I’m creating a new segment on this blog entitled Fun With DIY. I do quite a bit of DIY work and I thought it would be fun to share my projects and tips with all of you. This blog is not sponsored at all and will only contain products that I have spent my own money on. Let’s begin!
I am a total boot whore, but I have an excuse: multiple sclerosis makes my ankles weak. Wearing boots stabilizes my ankles. So, needless to say, I own a lot of boots. I have mainly New Rocks and Grinders and they all have10-20 holes.
When I bought my first pair of Docs in late 1989 a friend taught me how to ladder lace them. When you ladder lace boots they stay tighter on you so that you don’t have to mess with them while out and about. To this day I still ladder lace because it works that well. Back then it was way more difficult to find colourful laces than it is today. Plus, the lace code was still in full force so you had to avoid both white and red laces since those colours were both claimed by neo-nazi skinheads, To this day I will not wear either colour on my boots.
My 20 hole steel toe Grinders look more spirited now.
You can alter the look of your boots simply by changing the laces. You and your friends all wear similar boots and you want to stand out from the crowd? Take out the black laces and put in some colourful ones. Wearing some colour and want to take your outfit to the next level? Put in some matching laces. This is perhaps the most easy DIY thing that you can do and it really doesn’t take that much time or effort.
Well, I hope this has helped you and given you some ideas. Go forth and partake of some lace goodness over on eBay, Amazon, or even your local cobbler. Have fun!
Another great song called Beautiful off of their upcoming new album Evil Becomes Rule. Judging from this second single I have the feeling that this album is going to be very, very good, and that makes me happy!
I found out about this yesterday and I am so excited! This EP was the first music released by the band after Rozz left and has not been re-released in any form since 1999. I have the CD from back then but I will be purchasing the green vinyl gatefold edition and t-shirt bundle which will be released on December the 17th of this year. There is also a regular black vinyl gatefold edition (19th November), a CD edition (19th November), and a t-shirt.
Season Of Mist has also re-released very nice editions of Ashes, Catastrophe Ballet, Atrocities and The Scriptures. On top of that they are have also released two different sets of CDs combining all of the albums of the Valor era of the band. In other words there are a ton of really nice Christian Death re-releases on their site, too many for me to link on here. Plus, there will be two different re-release sets coming in the next few months.
Photo of one of my boot boxes filled with DIY materials that I use for projects.
I originally shared this over in several goth communities on Reddit but I thought that my darklings who read this blog was also appreciate it.
I do a lot of DIY projects. I get my ideas from films, dark clothing websites, Etsy and even Vogue magazine. Don’t ever dismiss something outright as inspiration because there are techniques that you can glean just from the construction of ‘regular’ clothing. I actually taught myself how to dart clothing and I was able to make two different corsets fit my chest better by doing that technique.
Personally, I have never felt comfortable using a sewing machine so I hand sew everything. That may sound daunting but once you practice enough it can be done fairly quickly. All clothing was hand sewn before the invention of the sewing machine, so if somebody stitched a hem by candlelight you can also do it! Honest! All it takes is some practice.
With all of that being said I have two boot boxes filled with the supplies that I use in DIY projects. I have purchased most of them from Etsy. That website is a treasure trove of DIY supplies. I will not name the companies I have bought from because it costs a fortune to ship items across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans right now. Always buy from stores on Etsy that are on, or near, the same continent that you live on. Almost all of my items come from the UK or the EU.
I hope this inspires you to start some DIY projects because it is a lot of fun and you end up with an item that is uniquely yours.
STUDS/SPIKES There are a ton of stores on Etsy that sell these and most of the time they are very affordable. They even come in colors which you don’t actually see on most ready made studded and spiked items. I own a wide variety of them: green pyramids, black pyramids, silver pyramids, skulls, silver studs, black studs,etc… Some Etsy stores also sell beginner kits that include instructions and tools. I also own an awl to punch through leather and a flat headed tool for pushing the ends of them down upon the object.
FISHNET I bought multi-packs of fishnet tights in different colors and with holes of different sizes. These can be used to make fishnet shirts. Just cut out the crotch, put it over you head, put the legs on your arms and make holes for your fingers. A much cheaper option than paying £30 for a ready-made fishnet shirt. I also will be using them in other projects, such as layering a jacket collar with it, and safety-pinning it to the sleeves of a jacket.
Some of the many different pairs of fishnet tights that I have for my DIY projects.
NEEDLES AND THREAD You can get small kits that include different colors of thread, multiple sizes of needles, thread rippers, small scissors, measuring tape, etc… I personally always double my thread when I hand-sew anything because it will guarantee that the object will stay together rather than rip easily.
A GOOD PAIR OF SCISSORS Those small scissors that come in a kit are okay for cutting thread but you are going to need a good pair of scissors if you want to cut material. You can get decent ones for fairly cheap.
PATCHES Whenever I see a patch I like I buy it and add it to my collection because I know that I will use it in a project in the future. Many dark clothing sites, and other online alternative stores, will quite frequently have them on sale. However, I have bought most of mine from, you guessed it, Etsy. I have my own post-apocalyptic/dystopian goth kind of style going on and Etsy is a treasure trove filled with patches from films such as Terminator, Blade Runner and They Live. You can find band, horror and anything else you like on there. If you are more brave you can even make your own with fabric paint.
ACRYLIC PAINT, BRUSHES, AND STENCILS An acrylic type paint is what you should use on leather and pleather materials. I bought a kit by Angelus specifically for leather and pleather. You can also use just regular acrylic paint, whatever brand you like the best. I also have some stencils of things such as mushroom clouds and pandemic symbols. You can find a lot of them on Etsy, or you can make your own stencils out of cardstock.
BLEACH PENS AND FABRIC PAINT Bleach pens are seriously awesome because you can either stencil or freehand designs onto any fabric object. They were a game changer for me! Fabric paints are very cool as well. Using them is an easy way to instantly change the look of an object.
FABRIC SCRAPS I never throw away any fabric that I cut off of clothing. The reason being is that you never know what you can use it for in the future.
HALLOWEEN RIBBON I live in the UK where Halloween isn’t as popular as it is in the US. I spent my first 40 years in the US and Halloween has always been my favourite holiday. Whenever I see Halloween themed ribbon on sale online I buy it and add it to my stash, because I know that I will use it in my hair or on an item.
SAFETY PINS You can buy boxes of different sizes or packs of the sizes that you really like. I use them to attach items or as decoration on items.
SPOOKY KEYCHAINS I attach these to zipper pulls, belts, purses,etc… You can buy these in bulk for fairly cheap.
That’s all for now. You do not need a lot of money to do DIY projects. Just buy a little here and a little there and soon you will have a whole collection of things you can creatively use.
I usually don’t do masses of album reviews on here because there are a lot of people online who do it very well. I bought a ton of music on the latest Bandcamp Friday so I thought I would share these finds with you. I am only going to do two newish albums at a time because I like to listen to albums more than once before I talk about them. If I have bought more than one album from an artist I will touch upon those older albums sometime in the future.
OKVLTA – en Las enttranas de la bestia
OKVLTA is a band from Colombia that performs in Spanish. This is a good example as to why you don’t need to always know the lyrics of an album, because the intonation of the singing tells you exactly what is going on. They are a heavy deathrock style band with some pounding tribal drumming and experimental guitar playing. This album for me is the love-child of Sex Gang Children and 45 Grave. The vocals are sinisterly happy while the guitars echoing in the background set a driving pace along with the bass and drums. This album is best enjoyed if you listen to all of it at once rather than to just one song, because each one musically feels like it’s telling you a story that takes you to the next chapter. This is their first album and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Electronic music with a background of synthwave sounding keyboards: the title of this album fits the music perfectly. ‘Tonight we rise and see their demise’ lyrics on Persona Non Grata are very political and represents what is going on right now in society. Very timely. It’s cool that she is taking a stand against the fascist crap that is going on. There are a lot of bands right now who try to sound 80’s retro but she owns it by the synthwave angle and the lyrics. The song Frenzy includes the lyrics ‘We are the wild things with violent mood swings’, and it sounds like it should be playing in a club in the film Blade Runner. This album, essentially, is a soundtrack for the dystopian times in which we are living in. She also touches on the covid pandemic, the environment and the BLM movement. This is one of the most political goth albums to come out this year and it deserves a place alongside Sex Gang Children’s Oligarch and The Joy Thieves’ American Parasite.
This is a single that Suzi has just put out and it rocks for all of the right reasons! It’s a political statement against all of the neo-nazi type people who have been trying to infiltrate the goth subculture lately. They have been coming out of the woodwork and this song tackles it.
Jack is on the right wearing the glove. This must have been taken around the time I saw them because he was dressed the same.
The first time I ever heard TSOL’s music was when I was at a friend’s house watching the early 80’s punk film Suburbia. I’m pretty sure it was in late 1989 because I remember being just out of high school. Watching Suburbia was a right of passage if you were any kind of weirdo back then.
I love the film because there were some parts of it that were very relatable, such as metalheads, and other general assholes, who would give you shit even though you were just walking down the street, or shopping, minding your own business. Sure, the acting is pretty atrocious, but that is what makes it a cool film. Most of the actors were actual punks so they looked and acted more real than say the people in Return Of The Living Dead. Also love that film but one of the reasons why it’s so funny is because of the shit they got wrong in it.
With all of that being said the scene that really pulled me into the film and got to me on a deeper level was when TSOL took the stage at the club and started singing Darker My Love. At that time I was already listening to goth and punk music and that song spun the genres together into a sound that really hit me hard in a good way. I’m not going to lie, Jack Grisham was also really easy on the eyes! That same week I bought the soundtrack of the film, Dance With Me and Beneath The Shadows. Needless to say I was hooked. Watch it below.
The only sad aspect to all of this was by the time I discovered them Jack had left the band and without his presence they had morphed into a hair metal band; a music genre that I generally disliked. In 1999 the original members sued the hair metal singer for the rights to the band name, and for the right to perform their older songs. They won, and afterwards started touring again.
In 2001 I had just left my ex-husband so I was somewhat scantily dressed when I went to see them play at The Cactus Club in San Jose. It was a cool venue and I had seen 7 Seconds, Christian Death and some other bands there in the past. When TSOL started playing I was sitting on some stairs that were attached to the left of the stage. I was was only a couple of feet from the band so when Jack complained about the tour bus getting a parking ticket I took some change out of my purse and handed it to him. He gave a sarcastic chuckle, and soon afterwards came the familiar intro to Code Blue. The audience went really nuts and everybody was singing it together. Jack grabbed me and a guy and motioned us to get in front of the mic and sing some of the lines. I don’t have the greatest voice but I knew all of the lines and gave it my all! I had such a blast and after the show I shook Jack’s hand and thanked him. To this day I still smile when I think of that show, because it’s not every day that you get to sing a song about necrophilia with one of your favourite bands!
Sex Gang Children’s newest album is very political, which is a good thing.
Lately there has been a lot of talk about how goth music is political, which in turn would mean that the subculture is political as well. When it comes down to it is the subculture actually politically minded?
Everybody reading this knows that the goth subculture was birthed out of the punk subculture. The punk subculture has always been political to varying degrees. There are famous punk musicians such as Jello Biafra and Dick Lucas who have always talked the talk and walked the walk. When they write songs about supporting equal rights or about how evil corporations are they mean it. They aren’t being political to gain ‘scene’ points, they are being political because they think that speaking against injustices is important and something that must be done.
Do goth bands speak up about injustices? Sometimes, but not as often as their punk cousins. Sex Gang Children have recently put out the most politically charged album that I have ever heard come out from under the goth umbrella. It’s called Oligarch and it speaks up against corporations, religious hypocrisy and fascist politicians. I honestly hope that other goth bands listen to it and are inspired to make their own politically charged art. Christian Death is another band that has openly made politically charged music through the years. Both the Rozz and Valor versions of the band have done this. Then there are modern anarcho deathrock bands such as Mystic Priestess and the Creeping Terrors who make music with a political bent. With one foot in the punk subculture they are carrying on the tradition of speaking up against what is wrong in society.
If you spend any amount of time in online goth communities you will see people ask if they can be right wing and goth at the same time. The goth subculture has always leaned left because of the acceptance of those who society sees as the ‘other’. Are there racists within the subculture? There have always been those in the subculture who think that a person has to be white in order to be goth, which is a load of shit of course. Do some people wear white foundation and try to look as pale as possible? Of course but you don’t have to look like a Victorian ghost to enjoy the music. You don’t have to be a certain weight, a certain colour or dress a certain way to take part in the subculture.
All of this could be called political, but do people in the subculture actually stand up for the rights of others when it comes down to it? I would like to argue that there are some that do, but they are heavily outnumbered by those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. The most important thing about being politically minded is standing behind what you say, even if it inconveniences you. A huge example of this are all of the people in the subculture who will be attending the Cruel World festival, even though the person putting it on is a proven homophobe. They will post about how they are for the rights of those who identify as LGBTQ, but they don’t want to be inconvenienced by missing a show. It’s hypocritical to not stand behind what you say.
Back thirty years ago the subculture was largely not political at all. To the point that Nazi skinheads would attend the clubs and nobody would lift a finger to boot them out. Seriously, I witnessed this shit myself. Back then I weighed 100 pounds and I knew that it would be impossible for me to do anything physically about it. However, there were several times back then that I told Nazi skins off because I didn’t like the crap that they were saying. I did all that I could do back then but when it came down to it there were definitely others who just didn’t care. As long as they could dance to their favourite songs everything was hunky dory.
When it comes down to it the goth subculture can be political, but there are many people in it who need to learn to stand up for what they claim to believe in. Supporting the LGBTQ community online is good, but if it is not followed through with some sort of physical action then that support becomes meaningless. Go to marches and events that are against racism and homophobia, and don’t attend events that are put on by racist or homophobic promoters.
It’s no secret that I love the darker side of deathrock with a passion. With that being said Death Of A Star majorly scratches that itch. I can hear the influences of Samhain, TSOL, Son Of Sam and early Danzig on this record, and yet it has it’s own sound going on. It’s unabashedly heavy, layered with metal infused guitar, heavy bass, sinister keyboards and great lyrics. I love the hell out of this album.
What really stands out to me while listening to this album is the fact that it doesn’t sound like an atypical darker deathrock band trying to outright imitate the music of Glenn Danzig. A whole lot of bands do that and it becomes very tiring. I highly appreciate the fact that The Cult Sounds takes their music further into their own direction, rather than being lazy. It’s proof that it is still possible to make wholly original music within the genre.
Enclose Nacht, the first song really sets up the rest of the album well. It’s sparse landscape and chilling circus sounding keyboards lets you immediately know that you are in for a dark ride through a land of death and isolation. The next song 13 Candles is a banger that pushes you down that road. The journey is then filled with darkly created musical landscapes; the heavy crunchy guitars of Afterlife and the brooding atmosphere of The Avalanche.
While I love all of the songs my favourite has got to be Death Has A Name. Quite honestly it’s one of the better darker deathrock songs that I’ve heard in a very long time. It’s got a bit of that Jon Christ blues infused metal guitar style which gives it a sinister air that takes it to another level. There are heavy synths through the whole song that only add to the foreboding nature of it. There are two lines, in particular that I think are brilliant.
Death has a name and it’s yours, Use my bones to build your body
That just conjures all sorts of feelings and thoughts in my mind. All of the lyrics on this album are really good, and don’t rely on the typical gimmicks that some deathrock bands use. I really appreciate the effort that the band put into creating this album. I have a feeling that The Death Of A Star is going to be on my ‘best of’ list for this year. If you love deathrock that is darker in nature then you will really enjoy this album.
There is no set release date for this album yet, but I will announce it here on the blog when the time comes.
A while back I listed some of the newer goth type bands that I found to be interesting. There are so many good bands coming out with excellent music right now that this second list really needed to be made. This time I am also including electronic/industrial bands. They may not be strictly goth but they are definitely goth adjacent. These bands are not in any particular order. All links will take you to the relevant Bandcamp page. Bandcamp Friday is on March the 5th, a day in which 100% of the sale of music and merchandise goes to the bands.
Jay Draper And The Subterraneans This is a hybrid band that contains elements of goth rock, darkwave and post-punk. I love the the soaring vocals, they are very distinctive.
The Last Of Us They play very heavy traditional goth rock, but with a feel of urgency. Keyboards are artfully added for atmosphere. Reminds me of Fields Of The Nephilim crossed with early Danzig because their music has a slightly sinister feel to it.
Corlyx Post-punk meets darkwave. This is a hybrid band that makes some very danceable tunes.
Stoneburner Steven Archer’s solo project that is at once industrial and electronic with other bits tossed together to make for some very interesting sounding music.
Dead Cool They don’t have a lot of music out yet, but what they have put out so far I really enjoy! A post-punk and darkwave hybrid band.
Rosegarden Funeral Party This is a post-punk band with some darkwave thrown in, surrounded by one of the most distinctive female voices out of all of the modern genre bands. The lyrics sound very personal in nature and give the music a deeper meaning.
S Y Z Y G Y X Mainly an electronic and darkwave band. Very driving beats and interesting vocals.
I Ya Toyah This is a one woman band that is fiercely industrial and electronic. Beautiful vocals paired with an urgency and great lyrics.
The Long Losts Very spooky sounding deathrock mixed with some touches of metal. The lyrics are very haunting!
Abu Nein Darkwave and electronic music with a flourish of post punk. Nice vocals and driving beat.
This record has been in my top ten favourite albums for about thirty years, and it is frequently number one on that list. In my humble opinion this is the best album that Glenn Danzig has ever made, a pinnacle that he will never reach again. It’s the perfect blend of punk and goth music, and I would even venture to say that this is one of the best deathrock albums ever made. I would definitely place it above Specimen’s Batastrophe and Christian Death’s Theater Of Pain. Yes, I went there.
I found out about Samhain in a very strange way. I went to an amusement park a couple of weeks before I graduated high school in 1989 with some metal friends. I was wearing my Sex Pistols Holidays In The Sun shirt. Back then they weren’t as well known as they are now, trust me on that. With all of that being said a girl walked past me at some point while wearing a Samhain November Coming Fire shirt and called me a poser. During that time I was also into The Dead Kennedys and 7 Seconds, so I was in no way a poser. What she said didn’t affect me as much as the appearance of her shirt did. I stored the band name Samhain in the back of my brain for future reference because I thought maybe they would be as good as their shirt looked.
Later in 1989 I very briefly dated a guy who had a Misfits poster in his room even though he didn’t listen to them. I knew who the Misfits were during that time but I hadn’t gotten around to listening to them yet. I know that sounds strange but I was into so many bands at that point that it was difficult to buy all of that music and the albums of bands I wanted to try out at the same time. Back then you actually had to buy the music if you wanted to own it. I mean you could get some tapes off of your friends but it was always a goal to actually legally own the music and support the band at the same time. After I broke up with that guy I went and bought the Misfits album Legacy Of Brutality. My friend Sheri was also really into the Misfits during this time and she is the person that introduced me to the band Danzig.
The man, the myth, the legend.
I remember going to the Rasputin’s music store in San Lorenzo in early 1990 and buying the Danzig and Danzig II: Lucifuge cds. The store had separate sections for goth, punk and just about everything else, which actually made it really easy to find music. I remember looking through the punk section and coming across the name of a band that looked familiar: Samhain. I cold bought November Coming Fire on cd that day and it was quite possibly one of the best music based decisions I have ever made. I’m not overstating that by any means. Back then I cold bought a whole lot of music on the recommendation of other people or by seeing somebody strange wearing a band shirt.
Usually when you hear an album for the first time you will pick out certain songs above others or maybe not even like some of the songs. I liked every single song on this album the very first time I listened to it. The song order has a certain flow to it. For example the song To Walk The Night is slow and quite introspective, perhaps the most traditionally goth rock sounding song on the whole album. While the next song Let The Day Begin is more quick paced and takes you slowly out of the bleakness, all the while singing about darkness and the evil that is coming. The very next song Halloween II is a Misfits cover which is sung completely in Latin and takes you to the place where the last song’s events were leading you to.
I have always liked both goth and punk music but not that many bands have achieved the feat of seamlessly bringing the two genres of music together. The only other band that I can think of immediately is TSOL, whose two albums Dance With Me and Beneath The Shadows are also favourites of mine. However, what Glenn Danzig did with this album is bring it to a higher level by adding into the mix some very dark theming and lyrical content. It’s like the album is in its own dimension of darkness where no light can reach it. November Coming Fire taught me that it was okay to unabashedly embrace my darkness and relish in it. Don’t be a goth who claims that they are totally normal on the inside, because I’m not. Don’t be a punk who always thinks that non violence is always the answer, because it’s not.
If it wasn’t for November Coming Fire I wouldn’t be the very darkly inclined woman that I am today. Never heard of Samhain or November Coming Fire? Give the below a listen, you won’t regret it.
