Teen Gothic

I have been really frustrated with this for many years. There are club nights every day of the week with decent- to great- attendance (so the potential audience is there) but shows, not so much. The vibes are extremely spooky 7 months out of the year, and obviously Salem is right there. Nevertheless, we pretty much only have one successful local act, and touring bands (even from close by) just see us as a weeknight stop between NY and philly at best, or skip us altogether.

For reference, Boy Harsher LIVES IN MASSACHUSETTS and has not been here since 2019 as far as I remember. I've picked up on hints from a few different touring bands that they had a bad experience here as well but I am not clear on exactly what the bad experience was — low attendance, people who don't dance, etc? Theories

• Attendance is SUPER hit or miss, and there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason as to why and which bands get a good reception. half the time I'm watching their faces like 'there is zero way these people are coming back'
• People who like fun and dancing seem to just go to clubs and aren't that passionate about the music itself or they're just crossover from the kink community (I love clubbing but I wish there was more cross-pollination)
• People who actually go to shows don't seem to like fun and dancing. They just stand there looking cool with folded arms
• We don't have a lot of local acts to welcome them and they all leave due to it costing one billion dollars to live here. Still, NYC seems to do fine despite also costing one billion dollars
• The population is like 30% college kids and events are usually 18+ but they don't seem to have any interest in going to anything besides molchat doma
• It becomes a vicious cycle where if we're lucky enough to get a stop, it's on a weeknight, so attendance is even lower and the vibe is even lamer.

What can i, some random chick, do about this besides spend another 12 years complaining?

plus my cat blanket

My parents are black and mostly christian and they see the goth subculture as this negative space and ill never be able to change there mind.I really dont want to throw away this whole subculture to going back to trying to fit trying to be “normal” and boring like everyone else and stop being myself. but I really want to respect my parents also and not make it seem like I hate them or think im in a bad place but no matter how hard I try to convince and educate nothing worked? my mom believes that because im black and that this subculture is the reason I dont explore my own which is not true! I am very open to. she thinks that I can’t be into due to me being black and I dont know how to feel about it,but again with my efforts trying to show my mother that all is not as dark as it seems nothing changed and she still refuses to see. I was such a happy teen when I discovered goth from the music to the art it was amazing! I was wayyy happier then I was before I discovered goth.hopefully during college I can love goth the same way I do now and that I dont grow to not like it anymore due to what has been said by my parents.

So I had a random brief but wholesome encounter yesterday

I was in a supermarket and wearing a The Cure sweatshirt I have this one to be more precise and minding my own business with headphones on when I had a random person trying to get my attention and he asks me 'Oh do you like The Cure then?'

And I'm like 'Yeah?'

'Oh that was the first concert I ever worked!'

'Oh that's cool'

'Robert Smith is a great artist'

'Yeah he is'

Like it's nice one of the first/only times I've had someone comment on me wearing something band related it was a pleasant encounter.

Something that irritates me..

These guys are acting really weird these days since they want a 'goth partner' for some reason and its weird.

but because I'm a goth guy I'm cringe or something among these words.

They've been only creepy towards girls and it's annoying tbh. My friend(who's a goth girl) had normal guys acting weird around her for no reason.

(this is no hate whatsoever towards normal guys, I've just been noticing their creepy/weird behaviour toward goth people)

-random baby bat.