A delightful album, highly recommended.
www.fixionweb.com
www.myspace.com/fixionweb
FOR ONE NIGHT ILLEGALLY
The History Of The Bootleg (Radio 4)
FOR ONE NIGHT ILLEGALLY – The History Of The Bootleg
(Radio 4)
Bootlegs then snooker, that’s the way it went. Originally it was just
snooker, but I was a kid when I managed to con the idiots at the
Lucania in Hounslow into giving me a membership, and from about
12 or 13 I would go there every Saturday morning, or during holidays,
to play snooker, because it seemed like a secret and unseemly world in
there, which indeed it was in its own languorous way. Then I got the
vaguest of vague interests in music and the fact I found the bootleg
stall outside the manky Bell pub directly opposite the Lucania meant it
was within easy reach and so became my first port of call, often
shortly after the bloke had set his wares out.
Will you look at all this rubbish, I thought? That’s how it was then,
and would actually still be now, because you know the staple bootleg
diet hasn’t changed much. Pink Floyd, Lez Zeppelin, Dylan, The
Stones with possibly Springsteen elbowing his way in alongside, for
some reason, Pearl Jam! Things change slowly in the world of the
mass produced bootleg. Back then it was vinyl of course, and they
always cost two to three times the price of a normal elpee. They also
always came in a plain white sleeve with either a pinky mauve or
green square paper design stuck to the front, thereby looking pretty
much as crap as they sounded.
I was first taken by the sight of an Alice Cooper bootleg and
immediately shelled out for it, only to discover it was absolutely
bloody atrocious when I got home, and I went straight back the next
week demanding a refund, which he had the nerve to refuse, although
he did eventually relent and let me swap. I think I got a Rick Derringer
one, which was even worse. I went straight back and demanded a
refund, which he refused, and so on. I got to hear a lot of rubbish this
way. And it was rubbish, so I‘d been right all along, but the thrill of
getting these illegal records was a palpable inducement and I kept
returning.
Eventually the tide of dross changed. I’d managed to get a cute Kiss
bootleg single, which was quite hideous, but on the b-side included
them doing that ‘Winchester Cathedral’ song at a soundcheck, which
was mind-boggling, and a Patti Smith boot from the Roundhouse,
which was the real deal, a genuinely exciting record, existing as a
vivid snapshot of music in action, which is <i>why</i> bootlegs are
so special. Then he got the ‘Spunk’ bootleg which is far better than
the official Pistols album, and so on.
After that I wasn’t just buying bootlegs there, but in Albatross in
Kensington Market, run by DJ Ian Fleming, he of the Marquee, who
happily sold Panache in his shop, and also kept back copies of
bootlegs for me to have first go at, as well hanging around Soho
market, down the very end of Portobello (outside what would become
Betta Badges), and Camden generally. I also started recording gigs as
and when I could, although as it had been decreed I was Panache’s
photographer I couldn’t record as well as take photos, so I didn’t
record nearly as many gigs as I wanted to. Also it was a fucking pain
to be honest. Trying to get a tape recorder into most gigs when the
recorder in question was
about ten inches square
wasn’t the easiest thing
to do. That said, there
are 1977 recordings out
there of Generation X
and Ultravox done by
me, happily given out to
people and somehow
they went on to become
pressed up. One of the
Clash in Paris bootlegs
came from a private tape
someone did for me,
which is one of the best
recordings of them from
that year, and there are others I’ve forgotten. The best one I did which
has vanished is one I lent Des from Action Pact, the Damned during
their summer Marquee residency when they gave out the ‘Stretcher
Case’ free single. Admittedly I did ask Des for it back over twenty
years after I’d lent it to him and he couldn’t find it, but he did still
have my Ruts at the Pegasus tape, and Action Pact at the local Happy
Landing pub gig.
There is a Bauhaus recording of mine from the Rock Garden which is
in regular circulation, an excellent Adam & The Ants at the Electric
Ballroom boot, and somewhere a Slits in Bournemouth, but I’m not
sure what happened to that. I did the Clash at the ANL rally, The
Adverts at the Marquee and Roundhouse, Penetration at the
Nashville, I gave Gaye Advert my Johnny Thunders at the Speakeasy
tape, so I hope she cherishes that.
After a while I stopped bothering, apart from Another Pretty Face,
The Cravats, Carpettes and Dancing Did because it became a matter
of course to see people selling up to a 100 different gig tapes outside
major gigs in town, usually at a couple of quid a time so you didn’t
really need to do it yourself as people were out there doing it as a
business.
I got to know quite a few of the bootleg stall holders in Camden really
well and they would always look stuff out for me, and I’d even help on
some stalls occasionally. I never personally witnessed a BPI swoop
though, which must have been exciting. They always knew when one
was due and started switching their stock. A man who had clearly just
handed someone his jacket and tie would appear with a brand new
baseball cap looking unconvincing on his head, and start asking,
secretively, “have you got any BOOTLEGS?” I did get almost done
by the BPI once though, in 1977, when it turned out someone I’d
swapped tapes with had landed me in it, as he was obviously selling
things. It’s not illegal to record any public event for yourself, in case
you were wondering, or to buy a bootleg, it’s simply against the law to
share these recordings or to sell them.
I had to turn over my entire collection in return for paying their
‘costs’, which at £75 seemed pretty steep for what seemed like
sending me a threatening letter. It also meant I had to go to one of
those dodgy auction places, buy a huge box of poor quality cassettes,
and copy all my tapes over in a matter of days and take them the shit
ones. Ah, happy days.
I still look for bootlegs, and was only last night writing to somebody
about getting a couple of Ants at the Marquee boots from them, and
Bauhaus from the Moonlight, as I’m writing a series of books of
bootleg reviews, which will probably fit into my schedule for next
year. You have been warned.
So, the programme.
Our narrator David Hepworth is that avuncular chap who once hosted
the Old Grey Whistle Test with an eager young curate named Mark
Allen and he founded The Word. A good egg, then.
www.wordmagazine.co.uk
or
www.davidhepworth.com
– you choose.
He starts with a 1966
recording, of a Dylan
show which was part
folky, part electric, and
this show, recorded by
Dylan, found its way into
the public domain as a
bootleg, as most bootlegs
do, because bands
regularly hand tapes over
to stalls knowing they’ll
emerge.
Bootlegs we learn, date back to classical days with a Edison recording
machine, recorded at the Metropolitan in New York, and were
appalling, which sounds right.
Danny Kelly struggled through an account of an early archivist, Dean
Benedetti, of Charlie Parker’s work, who invented recording
equipment that recorded onto paper disc, and records the solos only,
which is pretty weird. He collects hundreds, then vanishes. In the 80’s
they turned up in a suitcase and come out on an eight record set!
‘The Great White Wonder’ – a special Dylan album, which doesn’t
use his name, and isn’t even called that, came out and skirted
copyright issues by not using words. Then rock starts to grow, and
means this could be financially huge but we slumped into boring
reminiscences of a Jonh Ingham who worked for a bootlegger. It was
interesting though that the bootlegger bought an entire row of seats at
a gig, and people all had different bits of recording equipment – reel to
reel – and they would assemble it all.
Somewhere along the line when describing how other people got their
gear smuggle din (wheelchairs, fake plaster casts) someone makes the
most pertinent point of all. “Bootleggers are way, way smarter than
security guys.” Very true.
There’s a 90’s quote from some idiot from a major label waffling on,
lying about bootlegs affecting sales, just as the BPI strain credulity by
still insisting buying a bootleg funds terrorism, which was always
laughable shite. It never does anything of the sort of course.
Counterfeits affect sales, bootlegs are for serious fans and affect
nothing. Also anyone, and I mean anyone, who argues that poor
quality recordings should be ignored, for being a disgrace, are
complete tossers. They know nothing about art to even contemplate
making such a statement. Major label executives have never known
anything about art, but we all know that. Managers aren’t much better.
Things crunch up. Hepworth mentions a Little Feat boot, which I also
chased down at the time. 1971, Yoko Ono liked them. ‘Power to the
people!’ (Lennon wasn’t quotable, being inside a bag.) We move to
how labels released official bootlegs, such as the famous Nils Lofgren
record, and it all gets pretty dull then, although we learn Hepworth
doesn’t know ‘Spunk’ was the genuine ‘Bollocks’ but thinks it’s a
grotty compilation of early Pistols demos?
Ryan Adams mumbles genially about fans all but having a right to the
recording of a show while Hepworth mentions major labels now
demand bands hand over every note recorded during a session, just in
case they can work out how to release it at some point.
I lost interest. There were some good ideas, but it wasn’t nearly good
enough. Hepworth didn’t really point out how much good stuff there
is, or how things work. It was like a pre-punk nostalgia fest, but it was
nice.
Weirdoes!
length. It is a short collection of nine piano pierces, inspired by the
works of Poe. Now I am pitifully short of knowledge about the great
man and his works, so I wouldn’t pick up hints even from the titles of
the pieces, while you may, which makes you a right smartarse!
‘The Sleeper’ is pretty stark, a stern left hand plonking away as the
right idles speculatively, rising to a stiff twirl. ‘Alone’, high and firm,
is one step beyond meandering, and has a gracious melancholy.
‘Spirits Of The Dead’ moves around a bit more, but not knowing what
it may refer to I don’t picture anything ghastly, instead regarding this
as a cutely reflective piece. ‘An Enigma’ is jumpier still, with the
accompaniment of a jittery typewriter in a fully rounded number.
‘The Conqueror Worm’ doesn’t sound particularly wormy, but then
what would? It capers in an almost sing-song swaying rhythm, and
then emptier passages and brisk drama inflate ‘The Valley Of Unrest.’
‘The City In The Sea’ gets a circular motif rustling, tinkling and
booming, but although involving it doesn’t make me wary, when I
would have thought it should.
‘For Annie’ is positively sweet, as though recorded in the smoking
room annex of ‘Golden Brown’! ‘A Dream Within A Dream’ is also
easy on the ear, and quite incisive with it’s pushy delivery.
It’s all over fairly swiftly, and the thing it didn’t do was remind me of
woes, specifically, or Poe generally, in that it doesn’t evoke any
atmosphere of dread, but people perceive poems in many different
ways, as they do stories. I avoid them almost on principle, so am no
judge whatsoever, but I do like having a set of deeply felt, warmly
austere works and do you know, I don’t own a single classical record?
So having this makes me feel dead posh.
www.klingwall.se
www.myspace.com/klingwall
FRIENDS OF ALICE IVY
Hereafter Moth
Galasono Records
FREDRIK KLINGWALL
WORKS OF WOE
Last Entertainment
Here’s an oddity curiosity, and coming from Klingwall a scrupulously
artistic and beautifully realised one, even though it remains at arm’s
This is Kylie and Amps from Ostia, with Justin from Ostia also
involved. So it’s Ostia, basically, but wearing a cunning false
moustache and plastic beard set. All their friends walk past,
completely taken in. Mark Tansley even joins in on one song, now he’s
over in Australia. I bet he said, ‘as long as you’re not that Ostia
band?’ and they laughed scornfully, and sneered. ‘As if!’ You can fool
all of the guitarists, all of the time.
It’s a little more delicate and sweet-tempered than Ostia, more
conventionally ordered, as the tinkling ‘The Tower Of Flints’ proves,
drifting by like the haziest enchanting ethereal poppet. ‘Echoes’
manages to be wistful and enigmatic as gaseous vocals inflate a bigboned form of ambient, with the Tansley-assisted ‘A Song Of
Forgotten Places’ pitter-pattering along with pliable bass and a silky
mystery. It would be funny if ‘The Lament Of Icarus’ started with
some sizzling then one almighty, ‘Oh fuuuuucccckkk!’ drifting down
and away through the mix, but that simply isn’t the case dear reader.
Instead they have access to his pre-flight diary, but with vocals so
light they’re almost invisible they are selfishly determined to keep his
secrets to the grave, but they do it beautifully.
‘Telling Lost Tales To The Last Rays Of The Sun’ might seem like a
title which only makes sense if you’re on drugs but they’ve kept the
best until last, as this exquisitely dreamy piece meanders lusciously as
though we are listening to music made by ghosts.
www.myspace.com/friendsofaliceivy
vocals have vanished, having only been hissing enigmatically, making
it seem a vague promise of something deep, but at least musically it’s
bold enough to stay the course and work on that level, even if the
intention seems unclear. ‘Indecision’ hungers and keeps on going but
not in a hard way, and I lost interest here, because while its
arrangement is there for the song to really spring around it seems to
have so much compressed inside it that it becomes arthritic as a result
and if it went out in public people would gather around and point at it.
‘Don’t touch it!’ mothers would warn impetuous children, ‘it’s
confused.”
‘Distant’ is sensitively muted and while the lyrics are more normal
they’re also open to interpretation, the sound encouraging the wistful
mystery. ‘Leaving You’ comes over really lively, helped by the vocals
crawling out from under the weight of the music and snapping at the
air deliciously, although still electronically treated. The rhythm is
touch and scrupulously clean, the atmosphere sober and clinical, but
the vocals cute, the song ending like a trick. ‘Generate’ takes a dour
dance beat and fleeting vocal incisions to create an obliquely hypnotic
undertow, on into the slow motion classical fusion of ‘Endings’ with
Kate Bush In Space style vocals and some interesting, graduated mood
shifts, before the dignified ‘Sweet Serenity’ ends in the same style as
the peculiar opener, which brings us full cycle, and keeps it circling.
Four or five plays in things start making sense. It’s not a huge step up
from the first album but shows how that lacked toning and natural
impetus. There’s nothing rickety on the rhythm front here and while
the vocal disguise stills semi-baffles me, the character comes through
stronger, if diffused. Melodically there’s both punchy finesse and a
cool shadowy grandeur, which is all highly impressive.
www.frightdoll.com
www.mypace.com/frightdoll
FRIGHTDOLL
ASSIMILATION ILLUSION
Quantum Release
I like Frightdoll’s polite optimism, because while I dismissed the first
album as having good ideas laid low by bumptious beats and vocals
that were held too far back, she sent this cheerily with a note saying
she hopes I don’t find it as disappointing.
It certainly starts well with the simple piano opening of ‘Lost’ slowly
gaining weird, intentionally tiny vocals, and it’s beautifully strange.
‘Alone In This’ clatters briskly into life, and it becomes clear this
holding back the vocals is all quite intentional because while the dance
rhythm pulses more acutely than before, with fuller curvature, the
vocals are still trapped within, hissing and gyrating. The keyboard is
also quite unconventional for the surroundings. ‘Caused’ informs us
it’s a matter of structure, apparently, and off it twirls with another
engagingly twisted shape gliding to an effectively swaying rhythm
through which larges shape appear to fit through smaller holes
nimbly; Industrial Dance with a fresh-faced severity, and danceable
joy, although it ends in a dwindle. ‘Evolution’ is equally weird.
Although truncated the ideas have their own sense of life and when
you read the lyrics you realise this some sort of hi-tech dreamworld, so
you can’t very well expect breezy urgency as it’s like a sci-fi plot
unravelling. (‘Encoded program of our perception, exponentially
accelerating, towards simplified complexity…’ etc.) After a few
listens you start to hook into its wordiness and it becomes more
catchy.
‘Controverse’ actually mystifies me, as there’s plenty of twirly
percussion and twinkling synthery but as the pulses starts nagging the
GAË BOLG
PETITE INTRODUCTION AUX PRATIQUES DES
GYMNOSOPHES
Le Cluricaun
‘In Taberna’ is very punchy, with percussion right behind your head as
the keyboards begin an orderly procession and some mental historical
tableau gets played out in the minds of those that understand. I still
don’t think I quite get what all this is about, but as the horns bleed
copious drama into proceedings it’s all very inviting. The vocals are
totally mental but as the music swarms around you and you are quite
trapped in this, it’s curiously energising.
‘La Fameuse Marche Mogole’ is being airdropped into a toyshop that
comes alive at night, with the vocals omnipotent warbling par
excellence, whatever it all means. ‘Brevet de Réminiscence
Perpétuelle’ is like squidgy operatic with a juggernaut of a beat
wrestling to escape from the CD. Imagine being trapped in an alpine
hotel with no way out due to weather problems and travelling
businessmen high of advocate have taken control. It’s a bit like that.
(Me scared.) ‘Scoriez’ could be Andi Sex Gang trapped in a
monastery, crying to be released though, so I guess it all balances out.
I’m surprised the name hasn’t established itself. The best I can say is
that if you’re into that arty noodling there’s a lot more gravitas here
than some of the jerkier blaring bands offered, but it’s not my kind of
thing in any way. I was glad when it finished.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/Gardez_Darkx.html
‘La Marche Ethylik Des Empereurs Manchots’ is a chunkier
boozeathon, lurching wildly, and ‘Procession Diurne’ more gracious
slumbers, although there’s a recorder being used you may wish to take
precautions. It closes with two live numbers, ‘Brevet de Réminiscence
Perpétuelle’ and ‘Danse Des Nains’, riotous cacophony aplenty in the
former, saucy minimalism in the lusty latter!
I also received a little CD, one of those three inch chappies which is
available only to those who buy from the label itself. This includes
‘La Marche Des Fous’ which is a lovely, stirring treat, the horns and
vocal despair wonderfully cajoling, and ‘Bestiare’ which is darker, and
mysterious.
The GB world is a very strange, dangerous place.
www.myspace.com/gaebolg
www.myspace.com/lecluricaun
GARDEZ DARKX
GARDEZ DARKX
Bristol Archive Records
The wheezy brass and clip-clop percussion of ‘White Rain’ is enough
to tell you we’re in left-field art-rock territory, and as there’s never any
map I can’t really clear things up. Stream of unconsciousness lyrics
never take hold, as attractive, windblown guitar sails away, and a sax
alternates between being sometimes heroic, sometimes hated.
‘Stranger’ wees itself happily, with some hideous guitar overspill from
a cute enough tune which has some pushy little perky touches to go
with the supreme crooning of Latif Gardez, who apparently also
recorded as Mystery Slang. It’s like The Associates gone grubby and a
touch muso. Is that a good thing?
‘S. M. Tiger’ gets some post-jazz tinkling going, which you did find
creeping through at the start of the 80s, with the indie scene brimming
over with people trying to reinvent styles other than punky fare, some
rough and scary, some surprisingly mellow but irritating like Gardez
Darkx. ‘Random Alligator’ is an interesting mess, the idling
keyboards suggesting someone like The Doors but it mainly feels
likely a drowsy early Spandau Ballet visited by some odd bluesy
guitar runs, as the young Latif was apparently influenced by the late,
great Rory Gallagher, not that you can tell. Doorsian similarities flood
the dumpy ‘Steel Wind’ but sadly this is not the end, my friend.
‘Saints’ has a slinky feel going, but with annoying yowling vocals, but
otherwise it’s less scattershot, more direct. ‘Go!’ sounds like ‘Hong
Kong Garden’ meets ABC, with a kids tv audience in mind, twee but
sweetly twisted while ‘Doctor Be Good’ is strangled Bowie.
‘Bandage Mechanics’ is a gnarled funk David Byrne thing too, so the
influences are all over the
shop although it’s all there to
serve the somewhat sore
songs. ‘Whirlwind Friend’
staggers boldly to a finish
with all of the aforementioned
sounds locked in its dusty
grooves and really it’s gone
before you’ve grasped what
they’re after.
There were tons of bands like
this back then, and I can’t say
GODS GIFT
Pathology 1979-1984 (Messthetics #218)
Hyped to Death
The press release proudly proclaims, “other bands on the Manchester
scene played larger roles, but sooner or later almost everyone who was
there mentions Gods Gift – in tones of awe and amazement.” Do they?
Can’t say I have ever heard anyone mention them, but then I’m not in
Manchester, ear to the ground. (They don’t even appear to have a
myspace tribute page.) As with any of this series, the job done is
superb, with the booklet itself a fascinating read. It seems that seven
members of the band, through various line-ups all worked at one of
their area’s main employers, Prestwich Hospital, which was a
psychiatric unit lf enormous size, where the residents spilled out into a
communal garden to loudly demonstrate their own characteristics, and
local legend has it that it was witnessing such behaviour which gave
Mark E. Smith the idea for his vocal delivery style.
Musically this rum bunch can pack a lazily powerful punch, halfway
between the bleak sonar of Joy Division, and the scruffy punk laments
of early Section 25, although the reach polar opposites in terms of
quality, this collection coming from a 7”, 12”, some demos and a
couple of cassette releases.
‘Anaesthetic’ just lollops along, with bony drums, stodgy bass,
dismissive laconic vocal dribbling sweetly picturesque lyrics and a
guitar strumming self-consciously, rising and falling with the winsome
rhythm. ‘Clamour Club’ has an edgier punk-indie mix, the bass
projecting, the guitar scrawny but agile, and a bit, bracing chorus, like
The Monkees suffering from depression. A further string to their
soggy bow comes in ‘Jacqueline’s Admission’ where atmosphere drips
from the gloomy bass and spidery guitar, as the singer describes the
lyrical subject’s schizophrenia and you really do hang on his every
word.
‘No God’ could be charitably be described as a spirited dirge, with
‘Discipline’ going the other way and having a spartan edge, and terse
spouted vocal, complete with minimalist chorus. ‘The Strong And The
Weak’ actually sounds like a more informal Fall. ‘People’ is bloody
awful; basic plinky punky nonsense with hideous guitar and female
vocals, like a precursor to Crass, minus the angst, or prag Vec
sleepwalking badly. Luckily the simple guitar agitation in ‘Soldiers’
grabs your attention swiftly.
‘Good And Evil’ is a cantankerous wreck, and I think had I seen the
band when they played they’d have been one of those I found
interesting for a few songs but the tuneless aspect would invariably
send me drifting barwards. Steven Edwards was obviously the man, as
his words do stick out as the one exciting aspect, but here he’s
banging on about religion, again. That’s another bugbear of mine.
Bands always do it, and if the music swamps the articulated rage it’s
fine, but when they’re exposed vocals like this I think, ‘Okay, so
you’re not a choir boy, get over it.’ ‘People’ dwindles softly, but it’s
far from memorable despite the wibbling sax coming in and out like a
bad smell.
When the rhythmical power isn’t central or solid the songs falter.
‘Creeps In’ has some descaled guitar tripping over the drumming as
the vocals blather, whereas ‘Man Of Two Men’ at least lurches like an
inept version of ’96 Tears’, but it’s repetitive piece and bores after a
while. ‘Then Calm Again’ is okay, with sporadic passages of a
nagging charm, the sax and rowsy vocals interlocking, but it’s the
mocking ‘Nico’ about the chanteuse when she was living in
Manchester which really comes to life. ‘Deicide (heir Soul Is Hate)’ is
frantically busy and keeps you awake, ‘Disturbed’ wrangles away in
its own misery and then it’s ‘Working Class Man’, which is
remarkably boring.
in the real world. ‘Industrial? How are we Industrial?’ I don’t know.
Concentrate on what’s important. Study the waves.
That’s what it’s like for bands most of the time. Long periods of
inactivity and yet close to nature. They’re used to it though and should
muddle through. You have Simon and Pete from Stun and Spares, plus
former Solemn Novena man Tron on vocals. I don’t think that’s his
real name, mind.
‘Premonition’ has the pushy guitar motif and overall frilly floweriness
of standard Goth you’d expect, with a knowing vocal presence, with a
stocky drum built in. It makes for a great clamour, with accusatory
lyrics ladled over the top. Very pretty. ‘Scene Whore’ does the same
but has a clattery sustained impact, with willowy guitar elegance as
support. Not sure how in a small scene anyone can be a scene ‘whore’,
but then it’s all personalised, presumably shrewd angsty effort here.
It’s pretty basic in terms of production values, it must be said, but the
song survives and lifts you up, so job done. ‘Descent’ takes us down,
vocals more jagged and thrusting with doomy bass and a static
balance, providing a gloomy defiance. ‘Choices (Mk II)’ creeps about
confidently, the guitar leaning back as the vocals saunter sharply. It
moves just fine, thank you and if they can brighten the sound next
time, like the unannounced ‘Cats Or Devils Eyes’, it will help because
they’re obviously quality, even if the sleeve isn’t.
‘Is that someone drowning out there?’ No idea, I left my glasses in the
car.
www.myspace.com/groovingingreen08
They didn’t care what people thought of them and clearly the variable
quality of the combatants seriously affects how good the songs were,
so it’s no thrillfest, but for fans of the oblique punk-indie crossover
they are a very interesting bunch.
www.hyped2death.com
GUERRE FROIDE
VENTE
Brouillard Definitif
GROOVING IN GREEN
ASCENT EP
Green On Black
I could do with some more of this. Just as English bands tend to seem
like they’re full or artistically driven mental cases, and Italian bands
are essentially dignified even when angsty, so the French bands seem
so casually easy in their contemplation, which is all decidedly cool.
Look at them there, staring at the sea. ‘What are we doing this for?’
We’re a Goth band dammit, it’s what we do. Noble silhouettes against
the sky. It’s our thing. ‘A Goth band? Does that mean we have to say
We Are Not A Goth Band?’ No, we can’t because we chose Gothic/
Rock/Industrial for our Myspace page. Got a bit confused when we
found the url we wanted belonged to a woman called Michelle who
only has Tom as a friend and hasn’t logged in since 2007. That’s life
Guerre Froide were a Cold Wave band to be reckoned with back in the
80’s who didn’t stick around long, but reformed a few years back, and
still have it, just as Metal Urbain do and Brotherhood Of Pagans.
With ‘Nom’ it creeps up on you, a sense of dissonant wrangling
offsetting the oblique mood and clear, simple melodic method.
Rhythmically dogmatic but lightly handled there are also vocals that
walk the walk, sounding jaded one minute, but heard beneath furrowed
brows. The guitar tingles, but there is a quiet menace, like a baby
farting.
Incidentally I don’t know if that’s the actual title of the EP, I have
simply guess from the attractive but all-French folded card press
release. I can however state with my usual authority that the second
song is ‘Entre Nous’ and it’s another ticklish, jarring blighter, the
vocals wafted through a shabby well ventilated tunnel of atmospheric,
troubled sound. With ‘Planete Hurlante’ they up the ante with a
moody pirouette, the bass seepage contrasting with some itchy synth
and much gloominess to be had.
The easy nature of their work is of course a disguise. To be this
effortless you just have to be bloody cold. And so they are.
www.myspace.com/guerrefroide
guitar. They’re commendably catchy, and headstrong rather than
bombastic and the prancing close here is very cute, for all the excess
warbling and vocal gurning. ‘Sweet Retribution’ is nicely measured
with simple emotional lyrical matter, quite graceful really with the
ridiculous male vocals sounding like a certifiable butler in the
background.
‘Echoes Of Sorrow’ is sensitive and formulaic, so I switch off as it
witters on, but there’s a sweet melody present in ‘A Formidable
Mistake’ but there’s also a weird thing which always irritates me
where there’s a pause then frantic riffing intrudes, presumably to
establish they have rock on their mind in case the audience are
thinking them a bit wimpy. When she sings, ‘you were my formidable
mistake’ it actually sounds like ‘you were my formidable mustang’
which prompt the drummer to try and disguise this by laying into his
kit but it’s too late. My ears noticed.
‘Forlorn’ goes all mawkish and gets closer to Goth than most of what
is flouncey Metal, but a strong, heartfelt vocal performance and some
gracious use of space makes the song work well. ‘Twist Of a Deity’ is
a little weirder, the male vocals bubonic, the female stratospheric, and
the drama is sustained throughout. ‘Iniquity’ brings back the charming
historical elegance, which is contrasted with the gross excesses of
their sound towards the end masking it a mish-mash in my mind. I’m
surprised they feel the need to go about their business in such a
constipated manner when their sound works so well in sparser
conditions. The moment everyone floods in it reduces any impact.
‘Silence In Solitude’ finishes it off in cautiously grand style, and while
it is effective rock with sentiment it’s also horribly old-fashioned when
it needn’t be. It also doesn’t have enough subtle changes for such a
long song when they are quite capable of making things interesting.
There you go then, some home-grown rock which has many charming
facets but lacks the courage to take things up one mighty level. If they
want to compete, really compete, with the big rock goth crossover
bands they need to do something different, which means working on
atmosphere, understanding brevity and dropping the clichés. If they
don’t they’ll do okay in the UK but always remain second division,.
Which is what they will deserve for squandering evident talent.
www.hangingdoll.com
HANGING DOLL
REASON & MADNESS
OBM
Because I know how excited some readers get the inclusion of Metal
bands I can sit back content that my work tonight will send some of
you to bed happy when otherwise you might have been grief-stricken.
Here we have an English band who create what I am reliably informed
(press release rustling by my side) Orchestral Gothic Metal,
humanised in my eyes by the fact their vocalist, a professional
photographer who has been classically trained, admitted she’s fancy a
crack at vocals if the opportunity ever came up, having met them
originally to take their photos. It did, she does. It’s not all bad either.
Plaintive keyboards keep ‘Reason And Madness’ afloat, then the same
delicacy ushers in ‘Blood Ridden Skies’ with vocal whispers
becoming pained banners, possible confused by the term ‘blood
ridden’, as the guitar paints in the details over a stodgy rhythm and is
all progressing in a dignified fashion, complete with calm chorus,
when things move into the gargling male vocal assault over furious
frothy riffing, the operatic nature of the female vocals reduced to
weird plumes, and while it settles back into its sedate sediment, male
and female clashing like siren and addled warlock, to a neat keyboard
close you know it’s all going to be over the top. Welcome to my
nightmare.
‘Hope Springs Eternal’ maintains the considered approach overall,
with fragrant vocals gradually becoming demented, and a flighty
musical frisson emerging which is then savaged by mean-spirited
HEXON
In Slow Motion
Shadowplay
This enigmatic Russian/American release looks gorgeous, with
modern fairytale drawings done in an illustrated medieval manuscript
manner, and of course all of the song titles are swirly and unreadable,
giving it quite the secretive allure. Reading the info available on the
Shadowplay site makes things extra confusing still.
“It is known that all creative activities concerning the album “In Slow
Motion” were performed only during the night, and were supported by
strong hallucinogenic and psychoactive drugs, through which the
musicians sought to contact the dead stars of American pin-up and
vintage erotica.” Well, we’ve all done it.
‘Wings’ comes on like a wispier triphop channelling of Madonna
during her trendy William Orbit phase. This is a Good Thing, and the
music is kept nice and snugly, with the vocals but a vague ongoing
memory. Into the tantalisingly kinetic ‘Lilith’ we go, the music sparse
in density but thick in stability, clearly having a strong melodic
purpose and yet still dreamy.
‘Nibble’ is a little spacier, so maybe they were waylaid in their séance
activities by Quentin Crisp on a magic carpet. (“Vintage erotica, my
dears? Why, how considerate…”)
‘Hurt’ is cool dance gloop and effortlessly hypnotic with supine bass
fat and content, synth etching into it as the drum kicks sniffily.
Union Jack dresses (Entire Nation: “My eyes, my eyes!!!”) ‘Slice Up
Your Wife’ is probably the best Spice Girls cover they could abuse,
like a conga in Hell constantly dancing to Chic’s greatest hits.
‘Forever’ is a glorious noir tincture of gloom and splendour, the
sensitive synths and metallic percussive rustling combining behind the
woe-bedecked vocals to create a post-Twin Peaksy wheeziness that
highlights the other side of HOG from the mania, which is the tragic
beauty of their dreamier music.
It’s free. What are you waiting for?
www.lineoutrecords.com/downloads/
HistoryOfGuns_WhenYouDontMatter/
‘Dance’, perversely, is filleted like a stop-motion experience,
shuddering artistically over a slow crawling beat, ‘Erosion’ does the
twilight Portishead zone thing, radar after midnight.
‘Oddity’ seems to be slithering into the Earth, detached and gloomier,
while the pretty ‘Game’ offers a stretching, jaunty contrast, with a
subtle fresh synth optimism, like the bastard grandchildren of Santana
(albeit briefly), and ‘Nightride’ does indeed move into noir nocturnal
ether, a misty affair with a stolid beat running through.
‘Succubus’ just drifts a little aimlessly with nothing distinctive, with
‘Voyeurism’ equally lightweight through being light in tone.
It’s a shame it all ended a bit fluffy because the darker strains are
compelling, lulling you with their fashionable fumes.
http://shadowplay-records.com – band don’t appear to have a
site.
HISTORY OF GUNS
WHEN YOU DON’T MATTER
Line Out Records - free download single
We need a constant drip-feed of HOG material between albums so this
is a blessing, as are the assurances of more albums as I can never tell
from Max’s journal whether the band has split or still exists. It’s all
quite alarming!
‘When You Don’t
Matter’ instantly
reminds you of how
they conjure up a
fetid mood, through
angry rumbling
lyrics spouted by
prematurely weary
vocals, over a bed
of rhythmical
nettles that stirs,
slurs and takes you
down the drain with
it when it’s
finished. Inspired
by Del’s preference
for obscenely short
IMMUNDUS
HAUNTED MEMORIES
HDR
This purports to be Dark Ambient which I always assume means some
claustrophobic and hellish noise, and yet in this case is actually light
but consistently atmospheric work, with ‘Entering The Domain’ and
‘The Hall’ remote and gloomy but still traditional tinkling and
swooning synth work with vocals in the ether. (I don’t know if the
house on the cover has any significance but I should point out it’s
darker and sleeker than that as an image and my scanner went ballistic
trying to make sense of it which is why we have the picture we do.)
‘Whispering Walls’ goes for less of an insidious air and more of an
outright chill factor, straight in your face, then the groaning, darker
‘Dining Beside An Old Corpse’ lives up to its name, disquieting and
dank, like a vengeful radio broadcast for the other side but mixed with
mischievously pretty strings. ‘From The Depths’ goes softer but still
pulling the nerves taut, setting you up for a scary ‘voice’ appearing at
the end, then we are indeed ‘Lured Into An Abyss Maze’ where all is
still, cool and ominously spooky.
‘The Descent’ is also attractive as you feel you wander through
labyrinthine weirdness, with the sweetness of the notes percolating
through it evoke no menace, just a trancelike state, where it ends with
a feeling of bleak unease. Strangely ‘Chains Of Hate’ is almost
empty, drifting along, with ‘Dementia’ windswept but with a music
box for company, some creepy vocal ghosts thrown in. ‘Escape’
finishes it off by having a gentle touch and we do get a musical story
arc of sorts, coming through the darkness and out the other side,
although as it hasn’t been particularly strident or doomy I didn’t
personally get a real insight into anything, my mind wasn’t suffused
with dread or delight.
Pleasing, almost soothing company, it works as a semi-abstract piece,
pulling you in but then letting you float out again, and closing the door
firmly behind you.
oppressive and depressive despite surrounding suicide. ‘Sleep’ is
sweeter, flowing easily and creamily then picking up of the squishy
beast and sitting up and narrowing its eyes, swelling exotically and
overheating.
www.myspace.com/immundusofficial
IMPRINT
THE WISDOM OUT OF
THE WOUND
Feral Intuition
It’s Sin of Attrition, who is
obviously a bit of a mutter
as it seems the album, short
and delightful as it is, will
be a limited edition of 100
which come in tin, placed in
a ribbon bedecked satin bag!
It’s only £11 including
postage and a third have
already gone so contact her
via myspace, where there’s a link to buy.
‘Feedback’ is angry, the synth surly behind disdainful vocals, and the
lighter form of imposing, because the story and sound doesn’t become
Vocals and synth occasionally veer sideways during ‘Divided’ but it
adds more variety to the sound, seeming more open and inviting and
yet creepier at heart. Every element’s got the fever in ‘Reptilian’, a
little more basic and tremulous, resigned and bitter sounding. ‘Apathy
And Demise’ is the most dramatic, empty and sinister with accusatory
vocals hanging menacing in the scared air. ‘The Offering’ is touching,
pensive vocals hovering in crushed air, like a modern Kate Bush at her
moodiest. It really is very beautiful.
Bizarrely my CD Sin sent claims to have 97 tracks! The last of these
is ‘Let Me Go’ prelude’, a piece of holistic ambient, impressively
weighty for all its slender means and a lengthy piece into which you
can sink.
A great record and madness to think it’s so limited in numbers, but
maybe that’s the logistical modern world for you? At least those who
get one will treasure it.
www.myspace.com/imprintuk
INDUSTRIAL MUSICS
Volume 1
ERIC DUBOYS
Camion Blanc
Admittedly I never found myself
impressed by Industrial bands,
or keen on the textual kerrumph
of the sound generally, although
I am aware it has a legion of
fans. It was interesting initially,
but as it became a hiding place
for tape tinkering and profound
bores with dreams of
meisterwerks I simply ignored it.
It’s either your thing or it’s
irrelevant.
IN AURORAM
WHEN DAYLIGHT FADES
Wave
Unless you’re mad you come here to hear about fabulous artists and
this Brazilian couple should appease your demands. Ricardo Santos
handles sound, Astéria creates her own. Together they bridge that gap
between astute orchestral emotional suggestion, and Ethereal magic.
The press release says it’s something to do with William Blake but I
wouldn’t know. Never met the guy.
The exquisitely filmic instrumental ‘When Daylight Fades’ ushers you
sensitively into place, synth and piano entwined, guitar following on,
and it’s such a bright, bold example of simplicity. The vocals can be
sung in English and during the airy ‘Time’ they float across the slowly
strummed wrinkles and rise lazily into the ether, the piano nicely
brittle. ‘Reconditum, Spiritum’ and the equally relaxing ‘Frost Storm’
manage to establish a presence somewhere between the worlds of
Ataraxia and Angelo Badalamenti. Strings make ‘Concentus’ a
vibrant twilight serenade fraught with tension and ‘Turva Aurora’ is
slowly demented under an angry sky. It’s all impressive but the only
problem I have is that by ‘My Anguish’ the flow to the sound is fairly
staid, as it is with most Ethereal artists, so things tend to concertina
and you’ve really got one huge piece divided into smaller songs,
they’re that close at times. It’s a shame they can’t strip the sound out
more at times which would only emphasise how good they are
individually, or how certain instruments can shine. Keeping tracks
generally inflated tends to equalize impact and sensations.
‘Untrue Bliss’ is peakier, sorrowful vocals piercing across
contemplative piano, like Qntal with a toothache and the espionage
furtiveness of the darker ‘Peace Or Sword’ is lovely. Nagging, spindly,
refreshing. ‘A Lifetime Of Trials’ is am ambient sorbet, ‘Send Me A
Confort’ ratchets up the creepometer with some whispering style, just
as ‘Mortuus Virgo’ covers everything with an artistic sense of shade.
‘Over The Ashes’ is semi-funereal, but with the reedy hint of drama
and intrigue, then the holistic charm of ‘Holy Sin’ bathes its
ecclesiastical slumbers with a sense of things ending, and it makes for
a fitting close on a record which doesn’t quite stamp a sense of the
majestic into its atmosphere enough for me, but it is comprehensively
beautiful and transporitng. Ah, and for those who visit the wonderful
shop at Wave’s site (I have my eye on a few items there) you can also
snare the limited edition which includes a second CD of ten more
songs.
www.myspace.com/inauroram
For those who love it then this book may well appeal, if you read
French, as it’s a French language work, but there may be English
versions? (Check the website or ask them.) I got a copy as I gave them
some Test Department photos, although visuals are purely secondary
in this huge 652 page book. Text heavy, it will be heaven for
aficionados. Where else will you get a sixty page chapter on Cabaret
Voltaire, at the lighter end of any Industrial association, or 102 pages
on Whitehouse/Come Org? Other chapters cover SPK, Clock DVA,
Einsturzende Neubauten, Test Dept, Boyd Rice and Laibach.
www.camionblanc.com – check out their other books: some very
interesting titles.
KASMs
SPAYED
Trouble
There’s been a lot of
discussion in scientific
circles recently about
what would happen if
feral youngsters were
raised in a cave on a
diet of old X-Ray
Spex bootlegs and
then left to their own,
entirely contemporary,
creative devices, while
sensibly made allergic
to saxophones. This
record appears to answer the question. Now, ferocious little buggers
they may be but for all their reputation for manic live shows, and the
press release observing they recorded this on a reel to reel to capture
their vibrant nature, the thing which impresses me most is the
surprising sweetness of their work and the bold contours.
‘Male Bonding’ whirs and froths initially then gallops proudly with
the agile spindly guitar punched between the drum’s buttocks, and
while the bass stabs out methodically the vocals arch confidently
above them all, a touch of vibrato offsetting the melodic power surges,
and that’s one jolly rhythm. ‘Insects’ rustles and bumbles beneath the
splayed singing, and so the feral punky overtones are supported by a
real sense of, occasionally clumsy, ambition which has to be a good
thing. As the guitar gamely carries ‘Taxidermy’ along with a steely
sense of purpose, the drums clomp away and a slightly deranged
vocalist burns like a human flare at the centre. It’s a raw power which
isn’t harnessed by their own production, the way someone else may
have created a sonic sculpture out of it, and I guess that goes with the
territory. They have a few rough edges but the songs are very well
conceived, and have a natural propensity for drama which is exciting.
This one hasn’t been captured well, but then they probably tracked it
for so long they were tired.
‘Spayed’ starts like both a call to prayer and a cat’s lament, prowling
bass and interesting wispy sounds (guitar or synth?) eventually
crushed beneath the heaving vocal blasts, then trails off into
nothingness, a genuinely curious number. ‘KRIH’ is a burbling,
spitting slice of nonsense, ‘Don’t Hit The Bottom’ opts for a
controlled, almost leisurely luminescence. The singing’s a bit mouldy
until it gets going but the more muted approach shows how cool a
balance of sound they possess, and it’s got an ability to swish
stylishly, which is a vital ingredient as bands who just possess
cannons won’t win any battles. ‘Bone You’ hammers away is a bleak
fit of fury, leaving no strong aftertaste, but the strident punky jitters of
‘Trenchfoot’ like early Banshees walking on glass is impressively
twisted. ‘Siren Sister’ is about the only song which struck me as
possessing anything close to the Goth/Deathrock, like a flattened
female-led Cramps patrol wielding colourful parasols.‘Mackerel Sky’
is an ugly effort, which ruins its atmospheric elements, which is
wasteful. ‘Toil + Trouble’ rights the ship with a fascinating slow boil
and pustular explosion which again, in the hands of a skilled sound
surgeon, could have sounded remarkable. As it is it’s nicely alarming.
Then they rampage off with the delightfully devious ‘Murmer’ which
also pulls some killer moves, with more involved vocals, tumbling
drums and tousled, murky guitar.
I get the point that they wanted the organic recording to capture them
as their followers know them best, and it’s a success on many levels,
in terms of memorable music and vocal character, but I bet in a few
years they’re going to be really pissed off with this because it actually
isn’t powerful enough.
www.myspace.com/kasms
KING KURT
OOH WALLAH WALLAH
Jungle
I had no idea their third album was
called ‘Last Will & Testicle’ (a
compilation?) and who would have
thought their cheeky guitarist
would have become an attorney,
but that’s life, full of confusion and
disappointment. Who would have
thought I’d end up reviewing this? Who can feel anything but pity for
Mark Issue, introducing the dvd clips by stating, ‘it’s not every week I
get the chance to tell you about the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the
world.” Clearly it is not.
“They were a bit shit,” may not seem like the fairest epitaph for the
comedy psychobillies, but it is hard not to feel this way about a band
deliberately slotted between Tenpole and Madness in the Stiff
worldview, who were clearly perfectly happy to live up to that.
Obviously there is a little more to them than that, and this collection is
as fun as it is one-dimensional, but I was never a fan back then as it all
seemed a little too gormless, and the one time I’d seen them in 1982
I’d spent most of the gig trying to avoid the flying entrails people were
throwing around. Very little here changes my original opinion, apart
from one moment of true greatness. For that surprise, read on….
‘Zulu Beat’ sounds like the Dids given a slack-jawed makeover, and
the beefier ‘Destination Zulu Land’ is just Tenpole’s ‘Swords Of a
Thousand Men’ turned upside down (TT’s Dick Crippen actually
joining KK eventually), which isn’t necessarily the band’s fault as I’m
sure their own ideas in there somewhere, just shredded and bent to
accommodate the Stiff worldview. (If something sells make everything
else available sound like that.) ‘Bo Diddley Goes East’ is a basic joke
going nowhere. ‘Hound Dog’, closer to the rockabilly spirit, has a
cutely darting fiddle, but highlights their main problem in the weak
vocals, then ‘Wreck-A-Party Rock’ is a dowdy rumpus.
‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’ is a truly feeble cover, like Steptoe & Son
gate-crashing some karaoke. ‘Gather Your Limbs’ works better, with
their yowling capering qualities based around ‘When The Saints Go
Marching In’ with a reference to Zululand thrown in, so their own
weird worldview inflates convincingly. ‘Rockin’ Kurt’ is
ramalamasingsong but weary, and not produced with any vivacity
whatsoever. The fact ‘Lonesome Train’ is also lacking any spirit tells
a rather telling tale. They weren’t that deep musically, lacking the
ability to handle the classics, forever prone to pissing about
pointlessly. ‘Mack The Knife’ works in a strapping MOR setting.
‘Oedipus Rex’ is chirpy nonsense, with horribly bleary sax, and ‘Do
The Rat’ is swivel-hipped r’n’flash which sends the original album
out on a high of sorts.
Then we get ‘bonus singles’, with a souped-up ‘Zulu Beat’ and
pigeon-chested ‘Rockin’ Kurt’ passing by before the rickety ‘She’s As
Hairy’ comes to scary life. ‘Mack The Knife’ wafts about like some
chipper air freshener, ‘Bo Diddley Goes East’ is instantly preferable
to ‘Banana Banana ft. General Pirate’ which is not hot-hot-hot, and
‘Wreck-A-Party Rock’ gets better when slightly bloodshot.
I think fans will like this because it’s the first time the album’s been
on CD, but the dvd is actually interesting. Not because we get to see
the promo of ‘Destination Zululand’, which is woeful wackiness. Why
the band are dressed as Australian soldiers isn’t made clear, or why
the comedy red tandem has London Fire Brigade written on it, but
there’s a great shot of a single limb sticking up out of the sand behind
the gurning singer. Zulus carrying ghetto blasters, and unnatural
quiffs. Without this lot would The Cartoons (remember their ‘Witch
Doctor’ cover?) ever have happened? ‘Mack The Knife’ is the Benny
Hill approach to sleaze, with a nice moment when pervs open their
macs to show boxes of Flash strapped to their loins. Otherwise men in
suits end up in a swimming pool, as befits modern grotesques.
‘Banana Banana’ is seriously bad, all gorillas and beauty queens, and
sounding like Tight Fit meets Village People, in a fittingly lacklustre
fashion, then they show us ‘Road To Rack n Ruin’ where a crooner in
the Conservative Women’s Institute is waylaid by a doctor and nurse
and the dried up spinsters find themselves confronted instead by the
band dressed as vicars, and all but give them their knickers such is the
galvanising effect. This is fun, although really crap quality for some
reason. “I have to say, I’m enjoying it so far,” Lynda trilled,
momentarily distracted from her pasta. The singer looks a bit like
Russ Abbott, which can’t be helped, and there’s a great head-shaking
woman replicating Beatlemania. It’s also interesting how a more basic
song made funny visually works so much better than an intentionally
thigh-slapping all-encompassing approach, never illustrated better
than the inclusion of ‘America’, which is brilliant. In true ‘West Side
Story’ fashion they’re Fifties suited, and London gawky, roaring out
their version, and there’s a wonderful shot in a derelict London yard
where they run into the distance as an overground tube train zooms
across the top of the skyline. It’s like a different band, although as
they were on Polydor by that stage maybe it was. I’ll ignore the
unbelievably limited, dull ‘Bonus Banana Banana’ if you don’t mind,
because even the notion of a ‘Bonus Banana Banana’ is enough to put
someone off life itself, and we’ll concentrate on the Austrian
documentary, which is a bit Eurotrash to begin with, as our weird host
rubs shaving foam and flour into his head while bellowing strangely.
Cut to the band onstage dressed as angels, include some bizarre early
footage of what looks like an outdoor squat gig in town, then peak
with an interview which is truly bizarre. No-one has added subtitles,
so you’re struggling with the band speaking in English, drowned out
by the Austrian narration overlaid on that. There’s even some nice
shots of muck-strewn fans outside the Marquee in Wardour Street, and
the revelation that in 1982/1983 the band, “have been the talk of the
underground culture in London”. Translation: “Whatever you do,
don’t go and see King Kurt.”
A blast from the past then, albeit from a flatulent ghost.
www.myspace.com/kingkurtarchives
SHELLY R.I.P.
(26.6.88 – 19.5.09)
La Peste Negra
This interview is long overdue (not through any fault of the band), as that’s what
happens when real life interrupts a magazine, but this has to be included. Their ‘Voices
From Beyond’ album is a murky thrillfest, as you would expect from the band we know
are just slightly mad. I needed to know more about what it all meant. Join me on a
nervous journey as we encounter more of what passes for their minds.
The new album, ‘Voices From Beyond’ – how excited are
you by it? Does it fulfil everything you hoped it would, or
do you have any lingering doubts? Compare it to before – I
just listened to ‘Dreaming Demons’ which now sounds so
tiny!
”The recording was very accidental, but in the end we are quite proud
of that we have. We guess that we need Bari Bari on our mixings
cause we don’t finally get really our sound in live.”
How would you say the band has developed during the
past few years – in ways you can point to, and say, and
that’s when we started to do things differently, or that’s
when I felt much more confident?
”When a member leave the band, its like we missing a limb and when
a new member join us and he gets to learn all the songs , we feel more
confident for create new tunes.”
Was there an actual concept behind the new album, as the
pictures in the booklet involve mediums and spirit
photography?
“This is our world, full of magic.”
‘Es La Peste Negra’ – what are the squeaking noises, rats,
bats? What does this song say about your sound overall,
it strikes me as a very streamlined, but busy Goth sound?
What’s it actually about?
“We want to die electrocuted and fried on
stage with the Tesla coil that Caligula, our
keyboardist, is making. If it’s possible we
want to add part of the audience.”
“The noise is a sewer in a big city and the rats are conspirating. The
song is the best way to begin a show cause it’s a presentation of the
band. The song talks how the Black Plague arrives to a city.
‘Scarlet Woman Bleeding In My Mouth’ – reminds me of
that Christian Death feel again, is that accidental? It is also
positively bizarre, like some ritualistic adventure looming?
What’s happening here?
“At the end we sing, ‘It’s late to escape, cause we are here!’”
It’s interesting to have a band singing in their own
language and in English, but have you thought of offering
translations of lyrics on your site (in both languages,
obviously)?
“The influence of Christian Death is inevitable. We wanted to give our
personal tribute to Aleister Crowley, so we recreate a sex and magic
ritual in Thelema.
“The tempo changes in the song like the phases of a sexual act. We
arrived to orgasm and finally we end the song more relaxed.”
“Why not? It’s a good idea, we hope to have time for that soon.”
‘Desenterrados’ and here we see an strangely relaxed
approach but with some streaks and bursts of punky
energy? Again, what’s it about?
“The song talks about the feelings and words you used to say in a
relationship or good friend/relation. Now the relation is over with
resentment...but the words had so many feeling that they don’t want to
die, they have their own life and they arise with every gesture and they
torment the character of the song.”
‘Miedo al Anochecer’ maintains that feel but is catchier
still, but again the lyrics will evade me?
“The song its like when you want to sleep but you feel you are not
alone...”
‘Tumbas’ is full of glee, and zips along, akthough it sounds
like it couldfall apart half way through?
‘Blame’ – is this from a dream, or an imagined story?
“It’s a traditional Spanish song. The lyrics have more than 100 years.
It’s one of these songs for sing in the mountain, boyscout way, for
shivering between the trees.”
“It’s an obssessive Caligula’s dream with sleepwalking traces.”
‘Break The Mirror’ – ‘look at their hands’? Whose hands?
‘White Coffin’ – more death-related imagery, and people
waiting to get there? Er…why? And also, it’s a very pretty
little song.
“The song talks about manipulation...in the hands of the other you can
see the truth.”
Before we continue, what pets do you have?
“The song talks about the dead children. They are buried in white
coffins always. The essence of pure innocence is enclosed there.”
“Lady Stardust has a female cat called Gitane. She is a carey tricolor
cat, 8 years old. Raven, the bassist, has a male cat called Pi (the greek
character....3,1415). He is 6 years old siamese cat. David soon will
have a cat, he wants to called him, Freddy. He is waiting for the
animal protector.”
‘Espasmos de Agonia’ – is another song where as it goes
along it feels like chaos might make it fall apart. Why is
this? You have a very live sound here, and do you go for
feel rather than trying to redo things to make them sound
‘nice’ as it were? And again, what’s this about?
“Sword men (espadachines) are sleeping, they are the “good” side, so
the things go worse with the person we talk about in the song. The
greed grows.”
“Nobody can hear him, he is desperate.”
‘El Mas Alla’ – this is spooky, but then if it’s from the book
of the dead I’m not surprised. Why did you choose that?
“It’s an invocation. We are open a door and in the end you can listen a
psycophony in a abandoned church.”
BIG QUESTION: What do you think happens when we die?
Do you envisage any afterlife and if so which guest list will
you be on?
“We think the mystery can not be unveiled and for this is
fascinating.”
How would you prefer to die?
‘Traicion’ – ah, the mad vocals? Extended, sustained
madness at that! Explanation please?
“The song have 2 parts: In the beginning it’s really a passionated/
decrepit love story. The second part speaks about betrayal and the
reason of the mad vocals, cause character is chopped inside the
freezer. How would you speak if you would find yourself inside the
freezer in pieces?”
‘28th June 1966’ – an old favourite, presumably? What’s
the something you have that the person wants? Is this
rude?
“The song is about Rosemary’ s Baby film. Just when she is pregnant
and all the building is very “fake” lovely with her and she suspects the
neighbours are black magic witches. The “something” is the son of
Satan, she didn’t know yet she has inside but she begins to notice it’s
something strange with all.”
‘Why You Say Dead?’ – well, you sound very worried here,
but why?
“We want to die electrocuted and fried on stage with the Tesla coil that
Caligula, our keyboardist, is making. If it’s possible we want to add
part of the audience.”
A nice touch! When you’re dead what kind of method of
disposal do you plan to have?
“A.Z.B (Aereal zoroastrical burial) !!!! We want to be left in the top
of a hill and wait for the vultures!”
If you’re being buried what epitaph will you have on your
graves?
“Lady Stardust “Está aquí mismo” (it’s really here, it’s a personal
joke about she find all really near...and many times it’s not so near and
always says, “let’s walk, it’s really here..”), David wants a bullseye
that have this sentence “spite here”, Raven “the remain that left the
vultures” or the partiture of Christian Death song “Ashes.” M and
Caligula are on holidays so we don’t know their answers...”
www.myspace.com/lapestenegra
“The song talks about the dead children.
They are buried in white coffins always.
The essence of pure innocence is
enclosed there.”
‘Yesterday Child’ is weird, starting like mild ambient, with distant
piano and the sound of an old gramophone spinning, but ending up as
rollicking, joyous. ‘Danse Macabre’ is a squashed carnival
dreamscape, ‘The Everburning’ shimmering mellow rock, ‘The Voices
Of The Grey Spring’ restless beauty. With ‘Tempests Are Away’ a
grey restlessness burns despite starting like a cosy ballad. ‘Is This Our
Farewell?’ which revolves around a call that doesn’t get through is a
mischievous little slice of elegant mystery.
‘The Last Song’ bleeds into ‘But Still I Feel It Happens All Too Soon’
and we’re seemingly stranded in a deeply moving place, drenched in
regret but also lifted by the exquisite turns of musical phrase that
develop out of the elongated sub-orchestral curvature, all rather like
the thing you get from Projekt artists, only on a larger level. ProjektPlus, if you will, given that ‘The Fathomless’ is a ravishingly pretty
and utterly transporting instrumental that you’re hoping will never
end.
Yes, it’s a load of
old cobblers.
I’m sure I didn’t understand the overall themes, as the personal, the
fantasy and the ostensibly overriding seem to widen then never
regroup, but it is a spellbinding album. True, the outdated expression
in certain segments hurl us back through the decades but these are
curious moments, maybe momentous curios, and the overall feeling is
one of real majesty.
www.lacklustre-mirror.net
LACKLUSTRE MIRROR
THE FORGOTTEN SONGS
Shadowplay
It’s actually called ‘The Book Of The Shattered Bonds Ch. III: The
Forgotten Songs’ so it’s not convivial fluff, or generically divisive. It’s
a serious, well thought out collection of emotional songs, for a reason.
Have no idea what that is, but it’s implicit in the subtle drama, giving
the work a heady determination.
The lyrics in the doomily bombastic ‘The Snows Pt 1’ are brilliant,
suggesting that in the jaws of defeat can come a strident defiance, one
man looking at utter despair all around can be stirred to action instead
of ending it all. Weirdly though there’s a thin, never ending guitar
outbreak running through ‘The Snows, Pt 2’ which is the sort of thing
usually located in out of control concept albums of the early to mid
70’s, or the finale to any Bonnie Tyler epic. But for the fact the guitar
rules the roost, I wouldn’t have been surprised to glimpse the
mishapen head of Rick Wakeman looming from the song’s turrets.
Instead it’s closer in feel
to a lot of Gothic Metal,
but with greater artistic
flourishes and occasional
vocal similarities to
Michael Ball! Either it’s
all that weird, or I’m off
my head.
They’re an unusual band
anyway, steeped in feeling,
and always slightly to one
side of whatever else I’ve
heard coming out of
Russia, and can be quite
charming, as
‘Deliverance’ shows with
its hazy shapes gradually giving way to some grand strides across a
shattered landscape, vocals pushing through the subtle noise. ‘Blacksided Sun’ is grittily resourceful, the vocal guile riding the grim
riffing, and hope is juggled with horror: ‘The high-born whores dance
upon the tortured relics as before, And mindless tyrants throw into
the fire the children of their foes, And all the world’s lies feed on our
grief blessed by Black-Side Sun….’
LIFE IN SODOM
ALONE
Nutrix
I wrote their last EP off as a bit of a shambles, but this is different.
‘The Lonely March’ manages to have dark bubbles of imagery which
are fun, as skeletons and musicians waltz casually in a furtively sleek
piece that makes you sit up and want more. ‘Heartache’ is equally
lively despite being slow and spacious, with an organic drum sound,
mournfully discreet strings, dallying guitar and charming, bittersweet
vocals. It’s a bit like a more conventional Unto Ashes. ‘Faction’ gets
even more joyous juices flowing, sweetly inviting us to learn of the
destruction of the protagonist’s young life as he fears the future as the
guitar trips and skips, the melody sleepy but mobile, carrying us
happily along, at odds with his mental state. It grows lovelier still with
the magnificently stirring and dead catchy ‘Violenza’, shackled by an
asthmatic beat, bright fuzzy guitar and delicious keyboards, while
singing about a total bastard. It’s a warm meringue western theme,
rather than some old spaghetti growing cold. A new genre for you!
‘Young Waste’ flounces around even more confidently on this new
springy direction they have discovered and you will bob deliriously up
and down with them.
Someone draws the curtains again for a gloomy ‘The New Year’ with
a neat sense of suspense and more deft female vocals oozing in. I
don’t know what ‘Tied Tomowind’ means but it shuffles and vibrates
enticingly, creating a gripping atmosphere. ‘Angel Alone’ is closer to
some form of ethereal tinged goth rock, frisking again, ‘She Cried’
keeps that sense of zest, with some darker trails emerging, and is
almost idiotically simple. They finish with the strangely wilting ‘Dead
Memories’ and the forthright, occasionally spooky ‘Alone’ which
manages a chiming indie charm as well as the drowsier dark arts, and
that’s what makes this album work so well. They have an innate noir
dignity shot through with inventive and attractive invaders. It also
unfolds more with each listen, to create an overall set of noble
features.
around, although they do seem to suffering self-inflicted constipation.
‘Smile That Smile’ just moans on endlessly, ‘Christian’ gets a bit
firmer in its resolve but I’m having trouble remembering it’s on and
‘Psych’ did nothing to change anything.
The dreariest record I have heard all year.
www.myspace.com/liylmusic
LOS CARNICEROS DEL NORTE
POE IS DEAD EP
Zorch – free download
Neither a hunter nor a gatherer be, my old gran never used to say to
me, and yet I gather this free download is available as a limited edition
CD too, details of which can be found nestling in the band’s myspace
blog. For the rest of us freeloading bastards there’s the download.
www.myspace.com/lifeinsodom
LIGHT IN YOUR LIFE
LIGHT IN YOUR LIFE
Danse Macabre
Sweden’s answer to Interpol, or just an orderly Ride upgrade?
‘Emily Scott’ slops out slowly, with sallow vocals falling over
indistinct percussion and tingling guitar, and the graduated mood, the
push then the retreat are all very attractive, although this form of
wishy-washy indie never gets the Mercer mind involved. Mix
Radiohead with Morrissey and you can a whole heap of laidback
troubabores with a repetitive reliance on guitar/vocal interplay where
recording can’t even get underway until the armchairs have been
moved into the studio.
‘We Could be There’ is only the tiniest bit agitated with the singer
apparently tired by his own voice, idly wondering about other people,
and their hair, and funny clothes. Why on earth does a band think
anyone wishes to identify with this? ‘Sleeping Bag’ finds some
driving around in their car in ‘a sentimental way’? Admittedly I don’t
drive, so I must check with Lynda shortly about the last time she drove
sentimentally. There is also a reference to a sleeping bag as well, for
those worried about lyrical accuracy. Apparently his friend/lover is
like Jesus, because they get off the floor and cling to the window
pane? Kindly point out the biblical reference that identifies Jesus
doing that!
‘Geldof’ jingles and jangles while gushing, ‘my African baby, oh I
love you, oh my African baby, starving to death, I’ll love you till
death’, or something similar. I don’t know if this is meant to be ironic
cynicism, or maybe
something gets lost in
translation and they’re not
actually totally cretinous.
‘Do You Know I Tried To
Comfort You When You
Cried In Your Sleep’
‘Song About Love’
drifted by without making
any impact at all, then the
even lighter ‘It Would Be
Fine’ and when the wilt
and go quieter I can see
this appeal to fringe-laden
indie kids of the early 90’s
hence the misguided
shoegazing tag in the
press release, but I don’t imagine many others will be attracted by a
band with so little in the rhythmical department. It’s as if they spend
half their time nailed to the floor but you do get some chunky guitar
flung about, the singer sounds alive at last and the drums pattering
‘El Gato Negro’ is as sober as it is sombre Goth with some twilight
twinkles. Very steady, very pretty and vocally mysterious, with a
swilling rhythm and subtly thrilling guitar.
Sensitively seared ‘El Cuervo’ scuttles around dementedly, a bit like
Theatre Of Hate in an
asylum (may contain
nuts), and you have to
love that heartbeat bass.
‘La Mascara de la Muerte
Roja’ is less interesting
being too relaxed and
strolling to little effect,
but the lugubrious
drowning carnivalesque
‘El Pozo y el Pendulo’
works well, the doomy
piano and angry guitar
anxious behind the
straighter vocal and the
end is very strange.
No idea what they’re singing about, but it’s well worth nabbing.
www.zorchfactoryrecords.com/loscarnicerosdelnorte
www.myspace.com/loscarnicerosdelnorte
was the guitar lynchpin and Angela had been an interesting addition
on backing vocals, and that sense of ebullient melodic control
continued here.
‘Wasn’t There Something’ gets whisked initially by frisky darting
guitar, then the leisurely grand vocals ascend the sturdy stairs of a
confident chorus. A lithe thing it’s all glittery and soft when some
more dive-bombing bass and drums would have added real dynamics,
but it’s very Popinjays! (This is always A Good Thing.) ‘Am I Good
Enough’ is much snappier and with a decent production could have
been a hit, but viewed retrospectively it’s a bit weird. Great ideas,
sweet song, but the harder element is clearly negated by the winsome
elements. ‘Cast Adrift’ bubbles with MTV-friendly guitar nibbles and
a sliding gliding feel while creamy vocals smother the surface. Once
again you realise this could have been even better because it lingers
long, but seems almost too busy.
LOVE JUNGLE
Welcome To The House Where The Extras Are Free
Bristol Archive Records
Love Jungle brought out this cheeky album and a decent 12” EP with
a lot of other stuff unreleased, which was a shame as they had real
potential during the late 80’s indie whirlpool of colliding opposites.
Sadly the labels were all looking for dance crossover bands at the time
and something like this curiously gritty pop quartet missed out.
They’d come out of the excellent Fear Of Darkness where Neil Darby
‘Blue Skies’ has the starkness the earlier songs lack and it jars and
jostles brilliantly. The vocals are meaner, with the same wafting
backing, but the tougher, blunter approach suits them well. ‘That’s
The Way’ is easy going and efficient indie pop with a gently glazed
chorus again, which they seemed to churn out so easily. Ditto the
brightly swaying ‘Between The Poles’ which would have benefited
from more shadow, as they do drift by rather absent-mindedly. Being
weirder, stiller and pained ‘I Really Don’t Care’ is immediately
intriguing, although the aerated nature of Angela’s vocals are
sometimes a little too grating. More sensibly grounded, she bustles
through ‘This Covenant’ which seems almost hesitant about allowing
the guitar to stamp its identity on the son g, which it’s crying out for.
They were much tougher live, and while this polite selection remains
charming it also shows how trying to appeal to major label tastes can
leave a band in quasi-limbo.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/Love_Jungle.html
THE BUTLER
I think it’s pretty clear we’ll be hearing a lot more from PHILIP BUTLER. His ‘Trapped At
Sea’ album, available in a dementedly limited edition of just 100 copies, is clearly one
of the year’s best, scandalously combining eerie imagery with turbulent folk influences
to create a very intriguing hybrid. Here’s your first good look at the chap I daresay, and
he’s an interesting character. Rush to acquire the album if you have any sense.
Yours is a strange tale, standing currently as an unusual
folk artist with a past in Indie/Post-Punk bands, could you
round it all up into a neat chronological story for the
readers please? First musical strivings, gigging bands,
right up to the move to Worcester. You seem to have done
a lot.
“Yeah I’ve been involved in a fair number of projects I guess. The
school band, the college band, the uni band, the mid twenties post day
job band and the, ‘I’m getting too old to scream into a mic over a wall
of feedback’ solo acoustic project. They all followed the basic ethos
of, attempt something new... move on.
“After a shaky start as ‘lead guitarist’ in a laughable school based
group called Warped I formed Toyskin. We grew quickly from
predictable rock beginnings and delved into Barrett-era Floyd
psychedelia before trying our hand at 80’s industrial pop, drum &
bass, piano ballads and white noise before imploding in a reefer fueled
self-indulgent mess. One 7” single was issued in ‘98 which John Peel
& Jo Whiley picked up on for a short while, but a year later uni
beckoned and I moved on.
“Next up was A Series of Wheels, a much more straight down the line
shoe gaze alt-rock four piece with reverb pedals, fluctuating time
signatures and songs about satellites. The group passed the time for a
couple of years, but gigs were few and far between with practices
being even more rare. A short Dutch tour and radio session in ‘01 was
probably our ‘career highlight’. When asked to describe the bands
sound, drummer Jason quickly jumped in with ‘a bloody awful racket.’
I think we got more respect from our side projects (Water Cooled
Wheel (pure noise) & Nothing But Wheels (naff covers)) than the
actual group!
“‘Do You Like To Walk In The Snow’ followed the Wheels projects, a
studio based instrumental duo influenced by the likes of Tortoise &
Rothko. I still reckon that’s some of my best work, but only about 10
people have ever heard our output.
“Worcestershire beckoned by 2006 and I found myself playing bass in
‘Gamble Gamble’, a ramshackle bunch of Pavement fans trying not to
sound like the Fall, and failing most of the time. After a few years of
this I was so sick of having to cancel practices, gigs and recording
sessions due to the sheer ineptitude of its members’ time management
that going solo seemed like the only sane decision to make (no offence
meant, they are a lovely bunch of chaps).”
Why’s you cat called Monkien?
“Monkien was a character in Thundercats (a simian mutant,
obviously), and it seemed like a good name at the time. It was either
that or Mumra the Everliving.. but that was just tempting fate living
near a main road ‘n all. I have attached a picture of Monkien who
we’ve trained to walk on her hind legs.”
DID IT....
“White Riot, I wanna riot...”
“Very nice, but
I’m trying to
concentrate.”
When you were in your previous bands presumably you
also had an interest in folk or styles different to what your
bands were playing? Had this always been a secret urge
or something you knew you would get onto eventually?
“I started listening to Nick Drake and a few other acoustic artists
while in ASOW, but never really considered that to be the path for my
own music. We did try a few acoustic tracks on the first album (The
Avalanche Region), but I had too many things to shout about to
seriously consider unplugging until about 7 years later. John Martyn’s
to blame, once I bought his ‘67-‘75 catalogue I knew I had to lay
down my electric and learn to fingerpick.”
Can we start off with the first track and give me an idea
how something like ‘Painfully Slow’ comes to life? It
almost meanders into being so you could easily imagine
this slowly growing out of some gentle musing or messing
around when you realise you’ve got a nice basis for a tune
coming, but then it changes into a nervy, tense encounter,
despite the hazy interludes, and there’s some gruesome
lyrical visions and filmic tragedy, so I realise it’s a complex
little song. Do you have the lyrics upfront, and want to
bring the story to life? Or do you simply have a habit of
coming up with creepy words?
“It started life as an all out math rock track Gamble Gamble gigged a
few times in their dying days. I had an inkling it would work as an
acoustic track and petitioned the group to try it out as such, but three
stony faces stared back at me in bemusement. So I started recording a
version at home myself, and thus began the solo album.
Normally I’ll start out by developing a series of riffs that fit together,
then build on it from there. The lyrics will tend to change regularly for
about a month until I’m happy with the result.
“There aren’t enough suicide narratives in pop music, you’re not
gonna hear Sugarbabes singing about throwing themselves in front of
a train, so I guess I’m gonna have to do it for them.”
“I learnt the
hard way that if
you want to be
asked back to
play again, don’t
sing a song
involving young
girls being
thrown over the
roofs of cars!”
Do you do that one live, because I saw on your site you
play folk places. What do they make of that kind of
approach?
“I’m ashamed to say that we cater our live set depending on the venue.
I learnt the hard way that if you want to be asked back to play again,
don’t sing a song involving young girls being thrown over the roofs of
cars! ‘Painfully Slow’ has only been gigged once as it’s a bit too
complex to do justice to with just one guitar and a squeeze box.”
‘Those Red Shoes’ – this is even creepier, a seemingly
tranquil song turned into a horrific clash. You are
Midsomer Murders made flesh! Feel free to try and explain
away the lyrics without sounding like a psycho on the run.
“Hehe, well. What can I say… it just came out with very little effort.
The whole song took about 2 hours to write. If Nick Cave can get
away with a whole album of murder ballads then I don’t see anything
wrong with me composing a pretty tale of a ‘hit & run away with the
not quite dead body in the boot’!”
‘To Fly A Plane’ is weird, very gentle and I couldn’t work
out what this character is up to, it’s anecdotal/
conspiratorial to the point you feel he’s a bit simple, but it
seems open-ended, as either dreamstate/aspiration or
weird suicidal notions. What is going on?
“Ok, here’s the plot. Two school age boys plan to steal a small
aeroplane. The brains of the operation loses his nerve and leaves your
humble narrator to attempt the theft on his lonesome. He succeeds, but
mid flight the engine cuts… he closes his eyes as the craft starts to
drop. Make up your own ending.”
‘Rising River’ – that teeming tangle of guitar, is that out of
a folk tradition? (Bear in mind, I know nothing of folk.) You
use the word ‘morn’ so that’s trad, but while you’d think
it’s easy to maybe use old styles to address modern
happenings is it actually very tricky dovetailing the two?
Oh, and where have you actually experienced a flood or
are you one of those lifeboat-up-the-highstreet wannabes?
“A couple of years back Worcestershire had well documented heavy
floods. Malvern (where I reside) is a hillside town, so we sat pretty
while all the low lying towns around the Severn were slowly
submerged. The song is a pretty basic attempt at writing a straight
down the line folk song to document this. It’s not big, it’s not clever,
but it goes down well in the folk clubs!
“The tangle of guitars could probably be put down to poor technique!”
‘It’s Been Long Enough’ – true story? Who comes up with
the prickly, tickling strings to freshen the mood on such a
simple song? I see you have quite a little crew around you
for someone whose moved to an area?
“This one’s about Hastings, where I grew up. The whole album is
peppered with contributions from friends. Some are local, some aren’t.
The magic of the internet means that I can email a song to musical
acquaintances afar and receive parts to be bolted onto the mix by
return mail. It’s perhaps not the most organic approach, but it works. I
assume the strings you’re referring to are those on my mandolin.. an
acquisition I made early on in the sessions to add a bit of pastoral
beauty to the often stark guitar parts.”
Let’s break off then as you tell me how you ended up
where you have. How easy is it to start up playing music,
...the unusual suspects...
Andrew Kieth
Lucas
Holly Jeffery
Dom Huxley
Stephanie Trussler.
George Clarke
Tom Collison
solo or with others, when you move location, and how in a
way is it either an adventure or rejuvenating, to make such
a change?
“A change of location is always rejuvenating. I’ve made three big
moves in my musical life, and every new location opens up new
challenges and opportunities. I never want to get stuck in a rut playing
the same set in the same venues year after year. I see loads of groups
do it and it’s just depressing. If I stay in Worcestershire in the long
term I’ll always be looking to work with new people, develop and
change my style to keep things interesting. If I move then there’ll
always be a whole new live scene to explore.
“There are so many musicians wanted websites out there that it’s easy
to find likeminded strummers in a new town. Worked for me!”
writing a traditional sea shanty. I think I managed it, I won’t do
another one any time soon, but it served it’s purpose.”
‘My Siren’ I don’t really get what’s behind this, can you
illuminate?
“It’s a pretty simple concept. While enjoying a romantic walk along
Beachy Head the cliff gives way sending the writers loved one falling
to her death. An image which haunts him in his sleep. I was pretty
pleased with the string section on this, my first experience with violins
and the like (I’m now hooked!).”
‘Save Us’ – interesting to find a topic even eco warriors
have to shrug over.
I like the scarecrow imagery/ghosts in the coaching inn
idea. Have you ever heard The Dancing Did?
“Yeah it’s not my strongest lyrical outing. The track was called 205, a
tale of a lad drag racing his mighty 1ltr Peugeot, but the vocals were
replaced at the last minute to make a trilogy of songs involving the
sea.”
“Nope, they’re new to me. But I’ll be sure to look them up. Many of
the ideas on the forthcoming second record have been inspired by a
book on British folk lore and myths I picked up in charity shop. I’ve
never read so much nonsense before, but it makes for some great
lyrical subject matter.”
That bit at the start, is it just a bit of a clumsy mess or is
that a tricky style musos would applaud? I’m genuinely
mystified.
‘Light Blue Rendering’ is fairly mellow and uneventful, so
what’s got you so melancholic?
“It’s an old song (circa 2002) which I rerecorded for the album.
Someone put forth the opinion that the record was too downbeat and
dark…so this one was MEANT to be uplifting!”
‘Trapped At Sea’ - go on then, when were you last trapped
at sea you folky stereotype, you? When you play that live
do people stand up and start complaining, ‘he’s lying,
there isn’t an ounce of truth in it!’
“The introduction has been referred to as techno on an acoustic guitar.
Make of it what you will… but I doubt it will be applauded by many,
let alone musos!”
‘Candles’ - blimey, didn’t she (Natasha, Phil’s partner)
blush when you first played this to her? I bet even the old
guys in the folk clubs hold dainty hankies to their faces
when you play this one. You sentimental fool!
“Show me a red door painted black by Mick Jaggar and I’ll give you a
personal tour of the ship I stowed away in for 12 months!
“Ha, yup. The love song. Once again, I’d never written one before and
fancied having a bash. I got engaged last new years eve, and this came
gushing out the following day. I never meant for it to go on the record,
but was persuaded by co-producer & long time collaborator Tom
Collison (who added the Piano & Harmonica). It’s never been played
live and never will be.”
“Back in the Toyskin days we’d set ourselves challenges to write and
record a song in a certain genre. Perhaps country, or trip hop, or jungle
etc… purely to see if we could. Trapped at Sea is my attempt at
Do you and Natasha write much music together? Couples
often worry about such things in case it leads to slaughter
and life sentences.
“Each will be hand
made, bound in a hard
cover & covered in the
fabric of an old dress
which Tash will model
before it’s meets the
scissors. The records
called ‘8 Stories For
Emily’ so it made
sense to turn it into a
lyric book with bonus
CD. Needless to say,
it’s going to be very
limited.”
“Nope, I’m the sole creative force presently. Tash does get a say in the
live set though, and doesn’t mince her words if she doesn’t like a
particular track or set of lyrics!”
If Natasha has point to make about the album please
encourage her to, which can be track by track too, or as a
massive wodge of opinion.
“I think she’s of the opinion that the new album is a vast improvement
on Trapped at Sea, which may translate to it being more accessible.
I’m not sure how pleased I should be about this.”
Tash: “I’m really chuffed with all the music Phil writes, admittedly
I’m going to have my favorites, I quite like the twisted tales told in the
more recent songs, but Trapped at Sea and Rising River are excellent.
Now that I’m slowly getting to grips with playing the accordion those
songs ain’t half bad live either!”
‘Raise A Flag’ – take me through this, it’s quite disturbing
the way it whirls everything around.
“I wanted to have a big track to close on. Pounding drums, layers and
layers of vocals all drenched in reverb and a nasty grinding bassline.
The aim was to create an angry layered track that would blend my post
punk past with the new acoustic direction. I think we used about 40 or
50 channels of audio in the end.
“Lyrically it’s a rant about a girl I once had the misfortune of dating
for a couple of years.”
How did you get started doing a label, you being the head
of Sawmill/Steelmill. Was it a masochistic desire to turn
yourself down over unacceptable demos, or are you being
quite the sensitive torch bearer for talent?
“Sawmill isn’t my first label, it’s my 4th. I’ve always had a desire to
run an ultra hip indie label, but I usually get cold feet after spending
www.philipbutler.co.uk
way too much cash on a non starter. Initially this one was created as a
brand for my own music, but I soon found myself offering to ‘sign’ up
acts left right and centre without any real plan or funding. “We’ve got
some great stuff due for release in 2010 - watch out for Ragtime
Ewan. He’s got the potential to do big things, and I’ll get the
satisfaction of giving birth to his debut album. Makes you all warm
and fuzzy inside don’t it?!”
I see you have a new album planned in a hardback book
format? How on Earth will you achieve that?
“Each will be hand made, bound in a hard cover & covered in the
fabric of an old dress which Tash will model before it’s meets the
scissors. The records called ‘8 Stories For Emily’ so it made sense to
turn it into a lyric book with bonus CD. Needless to say, it’s going to
be very limited.
“If I ever decide to reissue ‘Trapped at Sea’ it will come with in a
model galleon.”
Compare and contrast, how does what you’re doing now
compare to the 90’s. Is it more subversive, the best of both
worlds? Or something else?
“I guess back then I would be far more impulsive and self indulgent.
The music just found it’s way onto tape without any real care and
attention. Most of the lyrics were pretty avant garde, and the
musicianship on my part was at times quite ropey.
“I’d like to think things have improved a great deal, although I’m still
developing and changing all the time. “Trapped at Sea” jumps from
genre to genre in a similar vein to the old Toyskin work (albeit in a
more reserved fashion). But all the songs (and this is even more the
case with the new record) are crafted over a long period of time with
much more attention to detail. An obvious difference would also be
the narrative fashion my lyrics have taken in recent years.”
GOTHIC CLASSICS
Coming soon 21st CENTURY GOTH, will be developed into two distinct volumes, one
for music, one for lifestyle, and HEX FILES with added imagery. These books are long
out of print, and these are Author’s Editions. We start with the first two books ever
written on Goth, GOTHIC ROCK BLACK BOOK and GOTHIC ROCK.
GOTHIC ROCK - £14.99
GOTHIC ROCK BLACK BOOK - £12.99
The appearance of this Author’s Edition celebrates the
21st anniversary of Gothic Rock Black Book, the first
book ever published about Goth. This provides seven
chapters: five on the main successes of the 80’s – All
About Eve, The Cult, Fields Of The Nephilim, The
Sisters Of Mercy and The Mission – and two historical,
looking at the very start of Goth, and the smaller bands
busy during that decade. Without altering the original
text I have increased the original page count of just 96
to 268, by including 311 photos from my archive, the
majority of them previously unpublished.
This was my second book on Goth, an A-Z guide of
bands, individual Goths and relevant historical
ingredients, originally printed in 1991, and now over
twice its original length at 400 pages long, with 200
images and 444 photos, the majority previously
unpublished.
www.mickmercer.com
DETAILS OF ALL MY BOOKS ARE ON MY WEBSITE
exclusive GOTHIC books
These contain all the reviews and interviews I did onGoth bands preInternet, from the papers and magazines I worked for, along with my own
fanzine. They are full of photos you have never seen before, and can be
regarded as cosy companions to the better known Goth Classics.
GOTHIC INTERVIEWS, Volume 1 - £12.99
232 pages, with 167 photos, the majority previously
unpublished. Large interviews with: Abbo of UK Decay,
Alien Sex Fiend, All About Eve, Ausgang, Bauhaus,
Bod, Christian Death (Valor), Creaming Jesus, Dali’s
Car, The Danse Society, The Dancing Did, Finish The
Story, Junior Manson Slags, KaS Product, Look Back In
Anger, March Violets, Mothburner, New Model Army,
Pink & Black,
Say You (postSkeletals), Sex
Gang Children,
Sunshot, The
Cult, Toyah,
Ultravox!
(with John
Foxx), Under 2
Flags, The
Virgin Prunes.
Smaller
interviews
with: Anno
Lucis, Chat
Show, Discord
Datkord, The
Fifteenth
(post-Look
Back In
Anger),
Hysteria,
Julianne
Regan, Real
Macabre, Rubicon (post-Nephilim), The Society (postThe Danse Society), Theatre of Hate, Venus Fly Trap,
Venus In Furs, Zooey. Articles on: Adam And That Ants,
The Dancing Did and Shend of The Cravats visiting
Snowshill Manor, Kabuki (pre-Ausgang), the Give Me
Passion piece from Melody Maker, as well as
contributions for the Rough Trade in-house magazine
‘Masterbag’ and Ausgang’s own fanzine ‘Stab The Sun.’
GOTHIC INTERVIEWS, Volume 2 - £12.99
228 pages, with 150 photos, the majority of them
previously unpublished.
Large interviews with: Aemotii Crii, Alien Sex Fiend,
Bod, Christian Death (Valor), The Cravats, Creaming
Jesus, The Dancing Did, The Danse Society, Gitane
Demone, Gloria Mundi, Julianne Regan, Junior Manson
Slags, March Violets, Midnight Configuration, Music For
Pleasure,
Ritual, Sex
Gang Children,
Spear Of
Destiny, Tones
On Tail, The
Very Things,
Xmal
Deutschland.
Smaller
interviews
with: All About
Eve, Ausgang,
BFG,
Diamanda
Galas, Dust
Devils, Fear Of
Darkness,
Fields Of The
Nephilim, God
And The Crazy
Lesbians,
God’s
Girlfriend, Ides
Of March, Josi Without Colours. Articles on: The
Dancing Did (their obituary written for Vague fanzine),
Tim of The Dancing Did’s own story originally printed in
Panache. further Stab The Sun contributions, a UK
Decay tour diary written by Abbo, and a massive mid
90’s State Of Goth article originally printed in Zillo in
four parts, featuring contributions from about a dozen
people in bands.
www.mickmercer.com
GOTH GIGGERY - £9.99
A 172 page book of live Goth-relevant reviews and 170
photos, most of them previously unpublished: Alien Sex
Fiend (2), All About Eve (2), Anno Lucis, Anonymes,
Ausgang, Badlands, Batfish Boys, Bauhaus, Belfegore,
Between Two Worlds, Blood & Roses, Bod, Brigandage,
Christian Death (2), Creaming Jesus (2), The Dancing
Did (6), Dawn After Dark, Dust Devils, Fear Of
Darkness, Fields Of The Nephilim (3), Finish The Story
(2), Furyo (2), Geshlekt Akt, Ghost Dance (2), Gun
Club, Honeymoon Hunt, Ipso Facto, Junior Manson
Slags (7), The Laughing Mothers, Lean Steel, Look Back
In Anger, Lorelei Bizarre Festival 1987, ‘Lost In Beirut’
Lyceum all-dayer, The March Violets, Melaroony
Daddies, New Model Army, Nico, Play Dead, P.U.M.P.,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Ritual/Sex Gang, The Scream,
Seventh Séance, Society, Splashpool, Sunshot (2),
Theatre Of Hate, Toyah (4), Tragic Venus, UK Decay,
Victims Of The Pestilence, Wasted Youth, We Are Going
To Eat You, Whiskey & The Devil, Xmal Deutschland
(3), ZigZag Club opening night.
GOTHIC INTERVIEWS, Volume 3 - £12.99
224 pages, with 165 photos, the majority previously
unpublished. Large interviews with: Alien Sex Fiend, All
About Eve, Andi Sex Gang, Ausgang, Bauhaus, Blood &
Roses, Creaming Jesus, Dancing Did, Dawn After Dark,
Death Cult, Jazz Butcher, Junior Manson Slags, Martian
Dance, New Model Army, Panic Button, Peter Murphy,
Pocket Rockets, Rosetta Stone, Sex Gang Children,
Spear Of Destiny, Specimen, Theatre Of Hate, Toyah,
UK Decay, Zero Le Crèche. Smaller interviews with: The
Bolshoi, Bomb Party, Cassandra Complex, The Danse
Society, Four Came Home, Julianne Regan, Kommunity
FK, Militia, Siiiii, Teahouse Camp, The Witches Of
Nemesis, Venus Fly Trap, XC-NN. Articles on: Adam
Ant (the Punk Lives ‘Xmas Carol’), a large look at the
‘Grebo’ movement for Melody Maker, a more than
sceptical look at Modern Magic from Panache, a small
mid-90’s Overview Of The Current UK Goth Scene done
for Dark Angel zine, a pisstake of the London Weekend
(TV) documentary on Positive Punk, some Rose Of
Avalanche sleevenotes, and more from Stab The Sun.
COMING in 2010 there will also be a huge book of
the record reviews that I did from 1977 onwards
through two decades of writing. I don’t yet know how
many pages this will result in or whether, as a result, it
may need to be broken down into Goth, Punk and
Indie volumes. For the time being the provisional title
is My Ghostly Companion but I am only about a
tenth of the way into scanning all the old reviews.
There is a worryingly large amount.
exclusive PUNK books
Most PUNK books now just replicate what has already been seen, with a few notable exceptions
(see Glasper, Ogg, Robb). My books feature a good cross section of all activity from 1977 to 1987,
covering all styles, with some great personalities and plenty of previously unpublished images.
You won’t be disappointed.
PUNK Interviews, Volume 1 – £12.99
PUNK Interviews, Volume 2 – £12.99
A 256 page book, containing 215 photos, of Punk
Interviews/Articles, concerning Action Pact, Adam And
The Ants, The Adverts, Angelic Upstarts, Bad Dress
Sense, Bernie Torme, Bow Wow Wow, The Carpettes,
Charge, The Cravats, The Destructors, Dead Man’s
Shadow, Elephant Talk, English Subtitles, The Fits,
Genius Freak, The Iconoclasts, Invisible Girls, The
Leopards, The Membranes, Naked Raygun, Paul Weller,
Pauline Murray & The Storm, The Photos, Playground,
Rat Scabies, Riot Clone, The Rods, Security Risk, The
Shout, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Ski Patrol, Tenpole
Tudor, TV Smith’s Explorers, The Vacants, Vice Squad
and Andy Warren.
A 252 page book, containing 214 photos, of Punk
Interviews/Articles, concerning Action Pact, Adam And
The Ants, The Adverts, Animals And Men, Another
Pretty Face, Basic Punk Noise, Blyth Power, Cadaver
Finesse, Chelsea, The Cravats, Destructors, Dead Man’s
Shadow, The Fits, Heza Sheza, Johnny Bivouac, Lighting
Strike, Marital Aids, Martin Atkins, Medium Medium,
The Membranes, The Message, The Molesters, Neo, The
Only Alternative, Pauline Murray & The Storm, The
Photos, Playground, The Sect, Ski Patrol, Temporary
Title, Tenpole Tudor, TV Explorers, UK Decay and
Wendy Wu.
PUNK Interviews, Volume 3 – £12.99
A 244 page book, containing 212 photos, of Punk
Interviews/Articles, concerning Action Pact, Adam &
The Ants, The Adverts, Another Pretty Face, Boowy,
Captain Sensible, The Carpettes, Chron Gen, The
Damned, Dan, The Dark, DCL, Dead Man’s Shadow,
The Defects, The Diodes, The Enemy, Fugazi, The Kid,
Kill Ugly Pop, Lightning Strike, Max Splodge, Medium
Medium, The Membranes, Penetration, The Photos,
Playground, Riff Raff, Riot Squad (UK), Snuff, The
Stilletoes, Temporary Title, Tenpole Tudor, Terry Nash,
Topper Headon, Toyah, TV Smith’s Explorers, The
Uglies, The Vacants and Yr Anhrefn.
PUNK GIGGERY – £14.99
A mighty 400 page book, containing 505 photos, this
features a mixture of live reviews from my old fanzine
Panache, or from my time writing for papers and
magazines, as well as live photographs from my
collection, the majority previously unpublished:
Action Pact, Adam & The Ants, Adicts,
Advertising, The Adverts, Afghan Rebels, The
Albertos, Alternative TV, ANL Carnival,
Another Pretty Face, Auntie Pus, Balloons,
Bernie Torme, Bette Bright, Black Arabs,
Blondie, Bollock Brothers, The Boyfriends, The
Boys, Brian’s Brain, The Carpettes, Chelsea,
Cherry Vanilla, The Clash, The Cortinas, The
Cravats, Cut Out Shapes, Dafne & The
Tenderspots, The Damned, The Dark, Dead
Man’s Shadow, The Defects, Delta 5, Dicks,
The Doll, Dolly Mixtures, Eleventh
Commandment, English Subtitles, Essential
Logic, Fatal Microbes, Fruit Eating Bears, Gang
Of 4, Generation X, Gloria Mundi, The
Heartbreakers, Herman Asteroid, The
Homosexuals, The Hormones, Housewives
Choice, Iggy, Ignerents, The Inmates, The
Innocents, The Jam, Jayne County, Johnny
Curious, Johnny Moped, Johnny Thunders, The
Leopards, Licensed To Kill, Lightning Strikes,
Mad Dog, Mancubs, The Mekons, The Milk,
The Mo-Dettes, The Molesters, Naked Raygun,
Neo, New Hearts, Nicky And The Dots, The
Only Ones, The Outsiders, Patrick Fitzgerald,
Pauline Murray & The Storm, Penetration, Phil
Rambow, The Piranhas, Plummet Airlines, The
Pretenders, Punishment Of Luxury, The
Rezillos, Rich Kids, The Rings, Riot Clone,
Rubella Ballet,
The Ruts,
Sadista Sisters,
The Saints, The
Satellites, The
Screen, The
Sect, Security
Risk, Sham 69,
Shelley’s
Children,
Siouxsie And
The Banshees,
Ski Patrol, The
Skids, Slaughter
& The Dogs,
The Slits,
Snatch, Snuff,
Some Chicken,
The Specials,
Spermatic Chords, Spizz, The Stupids, The
Sustained, Temporary Title, Tenpole Tudor,
Truth Club, TV Smith, TV Smith’s Explorers,
UK Decay, Ultravox!, Undertones, The
Vibrators, The Visitors, Volcanos, Wayne
County and The Wimps.
www.mickmercer.com
THE MICK
back issues compendiums
When a new issue of THE MICK goes online the old one retires gracefully. I turn them into book
form so that all the work is chronologically maintained. As you can see from any issue of THE
MICK my work tends to be more in-depth than you will find elsewhere, and so these books build
into a cross-section look at the world of Noir music over the years and will continue doing so for
the next decade also. You may as well start your collection now.
THE MICK, Issues 1 – 7 £12.99
348 pages of musical content
from the firsts even issues of
my online magazine,
containing interviews with:
13TH Chime, A Spectre Is
Haunting Europe, Astro
Vamps, Ausgang, Bill
Pritchard, The Dancing Did,
Ego Likeness, Family Of
Noise, Frank The Baptist,
Junior Manson Slags, Justin
Foulkes, Lisa Nash,
Myssouri, Radio Berlin, The
Arguments, The Brides, The
Mirror Reveals, The Sixth Chamber, The Tunnel Of
Love, Unto Ashes. ARTICLES on Russian Goth,
Caroline Catz/Monoland, Screaming Sneakers, Ausgang
in Germany, a tribute to STU P. Didiot (R.I.P.) as well as
161 CD and 3 book reviews.
THE MICK, Issues
13-16 - £12.99
356 pages, containing 36
Interviews: All Living
Fear, Angelspit,
Ausgang, Black Tape For
A Blue Girl, Bohemien,
Calabrese, Caustic
Pleasures, Doppelganger,
Dwelling, Hate In The
Box, Hearts Fail, Human
Disease, Ikon, Jordan
Reyne, KaS Product,
Katzenjammer Kabarett,
La Peste Negra,
Lupercalia, Mephisto
Walz, Necro Stellar, No
Tears, Psychophile,
Psydoll, Satans Rats, Scarlet’s Remains, Secrecy, Spon,
The Clauberg Opera, The Last Dance, Tor Lundvall,
Ultranoir, Uninvited Guest, Venus Fly Trap, Vittorio
Vandelli, Worm, Zeitgeist Zero, plus 116 reviews.
THE MICK, Issues 8 –
12 - £12.99
400 pages from issues 812 containing interviews
with All About Eve, And
Also The Trees, Animals
And Men, Attrition,
Droom, History Of Guns,
Killing Miranda,
Manuskript, Razor Blade
Kisses, Rome Burns,
Screaming Banshee
Aircrew, The Empire
Hideous, The Multiverse,
Undying Legacy and an
article on AUSGANG in
New York and 241 CD
reviews.
THE MICK, Issues 17-21 £14.99
452 pages, containing 35
Interviews: Abney Park (2), Acid
Ice Flows, Arid Sea, Ataraxia,
Black Ice, Blood Proxy, Carol
Blaze, Choronzon, Deadchovsky,
Finish The Story (2), Ikon,
Invading Chapel, Miguel & The
Living Dead, Monica’s Last
Prayer, Mothburner, The October
Country, Opera Macabre, Pins
And Needles, Process Void,
Quidam, Redemption, Shadowhouse, Tears Of The
Dying, The Carpettes, The Dirge Carolers, The
Groaning, The Last Dance, The Way Of All Flesh,
Vernian Process, Veronique Diabolique, Villa Vortex,
Wednesday’s Child, Zombina & The Skeletones, plus 156
reviews.
Mercerville
where only fools dare to tread
You need to enjoy the outpouring of insubstantial thought that drips from my mind, splattering
my livejournal, to even contemplate getting one of these, which I confess I only started to get a
copy for myself rather than having to sift through old word docs or the calendar archive on lj
itself. You may notice attractive photographs taken at atmospheric pages regularly occur in THE
MICK? It’s only the musical content which goes into THE MICK compendiums, everything else
ends up in Mercerville, locked up securely for the night. So there is a lot in these books, but you
can go to my website for details. I don’t think anyone will ever buy them, as they’re basically my
diary gone slightly wrong, so I’ll just show you the covers for the issues currently completed.
www.mickmercer.com
PHOTO BOOKS
There are two series completed, for Goth and Punk images, the Indie yet to begin. There are
individual series coming for bands where I have a lot of images. Due in 2010 will be several
titles each for Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend, along with single books for Flesh For Lulu,
Sexbeat, Sex Gang, Christian Death/Gitane and Daisy Chainsaw.
PUNK IMAGES, Volume 1 - £19.99
A 712 page photo book, containing 1,019 photos, of:
Action Pact, Adam & The Ants, The Adverts, Afghan
Rebels, ANL Carnival, Another Pretty Face, Bernie
Torme, Blondie, Brian Brain, Chelsea, Dada Cravats
Laboratory, The Defects, Dead Man’s Shadow, Elgin
Marbles, Generation X, Genius Freak, Gloria Mundi,
Hagar The Womb, The Innocents, Jayne County,
Licensed To Kill, Mad Dog, Mancubs, The Mob, Riot
Clone, The Ruts, The Sect, Security Risk, Shelleys
Children, The Shout, Ski Patrol, The Slits, Snatch,
Temporary Title, Tenpole Tudor, Johnny Thunders, TV
Smith, UK Decay, Vice Squad, Wayne County.
PUNK IMAGES, Volume 2 - £19.99
A 708 page photo book, containing 1,017 photos, of:
Action Pact, Adam & The Ants, The Adverts, Another
Pretty Face, Bette Bright, Boowy, The Carpettes,
Charge, The Clash, The Cravats, Delta 5, Dead Man’s
Shadow, Heza Sheza, The Innocents, Johnny Thunders,
Mark Perry, Max Splodge, Mondo Popless, Patrik
Fitzgerald, Pauline Murray & The Storm, Rock Kids,
Rubella Ballet, Sadistas, The Shout, Siouxsie & The
Banshees, The Slits, Snuff, Spermatic Chords, Tenpole
Tudor, Truth Club, Ultravox!, Vibrators, Weekend
Swingers.
PUNK IMAGES, Volume 3 - £19.99
A 708 page book, containing 1,021 photos, of: Action
Pact, The Adverts, Andy P, Adam & The Ants,
Angletrax, Belladonna, Blondie, Boomtown Rats,
Captain Sensible,
The Cravats, The
Damned, Dead
Man’s Shadow,
Elgin Marbles,
Furore, Gloria
Mundi, The
Innocents,
Leopards, Look
Mummy Clowns,
Mega City 4, The
Mo-dettes, The
Molesters, The
Partisans,
Penetration, The
Pretenders,
Punishment Of
Luxury, The
Rezillos, The Slits,
Tenpole Tudor,
Cyril Trotts, The
Undertones, Alan Vega, Zerox Girls.
GOTHIC IMAGES, Volume 1 - £12.99
204 pages, containing 268 photos of All About Eve,
Bauhaus, Blood Sanction, Brackenclock, Butterflies,
Carcrash International, Christian Death, Cocteau Twins,
Cosmic 666, The Cramps, The Cravats, Creaming Jesus,
The Damned, The Dancing Did, The Danse Society,
Death By Crimpers,
Die Laughing,
Diskord Datkord,
Drunk On Cake,
Electric Dog Sex,
Empress Of Fur, 4
Came Home, Gloria
Mundi, Gitane
Demone, God & The
Crazy Lesbians From
Hell, Infected,
Intestines, David J,
Junior Manson Slags,
Lean Steel, Laughing
Mother, Manuskript,
Militia, The Mission,
1919, Pink & Black,
Prophecy,
Restoration II, Rosetta Stone, Siouxsie & The Banshees,
Suck Henry, Sunshot, Toyah, Tragic Venus, UK Decay,
Ultravox, Whiskey & The Devil, Witches, Xmal
Deutschland, Zip Zip Undo Me.
GOTHIC IMAGES, Volume 2 - £12.99
204 pages, containing 280 photos of Beast, Bible For
Dogs, Bomb Party, The Butterflies, Creaming Jesus, The
Dancing Did, Das Tor, David J, Death By Crimpers,
Destroy The Boy (in their darker phase), Diskord
Datkord, Dreamcity Filmclub, Drunk On Cake, Dust
Devils, Electric Dog Sex, Empyrean, 4 Came Home,
Finish The Story, Gloria Mundi, Gun Club, Inkubus
Sukkubus, Julianne Regan, Junior Manson Slags,
Lovecraft, Melinda Miel, Nosferatu, Pork Helmets,
Powder, P.U.M.P., Rosetta Stone, Sadodada, Skeletal
Family, Suck Henry, Sunshot, Tabitha’s Nightmare,
Tragic Venus, UK Decay, Under 2 Flags, Witches, XCNN, Xmal Deutschland, Zip Zip Undo Me.
GOTHIC IMAGES, Volume 3 - £12.99
204 pages, containing 287 photos of Abbo (UK Decay),
Bang Bang Machine, Beast, Bingo, Butterflies, Nick
Cave & The Bonemen, Cherry 2000, Creaming Jesus,
Cries Of Tamuuz, The Dancing Did, The Danse Society,
David J, Dead Souls, Death Cult, Destroy The Boy,
Diskord Datkord, Dreamcity Filmclub, Dunebuggy
Attack, Enrapture, Nicola of Finish The Story, Furyo,
Gloria Mundi, Infected, Inkubus Sukkubus, Junior
Manson Slags, Josi Without Colours, Look Back In
Anger, Lovecraft, The Mission, Pleasure And The Beast,
P.U.M.P., Purple Rhinos, Rock Horror Show (Amateur
Production), Rubella Ballet, Shoot The Joker, Siiiii,
Skeletal Family, Ski Patrol, Soft Cell, Suck Henry,
Sunshot, Tabitha Zu, Tragic Venus, Turbo & The
Rockets, Turkey Bones & The Wild Dogs, Ultravox,
Very Things, Vicious Kiss, Witches, Xmal Deutschland,
Michelle Yee-Chong, Zor Gabor, Zu.
THE BATCAVE, Volume 1 – £19.99
A 620 page photo book containing 818 images of
happenings there during 1983, featuring: Alien Sex Fiend
(three gigs), Ausgang, Danielle Dax (posed session), F1
Electric, Marc Almond, Pork Helmets, Sexbeat,
Specimen (four gigs), along with the club itself, crowd
and cabaret artistes/dancers. The majority of these photos
are, as with all my books, previously unpublished.
THE BATCAVE, Volume 2 – £19.99
A 572 page photo book containing 789 images of
happenings during 1984/1985, featuring: Alien Sex
Fiend, Anorexic Dread, Ausgang, Bone Orchard,
Christian Death, Let’s Wreck Mother, Pepperlip,
Sexbeat, Specimen (two gigs), Tabatha’s Nightmare,
Zero Le Creche and Zor Gabor, along with shots within
the club and some regulars.
DANIELLE DAX – £12.99
A 328 page photo book about one of the most visually
distinctive and dynamic live performers of all time,
containing 425 images taken between 1983 and 1988,
including three posed sessions, and six gigs.
VIRGIN PRUNES - £14.99
408 pages. 511 photos from Brixton Ace 6.4.83, Electric
Ballroom 11.8.83, Lyceum 27.11.83, Electric Ballroom
10.12.85, Croydon Underground (including a Gavin
Friday posed session) 12.12.85.
www.mickmercer.com
PHOENIX MARIE
~ AN URGENT APPEAL ~
Time for a spot of Goth solidarity? I hope you will think it
the only possibility as you read Phoenix Marie’s story in
what is not a typical request. Every now and then
something comes along that reminds you some things are
more important than music. This is one of those occasions.
You may not know Phoenix Marie but as you read of her life you
will see yourselves in part, or parts, of it.
That’s because this is one of our own facing a situation none of us
would want to be in, but what makes it different is there really is
a chance to beat this. It’s the fact the worst can be avoided that
makes me ask you to help in the best way you can.
I quote from the Fundraising page
http://helpphoenix.teapoweredphoto.com
“Phoenix’s doctor has warned her that the nerve damage in her brain
is becoming permanent as she has not been able to afford to continue
her treatment. She only has one year of treatment left.
“The degeneration of the nerves in her brain is similar to patients her
doctor treats who are in their 80s and 90s. Phoenix has just turned 40
years old and had led an extremely active lifestyle before this
occurred. If she receives one more year of consistent treatment her
doctor believes that she will be able to lead a normal life with minimal
pain with perhaps another year of follow up and monitoring. If not,
she will have permanent hearing and brain damage, vertigo, become
crippled, end up in a wheelchair and will assuredly die a very painful
death at a young age.
detail possible. She prefers talking to typing, so just furnishing me
with this much information hasn’t been easy, but you can read now the
main part of her life story, which has been wild, exciting, chaotic, but
highlights a tempestuous and sensitive soul.
As well as dance and photography , on both side of the lens,
you’ve done music, put on gigs, proofread/edited books, been an
artist….what kicked it all off? I see you got into Punk, then
Goth…has it been a linear journey?
“From the time I was old enough to speak and run amuck, which was
unusually early, I was writing poetry, putting on plays, dancing, and
singing/playing air instruments for anyone who would pay attention. I
thought my life’s purpose was to be in a band, write spooky stories,
and dance, sing, and act on Broadway, with the occasional puppet
show thrown in for good measure. I was convinced that was my
purpose in life. I used to force my mother to interview me. I did act in
“She has been mostly bedridden for the last three years and has
difficulty doing even minor tasks now. Things that so many of us take
for granted—such as holding a baby, exercising, dancing, spending
time with loved ones or just grocery shopping cause Phoenix extreme,
debilitating pain.”
Yes, Phoenix Marie needs money, but there are auctions coming, and
limited edition prints available, as she needs to complete one final
year of medical treatment, which she had to find the money for, and
there are various ways for you to consider. The most immediate way to
help, of course, is through a donation directly, via her fundraising
page. I will continue to update you on my journal and through my
magazine as best I can, but if you monitor the links at the end of the
article you can keep totally up to date on the auctions coming, which
will include art, clothing, graphic novels, and collectibles.
In America there is no medical safety net, even though medicine there
is something of a circus. Phoenix has sold everything she owns, but
she has her own photos she will be making available, as Jody Elliott is
offering hers, and me mine, as you’ll see over the next pages.
Phoenix’s site will keep you up to date with the latest details, and
maybe some Illinois bands, or bands who have known her could
consider benefit gigs, or making things available for auction, in a
different way to fundraise?
Writing this article has rather been surprising for me, so if it seems
jumbled that’s because it is, because there isn’t enough time to make it
polished or well considered. Time being of the essence you are reading
it within days of it being thought of. From the heart to your head and
inwards. Hopefully you will find code on Phoenix’ myspace page and
can copy that then pop it onto your own journals and myspace pages,
and onto your own websites. Spread the word, let people know, let
people help. If you don’t want to, or can’t, buy a photo, pass the news
on to someone who might. Bands reading this please friend Phoenix
Marie and pop her into your Top Friends, and display her banner
prominently.
Please be aware that even being subjected to my question and requests
for information takes its toll but she has tried to provide the richest
‘Whiteface came early’: “Scary? Me? White face and a
blue-black wig, come on, Mick, it rocks! Clowns are scary, but
this is the very first costume contest I competed in, and I won
second place, as a clown, how telling! My mother hand-sewed
the costume at the last minute. I was in what we call kindergarten, which is school before school, and I had just relocated from
Massachusetts, so I am most likely four yrs old in this photo. I
was ready for my close up. I still have this outfit. The shoes fit,
they’re awesome!”
autoplaying musicroom – “This is from a large museum of antiques, oddities, statuary, and music
machines from all over the world in Wisconsin. I will have a gallery available soon with hundreds of
amazing photos from the museum, and some info about its unique history and creation.”
school at a young age, played music and won awards as a musician
and for creative writing all through school until I went to university.
This is where I slot in some of the info Phoenix Marie has given me
of her life as a timeline, which I think you’ll find absorbing.
“I had an unconventional childhood, so I didn’t get to pursue some
things that would have led to career, like dance, in school. I went to a
Russian ballet school and was highly successful, but my family pulled
me out, because they were told I should be a career ballerina and had
real promise. My family didn’t believe in artistic careers as an option,
though both my parents had families who all played musical
instruments and sang, and my mother wrote plays, so somehow, I was
allowed to study music and continue writing all through school.
Everything else artistic I pursued in early life was prohibited by grade
school age, including art, dance, and acting. I snuck around and broke
some rules with a fake I.D. to do an annual haunted attraction, an
acting and creature make-up gig, and musical theatre in high school,
but without parental permission, I didn’t get the deep involvement or
the roles I wanted until college.
“1980. Was exposed to Alice Cooper and Poison Ivy of The Cramps,
was overwhelmed by them both and announced loudly to all who
would listen that ‘That’s How I Want To Be When I Grow Up!’. Also
was exposed to the film ‘Breaking Glass’ with Hazel O Connor, it
changed my entire world. Saw the film ‘Times Square’ and heard The
Cure, Gary Numan, Lou Reed, Pattie Smith, XTC, Ramones, Suzi
Quatro, The Pretenders, and Roxy Music for the first time. My head
exploded, and I didn’t know what the music was, but I knew it was a
truth I wanted to seek out. Witnessed the beginning of MTV. Cyndi
Lauper, The Cure, Missing Persons, 80’s New Wave, The Clash, all
kinds of music that we would have never otherwise been exposed to
in Louisiana (which was still in the 60s-70’s rock and hair metal
phase) was available.
“Acting was actually one of my skills that followed me wherever I
went, and though I couldn’t stay, I was asked to do summer stock at
college and was sought after for lead roles and asked to act for many
strange unconventional productions. My acting experiences were scant
but fun. I always deviated in everything I did, veering away from what
was prescribed at school, and seeking more independent and liberal
expression, and I imagine that is why the underground music and
performing art subcultures became a refuge for me, especially if you
look at deathrock, art rock and new wave, which are theatre unto
themselves! Music is the air I breathe, so I would rather be in a music
subculture than one based on other things. I travelled a lot and had a
lot of little irons in many small fires, and I did work in corporate
management most of my adult life, so artistic pursuits remained as
hobbies, though I hope to change that now.”
“1982. A couple years later saw the film ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the
Fabulous Stains’ with Paul Cook and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), was
already heavily into punk, this just iced the commitment cake a bit,
though the local scene in Shreveport, La, was too male-dominated and
violent for my tastes. Discovered David Bowie, I was completely
mesmerized, immediately gravitated away from the punk scene,
though still did occasional shows, as well as hair metal shows as I had
many older friends in bands.”
You mention Alice Cooper, The Cramps, Cure and Cyndi among
many inspiring artists, but I was curious as to why the movie
Breaking Glass had such a strong impact on you?
“Have you seen it, and have you ever been an 11 yr old girl lol? My
impressionable pre-teen brain was blown wide open by that film. I
don’t know if it was her role, as singer, artist, punk, woman in a man’s
world, or what it was that struck so many chords with me. I think it
“I was better off living on the street than being at home. I can’t really
explain it to people who’ve not been homeless, especially when young.”
was my first exposure to that part of the music industry, and the
yearning inside me to be in a band was so great, the new wave and
punk aspects were new and really appealing to me, there was also a
huge justice theme, which appealed to me.
because I calmly announced that I refused to attend church, was an
atheist until I could decide what I believed in, and I was very altruistic
and alternative, and smart, and to them, extremely threatening on
many levels. They were abusive addicts with reputations to protect.
“I remember hovering close to the TV illicitly watching at 2 in the
morning, and almost crying ecstatic about the revelation that had just
occurred. I lived in the deep South of the U.S which is a twilight zone,
it was still the 70’s in many ways, and I lived with sheltered,
somewhat ignorant, uptight mainstream people, oh, and was a New
England transplant to a conservative Baptist community. I was allergic
to pine trees and heat. It was like Superman being trapped in a
kryptonite cave. So having my pre-teen early hormones kicking in, my
mind being expanded heavily by a love of science fiction and myth I’d
just started getting into in school, and having suddenly been exposed
to pasty Celts with foreign accents who were coping with the jaded
underbelly of a fictional new wave punk scene I’d never heard of
before….blew my mind, and I remember my insides screaming ‘THIS
IS IT! WHATEVER THIS IS, THIS IS WHERE I BELONG!’ If that
makes sense.
“I had been taking care of myself as far as cooking and laundry since I
was 7 or 8 and emotionally since I was about 5, so it wasn’t a big
shocker to be independent, just inconvenient and dangerous. I was
extremely lucky to have a genius I.Q., a penchant for acting and
calming beasts, and a very optimistic outlook on life. My fake I.D.
said I was 24, and everyone thought I was older, I looked older than I
do now, was attractive, classy, gregarious, comical, well-read, and was
very serious overall, which lended a believable maturity and a long list
of friends, and I’m sure that was how I survived. Until I was 14, it was
brutal, and I did sleep under some bridges and in friends’ closets
secretly so I could stay in school and pretend everything was normal. I
just wanted to finish school, so I never told anyone in authority.
“The same thing happened when I saw the film, ‘Times Square’ and
‘Welcome To My Nightmare’. I had never had that kind of input
before. Post input, I became a new kind of machine. I know to an
adult, the film was probably very cheesy, tragic, and over-the-top and
the music is somewhat manufactured for the film, which has its own
looping irony there, but it still made a wonderful dent and I felt
vindicated by it somehow. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous
Stains’ did the same thing, in a more comical way.
“I would sometimes stay with friends who had very liberal parents,
and I learned a lot, went to SCA events to do my homework whilst
people jousted, made chainmail, exchanged mead recipes, and
gathered Irish folk songs. Some of them owned clubs and I got to see a
lot of gigs, helped throw Adam Ant a birthday party at 14 instead of
doing my homework, got to play with the mixing boards, so it wasn’t
all bad.
“1980-84. Spent a lot of time hanging out with older friends at punk
clubs, went to lots of art rock shows and gay art gallery shows with
live art rock and art punk. Started getting into new wave heavily, very
influenced by British bands, this is the time in which I became
homeless, stayed with friends whose parents owned clubs/venues.”
So around 1982 you’re into the local Punk scene, not something
darker. Was that because the Punk scene actually was the local
scene?
“Yes. I wasn’t from there, but I lived in Shreveport, La, and
apparently during that time period there was a huge historically
significant punk movement in the region. There was no goth scene in
Shreveport at any time that I lived there, nor in Baton Rouge where I
went to college. That state seemed to be stuck in a time warp, a very
ugly, intellectually-void time warp. I was very goth in my own right,
I’d been force-feeding my little friends every haunted record and
movie I could find, and we mentioned Alice Cooper.
“I was sharpening my fingernails and painting them all kinds of
dramatic spooky things when I was in the single digit age group. So, I
was primed and ready, but where I was living at that age, punk, art
rock, and new wave were the only deviant music subcultures present.
Oh, and hair metal, which I was very into, and had many older friends
in bands, but that was and remains just silly, doesn’t it? It wasn’t a
bad scene altogether, but I had more friends in the punk scene than I
did in the art rock/new wave glam scene, though I did manage to
gravitate towards that before I moved away.”
Sounds like a rough time though, ending up homeless before going
to college?
“I was better off living on the street than being at home. I can’t really
explain it to people who’ve not been homeless, especially when
young. My parents disowned me at age 12 for several reasons, mostly
HauntedResurrectionCem – “Resurrection Cemetery is one
of the more legendary haunted places in Chicago. There is a tale
of ‘Resurrection Mary’ involving sightings of the ghost of a
woman in white who is hitchhiking. She is reported to have
been seen everywhere from the ballroom where she danced, to
pubs across the street from the cemetery, and even in downtown
Chicago at a place significant to her life. I really just love this
cemetery because of the unusual amount of wildlife that seems
to fill it, coming from out of nowhere. All of my photos from
here have deer and/or fowl in them.”
“Haha. This is the inside of an antique European musicbox of a travelling sideshow, with musicians and
illusionist. You put the coin in, and watch and listen. It’s mesmerizing!”
“It was the deep South in the 80’s, not the most progressive place.I
did end up in a kind of whirlwind gangster movie of sorts because of it
all, and maybe some day that will make a great and painful book that
will make its way to film, like ‘Drugstore Cowboy’, ‘Trainspotting’,
‘Go’, or any of those hideous anxiety films where there is one
innocent young person trapped in a dangerous jaded world full of
drugs, greed, and rock and roll. I know what a 38 looks like when it’s
pointing at you. I know what real horror is. I grew up very fast, but I
did manage to have lots of fun and spent enormous amounts of time in
clubs and art galleries seeing live music before I could legally drive, so
who can complain about that?”
“1984-5. Stayed with a much older friend who was the lead singer of
The Mice (US). Played for me for the first time Kate Bush, Nina
Hagen, The Beatles White Album, and Lena Lovich. This completely
warped my brain into something new.
thank goodness) European red wine, played me Bauhaus, Mask, and
told me about a scene in London where they’d been living, showed me
photos, etc. I felt like I had finally come home to something, but I
never saw them again after that night.
“It wasn’t until later that year when I moved to the mid-east coast, that
I was played The Mission at a campfire party, went nuts, and everyone
there started loaning me tapes: Sisters of Mercy, Christian Death,
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pere Ubu, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins,
Alien Sex Fiend, This Mortal Coil. I was officially accepted into the
hive mind community known as ‘goth’. As cheesy as it sounds, I felt
like I was finally a whole person, that I’d come home to me at last. I
discovered Dead Can Dance and The Chameleons later that year, and
they were then and remain two of my all-time favourite and most
influential bands in my lifetime.
“1986. In college, had already been dressing ‘goth’ in a self-styled
way with no influence from media for a year, there was no goth scene
where I lived or in Baton Rouge where I moved to go to university.
There were new wave clubs there, but they were venues for extasy
abuse, which had just been invented and leaked from Dallas, Tx which
was not too far away. Went to one (aptly called ‘Xanthas’ with a giant
sized ‘X’ in neon on the outer wall) sober thanks, and saw The Cure
on the big screen, very memorable moment. Bought The Church’s
Remote Luxury album because of the woman in shroud on the cover,
felt I’d found something that I was missing, but it was my inexplicable
secret.
“Became a permanent fixture at the record store where these people
worked for several years, they would turn me on to everything goth
and alt, and I would turn them onto punk, classical, and classic rock
rare gems they were unaware of, like Jello Biafra, The Fuzztones,
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison’s
American Prayer, Screamin’ Lord Sutch, Gong, Pink Floyd’s early
work and bootlegs, that kind of thing. I traveled to a lot of record
trading shows across the US, learning about music and Goldmine
magazine, buying and selling albums, finding rare bootlegs, marbled
and special vinyl, rare 12 inches. I built up quite a large record
collection which brought me a bit of a reputation as a musical
authority.
“People were starting to ask me if I was depressed because of how I’d
been dressing lol. This led some strangers on the street near a club one
night to take me home with them, give me my first taste of (expensive
“I grew up listening to folk from my parents, was trained in classical,
and had been really into the punk and metal scene because of friends,
and loved a lot of 50’s and 60’s, I.R.S. bands no one knew of,
“I’m enthralled with autoplaying music machines, this museum is full of them, I have many of them
photographed.”
psychobilly, even opera, so I knew more than most, and that eventually
led to record store management years later (which was terribly boring
and nothing like the movies).”
1986 – people take you to their place and introduce you to Goth.
Pivotal, I assume, but also fairly lucky. They could have been into
Big Hair metal or something? But that’s the year you enter the
‘community’ as it were. How different did it feel to the Punk
scene?
“Well, it was calmer, for one thing, lol. More intelligent. Not that there
aren’t very gifted minds in the punk subculture, but the focus was
more intellectual and less about power and rage and reaction. A more
disciplined approach to a social protest with much better fashion,
more academic and historic lyrics, possible paganism, and much
tastier alcohol from European countries. You didn’t get a lot of
candlelight and velvet in the punk scene, certainly no pricey aged
Merlot. You didn’t get to sit down and quietly, gracefully contemplate.
Everything that night was beautiful and profound…people were
admiring each other just for existing. Mind you, these were just a
couple of rich college boys from up north whose parents saw fit to cart
them around Europe and send them to decent schools in England.
“They weren’t uber Goths, they were somewhat moderate, they just
appreciated it deeply, and they had sophisticated minds and good
taste. They also had a bit less machismo, and that was a nice change. I
had left punk behind, or the scene, rather, years before. I’d been into
more alternative music for a bit, Kate Bush, Nina Hagen, Bowie, The
Church, The Cure, that sort of thing. It was just a chance meeting of
some people who’d gone to private school in London, and were really
into Bauhaus and the goth scene. The played me brilliant music, and
explained that this was connected to a subculture, showed me gig
flyers and photos of people, and one of them had spent time in France,
I spoke French and studied French culture in depth (as did many in
Louisiana, it was required), and everything clicked and I found some
vital missing puzzle pieces.
“I was done with hair metal for years as well at that point. I’d already
been exposed to The Cure and other bands, but this was a deeper level
of more precise goth, and being told that there were communities of
welcoming people like me was enlightening. That was just one night
of hanging out, listening to Bauhaus’ Mask. I never saw those people
again, and there was no goth scene in Baton Rouge. I took it in, and
saw finally that there was actually a much larger social sphere in
which I could possibly be at home, but I didn’t have it yet and didn’t
know what it really was, that came later when I moved to another
state.”
You worked in the record shops, and did the trade fairs. That is
such a staple part of peoples’ development around music, which is
now gone. So many ‘alternative’ people found work there. I bet
there’s just a tattered framework left.
“I have no idea what goes on in those realms anymore, it does seem to
be a relic paradigm of the past. I have noticed that Chicago has a very
avid vinyl-loving community, and record stores here are jam packed
and thriving. Where do they buy their record players, I ask myself lol?
I haven’t seen one in a store for a decade!
“1988-1991. Still travelled a bit, but spent most of this time hanging
out at a club in Charlotte, NC called The Pterodactyl club. I became
chummy with one of the owners, convinced him to take the tiny
upstairs loft-type attic space and turn it into a goth and goth-friendly
“The scene in New Orleans was, well, everyone was wonderful and
friendly and completely uninhibited by convention, but there are
vampires, and gang shootings, stabbings, radioactive
mosquitoes, constant drunk people, crooked cops, and 110 degree F
summers with 200 percent humidity, and I wasn’t there for long before
I craved waterfalls, wide open spaces, cool air, and clean mountain air,
so I moved back to NC.”
You sound rootless in terms of a place, always on the move. The
1988-1991 phase you told me about sees you zipping here, there
and everywhere. Do you think there was a reason for this?
acid house-centric club of its own with a better DJ and a darker
atmosphere than the mainstream theme of the main club.
“It came to pass, and the first DJ, a friend, painted a Saturn on the
whole of the dance floor in my honour, as Saturn is my ruling planet,
and it seemed funny at the time. So it was like a christening, though I
was not in a big ego parade back then, so I didn’t take much credit for
any of it, I just enjoyed it like everyone else. The owners were very
corrupt, however, I was one of few women/regulars who refused to
sleep with them, so I eventually distanced myself from involvement
with the club.
“As the main club downstairs grew more and more ‘preppy’, we
became darker and darker upstairs, and I finally convinced the owner
to let us play the up and coming hardcore industrial bands like
Ministry and Revolting Cocks, and there was much more violent
moshing and breaking light fixtures ensuing, and they freaked and
closed us down for a little while. I left town again, they reopened soon
after and returned to a mild alternative mix with some goth pop and
acid house thrown in for good measure. I distanced myself entirely at
that point. They did have some great live shows, like Alien Sex Fiend
and early Flaming Lips. The club no longer exists. I moved to Raleigh,
NC, and was part of that scene, which is where I met White Zombie’s
first manager, but didn’t enjoy the grittiness and smallness of Raleigh,
and went back to La to live with friends in New Orleans for a while.
“Yes. I lived in North Carolina. Go there, you will see how the need to
escape is predominant. I was a wickedly smart goth girl suddenly in a
hostile and backwoods, mainstream environment. It’s part of a region
of the U.S. called ‘The Bible Belt.’ I was living in small, rural towns,
redneck southern towns with fascist structures in place, scary police,
little culture, it was very stifling. I was harassed constantly there, no
matter what town it was, with sexual threats, beer bottles thrown, I
was chased at gunpoint twice, almost run off the road in my car, the
state bureau of investigations actually had me on file as the leader of a
Satanic Coven, (which is absurd if you know me, I was called ‘the
industrial gothic Laura Ingalls’ among other allusive titles), just
because I was uber goth, and tried to start a band in a very small
mountain town. We call them rednecks, I think Chavs are their
younger more urban cousins: shotguns, chewing tobacco, Ford trucks,
fried chicken. That’s a bad cocktail when mixed with a very attractive,
uber-goth girl walking home alone. I zipped around the state a lot,
looking to form bands, had many friends attending this school here or
that school there, all artists and musicians doing nifty things they
wanted me to be a part of. I went to film, TV, and acting school and
that was in yet another city, so I had to move.
“There was romance pulling me one place, music pulling another, a
scene in another city elsewhere that beckoned. I was young, strong,
adventurous, and wanted to experience life. The nature of my
childhood put me in a mental state of living each day like it could be
my last. That is a double-edged sword if ever there was one.”
New Orleans, and I quote: “everyone was wonderful and friendly
and completely uninhibited by convention, but there are vampires,
and gang shootings, stabbings, radioactive mosquitoes, constant
drunk people, crooked cops, and 110 degree F summers with 200
percent humidity.” Good job you never worked with their tourism
department. I always assumed it was a stunning place and ultraGoth, then I heard similar things from Hyacinthe L. Raven about
it being effectively sodden, and stinking. Sort of tarnishes the
image.
“Because I’ve yet to leave this country, New Orleans is, to me, the
finest city on earth. It does also smell funny, and you can get killed or
fed on if you don’t watch your back. That’s life in a nutshell, I
suppose, at least New Orleans is honest about it! Honestly, I’ve never
felt at home anywhere else. I would live there now even post-Katrina if
I could tolerate the environment and had money like Brad and
Angelina so I could buy up some historic property and preserve it. I’d
love to buy a period hotel there and have it be for goth-only clientele.
(I dream of starting a nationwide goth realty company). I miss it
“I was harassed constantly there, no matter what town it was,
with sexual threats, beer bottles thrown, I was chased at
gunpoint twice, almost run off the road in my car, the state
bureau of investigations actually had me on file as the leader
of a Satanic Coven, just because I was uber goth, and tried to
start a band in a very small mountain town.”
like that. J I should talk about my passion for Jean Cocteau, my
script for film that was offered financial backing by a studio, and
brainstorming with other writers to create deviant comedy skits, but
it’s getting late and those factoids seemed much more interesting!
“I travelled around NC trying to form bands with several friends for a
while in three cities. Everyone I knew was on drugs, or drank and
clubbed too much to keep their shit together, so none of the bands got
very far. I played keyboards and sang backing vocals in three bands,
all goth, two melodic goth rock bands, and one experimental industrial
goth rock band, which actually got a lot of studio time with a guy who
owned a record company (that I can’t remember the name of now) but
he kept the tapes after arguing with one of the guys in the band over
who knows what, probably drugs! I never played violin unfortunately
with those groups, as I generally kept having to pawn it to get by, and
no one wants a flute player in a goth band, even if you were an awardwinning flute player, because, you know, flute is so gay...:)
“I wanted to form a goth folk band at that point, but I couldn’t find
anyone into it who had any talent. If you hear Type O Negative cover
Cinnamon Girl, or Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo covering Rank
Stranger, that’s about as close to explaining what I had in mind as I
can imagine, but there would have been better storytelling and more
neoclassical influence, as seen in Johnny Hollow’s sound, a reason I
admire those guys so much!”
Playing with three Goth bands must have been fun. Were they
heady times, or just dull copyist bands? (Are you prepared to
name names?) You can’t be that crestfallen nobody wanted your
flute playing as outside of Ethereal/Historical Goth flute does
rather sound a bit weird, doesn’t it?
sometimes so much it hurts. I just can’t really live there anymore.
Maybe some day, or some other life.
“In 90-91 I also went to film school in NC and studied acting,
photography, TV production, scriptwriting, comic skit writing, and
psychology. It was in this school where I met two very goth radio DJs,
and they inspired me to move to a different town with a better goth
scene after I left film school and realized that the mountains of NC
were pretty much no where. In TV production school, I got to write
and act and direct for local TV, but my skits were dark comedy that
became really controversial, my goth writing partner and I directed
and acted in everything, a black guy and a pale goth woman with long
black hair in redneck country, and we were finally banned from local
TV, and labelled as the leaders of a Satanic coven lol. Yeehah.”
Had film been an ambition or were you consciously trying
something new?
“I think a response above answers this, but yes, these were passionate
goals from the time I was about 4 years old, dance and music weren’t
offered at film school so those were left out. I have a gift for all of the
above, though TV production just happened to be a part of the school
that friends were involved in, and it was a way for me to write, act,
direct, and edit all of my own material, or my friends’ material, to do
comedy, and they were all clever hyper deviants, so that was one of the
most enjoyable times of my entire life. I was a top student, and I only
left for financial reasons. I discovered that the world of TV news is
wracked with cocaine and egomania, and that, at the time, each
commercial aired during the Superbowl cost one million dollars to
make, the cost of one individual Star Trek episode, lol, or something
“Haha, I have always said if I made it as a writer on Saturday Night
Live, I would have the best time creating a deluded goth flute player
character who was the biggest dweeb that ever walked. Yes, flute has
its place in some genres, but I don’t think goth is one of them, which
is why I took up erhu, duduk, and harp, so I could fit in! I have the
musical saw and theremin in my sights next. Flute is what I
unfortunately play best, but that is all about semantics and timing.
Almost any instrument I pick up that isn’t a reed instrument, I master
very quickly, except guitar, I have really small hands.
“I played keyboards and sang some backing vocals. Melodic goth rock
is chords and not that difficult, no ripping jazz solos. The guys I
played with were all a bit angst, and had addiction problems. Maybe
not problems, just addictions, so things never got off the ground. I
couldn’t find talented musicians who weren’t already busy with other
projects who were into goth rock, so I settled for some friends who
were talented, but liked to party a bit too much. I wanted to be serious,
rehearse regularly, you know, actually get somewhere. Although music
is my highest aptitude, remarkably so, it took a back seat to being
overworked for many years after that. I think I got frustrated and
disillusioned, not with playing music, but with being around other
musicians who had a bad work ethic.”
Actually if you were an award-winning flute player had you not
gone the traditional route at all, dabbling in classical?
“I was trained in classical first on violin in grade school. I dreamed of
playing piano, and I mean, literally, I played piano and harpsichord in
my dreams from an early age, so I managed to self-teach at friends’
houses (who had actual real-life pianos) and was motivated by Bach
and Beethoven in that regard. The funny thing about the flute, is that I
didn’t really want to play it, and I have no use for it, except that now, I
can pick up almost any kind of folk or traditional flute, like for
example an American Indian flute, and start playing songs within a
few days of mastering the fingering. I played flute because it was the
“Orchestra was a first class ticket to celibacy in my region...”
Mtcarmelcemetery – “This is one of my fave haunted yards. A lot of notable figures in history buried here. Amazing statuary here.
Lots of old Italian graves with eerie photos of the dead on the stones. I knew almost nothing of the tales and did some video EVP work
here when I moved to Chicago and was still involved in paranormal investigation. The video has a well-audible whispering of a woman’s
voice at a location where I felt drawn in and took this photo. Right next to the large statue that seems to be coming off its base, actually.
The most prominent haunted tale from here involves a woman who, from beyond the grave, informed a family member to exhume her
body. It was, and she was perfectly preserved, lending her a Saint’s status, and there is a shrine erected for her. I need to edit that video
footage, some time in the coming year if anything is worthy, I’ll make it public.”
only affordable instrument that wasn’t a reed that I could play in high
school without becoming a social failure.
“Orchestra was a first class ticket to celibacy in my region, so I was
confused and put my violin down for an instrument I have almost no
use for now. I played big band, march, a little jazz, Celtic jigs, studied
classical pieces at home, that type of thing. I did that for most of my
school career, and was really good, and won little awards, played
solos, and travelled a few times because of it, but I never really cared
about it much. I also had a serious detriment in that I had perfect pitch
and played by ear so well that I forgot how to read music at some
point, which sounds mental but it happened, and I refused to learn
again because I was a freak who thought it was punk rock to not be
able to read the sheet, just listen once or twice and be able to play my
part and everyone else’s perfectly. I’m sure it would take one day of
instruction to grasp how to read flute music again, but point is, I
wasn’t committed to it so it didn’t translate to life after school. I
would have rather played the guitar, trumpet, harp, or violin…or
piano, or all of the above. At least I wasn’t a lowly band geek!
“I do adore classical music. So, hmmm, did I answer a question there,
not sure lol. I did not become a career flautist. I wanted to be a career
violinist, in an orchestra, at Tanglewood, or NYC. It didn’t happen.
“In ‘92 I moved to the mountains of NC and met a genius writer,
artist, and musician who played many restaurants and clubs and
wanted to do performance art. Since I was a dancer, and a goth
musician and writer with experience writing skit comedy, we teamed
up and did a short jaunt that ended us in Nashville, TN. It didn’t get
far, but I created a goth faery character who had a specialized role in
helping the audience comically deal with their pain. It was a dance role
with interactive performance involved, a lot of fun, and I’m in the
process of writing a book based on that character, and will use my
illness as a sounding board for the material, which I hope will help
people when confronted with serious illness and people in their lives
who need support, especially when it is unconventional support they
require.”
That sounds quite mad! (The show part, I mean.) At this point
I’m thinking your whole life could make for an intriguing book.
“That was a good time! A poor time, but a good time. I loved being a
performance artist, it was right up my alley! I hope it will. I hope I am
physically able to write it (the book). I hope it helps millions of
people get their heads of out their fear-driven arses and learn to offer
genuine support to people who need it. I hope it aids the revolution in
alternative methods of healing in the west. I hope it makes people
laugh and brings them some relief when they can’t find any. I hope I
make a ton of money off of it! I’m full of hope!
“In Nashville I encountered a very open minded goth alt scene, and
since I was partly living on the streets, I spent most of my time in
clubs and with people I met in the scene. The most goth-friendly dance
club was playing singles that were years out of date, and because I
was such a colourful dancer and made my own DIY goth clothing and
was new in town, the club resident DJ adopted me as such, and I
Phoenix Photos
To purchase prints of any of the photos taken by Phoenix
that are shown in this article, please contact her yourself
at any of the links shown at the end of the article.
Stjameschurchyardsnow – “This is the church on the grounds of the historic, haunted, and legendary St. James Sag Cemetery that I
mentioned above. It’s a very peaceful place, monks and period carriages are often seen and heard on these grounds. I just like the
architecture and the vibe of this place. It seems to be lost in time!”
GuardianStatuaryStJames – “This statuary is a common mould of a guardian angel for the dead, if I’m not mistaken, it was often
used for burial plots with children involved. It was just lovely, so I photographed it. This is another very historic, small yard with haunted
tales and sightings, though the church, the one pictured in the snow, and rectory are still in use. St. James Sag is a lovely, peaceful place
with shrines and inspirational architecture, I have many breathtaking photos of this famous location.”
“I never spent time in Columbus, which was a little darker and more
competitive and hostile as far as social scenes go, but I know it rocked
as well.
“There were always amazing gigs happening. We stumbled across a
Christian Death gig whilst doing our laundry at the laundrymat
(Sudsy’s on Vine, epic place), which served as a bar/venue space. A
DJ friend I met through the scene had opened a goth alt house dance
club right across the water near where I lived, called ‘Club Paragon’. I
helped do a little of everything there, helped promote in town, did a
little PR, helped book parties, played hostess, organized outings from
the club’s clientele to happenings like the Dead Can Dance film debut,
and so on. It was a fine bar and the best speciality goth club that the
area had ever seen (it was in a haunting old building in a bizarre part
of town that was also an authentic Mexican restaurant, and the owners
cooked the best Mexican food you’d tasted in your life until 4
AM. That was a rare treat!) The corrupt Irish police/mafia wanted
extortion money for protection from the owners, and since they all
refused, the place was shut down. The club creator and resident DJ,
Rob Curcio, moved on to the local rave scene and electronic noise
recording artists, and later formed Mush records. Rob was a swell guy,
gave me my first taste of bruschetta lol.”
You make an impact in the local scene in Nashville and it sounds
fun but you add “I really enjoyed the scene in Nashville more
than most US cities I’ve lived in, apart from Cincinnati, Ohio.”
What’s special about Cincinnati, apart from it looking such an
interesting word? Even spelling it is fun. Did you take photos of
these places as you travelled?
Neworleanscathedral – “This is the northern tip of the
famous courtyard in front of the St. Louis Cathedral in one of
my favourite places in the world, New Orleans, called Jackson
Square. It was used as a place for military parades, and evolved
into a marketplace, and is now where you’ll find all the street
performers, artists, card readers, and various others offering
some tourist bobble or bizarre service of some kind (not that
kind!). It was taken with black and white film and scanned, with
defects and all, into Photoshop to look a bit aged. I have a
version where I’ve skillfully removed the skyline of the
business district so all you see are historic buildings, which is
how I love to imagine this city!”
shared my music and helped him shop for current dance music at a
place called Peaches Records. It really brought the club up to speed
and the small scene in town gravitated there more and more, and it
was a lovely time and a great place full of great people. I didn’t live
there long, barely a year, but I made an impact. I really enjoyed the
scene in Nashville more than most US cities I’ve lived in, apart from
Cincinnati, Ohio. Nashville’s goth scene really took off from what I’ve
seen on the net. This all happened pre-internet, so how people came
together and bonded was all in real life and a world unto itself. I’m
impressed how goth has persevered in Nashville, which actually has a
thriving music scene of almost all genres of music, except country, lol.
(that moved to Memphis).
“In the mid 90’s, I moved to Ohio to be with a friend, and fell into the
goth scene in Cincinnati. This was my favourite scene to be involved
in. I’ve lived in numerous cities all across the US, and the Ohio goth
scene was extremely potent and cohesive, and FRIENDLY! Everyone
was embraced, total hive mind. The clubs weren’t fancy, but they were
fantastic! The DJ’s were amazing. Everyone was wonderful,
knowledgeable, up to speed, open.
“Oh, are those my typos showing? (NO, it really is a lovely word –
Mick.) Hey, I’m mentally challenged. I am a proficient grammar cop
of sorts normally. Anyway, Cinci was just big enough to be bearable,
and yes, what I’ve said about how great it was. Everyone was
FRIENDLY and FUN! Everyone. The sense of kindness, openness,
and sharing permeated everything in that scene. There was little divacentric behaviour or competitive gothier-than-thou behaviour, which
always brings me down in a scene because it’s hideous and I’m an
adult. We were all equals, comrades, if you will, lol. If there was
drama, I was unawares. I always had work doing artistic things. Also,
there is a large music conservatory there, and talented people came
from all over the world to study music there.
“One of my favourite friends there was a goth violinist from France.
She had millions of black and white photos of the French goth scene,
and raved about how great it was compared to Ohio, which was
probably true at the time, but we did slowly change her mind. I didn’t
photograph in Ohio, for some odd reason, I stopped taking picture for
many years. Having to sell my cameras when really poor, I think made
me bitter, and I just rebelled against the idea of not being able to
afford the hobby by ignoring its existence and importance.
“I don’t know why I didn’t use disposable ones back then, but I really
didn’t have a lot of money to spare, so, I don’t know about that to this
day. I was still taking photos in NC, but I don’t own all those
anymore, as I mentioned. It’s almost as if we were so busy, we didn’t
have time to stop and pose and analyse what we were doing. Yes,
that’s a good reason.
“I’ve not been able to keep a lot of my possessions over the years.
Moving around didn’t help. I’ve been living here a long while now, so
I do have a couple of nice cameras to work with, nothing fabulous, but
workable. I wish I had more documented, that would have been
amazing, and I have lamented not having photo evidence of my
amazing life many times. C’est la vie!”
“I later moved to Asheville, NC, was a part of the goth scene there for
years, which didn’t really have the greatest goth clubs per say, it was
always a goth night back then, which would get interrupted by rave
music precisely at 2 am, but that scene managed to stay afloat thanks
to the wonderful people and the tremendous volume of live music that
Yesbringthem – “This is one of my favourite things in the museum I mentioned. This is the bottom corner of a gigantic antique
advertising poster that is literally 2 stories tall. There were a whole room full of them, advertising the most bizarre and surreal things that
it was hard to fathom what was going on in them, and from what I gathered, they were a series meant to promote an illusionist who
travelled in circus sideshows and did his own tours, doing magic and illusion and who knows what else. But I could be wrong?!”
Asheville sees, and, back then, a little cafe gathering spot named
‘Vincent’s Ear’ which has since been shut down. The music scenes in
Ashville are always fresh and thriving, though it’s a very expensive
small town in the mountains, so I eventually left for something a bit
more socially diverse (and for work).
“Whenever I was living in NC, Atlanta was always a place to go as a
goth in search of the best touring goth bands, and some of the larger
goth clubs there offered more progressive subculture than was to be
found in tiny isolated religiously conservative mountain towns. One of
the finest clubs in Atlanta back then for goth music and dancing was
The Masquerade. Three floors: heaven, hell, and purgatory. I saw the
greatest shows I’ve ever seen in the US at The Masquerade, Clan of
Zymox stands out as one of the finest, and the night Nivek Ogre DJ’d
after a gig. It was a 6-7 hour drive one way to get to Atlanta from NC.
but if you wanted to see big names like Dead Can Dance, The Cocteau
Twins, or The Creatures, Atlanta was usually the closest and most
goth-friendly option. A lot of goths I knew who lived in smaller NC
towns and even Charlotte moved to Atlanta in search of a better, more
progressive scene. It was just too hot for my liking!
“I moved from Asheville to a small town where my sick mother lived
to help her out for a time, and was working in corporate management
(for 15 yrs roughly) at that time, and then moved to the coast of NC to
a town that had no scene at all to spend time with someone I cared
about who was working in the film industry.
“Then 9-11 happened...It shook me awake, hard, and I desired better
culture and a bigger city, and wanted to move back to New Orleans
with my company, but ended up moving to Chicago unexpectedly to
be near a close friend and seek a larger social scene and possibly a job
in the entertainment industry.
“It was soon after moving to Chicago that I started becoming ill, and
after one year, I went from being a full-time 86-hr a week executive to
spending every few months in the emergency room, unable to breathe,
fighting infections that wouldn’t go away, and trying to figure out
when I could go back to work. I met one or two people in the scene
here before I got too sick to go out, saw a brilliant Chameleons
reunion gig at The Metro, and when I moved here, my friend was
working in the markets getting all kinds of perks as tips, mostly
tickets to shows, special venue passes, VIP passes to The House of
Blues’ Foundation Room where I got to mingle with lots of big
names, bands, producers...one of the Second City producers tried
to enlist me!
“My local friend knew a band that James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins)
was producing, so I got to meet with Iha and industry people at a
“The hospital told me they refused to give anyone an MRI unless
they couldn’t move their legs. I finally limped out of there, and
blacked out over and over at home for the next few days knowing
that calling an ambulance would do nothing for me.”
TheRedRoom – “This is from the same museum that houses all the music machines and collections of antiques and oddities. This room
itself IS a music machine, full of historically significant antiques as well, it plays a maddening instrumental rendition of some well-known
tune from days of yore that I can’t remember now. You actually insert coins, and the whole room starts up. I love this room, and it would
be a perfect music studio with the padding on the ceiling. I’m inspired to mix this décor with 3 others in the museum to make-over my
bedroom some day lol. I am in love with something I call ‘fronteirsteam’, or westernsteam, in which the elements of multi-period
steampunk combine with a wild west aesthetic. There is a lot of that in this museum, another reason I have hundreds of photos from the
place. I could truly live there!”
promo party and was being offered PR positions left and right. I got to
see the tail end of the 950 Club, got to know a couple DJs, hang out
with Thrill Kill Kult and reminisce about the good ol’ days (a friend
toured with them in the 90’s). I never really got to enjoy or experience
goth club culture here in Chicago, however. I still haven’t made it out
to the lovely Scary Lady Sarah’s Nocturna, or Neo, or Exit. I did get to
see a profound gig at historic and bizarre Phyllis’ Musical Inn right
after I moved here. It was Sealed In Silence performing with Things
Outside The Skin, one of the greatest industrial rock shows I’ve ever
seen live, with coincidental coverage of 9-11 happening on the bar TV
screens through most of the show.”
2006 was your first heart failure, and then the diagnosis
followed?
“After the first near-fatal heart failure, it took me four months to sell
all of my finer gothic and dress clothing, boots, jewellery, and even
bedding and books on eBay and locally until I had enough money to
afford a heart specialist and the required echocardiogram, which itself
was over a thousand dollars, and actually wasn’t performed correctly
so the pulmonary valve wasn’t even diagnosed. The condition was
congenital, and misdiagnosed when I was a child as being mostly
innocuous, as long as I didn’t drink black tea, or go without sleep.”
Being a dancer you must have pretty fit? Had you ever had any
major health problems before then or was it just a massive shock.
“I spent almost 2 decades in upper management always being the one
who, when others were out sick with the flu and ill for weeks, I would
feel a little icky for a day or two and that would be that. It was a
shock, but I’d been ill since I’d moved to Chicago, developing severe
asthma which I’d never experienced before, and was overworked and
very run down, having chronic infections, so I took some time off of
work thinking I just needed a rest. I worked an average of 70 hours a
week then, for a company that didn’t like managers to stop to use the
bathroom, or leave the premises to go eat, so I just thought that, after
15 years of working extreme overtime with no vacations, I was
exhausted and needed a break.
“When I had the near death experience, there was also an expired
inhaler involved that I’d been given by a nurse in one of my horrific
Chicago ER visits for asthma, but I was later told that although that
aggravated my heart (and I shouldn’t have been using it even if not
expired), that the cause of the problem was a progressive heart valve
disease that was affecting at least 3 of my heart valves.”
You’ve since had three more? Life must be ultra-stressful but
you’re lucky to be alive.
“This is true. I’m lucky to have found a doctor who can help me and
offers me a discount.”
Living in the UK we have the Health Service to sustain us. It isn’t
perfect but it’s a million miles better than the US system. Is it
common for people to just be cast aside and left to fend for
themselves?
“Millions of Americans suffer without health care if they have no
insurance. One of my worst ER visits, after I announced I had no
insurance, involved me being told I was nuts, needed to calm down
and take a Valium, (Diazepam, which can lead to my heart failing),
and then go find a good shrink. At that time, I had passed out
TheDoctor’sDesk – “This was a steampunk-themed room at an Inn that was a recreated turn-of-the-century doctor’s study, completely
period to the time when it was built, and the owners scoured the little town to acquire all of these items that were originally belongings of
the doctor who lived and practiced in this room. It was fantastic décor, apparently locals found out about the hunt for his belongings and
many of them stepped up and surrendered things they had purchased or inherited that had belonged to the doctor. Even the calendar was
period, and as you can see, the headline in the newspaper is announcing something unsettling about a lovely little boat called ‘The
Titanic’. I also have many photos of this location to edit.”
repeatedly in public, was bleeding internally in two places, the second
vertebra down from my skull was twisted 180 degrees sideways,
causing paralysis, agonizing pain, nerve damage, brain damage,
memory loss, my stomach valve wasn’t closing because of the
bleeding in my stomach, my blood pressure was way too low, and I
was dying from untreated progressive heart disease. I begged for even
a urine test or blood test to no avail. They wouldn’t even give me a
room, I was left on a cart in the hallway for 6 hours with no treatment,
being insulted from time to time by the staff and the doctor. I begged
the entire time for help, and was told I was a hysterical female with a
panic disorder. I could have died.
“The hospital told me they refused to give anyone an MRI unless they
couldn’t move their legs. I finally limped out of there, and blacked out
over and over at home for the next few days knowing that calling an
ambulance would do nothing for me. That is just one of the long list of
horror stories I can tell you from my ER visits here in Chicago. Once a
nurse put the mouthpiece for a breathing treatment on the trashcan
before attempting my mouth (we stopped her, they charged me double,
$300, for new mouthpiece). Once I was blatantly felt up (squeezing
breasts for pleasure in the US) by an obese doctor in a jewish
yarmulke whilst turning blue from lack of oxygen. Do you laugh, or
do you cry?
“Any aware American realizes how bad things are, and it’s a bit like
needing a drink to survive and the only water available is full of
sharks. You know the sharks could kill or maim, but you want to
survive, so you take the risks and spend time in the water as little as
possible.”
I see on your fundraising page it mentions you planned to work in
healing and have helped counsel those in awful situations – does
any of that experience help you with what you’re going through?
“I kind of feel we are born with the amount of fortitude and integrity
we carry throughout life, it’s my own theory on character and
goodness, but… I counselled in many areas, one was chronic illness,
one for drug/food addiction and smoking, once a mentor for a teen
with stomach cancer who was forced to work in a bullet factory in
South America when she was a child, and I went through a lot of
suffering as a child, so I’m not sure if all of that added something to
how I’ve coped so far, but it did help remind me at the most painful
times that I shouldn’t give up, and perhaps what I’d given in life
would come back to me and things would somehow work out. I
studied medicine, neurology, and psychology as a hobby growing up
as my mother stocked medical research texts and the AMA journals,
and I studied nutrition, cooked for a health-oriented resource center
where you learned about medicinal foods from around the world, and
studied various healing arts under professionals for decades.
“I once worked with one of this country’s top PhD’s helping run her
lab, assisting clientele, synthesizing herbs for tinctures and doing
various work in the field, so I had a lot of knowledge that enabled me
to treat myself. I had a library of reference materials to rely on. I
treated my own asthma after being told the inhaler damaged my heart,
and eventually I cured it, along with some hormone-response
migraines I’d been having alongside it, so that was a great
accomplishment. I suppose armed with the experience I was, I might
have saved my own life a time or two, and I don’t know what someone
without my knowledge would have done in those circumstances to
survive.”
“I can’t play with my cat, and she mopes and sometimes cries for me
to play with her, to chase her. It’s hard to get down on the floor with
her because of my neck. It breaks my heart, she’s a rescue cat and I
worry she thinks it’s her fault I’m not playing with her.”
What had led you into health and counselling before you found
yourself in a crisis?
“I’ve always instinctively helped people in need, simply because I
couldn’t stand to watch people suffer when there was a solution. I’m a
problem solver. I think everyone has the right to feel good and be
happy, that’s what we’re here on earth for in my opinion. I was always
the one people went to with their problems, and luckily for them, I had
good answers and lot of nurturing to offer. I have a gift as a healer,
I’m extremely intuitive with diagnosis. One of my first jobs was
working in a nursery and I helped a little boy whose father committed
suicide by setting himself on fire in front of him. He refused to speak,
and I worked with him for a short while and he had a miraculous break
through. He’d been like that for a long time, so I know I had a hand in
it. It was just something that came to me naturally, and a lot of my
jobs have involved caring or helping in some way or another.
“If life had followed a different path, I would have gone to medical
school and become a doctor. Also, there are a lot of people involved in
medicine in one way or another in my family tree, and I’m actually
related to Jonas Salk, the famous researcher who is known for
inventing the Polio vaccine. Salk was a type of medical Sherlock
Holmes, something that really inspires me, and I have spent years
studying specific neurological disorders and one mysterious skin
disorder that baffles medical science, and have revolutionary theories
on these matters that would help a lot of people. I would love to be a
medical investigator seeking the cure for untreatable viruses or
diseases, incorporating seemingly magical sources from other ancient
cultures in order to bring about miraculous discoveries that western
medicine has missed, a bit like the lead character in Darren
Aronofsky’s The Fountain. I suppose now, I’ll just have to include all
that in some fictional book or song I’m writing.”
“I’ve been having life-threatening reactions to synthetic drugs since
age 7, after a surgery. I was forced to look to alternative sources of
healing than those basic ones prescribed by western medicine. There
are cultures all over the world who have much healthier societies as a
whole than the one I live in, and have been using what we call
‘alternative’ medicine for thousands of years. (I love that ‘we are the
sun around which all other heathen medicine revolves’ attitude). So
because I needed to ease my pain after surgery, or needed treatment
for something medical and couldn’t find it in my own culture, I looked
elsewhere, and kept finding it, without dangerous side affects and high
dollar signs. I’m still considering a career in healing arts when I am
well again and able to finance the degree.”
The doctor you have found leaves you grounds for optimism,
getting back to doing what you previously enjoyed. What do
you miss most? What do you dream of doing again, or maybe
doing more of than you did before?
“Well, to be completely honest, I miss dancing more than anything in
the world. Dancing every day and doing yoga is what kept me sane
apart from music. I haven’t been physically able to dance since
February of 2006. I have been dancing since age 3. I tend to dance
around a lot normally. I had to force myself to stop doing that in 2006,
as I fractured a bone in my chest (from the cervical spine injury) in the
beginning of all this, from just bopping around my living room to
some German industrial and Gary Numan. It’s not safe for me to even
do yoga, which I’ve done all my life. I really miss yoga, especially
since I’m missing intimacy, because whenever I went without the
latter, I had the former to soothe my body and keep me relaxed and
healthy.
“I can’t exercise, and I can’t jog, run, bike, or hike, my preferred
methods of exercising. I can’t play with my cat, and she mopes and
sometimes cries for me to play with her, to chase her. It’s hard to get
down on the floor with her because of my neck. It breaks my heart,
she’s a rescue cat and I worry she thinks it’s her fault I’m not playing
with her. That part sucks. I never know what will happen when I’m
alone, and sometimes simple things like walking or seeing in focus
become impossible, and you don’t want to be alone and vulnerable
like that in a city like Chicago. I’ve met amazing local people in the
scene online, and then alienated them by having to refuse invitations,
and seeming anti-social or burdening them with an explanation. It’s
embarrassing and difficult. I just want my life back, really. It’s like
I’ve been dead all this time, and the pain is extreme. I just want a
pain-free life where I can enjoy the basics, have a relationship and
date again, and play my instruments/work on my music and writing
projects. I’ve always dreamt of having a family of my own, that is one
of my fondest dreams, but that has been up in the air since childhood
with my heart, so although I thought I might defy the odds in the past,
now there is doubt that my body can handle that kind of stress. I try
not to think about that right now, and just imagine myself hiking to a
dance club whilst leaping randomly, having wild fun without
hesitation. I will definitely be spending less time working in a 3 piece
suit, and more time writing, playing music, and hopefully travelling
and getting back into my love of photography. And bowling (take the
skinheads!).”
Will there be things you can’t resume fully. You’ve mentioned
playing music being affected?
“I’ll never be able to work like I did before or do as much lifting and
hard labour as I did. Gardening will be impossible (a big plot) for a
couple of years. I don’t know if I’ll be able to remodel homes and
buildings again like I used to enjoy doing. Set design is off the list as
well. My hearing is affected somewhat. We don’t know if that will
improve, my doctor says roughly a year from now, we will know if it
will get any better, so I have to play the game where you pretend until
it happens. I haven’t been able to play violin since my neck was
broken. It will be years before I can play again. I wasn’t a genius
violin player, but it’s a passion and I have talent. There are now some
things I’ll never be able to do but I’m trying not to think of them,
because it’s crushing emotionally and will make me sick.
“Mt. Everest is definitely off the list. I really wanted to go to Tibet,
and visit the Great Wall of China, see the mountains of Japan, and I
will have to defy odds to pull that off now, with the oxygen/altitude
issue, though with hard work in a few years, it may still be possible. I
haven’t been able to read or write much in the past few years with my
vision being affected also, and I lost a golden opportunity to join the
exclusive orchestra of a legendary Chinese musician who has played
with Yo Yo Ma and on the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
soundtrack. They kept waiting for me to be well enough, and I was so
embarrassed, I stopped communicating with them, why would I, (to
say I’m still too sick). I don’t know if that window is passed, we shall
see. I have a premier harp player offering me lessons practically free,
with a practice harp, and I know that will hurt as I’m so sore, but it’s a
passion, so I’m starting that up again as soon as I’m out of danger. I
can’t spin around, do a cartwheel, hang upside down, ride a roller
coaster which I lust for, slow dance and be suddenly dipped….it’s my
goal to recover enough to be able to do these things again and safely!”
Tell me about your photos. You obviously know what you’re
doing. What inspires you most, people or objects/settings?
“My father surprisingly encouraged my fascination with photography
when I was 6 or 7, by giving me a light meter and an old camera
handed down from his relative. I still have my first two photographs,
two time exposures of different coloured candles. (They were pretty
good!) I see beauty in almost everything. I love photography, I think
because I am at heart a frustrated artist who was never allowed to be
one growing up. Unknown to me until 2 years ago, at age 5, I made a
beautiful painting, it looks like a Chinese watercolour, and it showed
talent, so my fearful mother forbade me to draw in the house again
after that, removing all my art supplies, and I was never allowed to
draw or paint again or take art classes. Photography replaced my
desire to create imagery. I almost worship some illustrators. I started
practically painting my photos in Photoshop before I knew what I was
doing (which I still don’t). It’s rare I look at any human and think
they’re ugly.
“I think I’m drawn to whimsy that entertains, but I also like telling the
truth that no one wants to hear. I think that’s why I admired journalists
growing up. The idealistic Holmesian investigators exposing
corruption and saving the underdog appealed to my sense of justice,
and I like photos that present truths like aging, environmental
destruction, industrial waste, and poverty. My inspirations are endless:
nature, animals, theatre, design and architecture, fashion, history, the
absurd, and marionettes, I have a thing for marionettes and puppets. I
would tour the world photographing Abbeys, waterfalls, and puppets
in every country if I could! I think I’m drawn to things that defy the
norm in society. I want to shoot erotic black and white as my first big
project when I get decent equipment, but I don’t want it to be standard
subculture imagery, or blatant, just evocative, almost abstract, more
about texture, movement, and the bliss of union, not so much about
lust or sex. I like raw things that wake you up and make you think, and
I like faeries and fantasy, costumes and conceptual set-ups. There is
little I don’t find motivating. It would be easier to say what I don’t
like, which would be intense vulgarity, violence that isn’t masterful
and based on spirituality, like martial arts, and hog-tied women in
bloody bathtubs haha. I promise never to shoot photos of hog-tied
women in bloody bathtubs! J”
You say Steampunk things will be available – what kind of
things?
“Well, that’s not really something I can elaborate on till a project is
finished being edited, but along with random Steampunk finds I’ve
come across including sculpture, I’ll soon have hundreds of gallery
photos from a famous museum oozing with Steampunk elements the
likes of never seen anywhere in the world, including one of my
favourite things ever, antique music machines, and there is a
photojournalistic essay and feature in the works for one of the world’s
most brilliant unsung Steampunk artists, as soon as his wife and I
have another discussion about legality and book sales.”
And so that, for now, is Phoenix’s exhausting but quite remarkable
and inspiring story. Here though are the links through which you can
help directly by donating, buying a print or two - examples following
over the next pages - checking for the auctions, and by circulating the
details of these links themselves if you would be so kind.
http://helpphoenix.teapoweredphoto.com - fundraising details.
http://blogalicious.teapoweredphoto.com - Jody Elliott photos
available to buy, with proceeds going to medical expenses.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/
phoenixmarieparis?ref=profile - Facebook “A silly place where all
the updates for everything will be posted, along with videos of badly
translated Chinese Christmas songs, and cat photos. Please leave a
note if you add it, saying you heard of me THROUGH THE MICK,
thanks!”
http://lacy-b-timeless.livejournal.com - “Photography LJ, newly
formed, delayed use due to illness. Pretty pictures, crazy adventures,
LOL cats. Feel free to add it. Leave a note that says you heard about
me through The Mick.”
www.myspace.com/marie_de_la_mer - “It’s myspace, and I still use
it. Music and myspace are living harmoniously. Leave a note that says
you heard of me through The Mick, please.”
www.last.fm/user/hauntedtearoom - “Music I listen to when I have
my home office plugged in, feel free to add it.”
http://twitter.com/hauntedtearoom – “Nothing personal here, all
notices of photography being posted, sharing links for art, meeting
artists, keeping up with Steampunk happenings, and friends. ”
http://hauntedtearoom.blogspot.com - “Newly formed blog for
photography and adventure stories, development of which has been
delayed due to illness. This will be active when possible, or a website
will be developed instead.”
My Flickr account is Lacy B Timeless – The Haunted Tea Room
http://www.flickr.com/people/fujicho - Leave a note if you add me
after reading this feature, and this will be a fun place soon, I promise.
Lots goes on here, just not lately. Photo sales will be mentioned here
in the near future, as well as the Lacy B Timeless livejournal.
JODY ELLIOTT
PHOTOGRAPHS
As part of the PHOENIX MARIE fundraising appeal photographer JODY ELLIOTT is making
prints available for sale.
I am showing some small versions here which can be viewed in better detail at: http://
blogalicious.teapoweredphoto.com and
www.flickr.com/photos/tea-poweredphoto
8x10”: USD$15. Shipping to US: USD$2.50, UK: USD$5, Australia: USD$5.
“All proceeds over the cost of production are going straight to Phoenix’s medical costs, of
course. Larger prints will be available, but I’ll have a more detailed price breakdown for that at
the website.”
E-MAIL Jody Elliott - velveau@gmail.com
angel22
deathoftea2
manyheadstones2
keepingabreast2
treecrossred2
olllllldangel2
bokehglass2
dyingautumn2
bluedoor2
jesusmimestrees2
cemeterypath2
Cemeteries and cats, what could be a better combination?
And please remember, these are quality items, and images.
You wouldn’t be able to buy anything this good at such a low
price in any art shop selling prints, so here is an oppurtunity
to acquire great art and help a really worthwhile cause,
where you support someone within the scene. ALSO, please
don’t keep this to yourself once you have the magazine. Show
all your friends within the scene as well. THANK YOU.
GiddybooBw2
TGstarebw2
tchair2
FiniJungle2
tzaraears2
tzaradarling22
BIG CAT
PHOTOS
~ for sale in aid of the
Phoenix Marie fund.
Similar to Jody Elliott’s photos, I am making these pictures,
taken by myself, Mick Mercer, and my fiancee Lynda, available
with all profits going to the Phoenix Marie fund. 10x8 inch prints
cost £10. If you buy just one there will also be a postage cost of
£2.50. If you buy more than one they are post-free, worldwide.
E-mail: mercermick@hotmail.com
snowleopard 4
snowleopard 2
snowleopard 1
snowleopard 3
tiger 05
tiger 02
snowleopard 5
tiger 01
tiger 03
tiger 07
tiger 04
tiger 06
tiger 08
tiger 09
tiger 10
serval 3
serval 2
serval 4
serval 1
serval 5
cheetah 1
cheetah 5
cheetah 3
cheetah 4
cheetah 2
cougars 3
cougars 4
cougars 5
cougars 2
cougars 1
leopards 2
leopards 1
leopards 4
leopards 5
leopards 3
lynx 4
lynx 1
lynx 3
lynx 2
lynx 5
lions 8
lions 6
lions 9
lions 1
lions 2
lions 10
lions 5
lions 3
lions 7
lions 4
Pallas 19
Pallas 20
Pallas 01
Pallas 13
Pallas 14
Pallas 03
Pallas 15
Pallas 16
Pallas 10
Pallas 02
Pallas 04
Pallas 05
Pallas 17
Pallas 06
Pallas 08
Pallas 11
Pallas 18
Pallas 09
Pallas 12
Pallas 07
MUSIC PHOTOS
~ for sale in aid of the Phoenix Marie fund.
I haven’t been selling my music photos recently. Here you see a selection of classics Goth images. I will only make these available for the Phoenix Marie fund. 10x8
inch prints £10 each. Buying just one there will be a postage cost of £2.50. Buy
more than one and they’re post-free, worldwide. E-mail: mercermick@hotmail.com
ALL ABOUT EVE - Julianne and Wayne Hussey
Marquee 1987
ADAM & THE ANTS - High Wycombe 1980
ADAM & THE ANTS - Moonlight 1978
Alien Sex Fiend 1
THE ADVERTS - Marquee 1978
Alien Sex Fiend 2
BLONDIE 1
Ausgang
Bauhaus 1980
THE CRAMPS 2
THE CLASH 1
THE CLASH 2
BLONDIE 2
THE CRAMPS 1
THE DAMNED 1
DANIELLE DAX 1
THE DAMNED 1
DAISY CHAINSAW 1
DANIELLE DAX 2
DAISY CHAINSAW 2
DAVID J
JULIANNE REGAN 1987
GITANE DEMONE (CHRISTIAN DEATH) 1984
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM 1
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM 2
PENETRATION 1
ROZZ WILLIAMS 1984
PENETRATION 2
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES 1977
SOUTHERN DEATH CULT
SPECIMEN
JOHNNY THUNDERS 2
JOHNNY THUNDERS 1
Mind Control
SCARLET LEAVES
Brazil’s beautifully atmospheric and inventive SCARLET LEAVES released an
excellent album in ‘Outlining States Of Mind’ which will brighten any record
collection. Synth player Jean who answered my questions is also a man of deep
creative principles, a tangible clue as to why the band have that special depth.
You formed in 2004 so it took a while for the debut album
to emerge. How different musically was the band when it
first started?
Your scene seems strong, with a lot of high quality varied
bands, has this always been the case from your own
experience, or has it just been getting better recently?
“In the beginning our sound was sparse but with the right idea,
because we always knew what the sound we wanted to reach. We did
some experiments and spent some time individually learning our way
achieve that sound. I think the first materials weren’t so different that
we make nowadays, everything is just more mature now. Comparing
the first demos to the recent works you cannot see a huge musical
difference.”
“In fact it’s getting better now with, but I wouldn’t say it’s a scene.
The people here must open their minds and ears. They must pay more
attention in what we produce here, and of course, who produces be
interested in do it well done. It’ll be a circle that closes and run.”
Were you actively influenced by your local scene? Or did
you look outside your own country?
“I think that the best we have is the creativity. Actually, I think it’s the
main characteristic of the Brazilian people, cos we can survive and
make things come true without many devices and opportunities. We
make our own opportunities, with some limitations of course, but we
do. This creativity can also be noticed in the musical style of some
bands you can find here, that don’t sound like any other else in
anywhere.”
“Most of the influences come from outside. All this started outside
here, but as we live in a different situation, our music tends to have
something of our own, what is perfect cos we don’t to sound like our
influences and we don’t have to make any effort to do that, it comes
naturally.”
What would you say was a defining characteristic of
Brazilian Goth which is distinctly its own?
Have you found things easier thanks to Myspace, do you
feel a sense of community with other bands in your
country, or neighbouring countries, where once you might
have felt a bit isolated?
“With Myspace we could reach much more people and all around the
world. We made some real good friends there, had opportunities for
compilations, interviews and reviews.
Chile has a very good scene, and all the other countries are connected
and share events and bands. I wish Brazil could join them.”
What pets do you have? Bonus points are awarded for
cats.
“We all like so much nature, and pets. I had dogs for a long time when
i was younger, now i have 2 cats, Scout and Veruca. Danny has one
cat, Claudia has none pet at this moment and Audret had a Hamster
who died.L Many points for us huh ;)”
‘Cold Painted Landscapes’ – a very beautiful song
musically but the vocals tell of frightening characters in
corrupted lands, what do these lyrics deal with?
“Actually I don’t like to explain my lyrics, Because, I think, each
individual can have its own interpretation.
“But I’ll tell you how it was born: One day I was walking through my
neighborhood, and I looked at the sky and it was purple, very beautiful
and also very sad, ‘cos it’s not natural, it’s caused by pollution. At this
moment I thought I should write about this, about how our world is
changing, how soon we won’t recognize anymore the places we used
to walk on. How people are invading and destroying it. We don’t know
them, where they came from. We just feel affected by what they are
doing to us and to our environment. We feel so different of them cos
our mentality is different, our behavior is different.”
‘Absinthe Tears’ reminded me of the feel of Badalamenti’s
work, are you influenced by composers as well as bands?
Or is this all from your own minds?
“We all like many bands and I like some classical composers myself,
and I think our taste in music reflects in what we create, but I have to
say that this influence is subjective, and, as the same time it’s inside
us, it’s not something that we consciously add to our music. It comes
by inspiration and from our minds as any kind of art does.”
‘The Last Romance’ also has that sorrowful – in fact here
it’s quite miserable - air. Are Scarlet Leaves quite an
emotional band?
”We create the melodies, arrangements and lyrics to transmit a feeling.
That’s the role of art right?! You can just listen to the musical part and
have a comprehension, like it or hate it. We can’t go without a
reaction. And we also offer the possibility to go deeper, if you want to,
especially in the lyrics.”
“I think that the best we have is the creativity.
Actually, I think it’s the main characteristic of the
Brazilian people, cos we can survive and make things
come true without many devices and opportunities.”
‘Fate’ seems more up in spirit but again the lyrics are
there to scorn an unfaithful lover? Are these songs from
the heart or lyrics written to fit the mood?
“More faithful than it seems to be. That depends of the point of view.
The songs and lyrics are from the heart and the lyrics most of times
assembling many different experiences to create one lyric.”
“What is in my mind is too complex to explain. I don’t even
understand it. :P
“This song represents 3 stages of one feeling or 3 different feelings
changing, transforming. How your state of mind can change so easily,
according to what happens to you in your day. Musically it shows the
3 different styles we mix in our music: electronic/synthetic, organic/
electric and acoustic/classical.”
‘Estado de Espirito’ is so beautiful and yet so short. Why?
“The song title means “Instrumental State of Mind”. It was born
short, like an interlude, and it transmits what we wanted to. Musically
I could add some of my classical influences, showing it more clearly in
this song than the others.
“Thinking that’s short, you’ll listen many times in a row, as I do, with
the short songs I like (lol) ;)”
‘Annwyn’ – is this a graceful tale of suicide? Or do you
have a secret desire to be a fish?
“I like to write telling the facts not giving many details. You can
understand it as a suicide or also as process of renewal. Something
you want to leave behind, get rid from your life, and start to receive
something different. Something, that, you want to completely fill your
spirit with. Maybe a way to kill the things you don’t want to you, and
reborn completely renewed.”
‘Images Of Memories’ – I was expecting a happy end but
the lyrics are still gloomy and full of pain!
“Pain? No, it’s all about art.”
What sort of approach do you take with these songs live,
does it have a depressing effect on the audience, or does
the music hypnotize?
“It absolutely hypnotizes. You can see on the audience’s faces how the
songs affect them. And it’s always positive. What is great cos we are
not a depressive band, and we don’t wanna delivers this image. We
just like to create a deep atmosphere with the music supported by the
lyrics. We like to people identifies themselves with state of mind of
the songs, musically and literally. And in the literally aspect, this
identification is the whole point of the individual understanding that I
like people to have.”
What can people expect from you during the rest of 2009?
‘Faces’ – more emotional problems yet you keep the music
light and lovely, carrying the listener along. Why,
considering the lyrical content, do you not go for some
stark, angry music?
“Because it’s about forgiveness. When nothing else matters, besides
the peace and freedom. Be angry won’t change the reality and what is
done. The angriness is the first feeling when you don’t have control
over a fact that disturbs you, or second if considering the denial. I left
it, or part of it, to talk about in Fate.”
‘Desilusion – In 3 Acts’ – what is this, in your mind?
“We intend to perform a lot of gigs as many places we can, and, of
course, sell tons of CDs. Meanwhile, work in new songs for a future
release and put into them, all the experience we got in the first release,
correcting some steps and improving others.”
www.myspace.com/scarletleaves
...in
THE MICK 51
interviews with
UK DECAY
BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL
SCREAMING BANSHEE AIRCREW
WILL DANCE FOR CHOCOLATE
ZEITGEIST ZERO