The identity of this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top
5 of 2020 will come as little surprise to regular readers, as all five projects
have consistently hit the heights with each release and gradually grown their
fanbases as a result. All five have released outstanding tracks this year which
will surely stand the test of time, and lead the genre ever forward as both
new, younger fans and elder goths returning to the scene continue to be
attracted to the worldwide gothic renaissance. 2020 has been a uniquely
challenging year, but the music of these five artists in particular has seen
many of us through the darker days, with hopefully a return to some kind of normality now on the horizon.
5 Stranger and Lovers – Spiritual f. Succubus.
Mexico City (CDMX) band Stranger and Lovers have
continued to plot their careful route to the top by releasing their 2019 debut
on more platforms and signing a distribution deal with Young and Cold to
release their forthcoming 2021 album to a wider public. This year saw the band
release just three tracks, but all showed the band’s unique appeal: creating a
new darkwave strand played on vintage instruments but embracing all that
digital studio technology has to offer, with the vocals (apparently in English)
used as an extra instrument in the way that the first-generation bands like The
Sisters of Mercy and Fields of The Nephilim did. Fans of The Sisters and The
Nephs will particularly appreciate the chugging rock of most recent teaser
track Necro Love, whilst Spiritual f. Succubus had a more
nightmarish fairground swirl that added an extra claustrophobic layer to their
already thrilling sound, with first single The Snoop having a softer,
more dancefloor friendly focus which will appeal more to fans of Xymox or She
Past Away.
4 Black Angel – Kiss of Death
Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project goes from strength
to strength: having released debut album The Widow at the end of 2019,
Vowles returned with follow-up Kiss of Death barely six months later, an
equally strong set of musical earworms that effortlessly recreate the most
popular elements of 80’s goth. Haunting guitar lines, classic chord
progressions, multi-layered vocals and fantastic state-of-the-art production
combine to create an album which, like
its title track, brings to mind Steinman-era Sisters tinged with the gothbilly
sounds of Shadow of Love-era Damned. Vowles always baulks at any
comparison to Billy Idol, but the strong focus on melody and the superb production
makes this a worthy compliment rather than a detraction for what is arguably
the most potentially commercially viable of all the projects featured in this
Top 50, and a great gateway act for new fans of the scene. A barely-discernible
change of vocalist – Robert Steffen’s more operatic approach replaced with the
more authentically alternative tones of Corey Landis – has left the band
stronger as a unit and although the pandemic put paid to plans for more live
work, Black Angel will deservedly be a name on most promoters’ wishlists for
2021 after two stunning albums of perfect modern gothic rock.
3 Sonsombre – Highgate
Brandon Pybus must be one of the hardest working guys on the
goth scene, whether maintaining a strong social media presence to boost the Sonsombre
fanbase, writing and recording new material, or collaborating with other
artists from around the world. Sonsombre’s latest album One Thousand Graves
was their best yet, moving ever away from their sources (Fields of The
Nephilim, The Wake, Nosferatu etc) to showcase their own distinctive sound. Now
clearly more a band than a one-man project, Sonsombre’s lockdown live stream
sets were always high quality and featured tracks from their three album career
but focusing on the darker, heavier and more innovative material which subtly
drew more on Pybus’ own death metal past. Highgate was an excellent case
in point, starting with a spooky church organ and music box intro, with jagged,
discordant guitar riffs taking over before exploding into minor key malevolence
with more classic gothic rock overtones. Song dynamics and structure remain a
key strength, with anthemic choruses and dramatic atmosphere essential elements
of any Sonsombre song. With a new album Revival ready for release in
2021, Sonsombre look set to make the Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog top 10 for a
fourth successive year!
2 The Kentucky Vampires – Moon Rays
2020 album Crimson Curse moved The Kentucky
Vampires from the ranks of deathrock prospects to major league gothic
contenders, showcasing an expanded sonic range and depth which resulted in an album
to return to again and again. A couple of the tracks featured on their EP
released at the end of 2019 (and made our Top 10 last year), but the new tracks
were a judicious mix of the up-tempo melodic graveyard deathrock of the first
album (eg Saint Vincent) and a slower, more resonant and lyrical sound with a fuller gothic sound.
The addition of Motuvius Rex’s bass had fleshed out what was a slightly trebly
mix, and its rich sonorous tone, reminiscent of vintage The Cure, enhances
the lullabylike Moon Rays, with Zac Campbell’s shimmering guitar lines
and Abbas Marler’s wonderfully lilting vocal creating a perfect gothic fusion
which was typical of the album’s best tracks.
1 Then Comes Silence – Devil
Swedish captains of post-punk Then Comes Silence blew
away all other contenders with a stunning 2020, releasing a superbly
accomplished and polished album in Machine, releasing a couple of online
quarantine covers and putting on a string of beautifully shot live
performances. Machine ran the gamut of post-punk musical styles but always
with Alex’s honeyed baritone, Jonas’ syncopated drumming and the twin guitar
duelling of the highly experienced newcomers Hugo and Mattias to the fore, as
on this featured track, Devil. Pretty much every track on the album could be released
as a single, always the sign of a classic album, from singalong darkwave songs
like Apocalypse Flare to the epic soundscapes of Kill It. Then Comes Silence certainly killed it in 2020, and are the Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog band of the year.
Into the Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog Top 10 with five very
solid albums which do not disappoint. All start strongly and as with all
classic albums, get even better, saving the best until last and ending with a
fantastic finale that always marks out a classic album. As befits this blog,
the top ten artists are all primarily guitar-based and feature driving
basslines, strong vocals, insistent beats and guitar FX aplenty.
10 The Wake - Figurine
Second-wave superstars The Wake almost single-handedly
resuscitated the genre at a point where it seemed to be dying a natural death
in the early 90’s with their stunning Unmasked album, splitting in the
mid-90’s before reforming around a decade ago and releasing a couple of low-key
singles and making a much higher profile splash with their 2020 comeback album Perfumes
and Fripperies. Whilst early tracks on the album like Marry Me
delighted those simply looking for God’s Own Medicine part 3, the
reworkings of those intermediate singles Rusted and Emily Closer,
plus the album’s outstanding final pairing of the Pumpkins-influenced Big
Empty and the bombastically slow and stately Figurine hint at an
exciting new direction for the band responsible for classics like Nazarene,
Watchtower and Harlot nearly three decades ago.
9 Delphine Coma - Tension
2018’s debut album Leaving The Scene established US
act Delphine Coma as major new players in the darkwave world, with lead
single Is This Forever making many end of year lists. Sophomore set Tortuosa,
released this year on Swiss Dark Nights took things to a new level, with singer
Ashe Ruppe’s vocals, heard to great effect on Kill Shelter’s In Decay
(number one on this countdown two years ago), enhancing a wide range of strong
darkwave pieces from upbeat tracks like Secondary Eyes to more
introspective songs like the album-closing Tension, a wonderfully-atmospheric
Bowiesque slab of drone-led gothgaze/darkwave.
8 Guillotine Dream - Vermillion
80’s goth fans Guillotine Dream were as well-known
for their sense of humour as their Nephilimistic musical charm until this
year’s wonderful Damaged and Damned album which showed them increasingly
evolving their own sound. Recorded in just two days, the album had a
wonderfully raw live-in-the-studio feel best exemplified by album-closer Vermillion,
released as a teaser single with a great Blair Witch-style video. Wonderfully
overdriven guitar, growled vocals, dirty bass and Dawnrazor drums combine
spectacularly in a perfectly spooky piece of magically pure gothic rock.
7 Mayflower Madame - Vultures
Some albums have an intensity and a flow which forces you to
stop what you’re doing and focus solely on the emotionally-draining aural
assault on the brain. Siouxsie and The Banshees’ first two albums had that
effect on me in the late 1970’s, Echo and the Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain was
another example from the mid-1980’s and Norwegian band Mayflower Madame’s
2020 Prepared for a Nightmare on Icy Cold records is a future classic in
a very similarly dramatic and overbearing vein to the latter, with its latent
psychedelia and shoegaze tendencies. The album’s claustrophobic intensity is
heightened by the sequencing of the songs which take the listener on a
distorted journey through a restless night full of nightmares, half-woken
visions and the intense relief of reawakening to the relief that the night is
over. Wilfully singular in their approach, Mayflower Madame are a deeply
rewarding obsession.
6 Raskolnikov – Faut pas chier Albert Roche.
One of the YouTube comments on the full album upload of Raskolnikov’s
Lazy People Will Destroy You album states that the author has been
listening to music for over thirty years but had never before found an album
where they loved every track. Such hyperbole does not sound misplaced when streaming
this outstanding album which showcases a variety of musical styles, leading one
to presume that the band has a varied record collection spanning the entire
forty years of the post-punk genre, from The Cure and The Chameleons through
Spiritualised and Ride to Muse, Interpol and Editors, with even more commercial
influences like Coldplay and Snow Patrol thrown in. Whilst this might sound
like a nightmarish pick’n’mix hybrid, the reality is a wonderfully melodic and
well-paced set of original songs which defy the usual pigeonholing and deserve
a wider audience.
With no new studio work from the likes of scene giants She Past
Away, Whispering Sons, Antipole and Der Himmel Uber Berlin, 2020 could have
been a musical disappointment, but such was the breadth and depth of talent on
display that those making the Goth/Post-Punk Revival top 15 brought out their
best music to date, and these next five selections, from traditional goth rock
to electro punk, again hint at the range of sounds to be enjoyed by fans of the
genre.
15 Raven Said – She Comes To Me
Russian duo Raven Said are quite possibly the world’s
most goth act ever, and their 2020 album Beyond The Darkest Hour brimmed
with a confident, multi-layered gothic rock that soon made waves thousands of
miles away from their native Ekaterinburg. Steeped in gothic musical and
cultural history, Andy and Maria live the gothic lifestyle 24/7 and pour
everything into their music, patiently explaining their vision to less
scholarly interviewers. Maria’s synths and Andy’s guitar lines and often
semi-whispered vocals create a potent mix, as here on the single She Comes
To Me, hinting at greater things to come from one of Eastern Europe’s
finest ensembles.
14 Glasszone – The Lighthouse
Glasszone continue the great tradition of French wave music
which dates back to the days of Jad Wio, Asylum Party and Mary Goes Round in
the late 1980’s. Following up their 2019 album Garden of Glass, the Restless
Nights EP featured an up-tempo title track, but atmospheric slowburners
like The Lighthouse and The Last Time showed the true depth of
the Glasszone sound.
13 Horror Vacui - Frustration
Italian anarcho deathrock outfit Horror Vacui
returned in 2020 with their fourth and best album to date, Living For
Nothing, full of galloping bass and jagged shards of guitar to create a
series of excellent songs which never stray too far from the classic gothic template,
like Frustration. Although only half an hour long in total, Living
For Nothing delivered more punch than many albums twice the length.
12 Into Grey - Bloom
US post-punk/coldwave solo project Into Grey enjoyed
a prolific 2020, releasing two excellent EPs of well-rounded “miserygoth”, Into
Grey and Picture Perfect, as well as a series of individual tracks
all released via Bandcamp. Bloom rattled along at high speed and had a
Sonic Youth detuned vibe with dark twang atmospherics and a haunting and
vulnerable vocal. Introspection at its finest, Into Grey is the highest placed
debut act in this year’s countdown.
11 The Guilt - Stick To Your Guns
Swedish electro-punk act The Guilt were one of those
artists whose place in this countdown was in doubt given that they operate at
the very extremes of the genre (rather like Bob Vylan, who were ultimately just
the wrong side of the line, being more punk than post-punk), but the post-punk
guitar vibe and coldwave synth base swung the decision in their direction. The
2020 album Hot Knives is arguably one of the strongest selection of
songs I’ve heard all year, with in-your-face vocals from the sassy Emma over
Tobias’ whipsmart beats and licks. If you’ve not heard this album you’re in for
a treat – think The Ting Tings meets Kas Product with a vocal power and energy
that makes Beth Ditto sound like she’s singing nursery rhymes in comparison.
We’ve finally reached this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival Top
20 of 2020, and all the remaining projects are to be congratulated on putting together music of such high quality that selecting just the one track for this countdown
was a real dilemma, and in many cases the identity of the chosen song changed
several times between draft and publication. Just the first two tracks alone
show the diversity of sounds available within this broad third wave of the
goth/post-punk scene, but all selections share a commitment to musical
perfection which was evident in so much new music this year.
20 Slow Danse With The Dead – One Tear Drop
New Mexico-based solo project Slow Danse With The Dead
released an almost bewildering range of releases in 2020, from work-in-progress
to quality compilations like the self-titled (and quickly sold out) cassette
release. Firmly in the “miserygoth” genre, SDWTD’s lugubrious baritone vocal
and maudlin lyrics take the listener on a journey deep into the soul. Songs
like the funereal He Speaks Too Much recall Suffering For Kisses at
their best, whilst One Tear Drop has the simplicity and raw edges of mid-period
Joy Division.
19 The Black Capes – Welcome To The Necroclub
Greek goth rockers The Black Capes promise unapologetically
metallic goth rock with a capital “G--- R---”. Lead singer Alex S Wamp has a
voice deep and powerful enough to dominate proceedings, and the excellent
production on the album helps to elevate its sound above the genre norm. For
the single release of Welcome To The Necroclub, The Black Capes recruited
additional vocal support from Brandon (Sonsombre), Abbas (The Kentucky
Vampires), Nikolaou (Cold Remembrance) and Veronica (Death Loves Veronica),
further raising their profile on the goth scene.
18 The Secret French Postcards – Kiss Away
More exquisite perfection from Swedish band The Secret
French Postcards, whose album Colours whilst not spectacularly
different from their previous releases, served as the best statement yet of their
musical vision. Drenched in sumptuous guitars and with the velvet tonsils of Olli
Ohlander weaving dreampop tales of love and loss, each song, like Kiss Away
featured here, is perfectly executed and brilliantly produced by Pedro Code.
Fans of melodic post-punk bands like The Chameleons will love the reassuring warm
embrace of the goth lite aesthetic of one of 2020’s most consistent albums.
17 Shadow Assembly - Plaything
After his 2019 collaboration Ghostcrawl with Brandon
Pybus (Sonsombre), Michael Louis worked with a wider variety of vocalists this
year for his second album under the Shadow Assembly banner. This enabled
him to paint with a broader musical palette, in particular on standout track Plaything
featuring the ethereal vocals of Marselle Hodges on one of the strongest
melodies of the year (warning: you’ll be humming this chorus for months). One
YouTube commenter said that it sounds like Kate Bush fronting Rosetta Stone….now
there’s an idea for a collaboration!
16 Byronic Sex & Exile- Eternity
If Andrew Eldritch was the undisputed Leeds Godfather of
Goth in the 1980’s, that title has surely passed to the ubiquitous Joel Heyes,
whose excellent one man goth act Byronic Sex & Exile released the
stunning Cu Foc album in 2020. Whilst not entertaining his many social
media followers with tales of workplace woes or medical mishaps, the organiser
of the Goth City festival is a keen student of Transylvanian history and
culture, which was the inspiration for this BS&E album. Final track Eternity
was a heady mix of Black Sabbath and Bauhaus at their most
bucolic/acoustic, with that goth torch song vibe that Nick Cave has tried and
failed to accomplish over his lengthy solo career. Heyes’ candle-lit one-man
bedsit performances were one of the lockdown musical highlights, and live shows
in 2021 will be unmissable.
Into the second half of the countdown for 2020 we go, with five more musical offerings more than worthy of your consideration which showcase the broad spectrum of music covered by the contemporary goth/post-punk label. Whilst the spartan bedit misanthropy of "miserygoth" and the punishing beats of synth-driven hard handbag darkwave EBM may seem to have little in common, they share a sense of the "other", a fascination with the darker aspects of the soul and an obsession with a time in the late seventies early eighties where the nihilism of punk clashed with the narcissism of glam and the modernity of the futurists to create a new musical and cultural aesthetic which has stood the test of time.
25 Rosetta Stone - Shock
Last year’s Seems Like Forever re-established Rosetta Stone
as one of the top players on the goth scene, with Porl King’s “greatest hits”
from his Miserylab project reworked and beefed up under the RS banner for
Cleopatra Records. Cryptology, Rosetta Stone’s new album of 2020, came
as a real surprise to all but the band’s closest followers when it was rush-released in the middle of the year. Although inevitably lacking some of the strength in
depth of its predecessor, whose tracks had been written over the best part of a decade, Cryptology was more homogeneous in its
approach and had several standout tracks, of which the heavily Red Lorry Yellow
Lorry influenced Shock is one, with the more minimalist (and therefore
more Miserylab) Smoke and Mirrors also outstanding.
24 Deathtrippers - Reach
The sky’s the limit for this Leeds project who play
uber-cool dancefloor-friendly gothgaze darkwave not unlike (the sadly-defunct) Holygram but with
their own unique twist. Deathtrippers issued only two new tracks in 2020,
Alive and Reach on separate compilations, but both bristled with
a rare drive and energy and hint at great things for a project whose profile is
still somewhat lower than their talent merits. Definitely one to watch. Reach,
on the Goth City Wasteland compilation, appropriately has a bit of a The Sisters of Mercy vibe with the buzzing bassline and reverb guitar riff (think Train), and purchasing
the Wasteland compilation also has the advantage of contributing to a refugee
and asylum-seeker charity.
23 Suffering For Kisses - Ashes
Seattle artist Tony D’Oporto’s Suffering For Kisses
have been one of the main proponents of the “miserygoth” strand of the genre over the past
couple of years, with the singer’s trademark deadpan delivery of lyrics of lost
love over an often hyper-minimalist backing creating a real sense of desolation
and despair, yet somehow having an uplifting effect on the listener. Gloom
doesn’t get much more lugubrious than this, and the funereal Ashes was
probably SFK’s "lowlight" of the year.
22 Dark - Nightmare
From Germany comes Dark, a new Hamburg-based project championed
by Yami Spechie which exploded onto the scene only in the summer but
immediately made waves with the hugest, hardest and darkest dancefloor beats
since the heyday of EBM in the mid-1980’s, so powerful they make Front 242
sound like Erasure in comparison. Nightmare was *the* track for bedroom
DJ’s to spin on their never-ending Twitch livestreams, with its spookily strict
beat and baritone vocal creating a real earworm of an alternative club anthem.The ensuing
mini-album showed that Nightmare was no one-off, making Dark one of the coolest
new discoveries of 2020.
21 Altar de Fey – Mercy’s Kiss
Veterans of the deathrock scene Altar de Fey continue
to raise the bar for those new to the genre. Their 2020 EP release And May Love
Conquer All release bristled with Kent Cates’ graveyard guitar, chilling
chord changes, Jake Hout’s typically histrionic vocals and a punky energy
whilst maintaining a high quality of musical and lyrical craftsmanship on one
of the most pleasing releases of the year, expertly produced by bassist Skot
Brown. Lead track Mercy’s Kiss had an intro that more than nodded in the
direction of genre kings Der Himmel Uber Berlin (who sadly didn’t release
anything in 2020) before bursting into a chorus with both a lyric and a melody
that Wayne Hussey would have been proud of.
Into this year’s Top 30, the first five selections feature a
couple of goth/post-punk supergroups and a fair few individuals who have been
around the scene since the very start, but are still capable of producing work of a
standard that bears comparison to the best that impetuous and carefree youth
can muster. Encouraged by their success, perhaps more of the elder statesmen
and women of the movement will venture into the studio in 2021. Here's hoping ...
30 Capitals - Satellite
I’m cheating a little including this specific track as it
appeared on an album originally recorded two years ago, but was only available
on Bandcamp (and therefore came to my attention) for the first time in 2020,
but Capitals, from the Mexican city of Guadalajara also released a new
single later in the year which would also have made the Top 50. Minimalist post-punk
of a style that would appeal to fans of Joy Division, Capitals’ music is
uplifted by some unexpectedly jolly guitar lines, as here on Satellite.
29 Black Chapel – House of Ghosts
Hastily-renamed “goth supergroup” Black Chapel, from
the movement’s home turf of Yorkshire (UK), boast former (and in some cases,
current) members of BFG, Expelaires and principally The Danse Society, and
unleashed a peach of an album this year (originally under the name, The
Society) with Hell Is Waiting. The album’s title hints at the contents,
a spiritual follow-up to TDS’s classic 1984 album Heaven Is Waiting.
Swirling keyboards, angular, haunting guitar lines and Paul Gilmartin’s
powerful drumming are very much to the fore on th aetmospheric House of Ghosts, as on other tracks, with
Leeds legend Paul “Grape” Gregory’s distinctive vocal adding a further
unsettling yet familiar layer. Black Chapel build on the musical foundations of
classic 1980’s The Danse Society and keep the band’s original spirit alive by creating
a new and distinctive strand of the goth/post-punk revival.
28 Mary – Die Before Death
Canadian project Mary built on the promise of a couple
of encouraging darkwave EPs last decade with a now fully-formed sound and an excellent
2020 debut album, making podcast playlists the world over and becoming the name
on everyone’s lips in the middle of the year. Title track Die Before Death has
a fantastic gothgaze intro reminiscent of great 90’s bands like The God Machine
and Catherine Wheel, and the whole song shows a classic sense of melody and
musical dynamics that reminds me strangely in atmosphere of The Stone Roses’ I
Wanna Be Adored in parts, which can only ever be a good thing. Other tracks
had more of a B-Movie/New Order/Cure vibe, showing the band’s range over a beautifully-crafted
album for fans of the lighter side of darkwave.
27 This Eternal Decay – Future Anthem
Another post-punk “supergroup”, this time from Italy, This
Eternal Decay typified the spirit of many bands in 2020, refusing to be
brow-beaten and adapting the launch of their debut album to the “new normal” of a
world under lockdown. Animated by the typically excellent pulsing bass of
Pasquale Vico of the band Date At Midnight, TED’s album was a real darkwave
delight, with driving beats and soaring melodies, and even a guest appearance
by Alex from Then Comes Silence on the appropriately-named track Silence.
Future Anthem builds on the classic three-note Bela Lugosi’s Dead bassline
with something a lot more unhinged, channeling the energy of The Three Johns in
a track that lives up to its name.
26 The Psychedelic Furs – Come All Ye Faithful
The first new Furs album in roughly thirty years was
awaited with a mixture of dread and anticipation, but even those in the latter
category had their expectations hugely exceeded by the sheer energy, invention
and drive of a release recently announced as Vive Le Rock’s album of the year.
Drawing on everything from funk to jazz, dreampop to post-punk, the album shimmered
where others fade with Richard Butler on top lyrical and vocal form. Their
place on end-of-year lists is anything but a sympathy vote or a tugging of the
forelock to old masters - this album rocked. With its parping and wailing sax,
funkily-syncopated backbeat, razor sharp lyrics and stereo channel changing, Come
All Ye Faithful is perhaps the most avant-garde selection in this year’s Goth/Post-Punk
Revival countdown, not bad for guys in their early sixties. Respect is due. Are
you listening, Andrew Eldritch?
Part four of the The Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog’s Top 50 of
2020 features several bands whom I first discovered via various bloggers and DJ’s,
and I want to thank all those promoting the scene for the great work they do in
helping fellow aficionados to find quality new music. There’s so much out there
that you sometimes need a trusted guide to navigate your way through the mounds
of what one might charitably call “work in progress” to find the one or two
golden nuggets released each day somewhere across the planet. So take a bow Ken
and co at Sounds and Shadows, Azy and Maus at Obscura Undead, Jason, Tzina and
the team at Absolution, DJ Skullgirdle, those at Isolation, Frontiere Rock and
Songs of Preys, Mick Mercer, Indrek, Post-Punk.com, Darko The Post Punker,
WL/WH, Sideline, Clint Dao, George Chlioumis, Sound In The Distance and so many
others who work hard to keep the scene alive.
Anyway, back to the countdown, and where better to start the
next instalment than with a band from “goth city” itself, Leeds:
35 Klammer – I Don’t Know What It Is
The first Leeds band of this year’s countdown also featured
last year, again with a cover. Last year it was a punked-up Being Boiled,
whereas it’s the late Pete Shelley who gets the Klammer treatment in
2020 with a version of one of the three singles from his seminal Homosapien
album. I Don’t Know WhatIt Is features the lovelorn lyrics and
strong sense melody for which Shelley was infamous for a chief songwriter for
Buzzcocks in the punk era, and although his early work as a solo artist didn’t
enjoy commercial success, the Homosapien album was a big club hit as the
Futurist movement gave way to the equally Bowie-influenced positive punk scene.
Klammer’s version keeps the original’s subtleties whilst adding an edgier angle
to emphasise its post-punk roots, and features on a compilation tribute album raising funds to establish a permanent legacy for the great man.
Ukranian darkwave duo Icy Men were back with a strong sophomore
album in 2020, building on the promise and word-of-mouth success of their debut
on Cold Transmission. Low Light was an excellent album full of string-bending
minor key melancholy, wonderfully unpredictable basslines and an atmosphere as
cold as the band’s name, with this track Raindrops, a typically
thrilling example, showcasing a genuine beauty in the overall bleakness.
33 TheFuneral March of The Marionettes -
Useless
One of the features of the gothic revival has been the re-emergence
of a host of bands schooled amidst the key gothic tropes of the late 1980’s, like wonderfully-named US band The
Funeral March of The Marionettes, who take their moniker from the classical Gounod piece
with a similar title which was the theme tune of the TV series Alfred Hitchcock
Presents. 2020 single Useless (A Foolish Arrangement) with its Banshees
guitar sequences, spooky rhythm section and understated vocal was a stunning
return to form in a year when the band also released some previously
unavailable tracks from 1993.
32 The Midnight Computers – Tears
French act The Midnight Computers’ mini-album Anxious,
released on the ever-reliable Swiss Dark Nights label was largely competent but
unremarkable synthwave fare, but Tears featured a scuzzy bassline and a
driving beat which elevated it not only above the rest of this album but over
the majority of releases in this crowded genre. The video also hints at the passion and energy of live shows from darkwave bands which we have all missed so much in 2020.
31 1983 – Baile de Mascaras (Dissonancia sessions)
Brazilian band 1983 have been slowly raising their
profile since their debut releases in 2018, and this year they performed a live
Dissonancia studio session released simultaneously as a YouTube video and as a
download via Bandcamp. Led by singer/guitarist Dennis Sinned/Monteiro, the trio operate
very much in territory which will be familiar to fans of Pornography era The
Cure, and this live session containing some of their better tracks such as O
Corpo and Baile de Mascaras hints at bright future for a band who rightly prioritise music over image.
This third instalment of the Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top
50 of 2020 countdown begins with arguably the most controversial choice of them
all, Marilyn Manson. Some will baulk at the suggestion that the 90’s prince of
vaudeville industrial glam’s musical output fits into either of the genres
under discussion, whilst others, with arguably more justification will state
that in 2020 of all years, with the real issues (Covid-19, BLM etc) that
the world has had to face, that the mock horror and tired shock tactics of an
artist whose star is decidedly on the wane have become so far removed from the
zeitgeist that it would be better instead to promote another artist who didn’t quite
make the Top 50 this year, like The Birthday Massacre, Pilgrims of Yearning, Bootblacks, Vlimmer, Orcus Nullify, Twin Tribes or Paranormales. This feeds into the wider argument
as to whether one should judge the current output of past goth stars on their
merit, place them on a pedestal and give them an automatic pass to the top table
regardless of quality, or rule them out of contention on the grounds that they’ve
had their time and are unlikely to reach earlier peaks once more. Just for the
record, I’m choosing the former path, and a couple of other names familiar to
fans of the first two waves of our beloved genre will also appear in this
rundown. But for now, on with numbers 40 – 36…
40 Marilyn Manson – Red, Black and Blue
The days when a new Marilyn Manson album was a major
musical event are long gone, but the mall goth superstar always has a couple of
decent tunes per album up his sleeve and his 2020 release We Are Chaos is
no exception. Whilst perhaps not the “masterpiece” which Manson himself
claimed, tracks like Red, Black and Blue hinted (after a rambling
introduction – I’d advise starting it at 1:15) at the visceral rush that
accompanied his seminal releases around the turn of the millennium, with skull-crushing
riffs and sleaze-fest lyrics to the fore. Although shunned by most goths (with
some justification) as a risible posturing charlatan, the pale emperor still
knows his way around a good chorus.
39 Instant Lake – Delicate Obscenity
If any song in this year’s top 50 typifies the post-punk scene sound
of the past years, it’s this track from Italians Instant Lake’s
sophomore album Dystodream, on the appropriately-named Brazilian label Wave Records. There are hints
of coldwave, darkwave, gothgaze, industrial and most other strands of the current broader gothic spectrum, with the classic reverbed simple guitar riff, driving EBM
beat, echoing baritone vocal, buzzing descending bassline and an overriding
atmosphere of menace, midway between Front 242 and Holygram. Good work.
38 Cliff and Ivy – Will To The Power
Touted as Alaska’s premier goth duo, an accolade for which
there is surely not much competition, Cliff and Ivy play a powerful yet
tongue-in-cheek brand of drum-machine driven gothic rock, with Cliff’s angled
powerchords the perfect backing for Ivy’s effortlessly cool but slightly
unhinged vocal. Unashamedly 80’s influenced, Cliff and Ivy have successfully
mined the same furrow for the past decade, but this year they really came to greater
prominence thanks in part to some excellent live streamed performances during
the lockdown.
37 Iamtheshadow – Pitchblack
Pitchblack is the title track from Pedro Code’s Iamtheshadow
project’s 2020 album and I expect it to feature towards the very top of end of
year lists of those whose preference lies in full-production
dancefloor-targeted synth-based coldwave electro-goth. The Portuguese act has produced
a strong set of deep-vocal EBM-based dark club tracks with a BPM which will
fill alternative club night floors across the globe and enhance Code’s
reputation as one the genre’s foremost sonic terrorists.
36 Paar – Modern
A simple, repeated bass riff from the eight-to-the-bar Craig
Adams school, fx-drenched guitar reminiscent of Whispering Sons and a strong
female vocal drive this wistful track which mixes power and fragility in equal
measures. The album from which it’s taken, Die Notwendigkeit der
Notwendigkeit hints at a band still in search of a definitive sound, but Modern
is an ideal template from which to work in the future.
If the first five selections in the Goth/Post-Punk Revival
Blog Top 50 of 2020 hinted at the sheer range of music produced by artists
working within and on the fringes of the genre, this next five should underline
the depth of talent and their collective desire to constantly expand the gothic sonic palette. Taken together, our first ten selections have featured artists from Chile to Turkey and from Mexico to Belarus
as well as more traditional goth hotspots like the UK and the US, and everything from solo projects to bands featuring scene
veterans. The goth/post-punk scene is truly a global phenomenon, with the ultimate
democracy of Bandcamp and YouTube meaning that anyone with genuine talent will quickly impress the
many scene influencers, that small army of DJs, bloggers, vloggers and label
bosses who are constantly promoting their latest finds.
So on with countdown, starting at number 45...
45 Kiss Of The Whip – Girl Made of Stars
KOTW is a one-man project from Baltimore musician Tristan
Victor, and one of the more immediately goth-friendly artists on the currently very
overcrowded minor key synthwave scene. High quality but simple song
construction, sotto voce vocals, a memorably nagging guitar riff and the
ambiance of a late-night Berlin underground club fuel this future dancefloor
anthem, from autumn’s album We’re Not Here which features much more of the
same, most notably on the excellently slightly off-kilter title track.
44. Molchat Doma – Otveta Net
Otveta Net is taken from Monument, the
Belarusian trio’s third album, recorded and released during the pandemic, a
release which solidifies the band’s place in the upper echelon of artists
operating in the more melodic end of the coldwave genre. Metronomic drum
machine beats and clean, mournful reverb guitar lines are the perfect backing
for the bleakly romantic lyrics, the key elements of a seemingly universally
appealing mix which has seen Molchat Doma rise from the relative
obscurity of Minsk to all the best playlists in a relatively short timeframe
and YouTube view counts that run into many millions, making them one of the big players on what is clearly the most popular strand of the genre at present.
43. Night Nail – BRNO
Tearing up the more traditional goth-tinged darkpop format
that helped previous album LA Demons garner universal praise in the
months after its release, the distinctive vocals of Brandon Robert and the
musical backing of Justin Deaktivere have been put through the mixer
(literally) by Kill Shelter’s Pete Burns to create a more diverse and
ultimately more satisfying (if at times less immediate) end product which will
appeal in particular to fans of the likes of Depeche Mode. More introspective
than the previous album, March to Autumn from which BRNO is taken
was (like many 2020 releases) an album which rewarded repeated playings
(something many of us had plenty of time for this year), showing that Night
Nail are in it for the duration.
42 Chaos Bleak – Grey Lady Walks
It’s a real personal pleasure to be able to include for the
first time in one of these rundowns one of the real unsung heroes of goth,
Trevor Bamford, who almost single-handedly kept the UK scene going as the
flames threatened to extinguish in the early 1990’s with his Nightbreed label
that ultimately brought the legendary Suspiria track Allegedly,Dancefloor
Tragedy. Trevor’s own projects, from the competent early second generation band
Every New Dead Ghost to the more recent Death Party UK have been reliable
staples of the British goth scene, and side project Chaos Bleak seeks to
reanimate the corpse of early 80’s positive punk, evoking the spirits of the
likes of Play Dead and The March Violets. Grey Lady Walks, the projects
eighth single released on Halloween, chugs along with a descending bassline, an underlying sense of menace and
a beat which will get many quinquagenarian shoulders shimmying.
41 Detoxi – Beyond The Grave
The proto-gothic sound of 1981 is alive and well with
Californians Detoxi, their 2020 release Beyond The Grave building
on previous works with a spooky romantic tale which builds on the claustrophobic drama
of legendary bands like UK Decay, play Dead and Sex Gang Children with some
outstanding guitar work but with the thrilling addition of a naggingly melodic
but distant vocal. It's one of those songs that you just know is going to be great from the opening bars then just gets better and better. If there’d been a whole album’s worth of this, Detoxi would
have been rivalling the likes of Altar de Fey and Horror Vacui for the accolade
of Deathrock release of the year, and in any other year this song would easily have made the Top 20.
Welcome to this year’s annual Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog
countdown of the year’s best releases. As expected, this first year of the
fifth decade of goth music proved to be particularly bountiful in terms of both
quantity and quality, with the enforced lockdown seemingly increasing the flow
of creative juices throughout the post-punk community. Indeed, so plentiful was
this year’s crop that the annual Top 30 has been expanded to a Top 50,
reflecting the strength in depth. Whereas in recent years a single outstanding
track was enough to help an artist reach the Top 5, 2020 was such a great year
that every artist in the Top 20 has produced a whole album whose consistency has a good chance
of standing the test of time, something which has probably not occurred since
the mid-1980’s.
So without any further ado it’s straight on to the first
tranche of artists worthy of accolade, those featuring between numbers 50 and 46
in this first part of our countdown:
50 Lucida Fila – Crystal Virgin
Mexico has been far and away the most potent breeding ground
for new goth music over the past decade, and self-proclaimed “Souls of the
Night” Lucida Fila play no-nonsense 80's-rooted old school gothic rock which transcends
linguistic and geographical boundaries. Having finally released their 2018 debut
album on Bandcamp this year, as well as promoting their earlier Reborn EP on
YouTube, December saw the release of the first genuinely new material in the
past two years, with the release of teaser track Crystal Virgin. With music and
lyrics by Damian Vazzmor, the track is full of full-on gothic riffs, swirling
keyboard, dramatic vocals and a soaring chorus, plus the usual Gregorian
chanted intro to set the tone - you get the idea. Nothing startlingly new then, but further
evidence of the growing musical maturity of many Latin American goth projects.
As well as swelling the ranks of The Kentucky Vampires to a
trio, in 2020 bassist Shahn Rigsby also released a fascinating solo EP entitled Sermo
Vulgaris under his stage name Motuvius Rex. Drawing on influences from occult
chanting to chaos magick, Rigsby skilfully weaves dense and mesemerising sonic
tapestries which although far removed musically from his deathrock-influenced work with KV’s, retain
a sense of power and majesty, doubtless assisted by the mixing and mastering
skills of Vampires’ guitarist Zac Campbell at the control desk. With mandolin and duct flute to the
fore (not a phrase usually associated with my reviews), Kentucke Darkness is a
beat-driven trance-like call to arms which strays way beyond the narrow
confines of trad goth but emotes the same atmospheric and emotional charm.
48 Mystic Priestess – Smoke and Mirrors
With the spooky font of their band logo incorporating not
only a spider’s web but a dagger, Oakland’s Mystic Priestess uphold their
state’s reputation as the home of all things deathrock, but for all the 60’s style overuse
of reverb and angular chord sequences,the shouty female vocal is more
reminiscent of the genuinely (and indeed, barely) post-punk likes of Brigandage back in
the days before the term “goth” was in wide usage. The band’s first three EPs
have been pressed on their eponymous debut (compilation) album, with opener
Smoke and Mirrors the standout track.
47 Diavol Strain – Sonrisas Fabricadas
Back to Latin America for another musical lesson in gothic
history, with cutting edge Chilean duo Diavol Strain, at the forefront of placing
gender identity as a key issue in modern gothic music, producingly a stunning
cover of arguably the best-known South American goth track of the 1980’s,
Sonrisas Fabricadas, originally by Argentinian band Euroshima. Wonderfully
detuned guitars and a slouchy bass rumble propel this low-fi, low-slung but
full-force sonic assault, and hint at great things for Diavol Strain in the future.
46 Elz and The Cult - Horrified
The Turkish electro-goth trio returned with a sophomore
album in 2020 which with its accompanying videos was both visually stunning and
musically right on the money, with whip-smart beats and the sharpest EBM
rhythms outside of Belgium, making Goldfrapp sound like Yazoo in comparison.
This blog doesn’t usually give much house room to artists without a healthy guitar-based
element, but when the finished product is as dark dancefloor friendly as Elz and the Cult’s album, an exception has to be made. Cold Transmission records
have become ultra-reliable arbiters of contemporary post-punk good taste, and
the prominent presence of Elz and The Cult on their roster should tell you all
you need to know about these Istanbul-based self-professed Matilyn Manson-obsessed “industrial trash
freaks”.
Tracks 45 to 41 of our Top 50 will be published tomorrow!
It’s late November 1983, and the
movement which would become known as “goth” should be at its zenith. In the
past twelve months, The Sisters of Mercy have released a run of stellar EP's
including Alice, The Reptile House and Temple of Love,
legendary albums such as Song and Legend (SGC) and If I Die, I Die
(Virgin Prunes) have hit the shops along with anthems like Ignore The Machine
(ASF) and Snake Dance (The March Violets), the Batcave is at the height
of its fame and ZigZag magazine has become the new bible of the emerging
subculture.
But all is not well. Ben Gunn has left
the Sisters who have cancelled a planned UK autumn tour and gone into hibernation,
UK Decay are no more, Death Cult have shed a further word from their name but
released nothing new, The Banshees have put nothing out for over a year and
mercurial guitarist McGeoch has left, whilst Killing Joke’s current single Me
or You? is but a pale shadow of their glorious best.
That late November 1983 evening, I
ventured out to Leeds Poly to see local heroes The March Violets struggle
through a support set for another Yorkshire band. With new singer Cleo clearly
suffering pitching problems, the set is hit-and-miss, so another leading band
on the scene seems to be faltering. The headliners, five lads from Barnsley who
are no strangers to the upper echelons of the indie charts, take the stage.
Over a beguiling bass riff, with swirling keyboards reverberating around the
half-filled sports hall, the singer repeatedly incants a spookily welcoming
question “Won’t you come inside?” The drama mounts, the eerie tension builds.
Then it happens. Drummer Paul Gilmartin
plays a punishingly powerful introductory salvo, as iconic as the opening
credits to then-future BBC soap opera Eastenders. The song crashes into
life with a powerful guitar riff, the stage lights at full intensity and the repetition
of the pummelling drum motif as the song reaches an early crescendo.With perfect timing, The Danse Society have picked
up the pace and arrived to save goth.
The studio album which that
set-opening song, Come Inside, also begins, Heaven Is Waiting, is
a 100% goth classic and was released early the following month, it’s bombastic
tone the blueprint for the big players of the latter stages of the first goth
wave, Fields of The Nephilim and The Mission.
But major label Arista has big plans
for The Danse Society, and chasing the charts, the sound will evolve over the
next three years into a discofied alternative Duran Duran, understandably alienating
old fans yet failing to win the promised new ones, leading to inevitable
decline and the end of the band, whilst early contenders like the Banshees, KJ,
TSOM and The Cult return to peak form and become Top Of The Pops
regulars.
Fast forward over twenty years to 2010,
and the members of the original Danse Society regroup to reform the band. With
singer Steven Rawlings soon heading back home to the USA, it will be a
short-lived reunion, but with guitarist Paul Nash’s girlfriend Maethelyiah gamely
taking over vocal duties, the band complete the patchy comeback album Change
of Skin (and a follow-up, Scarey Tales), but to largely withering
contemporary reviews still visible on Discogs: “an embarrassment to the name
The Danse Society”, “a big disappointment”, “is it a joke?”.
Inevitably a second split occurred,
this time dividing the band in two, and for a while there were effectively two
versions of The Danse Society, one led by Gilmartin with local Barnsely rocker
Bri on vocals, the other by Nash and Maethelyiah, not dissimilar to the ongoing
Gene Loves Jezebel situation. After an acrimonious legal dispute which was settled
in Nash’s favour, Gilmartin changed his project’s name to The Society, and with
new vocalist Jonathan “J” Cridford on board, produced the stunning Nightship
EP in 2017. After illness, injury and a further change of vocalist, with
Leeds post-punk hero Paul “Grape” Gregory taking the mic, The Society this
summer released the excellent Hell Is Waiting, which lived up to its
name as an appropriate musical follow-up to the 1980’s classic album Heaven
Is Waiting, being closer in both sound and spirit to those early 1980’s
recordings, including the classic Mini LP Seduction (which I remember
purchasing the week my first student grant cheque came through in October 1982!).
Ade Clark’s inventive basslines,
Elliott Wheeler’s shimmering guitar, 80’s TDS member David Whitaker’s
spiralling keyboards and Grape’s northern snarl were perfect musical bedfellows
for Paul Gilmartin’s trademark pounding drum patterns on Hell Is Waiting,
whether on more atmospheric tracks like Falling, the classic angular
goth chorus of House of Ghosts or Devil, or the disco goth of,
erm, Disco Goth.
However, with their own new album also
hitting the racks, Nash’s The Danse Society (Official)’s legal team moved into
action once again, forcing Gilmartin to abandon The Society moniker for good and
effectively scuppering the drummer’s album’s chances of success.
Bloodied but unbowed, Gilmartin has
renamed his project Black Chapel and the band has rush-released their first
tracks on Bandcamp including a brand new song, Emotion Is A Stranger.
Having followed and enjoyed his projects over the past six years, and feeling
more than a little sorry for the genial drummer, I contacted Paul Gilmartin to
see if he’d like to answer this blog’s customary Ten Questions. Not only did he fully answer my queries, but
he gave a searingly honest and open account of the events of the past few years
from his perspective. Huge thanks to
Paul for opening up, and just a warning that if you’re about to read this,
you’ll need a good twenty minutes, as he has plenty to say so put the kettle on,
open a packet of HobNobs and read about the highs and lows of band reunions on
the goth scene.
1.Because
of further legal hassle from the other remaining project from original members
of The Danse Society who have the rights to use the name, you’ve had to change
your own project’s name recently from The Society, and have chosen Black Chapel. Where did you get the name from, and do you
think it gives a good indication of the band’s sound?
Hi, thanks for the interesting questions and a
chance to shed some clarity on the situation. The original The Danse Society
were wound up at Barnsley Crown Court on May 8th 1988 and I was made
personally bankrupt for the band’s debts to the HMS, tax, VAT. That was the end
of 1980’s TDS. I reformed the band in 2010 with David Whitaker, Lyndon’s
replacement (Lyndon Scarfe was the original keyboard player in The Danse
Society). We invited Paul Nash (original guitar) to join us, Steve came
over from the USA and we did one track, Towers. The mistake we /I made
was calling the new project with Paul Nash’s girlfriend (now Mrs Nash) on
vocals, The Danse Society. It was nothing like The Danse Society! After two
albums that partnership split into two, myself and Martin Roberts on one side
and Mr and Mrs Nash on the other side. Dave left to concentrate on his studio. I
formed The Danse Society Reincarnated - I wanted to sound like The Danse Society
should. To cut a long story short, I trademarked the name simply to stop what I
viewed as the vicious sabotage of our gigs. I had no voice, you fight fire with
fire, partnership law was not followed. It gave me the umbrella to build the
band back up. Trademark law is complicated - the now-named The Danse Society Official
[Nash’s version of the band] sought to have the trademark voided. The
original case was decided by Mr Salterhouse QC who ruled that nobody should own
the name outright, which suited me. They appealed, I lost. I think it was a flip
of the coin decision. Of course, I knew what was coming - everything was pulled
down. Eventually, we agreed that I would just be The Society and they would
stop this nonsense - let the music and promoters decide who they want to book. Unfortunately...I
did not realize it had a “nobody must book you” clause ..the truth is, every
gig, they tried to get us thrown off the bill. It was pathetic. While we were
obliviously getting on with being The Society, they were preparing a legal case
against me, citing “confusion”, which again is so arrogant, presuming that everybody
is silly and does not know the difference between the two bands - especially to
promoters, it’s a bloody insult! You know, I respected Paul from our past –
unfortunately, I don’t think he has much say in the matter. I wanted to play and make music which I had
earned the right to do as a founder member of the original Danse Society. I
always went out of my way to show clarity, who we were, and used my own name. 2014
we split up, I mean six f---ing years of this. Imagine having the energy to
keep that up? Every day I never knew what I was waking up to, trying to explain
this silly situation. In my view it was just envy and spite, dress it up how
you want, it’s not like the stakes are high. We play for the joy of it and I
still loved playing the old songs, and they have to do this to make themselves
feel better about themselves as a band. I can’t help it, people show interest in us,
what am I supposed to do, never mention my past? I just got bored of fighting
over the carcass of a dead band. I just think it’s a travesty, TDS belongs to Barnsley.
In my heart, I just wanted to do the name justice, but stop it now, it’s just
music, it’s time to let go, so have the f---ing name, be Mr and Mrs Danse Society,
you won, enjoy your spoils, good luck with that! It will become apparent that it’s
not because of me that goth stardom eludes them, it’s because we should
not have used the name without Steve. It’s
ludicrous, no doubt gigs come easier with the name, it is what it is. Black Chapel,
formerly known as The Society, you know what ya going to get. We rehearse and record at the Old Chapel in Leeds.
There is something I like about chapels
anyway, but to be fair we don’t do happy music! I needed to do it quickly
before the idiot in me kicked in and I decided “f--- them and their silly law
suit, I will take my chances”! And to be fair, the rest of the band whom I love
dearly don’t deserve to have this shit. I have too much respect for them. We could
be called The Boiled Eggs and still play “Heaven Is Waiting” better than the
other lot!
2.You’ve
used three very different vocalists since Steve Rawlings left the reformation
project almost a decade ago, from tousle-haired metalhead Bri through
frilly-shirted proto-goth “J” to new singer Grape, a legend on the Leeds
post-punk scene of the late 70’s/ early 80’s. How did the link-up with Grape
come about? What do you feel he brings to the band?
Well, Bri is an old friend from Barnsley
and the Saxon case was mentioned in the IPO case. He sang for Saxon, they had a
trademark tangle but worth a lot more than ours! Anyway I found it amusing when
I said the singer for Oliver Dawson’s Saxon sings for me, he put his glasses
down, looked up and said “Is there somethingin the water up there, Mr Gilmartin?”!! Saxon and TDS are Barnsley’s
bands who broke out. Bri was often too busy, so I always plan ahead and was on
the look-out for a stand-in. I was aware that people did not get the rock metal,
I just heard a top singer. I used to say, “Bri, play it mysterious!” but he
would just go into rock mode! We did a great Wheels Of Steel, goth
version! [Wheels of Steel was one of the biggest hits of Barnsley rock band
Saxon who were one of the big players on the UK metal scene in the early 80’s,
along with Iron Maiden and another local band, Def Leppard].
Jay was a guitarist who on joining my
band cited The Danse Society as an influence. I contacted him and said “Can you
sing?” He looked the part and he said “I can try, I know all the songs!” It was
like Steve was back, a few bum notes never bothered the original TDS. We made a
great EP, Nightship. Alas, his calling to play guitar in his own band
was too much, and he left.
I have always been lucky with vocals.
Grape is a Leeds music legend. We were on a record together in 1988, That’s Rock
And Roll under the name Groovin’ With Lucy. Anyway, I always plan ahead and
watched many a set with the mighty Expelaires, Leeds legends and was impressed
and said “If we ever need a vox, could you fancy it?” He said “Yeah, but Expelaires
come first”. Fine. So when Jay decided he was off, we were ready. I invited Wolfie
(Dave Wolfenden) along, we sounded massive! As well as that, it was great to
have him on stage with us from the old days of The Lorries and The Mission, it
was like a goddam 80’s post-punk super-groupespecially as Elliot is in BFG [Mancunian goth legends who are huge
in Europe]! To be honest, at our age you have to still enjoy sitting around
in dingy clubs ready to do your thing and god knows we have had plenty of
experience of that together on the circuit, so it seemed a natural thing. He is
a true pro, no bullshit, and fits in great. He is a Leeds supporter yet can tap
into his inner goth when needed and is a most excellent front man. My broken
ankle and stroke got in the way of any rehearsals for opening the Tomorrow’s
Ghosts festival. Having that to aim for gave me something to get me going,
it was the end of October 2019. I was still in a wheelchair in September! We
had one weekend and opened up the proceedings with The Eden House and Paradise
Lost. A big thank you to Kirstin
Lavender for giving me the chance to be an old stubborn git and try and make
the gig! It was close, not many bands can bed in two new additions in 6 hours
of practice. No fear, that’s how we do it! The Danse Society (Official) had
tried like mad to get us thrown off the gig I was not going to let them beat
me. I have a good doctor who insisted that I should play as soon as I could, so
off we went, the first band to open the new Whitby goth fest. We did ourselves
proud and played Helsinki a week later with The Flatfield, a great band and
great guys. It was a real old school European club gig, I’m always touched by
how much regard people have for the old Danse Society. We were getting noticed,
WGT was next. It’s funny when you think about it, in The Danse Society (Official)
war room it must be like “Tub Thumper and his band of naughty men must be
stopped at all costs!”, like those spoof Hitler videos ranting. He’s up the
road now in Whitby, you have to see the funny side, it’s like a dark goth soap.
Anybody who know us, the bands, promoters know and respect us and that is
enough for us.
3.On your
first album since coming back, Reincarnated, you re-recorded some of the best
tracks from The Danse Society’s seminal 1984 album Heaven Is Waiting, and your new album is entitled Hell Is
Waiting. Is this an indication that you feel that this is a natural
follow-up to the 80’s album?
I thought that Elliot’s guitar playing
was so superior to the previous covers when we reformed again that they should
be recorded, so we did half old and half new. Reincarnated is a really underrated
album, methinks. Come Inside, Valiant To Vile, Belief, Seduction,
Red Light, still great songs - I wanted to prove they were and achieved
that .
I called the new album Hell Is
Waiting, and yes, it’s because I did feel it was that 3rd album
we should have made. I’m stuck in the 80’s anyway but that was the idea. I had
faith in these songs, well ideas really we just went in a room put “Record” on
and played, no vocals or anything, bare bones . With what we had to work with I
knew with David Whitaker’s skill we could pull a rabbit out of the hat and get
an album. Ade’s bass lines are fantastic. Pity I had to waste cash on legal
advice just to see if I would lose or not ,or I would have put it out on vinyl,
I believed in it that much, if they had just hung back a bitbefore revealing their hidden ace. But I
think the summer Vive Le Rock article pushed ‘em over the edge. The shit
they caused over this, me talking about my past, it’s insane. I’m in a war I
never wanted to be in .
4.The new
album features the track Towers
with a great vocal from Grape, this is of course the one song which Steve
Rawlings had completed with the band during the short-lived reformation nearly
ten years ago. Why did you wait until now to record and release your version of
it?
We have so much material to play with
a great back catalogue we just never got around to it but with the new revamped
bass and guitar it sounded real good and Grape loved singing it, so why not? It’s
a beast even though I say so myself. It’s my nod to Steve and what we could
have been.
5.Bassist
Ade Clark and guitarist Elliot Wheeler have worked with you over the past few
years, and help to provide further continuity in your project’s distinctive
sound, which is very close in spirit to the original releases by The Danse
Society. Do Ade and Elliot contribute to song-writing? How do you go about
writing songs?
I first met Elliot outside the Electrowerkz
venue in London. When he introduced himself, I was like “F--- me, you bought
these vinyl to sign all the way from Liverpool?!” I immediately loved him,
invited him in and the duo kicked him out – “band only” for sound check! I was
ready to argue and Elliot said “It’s fine, leave it” but I hate diva shit like
that. I liked his style and we talked
later. I knew then, it’s like I have a nose for these things, he was the first
person I thought of when I needed guitar. I did most of the songs for Change
Of Skin and Scarey Tales with David. You’re thinking, “How can
drummers do that?” Well they can, don’t underestimate us! I have more lyrics
than music to put ‘em to. Instead of sending them to head office (her and him),
I sent ‘em to Elliot and he put guitar on. I was not wasting any more time on
self-important people. Most songs now come from bass melodies from Ade or a
guitar line from Elliot, lyrics have been mostly mine so far but Grape will
like to do his own and has done a fine job. It won’t be long before I’m put
back in my box just drumming. David Whitaker produces and does the keys, so it’s
always going to sound like The Danse Society because there is two of us already
and Elliot is more or less one of us now. Ade is a machine, best bass I have
played with, we have that understanding, we just click and lock in. I wish I
was ten years younger, I really do, mainly for band reasons, it’s the rest of
life I find difficult to do.
6.As much
as your powerful drumming, swirling atmospheric keyboards were an integral part
of The Danse Society’s sound, and Black Chapel features David Whittaker
(another Leeds post-punk legend who played on The Danse Society’s releases in
the later 1980’s) on synths. How crucial do you feel that keyboards are to the
overall Black Chapel sound?
Keys have always been crucial but Dave
is crucial to it all, he knows us inside out. Life is strange, I used to love Music
For Pleasure [Leeds band of the early 80’s] and would never have thought
at 60 we would be still making the music we do together, how good is that? I
love the Leeds music scene, it’s a greatcity, everybody seems to know each other and there is no shortage of old
rock and roll antics stories to tell, you don’t get that at the seaside, just a
bucket and spade!
7.Quite a
few of your contemporaries from the 80’s are still going or have reformed in
the past decade or so. Which other bands from the 80’s do you still admire? Are
there any of the new generation of bands that you found impressive?
I always liked The Mission, they were
the band I wanted The Danse Society to be. I still like the Kirk Brandon stuff,
TOH and SOD. And Skeletal Family, 1919,
Chameleons Vox. I tell you who I thought were great, Sad Lovers and Giants. I
forgot how good they were. Of the new bands, I liked The Last Cry and The Glasshouse
Museum. I liked Modern English back to the 80’s, 4AD band but they acted more
like snooty tennis players! Of course Killing Joke, respect for ever. I like my
fellow Barnsley band System Of Hate they are very powerful. I don’t mind a bit
of Eden House and The Danse Society of course!
8.Promoting
a new album during lockdown has been difficult for most bands, but having to
change the project’s name shortly after release must have been especially
challenging. Do you feel that you’ve been able to reach all of your potential
audience with Hell Is Waiting?
I try not to think about it because it was a shit trick to let me go
ahead all happily knowing smugly they were going to shit on my parade. So
besides lockdown and all the shite that brought for households, I got legal
shit to deal with and dismantle what I had just set up again, nice. Well if that’s
all you can do when you have a new album out, destroy somebody else’s work, fine.
All it does it make me realize that the best thing I ever did was get rid of them
two out of my life. We had some great times….
I don’t know if gigs will come as Black
Chapel. If they do come back, great, I will have to get match fit as they say,
and I can’t do subtle!
9.You’re
hoping for a physical release of the album, and have decided to look at vinyl
this time (after releasing the Reincarnated
album on CD) and launch a crowd-funding appeal (click here)to enable this to happen. Do
you think that this is the way forward for the music industry?
I honestly don’t know what the way
forward is for the music industry as I know it, our little post punk /goth niche..I
know in the real world that porn lyrics, “t and a” sliding up and down has to
eventually become so normal it’s as interesting as the top shelf at a
newsagents used to be, like nobody gives a f--- any more. Ian McNab got called
out recently for commenting. I agree totally with what he said, lap dancers not
musicians as we know it Jim.
10. This week you’ve released a new track on
Bandcamp. What’s next for Black Chapel? Are you hoping to be able to tour the Hell
Is Waiting album in 2021? Or are there other new tracks in the pipeline?
Our new track Emotion Is A Stranger has a twin, God Thing waiting
to be mixed. We will record more. We were booked to do 40 years of TDS music at
WGT in 2020, now postponed until 2021. It’s already been attacked, I’m sure the
shit show will continue, watch this space, kids! I have written a book about
our short little mauling in the 80’s music biz. Don’t forget we sold our souls
to Stock Aitken and Waterman for a hit. We had 5 top 100 singles, 2 classed as
hits, Wake Up and Heaven Is Waiting, so I’m calling it ..we
nearly made it. I just need it sparkling up in a literary way. But the meat and
veg are there. We had two lives, the serious cult band and then a desperate pop
band. Say It Again was a massive USA club hit, Ian Broudie (Lightning
Seeds) produced the Heaven Is Waiting album, he saved it. We mixed it up
with SAW,The Thompson Twins, Yazz etc..
blah blah blah I bore myself now, thanks for listening, kids! Love to you all,
stay safe and go to chapel, the black one!Xx
