Aleister, Mercury and Mephisto Walz

Mephisto Walz are/were (?) an interesting US band formed by Barry Galvin, a former Christian Death member, in 1985. We 'll talk extensively on them some other time.
In 2003 they released a single "Nightingale" as a forerunner of their 2004 album "Insidious" on Fossil Dungeon records.
The cd version of this release had printed in the inlay and on the cd itself this symbol.

This very one is a mixture of two well known glyphs in the world of symbolism.
The first is of course the symbol of planet Mercury but also of the element, an ancient symbol for what the alchemists refer to as First Matter. It has been very often been used in goth band imagery. See it here along other planetary glyphs.

The second is the unicursal hexagram, a symbol that represents "a high level of self-confidence and belief that one can achieve the highest of goals and become a divine figure".

It is one of the most used glyphs by Thelema, the spiritual philosophy -now turned official religion- that occult magician and philosopher Aleister Crowley, a very controversial personality indeed, created in the early 20th century...

To complete for today see the inlay spreads of Mephisto Walz's maxi cd and note the wonderful cover...

Stay tuned for more!

Press material and gig ads (part 4)

Here's some more clippings that may appeal to you:

Lets start with this 1981 two days festival in... Leeds of course!
Interesting to see less known gothic bands like Altered States figure here.
Note the presence of US bands like the mighty Wall of Voodoo.
Quite a mixture on this bill!

Same year and an odd bill with Talisman, psychobilly kings The Meteors and Jaz's gang...

This festival -associated with Amnesty International- remained to some peoples 
memories as one of the finest Killing Joke live moments...

And to close with for now get some color - a funny add for a Play Dead live in 1984.
It looks bizzare and awkward I think, how Peter Saville's unmistakable style 
for Manchester's Hacienda is used to promote a gothic band's concert...

The Danse Society logo (part VII)

Danse Society was curiously an underrated act. They started as a Bauhaus influenced band only to display soon an array of great, dreamy sound-scapes that turned into great and haunting songs....
I repeat - they were great, they should have been BIG!
They formed in Barnsley, England around 1980 and through their short spanned early life (as they' ve reformed lately), they bore a strange symbol, that of a crown of thorns.

The crown of thorns was worn by Jesus on his final moments and in christian iconography it is often represented with the three nails of the cross. 
Danse Society used it from 1982 to 1985. The members of the band who reformed around 2010 decided apparently that this symbol represents them so it is again to be seen in their current websites, shows and releases.

Their first release to bear it was the 12" of "Somewhere" in 1983.
It was also the main motif on the cover of their splendid LP "Heaven is Waiting in 1984.

I recently discovered an a christian children's colorbook with this very similar depiction of the crown!





















See how it's used today by the band on their website: http://www.thedansesociety.co.uk/

Gothic Rock forefathers pt.I (Black Sabbath)

I almost completed a new upload on Danse Society's logo...
I was planning to upload it today when suddenly yesterday night as I was with friends at a local band's gig I overheard a discussion of some youngsters who debated over the origin's of our genre...
I won't produce here their sayings and arguments but... come on people get to know where you "come" from...!
Now this blogpage is not about lengthy argumentations. The term gothic in itself exists since the 13th century...
How can one though claim he "knows" gothic rock without acknowledging that they've been some bands and artists especially in the '70s, who "prepared" mostly aesthetically the ground for the original gothic rock era of the '80s.
The almighty Mick Mercer sites some in his books, now it's summer read a little bit... 


One of them was definitely Black Sabbath, whether you like it or not.  
Their imagery had it all. Gothic attire, crosses, black letters, crows, odd black-clad figures, dark moods, isolation, silence, weird landscapes, allusions about sex and death and the lot.
Here are but a few pictorial examples as a token...

1970's self titled LP cover spread

1976's "We sold our soul to R'n'R" comp LP back cover

1973's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" LP back cover

Anyone still believes that the Sisters and the Mission thought of cathedrals as perfect photo shooting scenery?

A remote island for Killing Joke

As known to older fans and mentioned also in the history page of KJ's official website, in 1982, Jaz Coleman under the influence of occultism and especially of the works of Aleister Crowley, got the idea that the Apocalypse was imminent. 
First him (on the day of the 3rd anniversary of Killing Joke's formation) and then other members of Killing Joke travelled to Iceland and remained there for several months.
The following press clippings depict the musical press reaction to this odd event...

Read more on this event by Jaz himself as he describes them in the Holland Park lectures:
http://www.killingjoke.org.uk/aid/odic/hp2.html


Thanks to S.Savage.G for the above clippings. 

Bauhaus clippings

Here are some Bauhaus magazine ad clippings I recently received from a friend.

The first is a magazine ad (Zig Zag?) concerning the release of their third single "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" from 1980. The song referred to Paul Bloomquist (a high ranking US Viet Veteran) who was killed by a bombing attack in Frankfurt in 1972.

Note at the bottom the 9 UK dates to promote the single.

The second is from their 1981's LP album "Mask". It reached no. 30 in the UK charts.

The illustrations on the cover were drawn by Daniel Ash. He later used this style also for purposes of "Tones on Tail" material. 

Check also here the live dates at the bottom and the vertical extract taken from the inner sleeve poem (first line) on the left.

The last one in colors that match their sixth single sleeve. As you can read initial 20.000 (!) copies contained a lyric sheet. 

This 7" reached no. 56 in the british charts back then. It's also notable that Nick Cave's band The Birthday Party were the opening act on the promotional tour...

"Dancing in catacombs

 dancing in Tuxedo drags..."

Ralph Gibson and the (proto) Goths

Hi folks I'm back again!
Hope you're all OK hiding your precious white skin from the sun...

Here we go again...

Ralph Gibson is an acclaimed American photographer, born in Los Angeles in 1939.
He became famous for his black & white surreal and often erotic photographies and his best known to our tribe (!), work is this picture from the "The Somnambulist" series, shot in 1970.

I'm sure you recognized it , especially if you are Joy Division fans as
it appeared in  the inner sleeve of  the "Unknown Pleasures" LP in 1979.

The sleeve was designed by a young then designer named Peter Saville, who started as
a clumsy collaborator of Tony Wilson's Factory only to become through his innovations
with record sleeves one of the most important and influential graphic designers of the 1980's.
The photographer is though not credited anywhere...

In 1983 this same picture was used as a processed faded image on the back sleeve
of the March Violets 12" "Crow Baby" (Rebirth RB1812) - but not on the 7"!

You can still see it on the (brilliant) March Violets actual website http://www.marchviolets.co.uk/imagegallery/
as a purple decorative detail on the right.
If you're in the mood for more of Ralph Gibson's work, visit his great site:
http://www.ralphgibson.com/

Stay tuned for more gothic curiosities...

Walk away...

Hi, to all.
Have to travel for a week so I'm leaving you with a nice little photo of the Mission
circa "Children" (1988).
Note Mick's Misfits T-shirt with Pushhead's illustration from "Die, die my darling" single cover.
Will be back with new stuff towards the end of June...


Stay cool


Y

The Marionettes (Less known Bands)

Totally underrated band formed in England around 1986 under the initial name "the Screaming Marionettes". They released two singles under this name in 1987 and 1989, whose tracks appeared later in their first LP as "the Marionettes".

A quator revolving mostly around the eccentric looks of Sean Cronin (lead vocalist) and Baz Downes (bass) who wrote most of the music and lyrics. They released four LPs and a fistfull of 7",12"and EP's until 1998.

The first two albums, "Ave Dementia" (1990) and "The Book of Shadows"(1992) were an example of absolutely awesome gothic rock full of guitars, dark vocals and passion styled with a pinch of punk. Excellent goth-n-roll really worth listening to if you haven't yet! 

Like several other similar acts after enjoying some success in the gothic club realm, they moved towards a more metal sound with their last two LP's "Rise" (1995) and "Carousel"(1998).


Baz Downes passed a few years ago and Sean Cronin is out there somewhere... lost in the drift...


Check their discography on: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Marionettes%2C+The

Andrew's interview in Classic Rock magazine 2011

Found this Von's interview recently and thought you would find it interesting (as I presume we're probably all SOM fans!).  The man despite his (many) flaws has become a legend...
Hope you can read it. Sorry for the mediocre image quality...
Enjoy!

A surrealist and Dark Entries

In 1979, Bauhaus 1919 -as they were called back then- entered the Beck studios in Northamptonshire to record 5 tracks. The most famous been "Bela Lugosi's Dead" that made it to be their first single. "Dark Entries" was also a result of that session and was released as a 7" single in 1980.
The sleeve was adorned with a detail from a painting of a Belgian surrealist artist named Paul Delvaux. Delvaux was influenced by metaphysical art as that of de Chirico, by mythology, medical curiosities and eventually by the fiction of Jules Verne. He became famous for his paintings of women both dressed and nude, who seem to stare as if hypnotized and wonder mysteriously through train stations or classical buildings.
As Delvaux puts it himself, he created a "climate of streets with people who can't be seen".
Bauhaus used for this 7" a fragment of his painting "The sleeping Venus" from 1944.

The "Dark Entries" single came in three different initial sleeves. The Axis and 4AD copies had the lyrics of the song and a weird party photo of Peter Murphy on the back.

The Beggars Banquet version had a slightly different design when it comes to typography and mentioned the title of the painting beneath the image. It also had the back side identical to the front, without lyrics. Truly collectible!

FOTN at "Ancienne Belgique", Brussels, 26.10.1988

I  recently found a set of photos I took back in 1988 during the Fields of the Nephilim "Precious to the Lost" european tour. 
They were shot on B/W film and were used later on for graphic design studies projects. 
I thought some were interesting so I publish 4 of them here while another 16 remain in my drawers. They have never been published on the net before.
If you like 'em let me now and I might publish the rest.

Photos courtesy: Yorgos Panteleon 

Bob Carlos Clarke and the Damned

The Damned have never been a real Goth band. They were one of the first and best punk acts. Many songs though, due to Dave Vanian 's obsessions had gothic elements and feeling. In 1984 they released their most gothic in style LP, "Phantasmagoria".

The superb images on the sleeve were taken by an Irish photographer, Bob Carlos Clarke (1950-2006). 

The front and back cover pictures are actually one photograph that  was shot at Brompton cemetery and had the initial title 

"The Dream Keeper".

The backside picture is thus a detail.

The model is Susie Bricks, who now happens to be Nick Cave's wife.

The original image was included in Clarke's 1985 photobook "The Dark Summer" (Quintet editions) now out of stock... 

Croppings of this same picture were also used on "The Shadow of Love" 7" and 12" single and remixes.

Another shot by Bob Carlos Clarke was used on their single "Grimly Fiendish" from that same album. The original title for the photo was "Crown of Thorns".

Check Bob Carlos Clarke website here:
http://www.bobcarlosclarke.co.uk/