Teen Gothic

I remember my introduction to the existence of backing tracks. I was at a goth/industrial show and the opening band had to cut their set to about half a song. Because the cd player handling the backing tracks failed. I have seen goth bands tour my city and the first show had a full band. The next show had a missing bassist who had now been absorbed into the backing track. It felt like Alice in Wonderland but lame. Many shows I see people freaking out over are literally just a karaoke show with a keyboard playing single notes.

I understand it isn't easy to tour in this economic climate and make sure everybody gets paid decent, but it's reaching the point where I think the audience have lowered their own standards to accommodate what they are oversaturated with. Curious what other people think based on shows they have been to.

I love the intensity of songs like in the flat field, dark entries, and even fun (but intense) songs like st vitus dance. Are there any other bands that share this vibe? Is there a sub genre that gives that more intense vibe? I tend to lean more towards that rather than bands like the cure. There was a post similar to this a while ago but it specified for modern bands. I am hoping for some older bands, 80s & 90s. Please give suggestions.

Any goth bands of the post punk or deathrock variety with a more classic sci Fi horror vibe or themes? I know that's typically the territory of horror punk and 90's "Ramonescore" but I think the atmospheric , effects heavy nature of goth, would blend really well with sci Fi stuff. I'm doing this myself but I was curious as to if it's been done before or in various instances. I'll also accept industrial examples. Although I'm quite a picky eater when it comes to that genre.

For context this was an all ages show that is part of the same tour they're on now. I am a big Then Comes Silence fan and my old high school friend putting on the show is a huge Vision Video fan. The band are so cool they make our podunk town a tour stop twice now over the latter friendship. This is admittedly more of a Then Comes Silence fan post. I mean no offense, I am just able to speak on their body of work from a fan's perspective. I offered to help as a Dj and run a goth night across town.

I met them trying to find the venue walking down the street it was on. It was already a pretty funny situation with people in black knowing to follow other people in black, before they even crossed the intersection to properly introduce ourselves. It was a time crunch with less than two hours before doors. So it was all about helping them load in ASAP and setup gear. I didn't actually tell anybody I was the dj except the driver/merch guy. I'm not sure why. Probably because I couldn't think of how to even say it without it coming off as pretentious. I was there to see the bands mostly and help where needed.

The whole crew are a bunch of lovely people. Their driver too! He tried to give me a free TCS 12" when he knew I was a fan and I insisted on paying and adding the newest 12" of Trickery to the bill. The band were sweet enough to sign both for me.

During TCS sound check downtime, I got to tell Alex (vocalist) that I was really grateful they were visiting our small town on this tour. I tried to keep the fan boy behavior to a minimum and express quick earnest appreciation. He was really happy I was already familiar with an LP that dropped weeks prior and was just a super down to earth guy. Really patient during a rushed along sound check too with my green sound guy friend on the controls. Total pros.

Both bands sounded great. I came out from behind the decks to dance my ass off during TCS.

Because the crowd seemed more familiar with the headliner, it was a situation where the crowd started a few steps back but TCS completely won them over within a few songs.

I played music between sets I thought the bands would dig, but low energy enough to make it easy for them to raise the energy when they started playing. Blitz, Killing Joke, 1919, Sad Lovers and Giants, Fad Gadget, The Damned and newer music like SRSQ, Dionysus, XKAT, Void Republic. TCS drummer Jonas came out from behind his drums after their set to shake my hand and properly introduce himself while I was in the dj booth to the side of people. The drummer from Vision Video asked me for a track ID of the last thing I played before fading out. Because he said he was trying to Shazam it on the drum stool waiting for his bandmates and was striking out. Unfortunately I was too focused on when to stop the music to remember what song it was at the time.

Playing Killing Joke also brought up fun conversations with Hugo from TCS about our mutual love for Geordie Walker. I helped them load back into their van and Alex asked for my number in case the hotel was lame. Since I wasn't far down the road and had room. Dusty and other Vision Video band members were getting lots of attention from people on a 1 on 1 basis after the show. So I felt it was important to give them all space.

Overall a lovely night. Both bands and the crowd seemed to have a great time and I hope a return visit is planned!

Bands and artists that use mostly synths/electronic music too. Hearing music live and not being too pleased on how they sound IRL will not keep me from continuing to listen to them. Just wondering about others’ experiences with live goth music.

So i discovered metal music a year ago and I was quite attracted to it pretty fast so now I'm starting to get interested in gothic and darker music and I'm looking for something atmospheric and melancholic but I also want it to be quite heavy whether it's in the drums or the atmosphere and i prefer bands that are pretty known.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I apologize if this is a stupid question! I don’t intend to diss on any bands like The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie, etc. I am actually quite interested in those bands but I get a little bit intimidated by more well known stuff because I am afraid of seeming like a poser and not knowing where to start… I’ve really been into bands like Tristania, Within Temptation, Mortal Love, The Sins of Thy Beloved etc just because I really love the sound especially really symphonic stuff and im more interested in trying a bolder goth style as I’ve kind of been in the alternative scene for years now but have been too scared to place myself in any particular subculture. I know goth subculture is music based but I wasn’t aware if you had to listen to specific bands or if the bands I like count or anything…I also think I might be stressing too much because I know a big part of it is just not conforming to the norm? I dunno. Help is appreciated!

I'm trying to plan my schedule and avoid leaving a venue after a few minutes and being late for something that’s actually good lol. So far I'm most looking forward to seeing Topographies, Sextile and Dancing Plague, I think they've never been to Europe before.

https://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/bands.php

Hi! I'm searching to listen to more Greek post punk/deathrock/punk bands with Greek lyrics too, with less electronic elements and more guitar, bass and drums. I've discovered the band Hekate recently and I really enjoy their sound, so I'd love to find more bands like them. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment

The 90’s is where Goth and fashion died in malls and started to stray from its roots resulting popularity from non goth icons like MM.

Since this was pre-internet. Bands struggled to get recognition unless they were signed to bigger labels like Cleopatra Records.

None the less it is one of the most vital decades full of really awesome bands that sometimes go overlooked. (Not necessarily the bands I’m about to pick, but you get what I mean)

My question is what are your top 3 Goth bands from the 90’s?

For me it’s: 1. Corpus Delicti 2. London After Midnight 3. Rosetta Stone

Those bands for me have a catalogue of great songs!