And it is true that many of the old
venues that sustained the scene in the dark days of the '90s have
long gone. The Clarendon in London, Jilly's in Manchester, Rios in
Bradford, the Duchess in Leeds, as well as a slew of smaller local
venues, have all long gone. As have most of the cellar pits and attic belfrys that housed the background 'masses' before. Now most cities
have larger venues housing the touring old guard, but increasingly
little on the lower rungs.
The larger gigs represent the high tide
of the scene, where thousands of people cluster to see the likes of
The Mission, or Kiling Joke, or the Nephilim; but very little of
these thousands go to their local club or see smaller acts on the
scene. So at the lower levels of the scene there are smaller
audiences to see bands and sustain live music on a national scale.
Indeed, outside of a few key clubs which combine live music with the
dance floor, there are few venues that can provide a platform for goth
acts to perform – and especially not as part of a planned series of
gigs.
It is with great satisfaction, then,
that I have returned from one of the rarest of things – a goth tour
of the UK Taking in Manchester, Lancaster, Sheffield, York,
Newcastle, London and Leeds, the 'Gothism' tour by my act Byronic Sex
& Exile was an exercise in that strange and most wonderful
experience – actually performing music. And I'm happy to say from
what I've observed that the scene – from Manchester's industrial
heritage to York's historic streets to Camden's dive bars – is in
good health. People still come out to watch live music and apply
gratuitous amounts of eyeliner. And if that's in smaller numbers than
before, then so be it – goths scare easily, but they'll be back, and
in greater numbers.
The real thrill of touring is the transient existence of travelling, passing through towns and cities,
finding yourself in a strange cafe or bar in the afternoon and
remembering that you're performing again that night – the chance to
adapt and change and clear your mind afresh to apply your creativity.
It is out there, on the journey between one gig and the next, that
the process of creativity starts again.
But the real take-home message from the
tour has to be: that a full UK goth tour is still possible.
So: what can we do with that knowledge?
We shall see...