Social Distortion
Stone Pony Summer Stage
Aug 22, 2015

By Doktor John
Asbury Park, NJ

In the pantheon of alternative music, there has to be a celestial throne for Social Distortion because no other group draws such over-the-top, frenzied love and passion from the crowds as they do. By now, and in the conclusive pinnacle of their career and after seven albums stretching from the early 80s to the second decade of this millennium, Social Distortion stands as the definitive and successful apotheosis of punk rock. With their third album, titled Social Distortion (1990), their music began to blend punk with rockabilly. During the 90s their style took on more elements of country and western, developing into a genre that has been termed “cowpunk.”

The open air summer stage of the Stone Pony is an ideal venue for feeling the super charged atmosphere that Social D generates, in no small part due to the zeal and ardent enthusiasm of front man Mike Ness and to his sincere effort to reach out with appreciation and affection to the audience.

Nikki Lane’s fine country-alternative band from Tennessee served as a great opener and was warmly received by the crowd.

Nikki Lane’s group

The sun was heading down toward the end of their set and a perfect half moon shone brightly to the southwest around 8:45 when Social D roared on stage with “So Far Away” then “Let It Be Me,” “Story of My Life,” “Sick Boys” and “Ball and Chain,” all five in order off the self-titled album. The crowd responded by forming a joyous, but ferocious mosh pit, diligently moderated by attentive and sympathetic security staff.

Ness stopped to address the crowd and announce that this tour was in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their eponymous album, their third, and the first one with a major label (Epic). By the time that self-named album was released, Mike Ness and Social D had been knocking around for 12 years, starting in 1978, with the first single in 1981, and had endured a period of band member turnovers, an early tour with Youth Brigade, eventual entanglement of Ness in heroin addiction, breakups of the band, rehabilitation and eventual stability. He reminded us that he was now and forever clean of drugs and alcohol.

They returned to the celebratory album with “It Coulda Been Me” and “She’s a Knockout.” Mike stopped again to caution the fans about misdirected “resistance to change,” then just about completed the selections from that album with “A Place in My Heart” and “Drug Train.”

Once more, during an instrumental interlude Mike spoke to the crowd before turning to a selection from their fourth album, “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell” namely “Cold Feelings.” As had been demonstrated repeatedly during the concert, and again at this time, Ness performed with remarkable virtuosity on the guitar.

The mosh pit never quit during the show. Inevitably there was one fool who thought to turn the situation into one involving fisticuffs, but the security staff hustled him off the premises in a highly professional manner and before anything serious could occur.

Never one to neglect his roots and never failing to express his deep sense of admiration and appreciation for the greats who inspired him, Mike Ness led the band in a heartfelt, yet uniquely Social Distortion-flavored version of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.” This was followed by yet another tribute, this time a cover of Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken.”
An authentic country feel was brought out by “This Time Darlin” with its waltz-beat. He introduced “Far Behind” by way of telling how he felt it was better to leave people who antagonize you far behind rather than get into fights with them. There was no real intermission, although lights went down onstage once. “Don’t Drag Me Down” was played just before the finale, the June Carter Cash/Mel Kilgore classic, “Ring of Fire” which was performed in two segments.

Taking a pause from singing, while the instrumentals kept going low in the background, Mike spoke to the crowd, drew a half dozen kids ages 9 – 12 on stage and encouraged them to apply themselves in school for their future benefit. There was an exuberant resurgence of “Ring of Fire” and a jubilant conclusion to the show.

Castle Party 2015

July 16 – 19, 2015
By Doktor John
Bolkow, Poland

This year, the annual Castle Party in Bolkow, Poland, the 22nd annual edition of the event—announced itself be a “Dark, Independent” music festival. This Eastern-Central European gala, takes place in a small town in the region of Lower Silesia, an area adjacent to the Czech republic on the country’s south-western rim, previously German until the gerrymandering that followed the Second World War and now solidly Polish. Guests come from all over Poland. There are also Czechs, Germans, Russians, Ukrainians and even Brits, but we didn’t spot any other Americans.
The ruins of a huge castle dating back to the 13th century sit atop a steep precipice and, along with a large, flat, gently sloping field where the audience crowds in front of the main stage, serves as the seat of the festival. The upper, outdoor levels of the castle house clothing and accessory vendors, plus food and drink stands. A few spectators climb up to the upper battlements where they can view the stage and the field from on high.
Down in the town itself, which is reached by descending a cobblestone-paved ramp and some city streets, there is a converted and no longer used former Evangelical church that serves as the other live music venue, hosting the second stage where each day features a different, specific theme — Gothic the first day, metal the second, industrial the third and, finally, electro on the last. It was here that the musical experience was most concentrated, with fewer distractions than up at the castle. Food and drink vendors served from tents and motor vans. Ample, sanitary portable toilet facilities were everywhere and well maintained.

With six or seven musical acts each of four nights at the church, and with at least that many on the big outdoor stage at the castle, it is impossible to take it all in, let alone review and/or report on all. Instead what follows are some noteworthy highlights.

Thus, the first night, Thursday, we heard a variety of mournful, minor-key melodies, mostly female vocalists, often accompanied by sexily clad stage performers, holding lit candelabras during their sets. One band, titled 1984, totally out of place at a Gothic-themed show, rocked the church with old school style punk and rap-like repetitive mantras (in Polish) ranting about angst, ennui and disillusionment. Skeptical Minds, a tight, hard rock group sounded like The Birthday Massacre, with a female lead vocalist. Again and succeeded in pulling a mosh-pit out of the otherwise sedate crowd the first night.
There are also a couple of clubs in town, namely the Sorento and the Hacienda where DJs spin darkwave, classic Goth and post-punk and where late night-into-morning dancing takes place. There’s also an encampment behind the Hacienda for travelers who choose outdoor lodgings during the festival.
The first day up at the castle was Friday where U.K. band AntiMatter performed in a dark, 90s-alternative style followed by Inkubus Sukkubus whose driving, relentless rhythms were interrupted for a shot at a cover of the Stones’ “Paint It Black.”

Friday at the church was “Metal Day.” We joined the devotees for a listen to Darzamat, a Polish dark metal band. To our astonishment, we found tiny Helena, a petite and friendly octogenarian in a light blue dress standing deep in the head-banger crowd, rocking to the heavy sounds and occasionally peeking over the shoulders of the guys in front of her to catch a peek at the band.
On Saturday we didn’t mind standing in a light drizzle up at the castle to catch the Norwegian ensemble Wardruna whose music is featured on the second season of TV series “Vikings.” Sounding somewhat like a primitive, Ice-Age version of Dead Can Dance or a somber version of Corvus Corax, Wardruna attempts to resurrect the medieval, runic sounds of ancient Scandinavia with ribcage-rattling, vibrating percussion and ominous, vocal duets.
They were followed by crowd-pleasers Paradise Lost, a classic heavy metal/ Goth-rock U.K. group that seemed to be the main attraction for this international audience.
Down at the church it was “Industrial Day,” and we stumbled upon one of the most extraordinary and memorable performances of the festival. Swedish project, Raison D’être projected grainy, sepia-toned video images of crumbling sacred architectural ruins while playing enigmatic, compelling industrial noise, sometimes but not consistently rhythmic, sometimes involving guitars and occasional chant. We found it to be the most artistic and emotionally moving experience of the festival!
The last night featured The Frozen Autumn from Italy singing gorgeous slightly discordant melodies in British-accented English accompanied by heavy, synthetic, galloping rhythms. Then came headliners, Austrian pseudo-militaristic Nachtmahr, wearing fascistic uniforms and singing denunciations of war to electro-industrial accompaniment. The sudden outbreak of a thunderstorm cut their set short as everyone fled the threat of lightening strikes at this mountaintop venue.
Castle Party Bolkow now enters its 23rd year and is, by all appearances, ever expanding. It is by no means a canonical Goth-rock event, but rather a gathering of folk from the Gothic life-style who enjoy a whole spectrum of “dark alternative” music, morbid preoccupations, macabre attire and radical, non-conformist personal style. It affords members of that subculture an excellent opportunity to meet, socialize and make or renew friendships with like-minded individuals. It is certainly one of the wonders of the modern world to observe this ghoulish-attired crowd infiltrate and take over a happily compliant and very hospitable rural town for four eventful days. Once having attended these festivities, it is inconceivable that one wouldn’t want to make this a recurring, annual trip.

photo by E. Palazzo

Live!
Disorder
QXT’s

June 12, 2015

By Doktor John
Newark NJ

Joy Division tribute band Disorder pulled a late night performance before an adoring crowd of about 100 guests this Friday night at a famous Goth/Industrial dance club in the heart of Newark. QXT’s looks to have once been a Spanish restaurant near the border of the ethnic-Iberian section of town termed “The Ironbound.” (Hint: Read “QXT” as a compression of “Quixote.”) At some point it transformed into NJ’s premier club for the new generation as well as veterans of the darkwave/goth/punk/industrial crowd, and heir to the legendary, long gone Pipeline.

Disorder represents the joint project of , vocalist and Ian Curtis-sound-alike, Mike Strollo and of drummer Chris Mele. They are joined by guitarists and a keyboardist. Meticulous and highly professional, they recreate the most popular works of the iconic and star-crossed U.K. band, Joy Division with astonishing musicianship and jaw-dropping authenticity.

Joy Division is credited by many authorities on the subject as having been one of the two essential, post-punk bands to have spawned the genre of Goth Rock, the other being Bauhaus. Characterized by sparse, baritonal vocals, gloomy lyrics and a melodious bass line, Joy Division, is distinguished from the punk style by their use of electronics and by their emphasis on mood and expression rather than anger and energy. These, among many other particulars, are what Disorder excels in emulating. While Joy Division’s recorded music is cold and dark, their live performances were typically loud and aggressive. Disorder is true to that.

The band’s performance began around 12:30 AM, after a couple of hours of dance to the masterful spinning of famous DJ Erik Aengel, who by then had nearly exhausted the dancers, unleashing an irresistible cache of new, old and crossover tracks from the alternative repertoire. A particular treat he served up was a tightly crafted mash up of MGMT’s “Kids” with Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” The opening number, “Shadow Play,” with its drum and bass repetitiveness, captures all the ominous, frantic exasperation that epitomizes the deranged soul of Joy Division. Here it was reproduced with fanatical attention to detail.

Next, the upbeat but by no means cheerful “Disorder,” from which this band take its name. The adoring crowd seemed to recognize each song that followed, from the despairing “She’s Lost Control” and “Isolation” through “New Dawn Fades,” “Transmission” and the beloved “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Twelve songs in all.

Peter Ulrich, famous percussionist from those giants of world music, Dead Can Dance, sat in with Disorder on “Atmosphere” and “Dead Souls.” and performed enthusiastically on hand drums, a truly memorable enhancement.

It was unfortunate for a contingent of fans from New York and
Brooklyn who arrived just as Disorder launched its final, closing piece, a faithful version of “Ceremony.” It was not surprising, however to see a significant number of out-of-towners, because the music and memory of Joy Division tends to evoke devotion—enough to motivate fans to travel over inconvenient distances to hear a pain-stakingly precise tribute set performed by accomplished music professionals.

Doktor John & The Countess Zaleska, Marzena will be at

The Gothsicles (official) @ Dracula’s Ball – Philadelphia, PA

iVardensphere
Fables

Metropolis Records

By Doktor John

This tribal/industrial Canadian group, has been around since 2009. Having, regrettably, no prior exposure to their oeuvre, I was stunned by the varied richness and the grim appeal of this 14-track masterwork that respects no boundaries or genres as it free-forms each song and crosses through every electronic musical category.

The album opens with “Million Year Echo,” featuring a persistent EBM groove that is interrupted by odd, sci-fi imbued samples that seem to emerge from a desolate, post-apocalyptic soundscape. It is followed by “Stygian,” a 7-minute, plodding, whip-cracking zombie march overlaid with harsh, hoarse male vocals. Several tracks take the listener on a techno-industrial visit to the Middle East, complete with synthetic versions of Arabic instrumental accompaniment, sacred-sounding male vocals as well as sensuous, almost erotic female vocals. Synthetic versions of everything from the Australian aboriginal didgeridoo to bongo drums are present.

“A Tale of Two Wolves” is a techno-industrial track that renders it easy to imagine a pair of canine predators loping through the forest in single-minded pursuit. “Black Lodge,” the track that follows, is a slow-paced trudge through a nightmarish dystopia, narrated by a desperate and hostile speaker, while merciless mechanical noises pound out a cadence and are joined by a mournful male chorus. I particularly enjoyed “Papa Legbo” with its ominous “the natives are restless” beat and intermittent chants.

In addition, there are frenzied hand-drum ensembles; eerie female a capella singing; languid but delicious, acoustic guitar riffs; ominous vocal narratives; and echoes of various genres including Scandinavian darkwave, aggrotech and even a piece, “Terra Sapian” featuring ultra-fast-paced, “swing ” beats. The poignant “Girl With No Hands” is a pessimistic and frankly psychotic poem with groaning choral and emotionally delicious strings plus prominent percussion. In the eighth track, “It Is As Blackness Is” an eloquent lecturer recommends philosophical acceptance of “a new dark age,” as a relentless EBM groove suggests the relentless march of Time.

The album ends on an aquatic theme, “Poseidon,” featuring the seductive sirens’ call on vocals and electro-symphonic instrumental accompaniment The majority of tracks, if not all are eminently danceable. In fact, I dare any listener to sit still while hearing these infectious and hypnotic rhythms as I tried to do when writing this. Aptly named, “Fables” transports the listener into a fantasy realm of myths, seductive melodies and mesmerizing rhythms.

Rating; A
In a word: Bountiful

Jekyll & Hyde Times Square

Feb 15, 2015

New York, N Y

As far as Goth happenings go, there isn’t any topping the various events hosted by legendary impresario, Fr. Sebastiaan. From Berlin and Amsterdam to Miami, New Orleans and Paris, the notorious fang-maker (he prefers “fangmaster”) puts together the most memorable and entertaining balls and gatherings to be produced since the rise of this subculture so many years ago. This night’s Anti-Valentine’s Ball marked 20 years of progressively more proficient and increasingly entertaining “Endless Night” events he has produced for this community which includes Goths, counterculture devotees, self-identified vampyres (special meaning when spelled with a “y”), dark music aficionados, Steampunk, cosplay and history re-enactment enthusiasts.

What better venue in the greater New York area than the elaborately decorated and wildly fanciful restaurant/nightclub, Jekyll & Hyde in Manhattan’s theater district? The night prior to this major event saw the holding of a “pre-party” at the Lovecraft Bar NYC in lower Manhattan’s Alphabet City, with live entertainment by top DJs and the likes of operatic sorceress Ariel de Ment. Crooner Baron Misuraca also boosted his retro-lounge distinction with a live performance. I confess to have missed the opportunity to attend.

Most attendees came early for dinner at Jekyll & Hyde, to socialize with friends and make new acquaintances. The slick and creepy animated gimmicks, costumed staff and live actors of the restaurant provided a perfect run up to the ball itself, a ticketed event held in a dungeon-like chamber with eerie props abounding, a neat dance floor, raised DJ booth, a couple of side chambers and a bar.

The guests were dressed in dark and vampirish attire or adorned with fantastical costumes and make-up out of gothic and historic literature or cinema. One witnessed a reasonable facsimile of Vlad the Impaler, of Egyptian deities, and of New Romantic, Edwardian or Victorian villains gyrating on the dance floor to the darkwave sounds of DJ Eric Aengel or imbibing on the sidelines.

Fr. Sebastiaan himself addressed the crowd warmly, introduced his hard-working staff and thanked both them and the attendees for the historic success of the “Endless Night” series of events. He introduced talented and highly accomplished soprano Ariel De Ment, now a regular entertainer at his events, who sang an emotionally moving aria from the opera “Carmen” as she always does, with a mouthful of costume fangs. The contrast of bitter cold outside and festive camaraderie within suggested something like a theme from the writings of Edgar Allen Poe, and will have throngs of enthusiasts looking forward to the next such happening.

Cybertron at Santo’s Party House

Jan 31, 2015

By Doktor John

New York NY
Cybertron at Santo’s Party House
Jan 31, 2015

By Doktor John
New York NY
I’ve been to countless Goth-industrial music and social events in the past 25 years or so, and many hosted by Vampire Freaks, the online community and seller of Goth clothing and paraphernalia. I have hit all the events in the NY, NJ and Philadelphia area along these lines. I travel regularly to Germany and Poland for world-wide, like-themed events. I’ve also long admired the sound of Colorado-based electro-industrialists VAC. Nothing in my prior experience all these many and varied events could have prepared me or my similarly-experienced friends for the rude, crude and inexcusably inane experience this miserable Saturday in this incredibly uncomfortable lower Manhattan venue.

It was the coldest night on the coldest date in 2015. Vampire Freaks, the supposed hosts, as they are of many such club nights, announced that the starting time was — on short notice —postponed to 11 pm. All well and good. Pity those who came when doors officially opened at that time. The line of soon-to-be maltreated event-goers stood in freezing wind for up to an hour, while unsympathetic bouncers served as gate-keepers, letting in the slowest trickle of ticket-holders at an agonizingly glacial, and inexplicably slow rate. I was frozen, and I was wearing a full-length leather coat over a series of layers that even included a leather vest and heavy-duty cargo pants. Woe for the scantily-clad goth-chicks, whose fishnet tights and bikini bottoms offered considerably less in the way of protection. They stood in that line, most of them, for over an hour, adjacent to frigid buildings and on icy sidewalks while the 19ºF and 30 mph wind whipped us all until well past midnight.

Wait! That’s not the worst of it. Our bouncer, whom we all know wasn’t responsible for the incompetence of the management or the decree about to be announced —while stopping to check the I.D.s of everyone on line (including gray-bearded oldsters)— informed each of the outrageous and purely gratuitous policy of “Mandatory Coat Check!” What in the world was that about? Just to squeeze another $4 out of each patron?! The effect it had was to then create another tedious and obnoxious line inside the venue where we were commanded to remove our outerwear (for many, this was part of their Vampire Freaks-acquired fashion-statement) for no good reason, made to pay $4 per item, under signs that warned that gloves, hats and scarves would not be allowed in pockets or sleeves, but had to be checked, each a separate item, by a single, overwhelmed and overworked coat check girl!

Wait! That’s still not the worst of it! This night we were forced not into the club, but into the downstairs basement, the low-ceiling, painfully cramped and overcrowded cellar where there was neither room to move, to reach the bar nor to get a decent view of the performers, who after all, had started playing long before the throngs of spectators had even gotten into the building and certainly before they had cleared the coat-check regimen. It’s well that the bar was hard to reach. Straight drinks went for upwards of $12 and $13.

Openers Mindless Faith played their version of industrial. DJ Sean Templar spun some dance tracks, but there was no room at all to dance. VAC, who sounded a lot better on disc and at better venues, blasted their set, some of which was with the accompaniment of a gorgeous, platinum blond female vocalist. Fans knew her as Donna from Ego Likeness.

If I hadn’t paid for the tickets in advance, I would have left the outdoor line after an hour in the cold. As it was, cramped into a dark hovel, unable to see each other or converse with fellow-victims, we pulled out in the middle of VAC’s second or third set, and after frontman Erickson’s angry, if stereotypical tirade which included, laughably, a denunciation of “Bush.” It came across as smug, politically-correct and way out of date.

Santo’s Party House basically screwed all three victims: VAC, Vampire Freaks and the audience!

Exhibition Opening
Morbid Anatomy Museum

Brooklyn NY

A wine and cheese party was held at this uniquely eccentric Brooklyn museum to celebrate the opening of a new, mind-boggling exhibition, called The Collector’s Cabinet, the second at this institution since its opening last June.

The festivities began when curator and co-founder Joanna Ebenstein introduced the exhibitors, each a collector of oddly interesting items, and invited them to expound upon the items in their own display assemblage.

Antique dealers, eccentrics and hoarders of unusual artworks plus a few medical professionals made up the list of contributors.

The range of things on display was eclectic to say the least, and included painted wooden religious figures, dental models representing the wide range of shapes of human teeth, séance props, a disarticulated skeleton and historic anatomical charts.

One wall was covered with an artistically-cheesy, carnival-type tent banner for a magician. Large glass cases in the middle of the room contained taxidermy specimens of squirrels dressed and posed in anthropomorphic situations: patrons imbibing at a bar and bikini clad, topless exotic dancers.

A pair of candlesticks was unique in that it was composed of actual, preserved baboon forearms. One wall display was a ViewMaster-like, 3-D, back-lit viewer with images of 19th century French miniature, sculpted diabolical tableaux. On display also was a series of cute little paired terra-cotta figurines of Death leading medieval characters to their doom, examples of what is called Danse Macabre or Totentanz.

One by one, each collector spoke briefly about the history and significance of the item or the array that they had lent to the Museum for this show. Art historians, antique enthusiasts and lovers of the off-beat crowded around and took obvious delight at each station.

Among the luminaries to present was Evan Michelson, co-star of TV’s long-running series, “Oddities” and co-owner of the NYC antiques boutique, “Obscura.” She demonstrated a pair of primitive artificial arms that once belonged to an unfortunate railway brake-man who lost his own arms in a terrible accident, but resumed his railroad career with these wooden replacements!

The several taxidermy specimens included a kitten born with two faces, a two-faced calf-head, plus a seven-legged, two-bodied piglet.

Morbid Anatomy Museum co-founder and board chair Tracy Hurley Martin loaned one of the more serious and prestigious of the antiquities, a leather-bound first edition of the 18th Century Kuper-Bibel (Copper Bible), a compendium of art, mysticism, religion and science, containing exquisite copper engravings of cosmography, paleontology, zoology, botany and anatomy. This volume, along with various unclassifiable curiosities, articles of religious iconography, and tame, antiquated erotic images comprises representative sampling of the diverse spectrum of objects that embody the spirit of this museum of the forgotten but truly fascinating.

Rise Again

Metropolis Records
By Doktor John

Stabbing Westward’s lead vocalist Christopher Hall and programmer/keyboardist Walter Flakus have been reinventing themselves as The Dreaming since the demise of the parent band in 2002. Three EP releases, a video, a track for the movie “Elektra” and live performances on the West Coast have kept them busy since the band’s inception. Joined by former SW drummer Johnny Haro, plus a bass and a guitarist, “Rise Again” is clearly a resurrection of the immensely popular Stabbing Westward style.

The newest CD, “Rise Again” is scheduled for release this coming February and captures all the intensity and ecstatic bombast of the original band.

Consisting of 10 tracks, “Rise Again” is characterized by Hall’s extraordinary tenor vocals, full of intensity and defiance, accompanied by bombastic, symphonic metal.

The titles and the lyrics are profound and penetrating, mostly probing harsh, even painful emotions. The third track asks, “Why do all your kisses taste like death?” The fifth track aggressively asserts, “I will not be afraid anymore” as a kind of self-assuring mantra. I think you get the idea.

From the first track, “Alone” with its galloping cadence and accusatory tone, to the final and title track, “Rise Again,” every track has a delicious, melodious hook and a restless, hypnotic groove. Angry, belching guitars are woven into fast-paced electronic rhythms that will have industrial dancers in a frenzy on the dance floors or fervently bobbing their heads on the sidelines. For those who loved and sorely miss the now-defunct Stabbing Westward, this revival of that sound is more than welcome.
Rating: A+