Ten Questions to ... Paul Gilmartin (Black Chapel)

 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.

 

Black Chapel’s music is available here.

 

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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 8^th 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 something  in 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-group  especially 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 3^rd 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 bit  before 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 great  city, 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