Teen Gothic

Hello!!

For context I would consider myself a baby bat. I’ve been alternative for a while, recently diving into gothic fashion, music, literature, ect. While doing research I’ve seen a lot of people saying being involved in your local goth scene is important as well as supporting your local artist but, it’s been hard for me to find people and places to go. I also live in Las Vegas everything I seem to find is 21+ for the most part (I’m 20). Any help is appreciated:)

I’ve been wanting to get into the goth scene for a while but due to controlling parents I wasn’t able to until I recently moved out. That being said how would y’all recommend someone from a smaller town find the local goth community?

i really want to make some goth friends but i don’t know where to look for them as im only 17 (so cant go to goth clubs). does anyone have any advice?

Pain is a must, then I’d go for Amphetamine Logic by Sisters and Nocturne by Paralysed Age

I work at a starbucks and at my location we’re allowed to play music over the store speakers and i always play my goth rock/ new wave playlist, just thought this would be funny to share with you all haha

Whatever local means to you: your hometown, your state, or your country. It's fine to provide a link to your own material. Just keep it goth. Thanks in advance. 🖤

A new goth night has recently opened in my city. There is not a large community in this area. There is more of a scene and people in the major city an hour away. But I'm happy there is something closer.

While I was there tonight I talked to the owner. He and his wife run a whole restaurant, while doing other nights. So he said they would like any recommendations and help with getting it together.

I like doing activities like this, especially if it helps someone, and gives a safe space. ^{^}

I was wondering what all you enjoy seeing or need to have at a goth club or night. This is more of a question on ambience, customer service, safety concerns, and similar answers to that.

Along with any interesting ideas, or neat things you took note of from other places! Not to copy but just to help out a new local goth night. 🙂

Thank you!

Been trying to find cheap local shows and the internet is absolutely not helping out at all. Tell me your ways.

Maybe this is petty and I should just leave people alone but I want to vent here because it’s been driving me insane since day 1. Our local “goth” scene has ALWAYS, at least since I started going to clubs 20 years ago, been exclusively industrial music. Not industrial mixed in because we’re a small city. Industrial ONLY. For the most part it’s dead because they’ve completely failed to attract fresh blood and almost everybody else has kids and other things keeping them at home but it does seem like they’re trying to hang on with occasional events. And still, it’s all industrial. If you request Siouxie or Sisters of Mercy or something they’re unlikely to play it. It’s very grudgingly. Some old friends are taking up DJing and posting videos and it’s the same exclusively industrial playlists they’ve been playing since the early 2000s and probably before. Now when someone posts about an event or DJing it’s really hard not to say “so is there going to be any actual goth music this time or….?” I already know the answer. “Industrial is goth!” -_-

It’s hopeless and stupid and I just needed to get that out.

I've seen an influx of posts on here of people who are struggling to find their local scene. To put it simply, goth scenes are hard to find for a variety of reasons– either they don't exist in your local area, or they're run by older people who primarily use Facebook to promote, or just in general, there is little to no promotion for the event happening at all because its a small, tight-knit group of people who have been doing scene-related things together for years.

Goth is a pretty niche subculture. You'll often find that goth scenes just don't exist in the city/town you're located in, or whatever scene there is, it's small. I'm a brand new promoter in DC, and so far, I haven't had a completely dead night where no one showed up, but it happens, because the scene is small, and it's hard to find if you aren't intentionally looking for it. As a promoter and an owner of a club night, we do our best to make ourselves visible and accessible, but the work we do can only go so far.

So, here's my advice to people who are struggling to find their local scene– make your own. It isn't as difficult as it sounds, but it is definitely intimidating if you've never been in charge of anything before.

Step number one is to learn how to DJ. By far, the most difficult step out of all I'm about to talk about because it can get expensive. You'll need a DJ table, a laptop, and a digital library of music. I got a cheap table for maybe only $ 150, but you could probably even thrift one. Some tables don't require laptops, but they get more expensive than standard tables.

Step number two is to find a venue. Most goth nights get hosted at bars because the venues are eager to make money off of patrons, so they're always willing to host an event. Find a local bar, talk to the bartender, tell them you're interested in setting up an event there, ask them how to get an event set up, etc.

Step number three: promote. Make flyers for the event. You can make these in something like Canva, which is a photo-editing app that lets you put text over pictures. Print them out, and post them up around local spots (libraries, cafés, anywhere that lets you advertise with paper flyers). Take the image and upload it to IG, or Twitter, upload it to Facebook, make a Facebook event for it, and use hashtags related to your local area. For example, if you live in DC like me, you would use the tags "#dcgoth" or "#dmvgoth".

All of these steps are way simpler if you have friends to help you out along the way. These steps are also incredibly simplified, but I am definitely 100% willing to give a more in-depth explanation to anyone who wants to start their own scene in their area.