A few news organisations have run with the story that Belfast City Hall will reopen its doors, permitting the public to tour parts of the building on a weekend, after a ten year ‘blockade’ enforced by Goths.
Well possibly. In reality, nobody can remember exactly why the decision was made a decade ago, but the Councillor who has reversed the decision dredged up this gem;
“They [the goths] apparently behaved in a unruly fashion one day and thereafter the front door was closed…”
“I was told that they’d invaded and some had come in on skateboards, which may or may not be the case because I’m told skateboarders and goths don’t really mix.”
Well, quite. Unfortunately this scenario does seem likely; many city centres have a location where the disparate alternative tribes congregate – in my experience, it was the Corn Exchange in Leeds and Queens Gardens in Kingston-upon-Hull.
Bored teenagers with nothing better to do might well wander into a public building and, being teenagers, cause havoc. This is universal regardless of subcultural affiliation! Friends of The Blogging Goth living in Belfast have expressed surprise at the news however, as they were under the impression there were only four Goths in the whole city, and none of them bothered hanging around City Hall anymore.
Nevertheless, it’s a prompt return after last year’s performances at Sonisphere, Scotland and Ireland when The Blogging Goth caught them in the unfamiliar surroundings of Dublin (the last Sisters gig was in ’97).
We’ll be finding something equally bright and loud for the spiritual homecoming gig in Leeds, and maybe other dates if money / transport / accommodation / inclination permits. See you there?
Goths have been holding out for the fabled ‘darker than black’ for their wardrobes since the first fishnets. Last year, we were all impressed with the research that yielded ‘Vantablack’ (which would also make a great band name), a material that broke records by absorbing all but 0.0035% of visual light.
Unfortunately scientists clearly have no sense of priority, and instead of a brand new range of ultimate aviator sunglasses for the upcoming Sisters tour, the latest development in nano-engineered ultra-black coating is a revolution in collecting solar energy!
One place the sun won’t be a problem is the North Yorkshire town of Whitby, at Halloween. This auspicious date will mark the second Whitby Goth Weekend of 2015, a more sedate affair after April’s four-day multi-band bonanza.
The line-up has been confirmed, with headline acts provided by firm fan favourites Spear of Destiny, and the surprise appearance of Altered Images. This Scottish-based band had an originally post-punk sound, supported Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1980 and had a debut album produced by Steve Severin in ’81.
Thereafter, however, they took a more mainstream and pop approach with some minor chart success before breaking up in ’83. Lead singer Claire Grogan has since performed several times since, and their headline appearance at WGW continues a theme set by bands like Heaven 17 and Toyah; a broader net that encompasses artists active during the Eighties who have some affiliation to the alternative scene.
Both those preceding artists pulled large, enthusiastic crowds so for door tickets alone, it’s understandable why the organizers are fielding bands like this, but it’s dividing fans on the WGW page – not that it’s exactly difficult to upset people online, or Goths, or both!
Will you be going to Whitby in October, and how do you feel about the lineup? Watch the latest trailer to help make up your mind!
Talking of Goth musicians, beloved Eighties synth superstar Marc Almond tweeted an intriguing image from the premier of Sky’s Hannibal season three. As many have observed, it’s the first time in a long time old colleagues Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin have been seen in public together.
Many more were speculating wildly and hopefully about any potential collaboration between Almond and Sioux, but the Softcell and Banshees singers wouldn’t be drawn! We can but hope!
Trudy Moorhouse, who has not commented on the matter, has had to adopt the requirements after eight years with her employer with no issue. The Co-Operative Food Group issued a statement saying,
“There is a clear policy in place regarding dress code and how colleagues present themselves in our food stores. An amicable arrangement has been put in place at the store with Trudy.”
You can engage in the discussion with others, and visit the petition set up by a friend and customer to have the Co-operative reverse its decision, on our Facebook page.
Tell us if you’ve had to adjust your appearance to meet your employer’s requirements, or if you’d prefer staff to adhere to a workplace dress code.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr and submit any content or stories you think we’d find interesting!
It’s quite bright here in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where The Blogging Goth is keeping an eye on Facebook and Twitter and watching as the Goth community comes together to celebrate – even more than on Halloween!
So far, only persistently poor paper The Metro has managed to churn out some fairly inaccurate guff about Goth – hardly surprising, as this free rag is part of the hated Daily Mail publishing group!
“But not as you know it!” – Like, accurate? Entertaining?
Still, Goths online have been keeping the celebrations going; Twitter in particular has been exceptionally lively, with the sharing of events, memes, jokes and – for the Shopping Goth – special offers! You can see an exhaustive roundup on the official World Goth Day website.
Today also we’re celebrating the birthday of a couple of pretty iconic people as well! There’s sullen, pouting Fairuza Balk – famous for playing sullen, psychotic Nancy in 1996’s “The Craft” and revitalizing the Goth look towards the end of the Millenium – and be-quiffed flower-thrower and rent-a-rant indie maestro Morrissey, who – like The Sisters of Mercy – influenced and counts many Goths as fans, but otherwise has nothing to do with the subculture at all. Many unhappy returns to them both!
Finally, you can read a chat with the man whose fault it all is, DJ Cruel Britannia, in this fantastic little interview. He comes across as just the wry, sarcastic bloke he is in the real world, and – I hope – adroitly punctures a lot of the misconceptions and outright lies people believe about Goths.
It’s almost the end, anyway – because as we all know, when night falls, Goths really come out to play! Do so – get out there, hit up your local club or catch a gig or just get down the pub and see what’s on the jukebox. Confounding all stereotypes, Goth is more than just sitting in your room listening to the same records over and over.
OK, a lot of it is that but at the same time, the whole culture benefits from people getting out there, supporting the efforts made to bring new blood into the scene.
Don’t let it die on us – keep Goth shambling ever forward!
— The Blogging Goth (@TheBloggingGoth) May 18, 2015
Barely five hundred tickets were available for this unique performance; Peter Hook – the former Joy Division bassist – and his band The Light were celebrating Ian Curtis’ life by playing the entire back catalogue on the 35th anniversary of the tortured singer’s death.
They sold out in minutes, and started changing hands online for hundreds of pounds, but a friend of a friend had one available to The Blogging Goth. So some hurried coach journeys were arranged, a tiny room in an oversubscribed B&B was acquired, and I was on my way to Macclesfield.
In 1980, on the eve of their first tour of America and with their second album six weeks away, the depressed and epileptic Ian Curtis hung himself at the home he shared with wife Deborah and their baby daughter in the town. I didn’t have time to visit the tiny terrace house – and what would I do if I did? – but the latest news is the private home is in the hands of a fan who has plans for a museum to the definitive post-punk band.
I arrived with minutes to spare, and hurried into the surprisingly spacious Christ Church where sunlight streamed through stained-glass windows and dry ice – creating an appropriately hallowed atmosphere. Still a functioning place of worship, the audience was packed into the wooden pews, all sporting awkward expressions – how many of these men and women hadn’t been near a church in years?
Of course, it was only a few songs in when people started edging down the aisles towards the empty space in front of the band. When I enquired if this was permitted, security affably waved us forwards – and I headed for an optimal spot at the very front, within touching distance of Hooky himself.
As well as playing bass, he was handling the vocals, and the delivery was superb. That almost nasal Mancunian twang that Curtis delivers when he wasn’t wailing or chanting mournfully is utterly mimicked by Hooky and it makes it all breathtakingly authentic.
Although Peter’s anxiety about this marathon performance is visible – “I’m going to have to pace myself!” he quips – it never shows through the three and a half hours of material, with the briefest of breaks in between.
At times he stomps across the stage, playing as close to the fans as he can get, shredding like crazy. He seems transported back to the earliest days of playing toilet venues across the UK and the past just fades away.
The setlist itself is exhausting, from tapping the last vestiges of ‘Warsaw’, the proto-Joy Division, to live performances of the unreleased demos that make up ‘Still’. Of course, the crowd goes wildest for the familiar classics like ‘She’s Lost Control’ or ‘Transmission’ – but the rest of the time, the audience is locked in an urgent stillness, rapt attention that refuses to be broken by anything so unnecessary as dancing.
There is a surprise appearance of Rowetta, the Happy Monday’s vocalist, who delivers tingling new performances of the beautifully melancholic songs like ‘Insight’ and the anthem for Ian that is ‘Atmosphere’. When she delivers ‘New Dawn Fades’ – my most favoured Joy Division song – I am almost moved to tears, as she effortlessly channels some of the most painful lyrics Ian ever committed to song. It is a fantastic variation on a spine-chilling classic, and we are honoured to hear it.
The effortless move from ‘Transmission to ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart Again’ has to be a high-water mark for the entire gig, and the crowd before the stage is a whirling mass of ecstatic fans – and around them, a cordon of more reflective people, many embracing in emotional affection as they recall why, really, we’re all here.
“The toast tonight… is to absent friends” Hooky dedicates at the very beginning of the gig, and the spirit of Ian Curtis does indeed linger over proceedings.
But not in a haunting sense – this is more of a celebratory wake, and rather than a morbid observation of the anniversary of his death, it is a joyful appreciation of a man who contributed something massively definitive and utterly original that has shaped music forever.
You can order last night’s live concert from www.abbeyroad.com/live with all proceeds going to the two charities. The Epilepsy Society and the Churches Conservation Trust to restore Christ Church.
Happy Friday, everyone. Next week will be a full one, so make sure you’re following us on social media as we try and bring you a little closer to the events.
First off, we’ve finally confirmed transport and accommodation and The Blogging Goth will be at the legendary “So This Is Permanence” – Complete works of Joy Division by Peter Hook and the Light on Monday 22nd.
We’ll be arriving five minutes before the doors open – assuming all connecting trains are reliable – so it’ll be a helter-skelter ride. Keep an eye on our Twitter where we’ll be live-tweeting as best we can.
We’re gutted we can’t spend longer here, like visiting Ian’s memorial or attending any of the other events on the day, but The Blogging Goth has a full-time agency job he needs to get back to!
We’ll watch them do it again this year, but we’re also tempted to produce something of a resource for them so they aren’t completely fumbling in the dark – the intention of The Blogging Goth was always to be a contact and guide for journalists to ensure their articles aren’t full of half-remembered urban myths and internet stereotypes.
There will be a new page with a guide to Goth (in one blogger’s opinion!) and we always invite your feedback to ensure it’s accurate and amusing in equal measure. Watch this space.
Check the blog for ongoing coverage of World Goth Day, our roundup of the best and worst articles from the press, and the opportunity to share your events for celebrating on Friday 22nd. We’ll be at DARK NATION in Newcastle, doing everything that represents Goth to us – i.e. wearing sunglasses and drinking snakebite in a small bar after dark.
Finally, you can now be a fan of The Blogging Goth on Facebook, and have your news feed supplemented with the stories and silly pictures that has been limited just to our exclusive Twitter followers.
Post on our wall, get into the conversation, share your content with us and help get even more pictures of Siouxsie and Bob Smith onto the internet.
A few news organisations have run with the story that Belfast City Hall will reopen its doors, permitting the public to tour parts of the building on a weekend, after a ten year ‘blockade’ enforced by Goths.
The Blogging Goth 