After a period of reflection, I have taken the reluctant decision to mothball the Goth/Post-Punk Revival website for the time being.
In other words, the monthly reviews of the latest releases
will no longer appear (as will have become apparent this autumn), neither will
album reviews and interviews.
I have had to take this decision because of poor time management/prioritisation on my part.
Other ongoing real-life stuff, such as increased work and family commitments (nothing too dramatic fortunately, just time-consuming) have meant that I have not been able to devote the amount of time that I would
like to this and the other blog which I run.
Fortunately, within what remains a relatively small global scene, the number of sites offering similar material to this one has increased dramatically in the past few years, and to be frank there are bigger and better platforms for bands to have their new material showcased. The advent of video reviews/vlogs and interviews have really rendered written word-based sites such as this one less useful, and there are a great many very talented critics, journalists and DJs who do a fantastic job promoting the scene. At times, it seems that everyone in the scene today is actively involved in some way or another, meaning that musicians have to keep in touch with an ever-growing army of DJs and journalists just to continue to reach the same small fanbase.
I will continue to do my best to promote great new music
when I find it, and when time permits would love to contribute occasionally to other
sites. But for now, I would like to thank my small but loyal readership (on average, five hundred views per post) and all
the wonderful artists on this scene who have without exception been an absolute
pleasure to deal with. Having had the good fortune to live in the UK in the early 1980's and therefore enjoy
the original scene first-hand, it is incredibly heartening to see the
consistency and quality of new music from all around the world within the
various sub-genres, and to see artists develop over multi-album careers which
would have brought them fame and riches in a previous generation, rather than
endless tours in a van playing to audiences which rarely reach three figures.
The slow rebirth of the live scene, this year, albeit with
initially lower audiences, gives fresh hope for the future of our scene, and as
long as the standard of music remains as high as it currently is, I am sure
that it will continue to thrive, until the glorious day when the wider public
rediscovers the counter-intuitive joy of goth.
As someone once said, keep the faith!
Nik
