Welcome to February 2024 and the DREADLINES, three stories summed up quickly for the goth news consumer on the go!
Alternative fashion brand Killstar is in headlines and across social media posts after reports they’re commencing operations Brighton in the south of England – and asking staff to either relocate or quit. The formerly Glasgow-based clothing company enjoys a massive online presence with nearly 2 million followers on Instagram, but divides the goth community with those who embrace the more DIY and thrift aesthetic rejecting its slick, corporate style.
Other observers have been observing the follies of Killstar, and say this latest development is indicative of urgent restructuring within the company. UK legal regulations on employee relocation are broad, and it’s unclear if any mobility clause was built into Killstar staff contracts, but UK employers can make staff redundant if they do not choose to move. Whilst Killstar don’t appear to be acting outside regulations, to move jobs from central Scotland to the English south coast in the middle of a financial downturn is a mercenary move at best.
How this latest action will impact the brand’s reputation within the alternative community remains to be seen, as Killstar has enjoyed lucrative performance previously – yet is reviled online for both its quality and intentions. I’ve reached out to the company and await a response I can share here.
Presenter, journalist and comedian Dom Joly, renowned for his phenomenally popular public-spectacle sketch show Trigger Happy TV, visited Whitby during Goth Weekend in October last year to record a documentary for BBC Radio 4. He recalls having some sympathies in that direction during his youth and wanted to find out more about this elusive subculture. The show was recently broadcast online, and I tuned in and tweeted my thoughts as the broadcast went on!
Staying on the theme of festivals, the first big event of 2024 is almost upon us. CorrosionFest kicks off in Morecambe in just a couple of weeks and it’ll be my first visit! Billing itself as “the premier celebration of West Coast Gothic and Alternative music”, the event is back for its highly anticipated 2024 edition having started in 2020. So no chance yet of having developed schisms, counter-events or any of the toxic community of popular fronts that marks out other, most established festivals!
Organisers promise “a fantastic weekend of driving melodies, captivating performances, and an electric atmosphere that will resonate through the historic halls of The Alhambra”. The lineup involves several emerging UK bands, a sprinkling of artists from Western Europe, and has previously played host to top-flight acts such as Auger or legendary legacy outfits like Balaam and the Angel. I’m really looking forward to such a music-focused event!
The Blogging Goth 
Good post as always! Yeah, Killstar is always a controversial one alright. It felt to me like a mainstream answer to goth fashion and usually falls into the same pitfalls of goth fashion (Expensive, questionable quality materials, the designs not being to my interest). Though I thought it would be cheaper to stay in Glasgow rather than move to Brighton. I thought the rent was higher in Brighton.
I tried listening to the recording of the Dom Joly documentary. It wasn’t doing it for me. It felt like a story I’ve heard so many times before. Did share it around a few places on FB though.
CorrosionFest looks like a good line up. I recognise a few of those names there too.
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Yay thrift and DIY–to me that’s a big part of goth and the uniqueness of the people. I in some shiny tube bought from a big company will look much like you or someone else who buys one from them too, with only comparisons to fatter/thinner/hotter/older/etc.–boring! Poignant is a big big goth quality for me, so yeah maybe we’d score something fancy or mass-produced, but that’s just a little something in with the distinctive found and made tat–
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