A Sweeping Curve of Sound

Today I have been settling down with my new copy of “Goth: Undead Subculture”, a collection of essays edited by Lauren M.E. Goodlad and Michael Bibby. Though I have hardly gotten past the introduction, the book is already prompting me to examine my own experiences within the goth subculture, and where I currently stand with my own “goth identity”.

“The volume’s editors provide a rich history of goth, describing its play of resistance and consumerism; its impact on class, race, and gender; and its distinctive features as an “undead” subculture in light of post-subculture studies and other critical approaches. “

Goth: Undead Subculture

Though I have been listening to goth and “goth-friendly” music since I was a teenager (Peter Murphy, The Cure, Dead Can Dance, etc) I never considered myself an active participant in goth culture (nor did I ever think to label myself a “goth”) until around ten years ago when I decided to start actively mingling at the local “goth night” and attending shows held by local promoters. Eventually I found myself helping out around shows, then I parlayed my newfound position at a community radio station towards hosting a goth-themed radio show, then I started doing the occasional live gig. The next thing you know I was running the only “goth-industrial” night in town, promoting my own shows, and still doing my radio program. At which point I could no longer avoid the fact that I had become “a goth”.

Today, several years later, I’m no longer doing most of things, partially due to scene burn-out and partially due to a move a different State. Though I do still host a darkly-themed music podcast and often comment on dark music here on this blog, I’m not sure if other goths would still label me as “one of them”. Then again, as more and more goths age, the notion of inclusion being based on active club involvement and wardrobe seems to be shrinking.

“These goths eat at the buffets, run up tabs at the cigar bar and venture onshore with their digital cameras to pose at waterfalls, colonial sites and, yes, beaches. Favored onboard activities include “scare-aoke” (when GothCruise members take over the mic at the karaoke bar) and making “goth soup,” (sitting in the hot tub, but without the black satin and body paint). Those who have gone on the trips, many of whom are in their 30s, say that they don’t fit the stereotype of brooding goth because they grew out of it as they entered the working world …  “We wore black lipstick in the ’80s, but now we’re grown up,” said Megan Green, a 39-year-old graphic designer for Merrill Lynch…”

So perhaps I’m “stillagoth”, even if I can’t stay up past ten on most nights, and hardly ever get the chance to wear my six-buckle PVC boots.

The Independent Film Channel has announced that it will be airing a documentary about the goth subculture in 2008.

Goth Cruise participants.

“Tigerlily Films’ Goth Cruise, also awaiting a broadcast slot, takes to sea with 300 British and American Goths as they holiday aboard a cruise liner in the Caribbean. Goth Cruise will also feature additional footage from the Whitby Goth Weekend in Yorkshire and the Convergence Goth Gathering in Portland, as well as interviews with prominent Goth musicians of the last three decades. It’s produced in association with NYC-based Cactus Three, which was involved in co-producing the 90-minute documentary Punk: Attitude in 2004″

The film is directed by Jeanie Finlay, who previously did a BBC documentary entitled “Teenland” about British adolescents in their bedrooms. A web site dedicated to the Goth Cruise movie features a list of things the director has learned about the goth subculture (and cruise ships).

“Goths love karaoke and hot tubs and cocktails. It’s fair to say that the Goth group stole the show at Karaoke (aka Scaryoke) almost every night. Not the shy and retiring hand stapled to forehead Goths of legend this group revelled in the event and made it entertaining for everyone. They accompanied my bellowing of ‘Don’t stop me now’ with Shaun of the Dead Zombie killing actions and stormed the dance floor to ‘We are Family’ sung by a ‘norm’. Bob ultimately stole the show with a spirited rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody via the B52’s accompanied by a (utili) kilt chorus.”

What is especially interesting/heartening is that Finlay seems to have avoided the tracking down of random black-clad, teenage, My Chemical Romance fans that some people call “goths” nowadays, and instead focuses on the tight-knit scenes across America and in Britain that have been around since the 1980s and make events like Convergence, Whitby Gothic Weekend, and the Goth Cruise happen. Having known and met several people involved in these events, I’ll be interested to see what the final product will be like.