Post Punk Pixie Dust

Things Involving a Fiendish Anniversary

2012-12-02T23:41:00.001+00:00

(Eventually I will write up all those shenanigans I promise!)

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of proto-electronic Batcave staples, Alien Sex Fiend's first ever gig, so they were performing a very special birthday gig at the Boston Dome in London. They're another of the many, many bands I've been trying to see for years but somehow always missing, so I simply had to make it to this one. Coming straight from work and stuck with slow trains (I thought it might be quicker to get the train than the coach, turned out to be about the same time, dammit) I arrived late, so if there was support I missed it because the Fiends themselves were already blaring through Manic Depression. I was kicking myself for being late (I have no idea what tracks I missed, alas) but I needn't have worried, because the Fiends had an amazing three hour set in store! Three hours! Three frigging hours! I still haven't quite gotten over that. Three hours of live Fiendishness! Ahem.

The venue was reasonably full, meaning that for a while I was towards the back, though by the end of the (three hour!) set, I was right down on the second row. The audience was largely an older crowd, I guess they were mostly people who've followed them for years (there were a lot of well-worn ASF t-shirts on show) and generally more on the punky side of things, at one point a full-blown mosh pit opened up. As for the Fiends, they were brilliant, exactly as I'd hoped they'd be: loud, atonal, unhinged, kitsch and... did I mention loud? My hearing has gone in my right ear. Oh and they had the brightest strobe lights I have ever seen that did weird trippy things to my vision.

Nik and Mrs Fiend and their cobwebby stage decorations along with one of those customised mannequins they seem to take everywhere

Shrouded in dry ice and enshrined with fake cobwebs, Mrs Fiend leaned over her keyboards and contraptions for most of the show, while Nik staggered about messing around with props (which included a plastic skull, a rubbish bin, counterfeit dollars, fake blood, and a giant inflatable banana. I think the banana might be the odd one out) and on the opposite side of the stage, two chaps dressed like mad doctors (alas, I don't remember their names) played guitar and any other electronic gizmos that Mrs Fiend didn't have enough hands for (I don't really understand how electronic music and tape loops work, but it appears to involve a lot of knob twiddling, and one person can only twiddle so many knobs). During the encore, Mrs Fiend finally escaped from behind the decks to play guitar, which was awesome.

Mrs Fiend and whoever the doctor fellow was on guitars

Mrs Fiend on guitar and Nik Fiend on a rubbish bin. This was about two and a half hours in, I think Nik needed a sit down!

Their (three hour!) set was a selection of tracks from their lengthy career, with each track extended into length, experimental versions, highlights being R.I.P, Boneshaker Baby, I Walk the Line, and of course Dead and Buried. Nik's vocals are just as aggressively raw in person as they are in record, tempered slightly by his gloriously kitsch stagecraft; picking through bins, pretending to eat a plastic rat, lurching around with his arms stuck out like Boris Karloff, covering himself in fake blood, throwing fake bones out into the crowd, and so on. In between songs, while Mrs Fiend did whatever it was she needed to do to get ready for the next one, he would natter away about how he hadn't gotten Mrs Fiend an anniversary card and how he doesn't want a makeover and whether or not you can have a cup of tea in the next life and how he wanted to thank various people for helping the band over the years. At one point, in the middle of a vaguely political rant, he said something along the lines of "fuck going outside, I want a fucking cigarette" at which point someone in the crowd handed him one and someone else offered a light. And so Nik was smoking through the whole of the next track. Indoors. Too bloody right. Honestly, that was the most punk rock thing I've seen at a gig for a long while, and kudos to the venue staff for not stopping him.

Nik Fiend looking like the undead supervillain he is. You can't really tell in my crummy photos, but he was wearing a riddler coat and a Judge Death t-shirt. And he had "Fiend" written on his trousers ~~in case he forgets who he is~~

Actually, come to think of it, the whole atmosphere at the gig was pretty similar to a punk gig: lots of people slightly drunk, lots of people really feeling the music, lots of people moshing, lots of spilt drinks, but somehow all very friendly. At one point towards the end a very drunk bloke climbed up onstage while Nik was talking, but Nik just grinned, put his arm round him and carried on until security pushed the guy away.

Nik covered in fake blood and singing. Or possibly yelling.

When they were finally forced to leave the stage, Nik went along the front row shaking/grabbing hands with people and he very briefly grabbed mine!

My hand with a smear of fake blood thanks to Mr Fiend.

After they finished, the venue turned into a club as the DJs took over. They were playing a great mixture of stuff, but I was rather tired (I'd been up since 6 that morning) and so after buying myself a souvenir t-shirt, I got ready to go. I do wish I'd had the energy to stay longer, apparently they were going to crack open the chocolate cake mannequin thing they'd been given at Whitby, but it was a long journey back and I'm feeling zombified enough today as it is. As I was leaving, a bloke from the Fiends' website took a photo of me because apparently I'm "very gothic" and "far too young to be one of the old goths"! I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled for the picture, but when (if?) it appears online it'll be here too.

So anyway, happy anniversary to the Fiends, long may they reign!

Things Involving Cabaret and Sleep Deprivation

2012-11-06T23:42:00.002+00:00

Gig review time again! Actually there'll be a few posts over the next few days, as there are plenty of antics that I need to get around to documenting, but let's start with the most recent, shall we?

Now, if you didn't know that my favourite band in the universe is Bauhaus, you don't know me at all. So imagine my excitement this weekend to get a rare chance to see former Bauhaus bassist and all-round clever singer-song-writer (and director and playwright) David J perform solo. He hasn't played the UK in at least ten years, which is a terrible pity because his solo work is incredibly rich and beautiful, ranging from cozily comforting to astutely melancholy to downright heartbreaking. Of course, I've seen him perform with Bauhaus themselves several times, but I certainly wasn't going to miss the chance to see him when his tour reached London.

I rushed out from work, backcombing my hair on the train because, y'know, I can't go to a gig these days unless my hair is puffed out to at least the same size as my waist, and dashed across ol' London town to the Slimelight. I've got to say, I thought Slimes was an odd choice for David to play. Yes, Bauhaus are beloved of goths the world over, and yes he wrote a very witty song about Goth Girls in Southern California but he's not exactly a goth and Slimes is...well, Slimes. I missed the first support band, who apparently sounded "almost exactly like the Fields of the Nephilim" but arrived just in time to catch the second, a band called Partly Faithful who looked and sounded like an enthusiastic mixture between Gene Loves Jezebel and Christian Death. They weren't amazing but they weren't bad and they did seem to be rather enjoying themselves, which is always nice.

After they finished I took the chance to catch up with some old friends from my days lurking on the bauhausmusik fan forum. It'd been a good few years since I'd seen most of them, so it was nice to see everybody again. Happy memories and all that.

Unfortunately, I was so busy chatting in the smoking area, I missed the first few songs performed by the next act, the fabulous Mister Joe Black. He's a cabaret singer from back home in gloomy Portsmouth (where he hosts a burlesque night in the King's Theatre, and dammit I wish I hadn't managed to keep missing that when I lived there), and like any good cabaret act, his songs are witty, flithy and ever so slightly disturbing. I arrived just in time for a deranged rendition of You Are My Sunshine accompanied by an accordion (I really do like accordions) and gosh, I'd never realised quite how creepy the lyrics of that song are. Anyway, his set was brilliant, musically, it's very dark cabaret, think the Tiger Lilies by way of the Dresden Dolls, only with more off-colour jokes (yes, more off-colour jokes than the Tiger Lilies, that's quite an achievement). I particularly liked the song about murdering your lover if they leave you and the cover of Radiohead's Creep performed on ukulele and kazoo. I bought his latest CD right after the set and I will definitely be looking out for him again, he was absolutely hilarious.

Next it was at last time for David J Haskins to take the stage. Unfortunately, some of the Slimes regulars didn't seem to quite "get" him, and there were some very rude and uncultured individuals chatting through most of the show, which was distracting and rather irritating, at one point promoter Frank Flag had to come onstage and tell them all to shut up. On the plus side, David's work is accoustic enough not to be too badly affected by the dreaded Slimes soundsystem although his ensemble did suffer at one point with problems with the guitar. The ensemble, incidentally, were marvelous too, though at points I have to say it felt weird seeing someone else playing bass on Bauhaus tracks. For the last half a dozen songs a lovely lady (whose name escapes me, sorry) joined them improvising on violin, apparently she had played on the album and happened to be in London. It was a perfect set, with a few gorgeous melancholy tracks from his new album Not Long For This World and plenty of old favourites from throughout his career too. From his solo work we had tracks like I'll Be Your Chauffeur, Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh, and Goth Girls In Southern California (very fitting, methinks), from Love and Rockets we had Rainbird, Dog End of a Day Gone By, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven and, my favourite, No New Tale to Tell, plus a few glorious Bauhaus tracks, All We Ever Wanted and Who Killed Mr Moonlight, which is absolutely one of my favourite tracks of all time and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was to finally hear it live. David himself was in fine voice despite apparently not being very well and having to rush around trying to sort out his passport, which someone had stolen!

For some reason or other the next show, which had been scheduled for Bristol, had been cancelled, so he was playing a second night in London. I couldn't miss that! So I hopped back on the bus that afternoon and back into London for a "Bauhaus party" in the Purple Turtle in Camden. The venue was sadly all but empty, despite criminally low entrance prices, but on the plus side that meant I could stay right down at the front for the whole show. The first support act were a slightly electronic goth rock band called Das Fluff and they... weren't to my tastes. Thankfully Joe Black was back next with a sparkly hat and more cabaret shenanigans. Well, I say "more", it was the same set as the night before but it didn't matter, I really enjoyed it and there were plenty of new jokes to keep the humour fresh. And funny. Did I mention he was funny? He was very funny. Plus it meant I got to catch the songs I'd missed the night before, including an accordion cover of Sex Bomb by Tom Jones which finished with him felating the microphone.

One very blurry photo of Joe Black. I had a few more photos of him, but the shutter didn't open on the camera properly so they are impossibly dark

And one very blurry, slightly photoshopped photo of Joe Black. The dark smudge at the top is where the shutter of my camera didn't open. Stupid camera.

David J's set was interrupted with a few more technical hitches, largely because the ensemble had only been given one pickup between them (an oversight which was remedied with the help of one of my friends) and yet more problems with the guitar, leading David to add a bit of "VU dissonance, man". The set itself was pretty much the same as the night before, the only real difference was that some of the songs were played in a different order (perhaps because of the different technical problems) but it was wonderful all the same. David had a few different, interesting asides that night too, but the real treat was the encore. The first encore was a rendition of Bela Lugosi's Dead with added violin and more dissonant guitar (by that point, there was a string hanging from David's guitar, and the violinist's bow was pretty much decimated). The second encore was a suitably cabaret-esque version of The Alabama Song performed with Joe Black, which was completely and utterly fantastic. I do rather miss David's cabaret faze.

And a blurry photo of David J

Ye gods, this one isn't blurry! I didn't take many photos, I was too busy being in awe.

After the show I lurked for a while with a couple of friends who're acquainted with David. I'm making rather a habit of standing around behind people who are chatting to musicians, aren't I? One of these days I will get over this dreadful shyness and actually talk to someone!

Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend and, although I suffered for the lack of sleep at work on Monday, I'm so glad I made it to both shows. I'll leave you with a little clip of Messers Black and Haskins performing the Alabama Song (not taken by me, so it's not blurry!)

The Strange Saga of Lopt-tattoo

2012-10-23T14:56:00.000+01:00

This year has been pretty significant for me. I found my first full-time, long-term job and started living independently. I've acquired a social life out of almost nowhere. But, perhaps more importantly, I've started to make sense of my personal life: I'm on top of my bipolar disorder for the first time in years, I've become a bit more comfortable with my body and my sexuality, and I've had a bit of a spiritual reawakening. All just in time for my 25th birthday. Talk about a turn around.

I wanted to do something to commemorate all this, but I honestly didn't know what to do. Getting a new tattoo seemed like a good idea, but I couldn't really decide what. I'd settled on a cliche-tastic vampire design that I'd drawn but it just didn't seem like the right time. I almost gave up on the idea but I'd been drawing a lot of mythology-based nonsense, and almost by accident, drew a little doodle of everyone's favourite Norse trickster deity.

Loki tattoo design... well, that's what I think he looks like, anyway

http://necro-agalma.deviantart.com/#/d5cr9xq

Now anybody who's heard me wax lyrical on the subject of mythology will know that I have a bit of a thing about tricksters, and Loki in particular. I find him fascinating. There's so much about him that's ambiguous; his relationship with the Aesir (and with the jotnar, come to think of it), his sexuality, his skills, his motivations, even his gender is in flux. I know a lot of people think of him as evil, mainly due to the fact that Christianity doesn't like mythologies where there's not an antagonist, but I really don't subscribe to that interpretation. I see him more of a representation of the Other and a creature of chaos, and chaos by default is neutral (unless we're talking D&D alignments!) Or to put it in an even-more pop-culture-y way and steal a line from The Dark Knight; "that's the thing about chaos. It's fair."

On a far more basic level, Loki represents change. The change he brings about is often painful, he does things that seem cruel and pointless but it usually turns out to be necessary. Take the shearing of Sif's hair, there's no real reason for him doing that, he just calls it a "joke", but without that seemingly random act, there would be now Mjolnir and no Gungir (and no Loki's Wager for that matter). Even Ragnarok is a necessary change. Ragnarok isn't really an end-time myth, it's a renewal myth. Its survivors huddle around the regenerated Yggdrasil and the cycle begins again.

Thinking of Loki as change, the drawing seemed like a perfect choice for a tattoo. This year has been all about change. And, yeah, it's been a kind of Viking-y year, somehow. Does this mean I'm devoting myself to him in some way? No. Does it mean I'm going to stop worshiping other deities? No. My world view pretty much allows for all deities from all pantheons to exist, but I only really worship those from the Graeco-Roman, Norse and Egyptian pantheons, with a little bit of Celtic mythology thrown in. This is mainly because I don't think one can worship a deity unless one completely understands them and their child-cultures (or parent-cultures, depending on how you look at things). There's no point trying to sing a song in praise of someone you hardly know. Of the pantheons I do worship, there are certain deities that I know very well and feel a particular connection with; those are the ones I would say I actively worshiped. Loki is one of them, but he's by no means the only one. If I had to go right out on a limb and name a "patron", I'd be tempted to say Persephone. I've been drawn to her since childhood, long before I started actually worshiping the old gods, and eventually I plan to get a tattoo in honour of her. I feel I owe it to her.

So now I'd settled on the design, it was just a matter of finding a tattooist. I'd heard good things about Evolution Tattoo in Kidlington, so I took the bus out there to try them out. I showed the guy the design and he said fine, he needed to tweak it a bit but he'd do it. So I booked myself in for three weeks later. I was really excited when I rode out on the bus to see what they'd done with the design. I was set up to be disappointed: the tattooist had completely changed my design and turned it into an old school tattoo design with a hippie-ish witch lady. He'd even changed the flames. He asked whether I liked it and I had to say no. I had to explain that, no, the androgynous figure was definitely male and had to explain who it was supposed to be. I was slightly disheartened when the chap didn't even recognise the name.

In the end he made it very clear that he had no intention of drawing in my style, he flat out told me, "no offense to your drawing or anything, but if someone brings in something I like then, y'know, I'll do it but I'm more comfortable drawing my own stuff." So I told him, no offense to his drawing or anything, but we clearly have different aesthetics. It was all very disappointing; a waste of a day, and of the three weeks wait, and then there was the nuisance of getting my deposit back.

So, back to the proverbial drawing board. I trawled the interwebz for a while, looking at various tattooists in the area and ended up of the website for local generic "alt" shop, Tiger Lily. My first tattoo was done there nearly six years ago, and to be honest it wasn't great, but looking at their site they had new artists and their work was actually pretty good. So I popped in (using it as an excuse to buy a Hellbunny cardigan too) and lurked by the tattoo and piercing area. A rather ominous looking chap came up and asked if I was waiting to get a piercing, and I explained what I was there for and he said "it's time, isn't it?" At which point I tried not to laugh.

He let one of the tattooists know I was lurking, a friendly chap known as "Mad Mick" who specialises in black and grayscale work (and does some fairly impressive portraits). I showed him my design and he took a photocopy of it and told me to pop back in later in the week to have a look at what he'd done with it. I did, a week or so later, and it was spot-on, almost exactly what I'd originally drawn.

So this Sunday I finally went back in to get the tattoo. It took about two hours on and off, sprawled on a stretcher in the tattoo parlour listening to Planet Rock radio (which kept going funny when Mick used one of the power sources for the tattoo gun) and chatting to Mick and the other tattooist, Chris. They even bought me a cup of tea.

It wasn't too painful until late in the session, when my skin was starting to get sensitive and generally fed up. For most of the session, it was the tickling feeling of the vibrations that was most uncomfortable, and trying to keep still when things are tickling isn't easy.

Still, by five o'clock it was all done, looking something like this

One fresh, slightly sore Loki tattoo. Or Lopt-tattoo as I've taken to thinking of it

I'm really pleased with it. It looks pretty much exactly how I wanted it, and I was really impressed with what he did with the shading on the cloak. He left in all the important details; the mistletoe, the scars around the mouth and the bindrunes at the bottom. Plus, it still leaves my little triangle of moles uncovered. I like those moles.

Two days on and it's healing fairly well. It's a little uncomfortable to lie on, but it's stopped weeping and the skin is starting to tighten where it's going to scab.

Oh and for anyone looking for tattoo aftercare, that Tattoo Goo stuff seems pretty good and it smells of lavender and rosemary, which is quite nice.

More mythology in cartoon form

2012-10-22T16:13:00.000+01:00

What, you thought my monster mythology kick might have finished by now? Shame on you! No, I'm still looking for fun and bizarre media based on my favourite world mythologies, and here's another cartoon version. Class of the Titans was a Canadian action cartoon from the mid 00s loosely based on Greek mythology. The premise? Seven kids descended from Classical heroes are gathered together by the gods into use their unique powers against Cronos, who has escaped from Tartarus and isn't very happy. It's not exactly revolutionary, but it makes up for its lack of originality with some inventive character designs and surprisingly interesting takes on the mythological characters. There's even a joke in one episode about not being able to read Linear A. Each episode centres on a particular deity, myth or monster, and is named accordingly with plenty of room for entertaining puns, my favourite being an episode about the Graeae and their famous all-seeing eye called Grae's Anatomy. It ran for two, 26-episode seasons before finishing on a lacklustre cliffhanger.

It's silly but worth a look if you're so inclined. Here's the first half of the first episode.

Things Involving Witches

2012-08-30T19:13:00.000+01:00

The post-M'era Luna doldrums are setting in so over the past few weeks I've been trying to extend the gothiness with evening excursions to suitably goth-tastic places and events. The day after returning from said German festival was Intrusion, Oxford's marvelous goth night, and the weekend afterwards I popped up to London for a wander around Camden (SHOPPING!) and a visit to Slimes (thank the gods for the Goth floor!)

Last Friday it was time for something a little more exciting, however. Inkubus Sukkubus, the renowned goth rock/pagan band who've been gigging for years and years yet I've somehow managed to never see, were playing a gig in Bristol. Thanks to some frantic swapping of shifts at work and to Big Alan and his unofficial goth taxi service (thanks Alan!) I managed to make it up there to catch them. After a rather long, but entertaining ride up from Amazingstoke station to Bristol, we arrived at the venue, an old-fashioned gig pub called the Fleece, in time to catch the first band. I have no idea who they were, but they played inoffensive alt rock and had a very enthusiastic, very young fanbase. Not great but not horrible, and to give them credit it looked like they were really enjoying themselves. Meeting up with some friends, we discovered that the Inkies themselves weren't due to start their set until gone ten, so we wandered Bristol for a bit to find somewhere to eat. We ended up in the Slug and Lettuce, which had shifted into pre-club loud-and-horrible pop music mode but was still serving relatively nice food (with rock hard peas).

Back at the venue, another support band that I don't remember the name of were playing rather generic metal so we popped next door for a drink and a natter before catching up with Mr Sticks, Pyromancer and a few other friends on the front row. The Fleece is a nice little venue; reasonably good sound system and no barrier, so I could pretty much prop myself up against the stage and take some typically terrible photos of the band.

Speaking of which (or should that be, "speaking of witch"? Heh I'm funny)...

Ooh look it's Tony and a light. My camera really doesn't like lights.

One very blurry photo of Tony

One slightly less blurry photo of Bob

Candia and a light

Candia pointing at something

Their set was amazing, a nice mixture of things from throughout their career, including some of my favourites, like Vampyre Erotica, Belladona and Aconite, Church of Madness and of course Wytches. I'd forgotten just how many of their songs I love, and to be honest I'd forgotten how talented they are; watching Tony play was incredible, and it's a rare thing when I'm at a gig and I'm too busy being impressed by the vocals to sing along. They're also very, very funny and genuinely nice people. I really need to get off my arse and go and see them play again.

After an hour and a half long set (honestly I wish it'd been longer) they finally left the stage and it was time to chat to friends (and stand next to friends while they chatted with the Inkies themselves!) and begrudgingly say goodbyes. The journey back was hard work, it was about half midnight when we left so it was pretty late by the time we reached Oxford (and I really, really suck at navigation. I can't even navigate with a satnav. Dear oh dear) though it was really nice to get the chance to have a long natter with Alan. Unfortunately I had to work the next day, that was even harder work on about four hours sleep!

So... yeah that was that.

In other news, there are pictures of me turning up around the interwebz after M'era Luna. It's shallow, I know, but this makes me happy. Looksie at these two from this website

I'm famous! (Oh alright, I know I'm not. Let me have my fantasy, damn thee!) Honestly though, I can't believe a photo of me is included in the same gallery as Adora Batbrat, I mean, she's a model for gods' sakes! *brims with pride*

The Great M'era Luna Write Up Post 2012

2012-08-17T02:37:00.003+01:00

This weekend I was sitting in Hildesheim airfield where one weekend a year the music is fabulous and the mead flows free. Yep, it's that time of year again: M'era Luna o'clock! I've got to say I had high hopes for this year, not only was the line up full of wonderful bands I'd yet to see play live, but I'd also recently had a tax rebate which means SHOPPING! Ahem. Unfortunately I'd also been sicker than the dead bird in the Monty Python sketch, and sadly this ickiness combined with late night travelling and rather too much alcohol resulted in me throwing up somewhere in Belgium and having to ditch my t-shirt. It's become a bit of a tradition for something to go wrong in the process of me getting to Germany, hasn't it? Last year it was the four hour wait at the Eurotunnel, and the year before that I very almost left one day early. Oh well. Thankfully some of the lovely Goths on a Bus helped me get myself together so by the time we reached the supermarket for our customary supplies of kegs and novelty beer cans, I was fine.

Unlike last year, we managed to make it into Hildesheim on time. Not just on time, in fact, but to the minute that the Guv'nor had estimated. All hail the Guv and his mad organisational skills!

We arrived early enough to miss the bulk of the wrist-band-queue and to claim a large area of campsite for ourselves, our tents and our enormous, ominous black gazebo before settling down for a few (dozen) beers and venturing down to the pagan market for mead and SHOPPING! Sorry, I will get that out of my system eventually. I in my infinite wisdom had forgotten to pack a jumper, so the M'era Luna hoodie I bought was an essential, alright? It's just everything else that wasn't.

After spending slightly too much money and wandering back to the tents for a lengthy conversation, I gave in and went to bed, ready to wake up bright and not-very-early on Saturday to catch my first band of the festival, Hiemataerde, a group who dress as Knights Templar and play electronica. I thoroughly enjoyed their set, you can't go wrong with jumping up and down and clapping swords together.

It's the return of the blurry photos! This time with added blokes with shields.

The mixture of armour and electro was... admittedly a bit gimmicky, but musically they were fairly interesting and they put on quite a show. I'll definitely be looking out for some of their records.

I wasn't overly bothered about the next couple of bands, Roterfeld and Megaherz, and it was impossibly hot so I took the time to wander around the festival area shopping places (SHOPPING!), picking up a few CDs, a much needed parasol and last year's festival DVD from those nice people at Sonic Seducer (I wish I could understand German, I always end up buying the magazine and flicking through looking at the pictures.) My wanderings and drinkings were interrupted at least four times by various photographers who seemed to like my outfit, and as shallow as it sounds I was pretty chuffed with that. After all the years of teasing and bullying that my eclectic dress-sense has brought me, I felt oddly justified. But M'era Luna is like that. You can wear what you like, you can do what you like and people will either compliment you, join you or at least leave you to it. Without wanting to sound too schmaltzy, it's pretty much everything I like about the scene condensed down to one weekend (with a few added loonies thrown in for good measure, but I'll talk about some of them later!)

The next band I caught was Leztze Instanz, a cheerfully rocky Neofolk outfit who also went in for a lot of jumping up and down. Jumping up and down was pretty much the order of the day.

Bloke with violin!

Bloke with cello! Never let it be said that Goth bands don't use enough stringed instruments

And a crowd of goths rocking along to Leztze Instaz. Love the bunny ears.

This is the only video I managed to get this year. Mainly because I couldn't work out where the video function was. I only got this by sheer fluke.

Next up were Diary of Dreams, who are a... Goth rock band, I guess, but honestly if you haven't heard of them by now, you're on the wrong blog. They were fantastic. Although the played the UK a few months ago, I'd somehow managed not to catch them live before but now I'm definitely going to be keeping a look out for them again, their set was superb.

Adrian doing the rock star thing

After they finished, and the roadies spent a good few minutes turning on all the smoke machines, it was time for the Fields of the Nephilim, and if I need to tell you who they are you're definitely in the wrong place. The Nephs are another of those bands that I have somehow managed not to see, and to be honest I hadn't realised how...eccentric some of their fanbase are. It hadn't occured to me that people might mosh to the Nephs. I mean, I would've thought their stuff was a bit slow for moshing, but apparently not. I found myself a few rows back from the front, directly behind a very enthusiastic gentleman with a portrait of Carl McCoy tattooed on his back and a very large flag, and next to a very heavily tattooed chap wearing a baseball cap and a leather skirt and not a lot else. And half way through the set Mr Leather Skirt decided it would be appropriate to hitch up said leather skirt, so I spent the rest of the show trying not to look to my left for fear of catching sight of his arse again.

I took a lot of photos of the Nephs.

Anyway, the Nephs themselves were great. Carl appeared to be having a sulk (and I would too, I mean, the Nephs used to headline festivals like this) so it took a good few songs for things to really get going but by the last few tracks I was almost as excited as the chap with the flag. And I'm pleased to report that Moonchild is as much fun live as it is on record.

Carl McCoy doing one of his rock'n'roll poses

Carl taking the mic stand for a walk

Oh no, everyone can see the amps! Quick, more dry ice!

And Carl taking the mic for another walk.

Looking back on these, I'm starting to wonder whether someone glued his right hand to the microphone.

After dancing slightly too enthusiastically to Moonchild, it was time for a quick sit-down before Subway to Sally hit the stage. If you're not familiar with them, they're a Mittelalter band who really really like setting fire to things. They're one of the bands that I affectionately like to describe as "explosions and bagpipes". Musically they're a lot of fun, but the real fun is in watching huge plumes of flame leap twenty feet in the air. Don't believe me? Here's an assortment of pictures of Subway and fire.

Fiery wing thingies

Fiery... um... fire

Fiery backdrops

Still not enough fire?

Here have MORE!

After they had nicely grilled most of the audience, I thought I'd better get something to eat. Next up on the main stage was...

Lacbo. Oh alright, Placebo.

Now you may remember that Placebo finished up the festival in 2010 and made a horrible racket because their sound technician was apparently insane. Thankfully this year they appear to have ditched the mad technician in favour of one who actually knows what he (or she) is doing so I could actually hear Brian's voice this time. Now I've got to be honest, I really liked them when I was younger so their earlier stuff has a lot of nostalgia value for me but I'm not quite so keen on the new material. Unfortunately for me, around half the set was newer stuff, though they did play Every Me, Every You. Oh the sixth form memories!

Unfortunately the stark lighting and the fact that I couldn't be bothered to move further forward meant that even the best of my photos of them look something like this

Although I did get one that looks like this

but that's someone's back so I don't even know who it is. It might be Brian. Let's say it is.

Anyway, when they finished, I made my way back to my tent where I was greeted with the prospect of gunfire tea (tea with rum in it, or, more accurately, rum with a bit of tea in it. So strong it can make certain somebodies fall asleep before even reaching the inside of their tent).

The first act I caught on Sunday was Lahannya, a British singer-songstress and her band of the same name. Her stuff is a bit metally for my tastes, but catchy all the same. Plus she has bright blue hair which is always good.

Next up were Lacrimas Profundere who were also good but not really to my taste. Their singer looks suspiciously like Russel Brand, too.

"Oh my gawd! Look! Someone's wearing blue jeans!" (Obligatory Johnny the Homicidal Maniac quote)

After yet another blitz of the merchandise stalls (and the CD stalls, and the jewelry stalls, and...SHOPPING!) it was time to lurk by the stage to catch Faun, a charming and very catchy neofolk band. Maybe it's because I'm pagan, but I'm getting quite fond of all these neofolk/Mittelalter bands, I have to say. Folk instruments are greatly underused in rock'n'roll.

All my photos of Faun seem to involve that chap with the drum.

Except this one, where someone else has the drum and the chap has... another drum.

Unfortunately I had to dash off before the end of Faun's set because I simply had to catch The Beauty of Gemina. This was the third time I've seen them, having seen them both at last year's M'era Luna and at a gig at Slimes in February. They're swiftly becoming one of my favourite bands; catchy tunes with moody, gloomy vocals and impenetrable lyrics. I just love them. To prevent a repeat of last year's soggy performance, this year they were playing in the Hangar stage, and though the sticky heat in there was a bit much the darkness really suited their music. Their set wasn't that different to the one from February: a smattering of tracks from the new album Iscariot Blues and a few favourites from their previous albums, including This Time, Shadow Dancer and, my favourite, Rumours.

Unlike me, my camera doesn't like the dark. So here are some very blurry pictures of the Beauty of Gemina. Or the Blurry of Gemina. Or something.

Michael Seele seems to have a new jacket. But he still looks like an anime Boris Johnson. Thankfully he doesn't sound like an anime Boris Johnson. I have no idea what an anime Boris Johnson would sound like. I can't stop saying anime Boris Johnson. Anime Boris Johnson! Gah!

After their criminally short set finished, it was time for more SHOPPING! (yes I still think that's funny, so there) as I wasn't overly bothered about the next few bands. I carried on shopping (SHOPPING!) until I ran out of hands to carry things, which made for a good excuse to pop back to the tents to drop off stuff, have a sit down and a beer before stomping back to the festival area to see New Model Army.

Now, again, the Army are one of those bands I've been meaning to get tickets for for years but I've always either missed them or wussed out because I have a mortal dread of mosh pits. So because I'm a total wussy pansy girl, I stayed away from the front but could thankfully see the band fairly well. They put on a good show, although I'm reliably informed they didn't sound quite as powerful as usual, and Justin Sullivan seemed a bit...spaced out. "We write a lot of songs about stuff." Um, thanks Justin that's really insightful.

New Model Army. Writing songs about stuff since 1980.

And here's the Army singing a song about stuff.

I actually have a lot more photos of the Army, but it seems my camera dislikes strong evening sunlight almost as much as it dislikes darkness.

After a disappointingly short set (although a set that included Here Comes the War so it wasn't that disappointing) the Army finished leaving just enough time to grab a snack before another of my favourite "bagpipes and explosions" acts took the stage, In Extremo. In Extremo's pyrotechnics make other bands' pyros look like a box of damp fireworks. They make Rammstein look like a bunch of kids with sparklers. They have things like this:

And to put things in context, I was standing very far back and yet every time a pyro went off I felt a nice warm glow like someone had just turned up the radiator. In fact, this is how far back I was

Pretty far. Anyway, In Extremo put on a suitably impressive and insane set. Musically, they're a mixture of metal and Mittelalter, complete with harps and hurdy-gurdies and bouncy guitar solos. Very catchy, largely fairly upbeat, more fun than a bag full of kittens. They're a lot of fun to watch too, not only did they have jets of flame around the size of a two-storey building, they also had fountains of sparks, pillar-box red flames, loud explosions, epilepsy-inducing lights and spent a lot of time processing around the stage playing bagpipes. So here, of course are a lot more pictures of In Extremo's amazing pyros.

Fire!

More fire!

Even more fire!

FIRE!

And here's some more fire!

Dancing fire!

Unnatural-looking pillar-box red fire!

More dancing jets of fire!

Even more dancing jets of fire!

Oh my gods, I am unbelievably proud of this photo. Look at the fire! Look at it!

Alas the flaming goodness had to end eventually, if just to preserve the unfortunate sunburnt souls in the front few rows. So it was time to head to the medieval market to stuff my face with knob rot... sorry... knobi-brot and drink a few farewell cups of my favourite alcoholic beverage on the planet, Wikingerblut (yummy cherry mead) before heading back to the tents to tidy up a bit and try to sleep over the sound of a certain Scottish somebody singing very loudly until about three in the morning. I don't know what it is about singing The Irish Rover at stupid o'clock while drunk off their arses but there's a surprising number of people I know who end up doing it. I wonder if anyone has ever sung that song sober....

Monday morning was a painfully early start to pack up the tents (and I still have no idea how to fold up that wretched tent. One day I'll work it out. One day...) and pile everything back onto the coaches. And then wait for the last few tired bus goths to work their way out of the campsite.

Aside from trudging around the supermarket to stock up on bratwurst and staggering around the duty free, I pretty much slept for the entire homeward journey. I have no idea where this sudden tiredness came from. On the plus side it meant I wasn't sick, on the downside it meant I didn't really get to say goodbye to everyone.

And now I'm back in sunny Oxford, slowly finding homes for my new belongings and trying to catch up with as many gothy friends as possible because coming back to the "real world" where people don't know what Goth is is very hard work. I had to pop into work yesterday and had to explain what industrial is to a man from Nokia. *sigh* Is it M'era Luna time again yet?

As always, a big thank you to all the lovely Goths on a Bus. Special thanks to Ade the Guv'nor for organising it all and getting us there on the exact minute he'd planned; Big Alan and the nefarious Doctor Garside for the campsite company and gunfire tea; Shaggy for the gazebo (sorry "big erection"); Julie-Anne and Jack for North bus herding (and late night renditions of folk songs); Morgan for helping me un-gross myself when I was sick; and of course Gordon and Tom the bus drivers for getting us there and back again....again.

All under our mighty battle cry: Fire, tits and elbows!

If I don't see you before next year, I will definitely see you all on the bus this time next year. ASP are playing again, I can't wait!

Stuff and Things

2012-08-09T16:53:00.001+01:00

I'm heading off on the Goth Bus later today, so expect this year's Great M'era Luna Write Up very, very soon.

To keep you busy while I'm gothing around Germany in platform New Rocks, here's a little something I've been working on for the last few months. Divine Intervention is a nine page comic about old gods and pop culture. So if you want to see Hermes break the fourth wall, Hades and Persephone (nearly) have a domestic, Anubis start a Chthonic Deities' Anti-Defamation League, Loki talk too much, Odin be unimpressed, and Set be very, very scary, check it out.

Or don't. It's not like I spent ages on it or anything *pouty face*

Only joking. See you soon.

Crafty Books for Crafty Goths

2012-06-29T17:53:00.000+01:00

Everyone knows goths love craft and DIY, but what happens when you need inspiration or want to learn a new skill? Why, you need gothy crafty books, of course! So here are my handy-dandy reviews of the ookiest, spookiest craft books in my collection.

If you knit, you need to own a copy of Domiknitrix by Jennifer Stafford. If you don't knit, but you want to learn, you need it too. Why? Well, it has probably the best instructional section I've ever seen, with an exhaustive 93 pages of directions, advice and tips all beautifully illustrated with large, clear photos. It's worth tracking down a copy for that alone. As for the projects, there's a mixture of jumpers, vests, coats and accessories that are fine for daily wear and street wear, quirky enough to be suitable for alternative folks but easy to dress down for trendier, more mainstream knitters. But be warned, Domiknitrix's "easy" or "beginner" patterns can be fairly tricky and take some concentration, this is not a book for those wanting very basic patterns. If you're learning, it might be worth buying the book for it's instructions and leaving the projects for a little later. If, on the other hand, you're a competent knitter looking for a real challenge, try your hand at the beautiful but murderous bonus pattern (which you can download for free if you've bought the book) though some experience knitters may be frustrated with the extent of the how-to section.

If you're looking for something simpler to start you off Punk Knits by Share Ross is worth a look. As you might expect from the title, the patterns are inspired by the DIY ethic of punk. Written by someone who clearly knows the scene, and illustrated with fun typography and cheerful pictures of tattooed rock'n'rollers wearing the finished projects, each pattern takes inspiration from a particular band or musician. As for the patterns themselves, there's a mixture of eye-catching ones (like the pixie shrug and a bold anarchy A pillow), to fun and quirky ones (like a giant felted top hat or soft but spiky dog collar choker), to some that are largely unwearable (knitted skirts... hmm). Definitely worth a look for beginners looking to spice up their knitting and full of quirky inspiration, but might be a bit too easy for more experienced knitters.

If you're willing to splash out the cash on some fairly pricey yarns, Pretty in Punk by Alice Benevides and Jaqueline Milles is a selection of 25 jumpers, bags, arm-warmers, scarves and (unfortunately) skirts, inspired by the punk, goth and mod subcultures. It's worth buying for the fantastic mohawk hats alone. The downside is that a lot of the patterns call for fairly good quality yarns to give the right effect, which kind of undermines the cheap and cheerful, DIY ethic of punk to me, but there you go.

If you fancy knitting yourself some new friends, Gothic Knits by Fiona McDonald is a charming collection of gothic and horror-movie-inspired knitted dolls. The patterns themselves are fairly easy to knit up, but you'll need patience and a little concentration to make up the dolls. Some basic embroidery skills will come in handy too. Still, the dolls are very cute; one looks suspiciously like Ollie Wisdom.

Another book that you just need, even if you don't use the patterns, is Anticraft by Renee Rigdon and Zabet Stewart. Based on the blog of the same name, it's a mixture of knitting projects, crochet pieces, with a bit of beading, sewing, cross-stitch and cooking thrown in, all interspersed with comic strips and fun asides. I love the humour of this book. The projects themselves are interesting and inspiring, including a duck tape corset, cross-stitch graffiti, crocheted fishnet gloves and a skirt inspired by the Wheel of the Year. The only downside, for me, is that I really need to learn to crochet.

If you want to try your hand at jewelry making, I recommend checking out Gothic Jewelry by Harriet Smith. Most of the projects are kitsch, deathrock-friendly pieces (ie a brooch that looks like it's bleeding, a necklace that says "Aaaargh!" in dripping B-movie font, and earrings inspired by Sweeny Todd) but there are a few more elegant, classically gothic designs there too (like a gothic cross, a lace corsage and a skull choker). However, what's best about this book is the sheer variety of different techniques it uses. It might get a bit pricey if you're planning on working your way through all of the projects in the books, you'll need a lot of different tools and media, but if you're a beginner it will probably teach you something new. It's one of those books that's more inspired by the subculture than coming from it, but not bad.

If you're looking for something you can use to make dinky, spooky gifts, Creepy Cute Crochet and Super Scary Crochet are both full of adorable amigurumi creatures that look adorable. No idea what the patterns are like, as I say, I haven't really gotten the hang of the craft but every time I stumble across a copy in a book store I wish I could. If you want to learn to cross stitch but want some more... unusual samplers, look no further than the hilarious Subversive Cross Stitch is full of mild looking samplers with ironic, snarky legends that are very very funny. Again, might be a bit too simple for experiences stitchers, but for a lacky like me, it's perfect.

Lastly, and not very gothically, Knits for Nerds is perfect for the geekier of us, full of patterns inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings. Some of the fantasy-based patterns can easily be gothed up with a darker colour scheme and the nerdy goth will be pleased to know there are patterns inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman and Jhonen Vasquez too. There's also a cute little zombie doll and some stripy socks based on Tank Girl. Simple but a lot of fun.

Android Apps for the technologically minded pagan

2012-06-21T21:47:00.000+01:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I'm lazy.

So, as you may or may not know, I now have a job selling phones to people so I eventually bit the bullet and bought myself a smart phone (so called because it's slightly more intelligent than most of the people selling them!). It's an Android, by which I mean it's software is made by Google, not that it's a humanoid robot (I don't suppose I'd need a smart phone if I could carry Commander Data around with me).

I'm rambling. Anyway, being a flaky neopagan one of the first things I started looking for on the Google Play store was an app to help me out with my witchy goings-on and there's a surprising amount of useful apps out there. There's also an awful lot of terrible "love spell" apps and cheesy airbrushed wallpapers, but let's ignore those. So, since it's Midsummer and I'm feeling witchy, here are some of my android findings for all you techno-pagans out there.

First up, and probably the most handy I've found so far is Pagan Calendar. Run by those helpful people from the website of the same name, the Pagan Calendar app helps you to keep track of Celtic Fire Festivals, Celtic months, Graeco-Roman feast days, Asatru holidays, and a smattering of interesting anniversaries. You can either bring up a list of 20 or so upcoming events from all of the lists, or go through the full lists thematically. Clicking on an individual event tells you a bit more about it. It's pretty much all text so it uses absolutely minimal data. The only downside is, as it's an American site, you might have to do a bit of maths to fit it to your locality.

For those who are looking for some simple on-the-go divination, Galaxy Tarot isn't exactly as in depth a tarot reading you're ever going to get but it loads and runs quite smoothly. The free version has a single card mode, three spreads and a "browse" mode where you can have a look at the full deck. It uses the Rider Waite deck and gives some basic interpretations. Not particularly detailed, but not bad for a free app and handy for divination while commuting... or whatever. You also have the option to turn on reversed readings, a "card of the day" widget for your home screen, and a cute shuffling animation (you can shake your phone to shuffle the cards! Eeee!)

For more fortune-telling goodness, Divination - Rune of Odin is a nice, if simplistic, rune app. There are loads of rune apps on the marketplace, but most are very slow or just send you to a website. Rune of Odin still isn't exactly the quickest app in the world, but it runs better than the other free apps I've tried for this. You only have the option to draw one rune in the free version, but the interpretations are pretty detailed (and, comparing with my books, fairly accurate, unlike some) so with a bit of thought it's fairly easy to find an answer to your queries from it.

Now for some more practical apps. First up, Simple Moon Phase Widget. This thing is so handy. The app itself gives you a chart of the upcoming moon phases on a day-by-day basis organised like a calendar, plus there's a discrete main-screen widget that shows what the moon will look like that night. Plus you have the option to switch between the northern and southern hemisphere (handy if you travel, and doubly handy for ensuring your phone is giving you the right info).

The last two apps I'm going to mention here aren't specifically for pagans, but they do come in handy. Tiny Compass is so called because it doesn't take up much space and it's really useful for on-the-go circle casting and spellcrafting (you know, for those fussy spells that insist on you facing east and chanting or what-have you) or if you just can't remember whether your room is south facing.

Last up, and a bit on the silly side, is Candle Free, a digital candle. Stupid, yes, but useful for emergency spells, for places that don't allow naked flames, and for those annoying landlords that don't allow candles. It's not very bright, but being able to blow out the fake flame by blowing into the mic is a cute touch. Oh, and you can change the colour of the flame to bright green or dark blue or dayglo pink if you really want to.

I'll leave you with something irrelevant to phones, but fitting for the season; a video of pagan folk band Omnia, who you might remember me mentioning after last year's M'era Luna (they were the ones with the telescopic didgeridoo)

EDIT:

I have a few more discoveries I thought I'd share with you. Pagan Radio Basic allows you to stream from the Pagan Radio Network, a lovely online station that plays pagan-friendly music by people like Omnia, ASP, Inkubus Sukkubus, Corvus Corvax, Unto Ashes, Tanzwut and Dead Can Dance, with a lot more besides. The free version of the app allows you to stream a low quality version but there's also a paid app that'll let you have something a little clearer. The app itself is fairly basic, you can check the station's schedule and browse frequently played songs. There's a bit that's supposed to tell you what's playing, but I haven't seen it change in the few weeks I've been using it. The musical choices are excellent, however, perfect background noise for ritual work, spells or just reading your favourite myths.

Galaxy Tone, who made the Tarot app I talked about earlier, have also made a healing crystal encyclopedia Galaxy Crystals Lite and a Rune app, Galaxy Runes Lite. Again for both of these there are paid versions that add a few more crystals and spreads respectively. I'll be honest I haven't used the crystal one much, but the rune one I find myself using daily thanks to a daily rune widget you can put on your main screen. Simple readings but great for familiarising yourself with the elder futhark. As with the Tarot app there are plenty of settings to fiddle with: you can choose whether or not to include the modern "wyrd" stone and whether you want to include reversed readings.

Palm Reading is effectively a "little book of palm reading", but not bad for beginners or those wanting to show off at parties.

The Night Sky Lite is a handy app that uses your phone's GPS and date systems to show you what constellations are in the sky around you (even during the day, just to confuse things). Interesting and useful for direction-specific ritual work.

eChing Lite is a cheeky modernised version of the I-Ching. The hexagrams are designed to look like the little Android mascot and have basic, easy-to-understand readings.

Lastly, Pocket Voodoo is a fun little app for venting your frustrations without hexing someone. It's a virtual voodoo doll which you can toss about, pull apart and impale. If you're willing to follow some adverts, you can unlock further bits an pieces, like a gun, a cigarette lighter and customisable features to add to the doll. It also has some spells that you can supposedly use with the doll. Completely pointless but oddly gratifying.

Norse mythology has never been so adorable

2012-05-01T00:10:00.001+01:00

All these trailers for the new Marvel comics movie, the Avengers, make me long for a proper film based on Norse myths. Honestly, try looking for one, there aren't many. You're pretty much limited to Erik the Viking and various takes on the Ring Cycle and that's it. Well, thankfully I stumbled on something a bit more interesting; a Danish animated film from 1986 called Valhalla. It's based on a series of comics that are loosely based on Norse myths and it's clappy-hands-and-make-squeaky-noises adorable. Or rather, it is if you like trickster myths and good old-fashioned animations. It follows two cute but somewhat gullible Viking kids who get caught up in the misadventures of Thor and Loki, and the whole thing's up on youtube with English subtitles. Hurrah!

There. Don't you feel all warm and fuzzy inside now? Admittedly the ending feels a little rushed (are the kids stuck in Asgard? How did the little troll thing escape?) but that might have something to do with the film going grossly over budget (apparently it cost over 40 million kroner. Ouch) and effectively bankrupting the company that made it. Which is a shame, because according to Wikipedia, the film was a hit and it would have been fun to see a few more myths get filtered through that charming old-school animation style.

I do like the implication that standing out in the rain is some sort of invitation for an Aesir sleepover, though. Hmm.... if standing around in thunderstorms is all you need to do to get to drink with the gods, I'd better stock up on mead.

Oh and happy Beltane/May Day/whatever-you-want-to-call-it everyone! Hopefully the rain won't spoil too many bonfires... and if it does, well, blame Thor!

Unspeakable horrors and eldritch places

2012-04-22T22:53:00.000+01:00

Here's an interesting documentary for all you Cthulhu cultists and lovers of "unutterable horrors" out there, a biography of HP Lovecraft with analysis of his work. The music's a bit over the top, but it has a fairly well-chosen panel of talking heads, including Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Guillermo Del Toro and John Carpenter. Enjoy!

Oh and just a thought, but does anybody else wish someone would make a creepy animated film based on the Cthulhu mythos? I could just imagine an animated version of Shadow over Innsmouth... that would be awesome...

Here's a bit of nostalgia for you...

2012-04-18T20:27:00.000+01:00

Don't you just miss the days when blockbuster movies always had some cheesy, slightly bonkers pop song promoting them with an equally cheesy and bonkers promo video to go with it? Well set the way-back machine to the dark ages of 1992 and witness the bizarre pairing of the Addams Family and crazy person rapper MC Hammer!

I don't know what's more adorable: the terrible 90s CGI boncy head, Christina Ricci with sunglasses on, or Lurch dancing with Hammer's dance troupe.

Charity Shop Finds

2012-03-03T20:59:00.000+00:00

Since I've been paid (with added commission! Woohooo!) I decided that today I would ravage Oxford's charity shops. I was actually sort of on the hunt for a new skirt and possibly a blazer to customise the hell out of, but I ended up finding neither.

I did however end up with a cute oversized jacket...

I say "oversized" because it's a size 20 and it's waaay too big for me, but it's velvet with satin and lace trim with little ruffles down the front so I absolutely had to have it. I might add some corseting or at least a tie or a buckle at the back just to make it fit a little better.

Detachable lace collar! I'm already fighting the temptation to tie this round my wrist.

I also managed to find a blouse that actually does fit me...

It's a light cotton ruffly thing (by Red Herring, of all people) with lace and ribbon accents. Very New Romantic, but slightly less gaudy than some of the other ruffled shirts I have. It's certainly less garish than the bright green one I've got.

Lastly, I finally got my grubby little mitts on one of those chain bellydance belts I've been eyeing for years, but for only a couple of quid.

Oooh shiny! Also, jingly bells!

All in all, not an unsuccessful trip. In semi-related musings, I've noticed a lot of charity shops have started stocking their own brand-new stuff, and not just cards and things. The British Heart Foundation have a nice line in semi-precious stone jewelry, elegant scarves with pendants on (I bought one a few weeks ago and it's gorgeous), gaudy accessories and even hair extensions (they have those stripy raccoon streaks that scene kids are so enamored with and some of those chain-and-feather clips too) and Oxfam have a pretty extensive range of fair-trade chocolates, seasonal decorations and wooden printing blocks with styles modelled on textiles from India. I don't know whether this is really a good thing or not, I mean, part of the joy of thrifting is knowing you're recyling all these lovely vintage goodies, and surely charities are having to buy these things which is lessening their profits. That said some of their stuff is lovely and if a charity establishes a popular range it's likely to do better.

Hmm... ponderous pixie is pondering... See you soon!

Things Involving an Evening of Music

2012-02-26T23:11:00.001+00:00

It's gig review time! Last night I left work, leapt onto the bus and made my way up to London and into the sticky-floored rabbit warren of Slimelight once more as the club was hosting a frankly rather eclectic night of music, headlined by the Beauty of Gemina, a band you may remember me raving about catching them at last year's M'era Luna. Unfortunately there are no pictures for this one, I forgot to take my camera and sadly my shiny new purple phone (which has a camera on it, look at me with my future technology witchery! I'm practically a cyborg now!) doesn't have a flash on it so it doesn't like dark spooky nightclubs.

Since M'era Luna I've bought a fair few of their records and quite a few tracks have wheedled their way onto my mp3 player (which is my little badge of approval for any track: if it ends up on my mp3 player, it's awesome. If it ends up on my mp3 player and I tend to replay it twice every time it comes up, it's one of my absolute favourites, and there aren't too many of those.) Annnnnyway, I really them and I was really looking forward to 1) seeing them without the haze of (dark) rain and umbrellas and 2) hearing some stuff from the new album Iscariot Blues which I hadn't gotten around to buying yet. Plus there were three support bands, none of which I had seen before. So whooohooo a chance to find new bands!

Unfortuntely, I missed the first support act, Release the Bats, but I'd heard them before and well let's just say they're not my thing. They're fun and all, but not really to my tastes. I wouldn't have minded catching a couple of songs just for the sake of seeing what they're like live, but I wasn't exactly beating myself up for not sneaking off work early or anything like that. I reached Slimes in time to catch up with some friends between acts, then trot upstairs for a drink and to catch the second band, Last July, who were fabulous: a female fronted dark wave trio with industrial overtones and powerful vocals. Their website has loads of sample tracks to listen to and buy, so check it out.

Next up were Cryogenica who...eh... weren't brilliant. Industrial rock with Siouxsie/Xmal Deutschland style vocals... strange combination and it didn't work for me. I don't know whether Slimes' notoriously awful sound system was partially to blame, but the sound quality was pretty muddy throughout their set. Their singer had pretty groovy hair, though, and I did appreciate their Gary Numan cover.

The Beauty of Gemina also suffered slightly from the horrible sound system, poor Michael Seele's improbably deep vocals were rendered largely unintelligible, which is a shame because lyrically there's some interesting stuff going on in their songs. Still, it was a great set with a good mix of older songs and a few choice cuts from the new album, showing quite how versatile and talented they really are. It was also fantastic to see them in a (non-rainy, non-daylight) intimate setting, I'd say they're better suited to dramatic lighting and small clubs than bigger venues or festivals. They're one of those bands that just needs moody lighting and dry ice. So, yes, their set at M'era Luna may have sounded better, but this set felt better, as pretensious as that sounds. Pretty lights, smoke, being close enough to the band to watch their facial expressions, and actually being able to dance without splashing anyone's gothy festival finery definitely made for a fun evening.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and danced through the entire set (and now my obliques ache, I really need to find some gig-friendly dance moves that don't involve hip-wiggly-chest-slidey-oblique-achey actions. Honestly, it feels like I'd been wearing a corset too tight or something...) And now I have a copy of Iscariot Blues which I'm thoroughly looking forward to listening to (today was largely spent sleeping and playing on the internet, as it was about 4 in the morning by the time I got home).

I might even have to put some more tracks on my mp3 player...

One sleepy pixie, signing off!

Well it's been a while...

2012-02-19T00:33:00.000+00:00

So, shortly after my last post I finally got a job (I know, I know, it's about time), and a permanent job at that. Which meant that, hurrah, I finally have income and independence and all that malarkey, but alas it meant less free time. I actually have an excuse for not posting this time, so there!

But anyway, time to get back into the swing of things. As promised the exciting new posts about things you might actually want to read will be coming soon, including more Bloody Gorgeous and that long-delayed "Exercise for Goths" post, but for now, let's talk about shopping! Having a job means I have slightly more money and having money means I can spend it on shiny and exciting things, and naturally I treated myself to a few gothy goodies over the last few months, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the results.

First up, Kate's Clothing. If you're darkly inclined and spend any amount of time on Google or Facebook, you've probably seen adverts for Kate's Clothing dotted around. They've got a reasonable range of familiar alternative brands (Demonia, Necessary Evil, Spin Doctor, Lipservice, TUK, Alchemy etc etc) generally for fairly reasonable prices (even offering to match prices found elsewhere) and UK shipping is free for orders over 30 quid. Not bad, especially considering they shipped my order within an hour of me placing it and it arrived two days later. I bought a skirt by Spin Doctor from them, and although I was very impressed with their service I wasn't quite as impressed by the skirt, I have to say. I have a few tops by Spin Doctor and they're stunning, but this skirt was a little disappointing: nice design, slightly cheap feeling fabric which creases really easily. Plus it runs up a bit short on me. Still, I'll definitely be buying more trinkets from Kate's again.

Next, Timeless Tends corsets, an American company that makes, unsurprisingly, corsets. Unlike most corset makers, they only make a handful of shapes but they make up for it in the sheer range of fabrics: silks, cottons, velvets, even denim and sequin designs. Their overbust designs feature adjustable lacing at the hips, which is a cute feature, and the fabrics are lovely. I went for this underbust. It's fairly well made for an off-the-rack job: waist tape, a good few layers of fabric, soft lining and well fitted boning. The ribbon lacing is a little slippery but it does make it easier to lace it yourself as it's easier to adjust. The colours are a little more... vibrant than in the picture, there's a lot more golds and reds than the muted blues and purples shown, but it's a very attractive brocade. It seems to be a little larger than my other corsets (which are supposedly to the same waist size) which is fine in that I can lace it completely shut but it wouldn't leave a lot of room for weight changes or tightlacing, so bear that in mind if you're looking to waist train. All in all, very reasonable for an off-the-shelf job; it's not a perfect fit but it's comfortable and the brocade is probably one of the prettiest fabrics I've ever had in my possession.

As for service, I can't fault it. Despite being shipped from the States, it arrived in just under a week and even came with a free calendar! I'll probably look to them next time I'm after a reasonably-priced corset... and I do like the look of their range of iridescent ones...

That's it for now (I'm feeling lazy...for a change). More is coming soon. Honest!

Halloweenies!

2011-10-31T23:02:00.000+00:00

Blessed Samhain everyone! Just a quick one today, because I'm lazy and I don't really have much to say, but I can't let my favourite day of the year pass without a post now can I? Well, here's a couple of video links to keep yourself topped up.

In keeping with this joyous occasion, I'm pleased to report that my favourite kids' TV show, Young Dracula, is finally back. It took them three years and a lot of fan petitions, but the first episode of the shiny third series aired today. The budget is bigger, which kind of loses some of the charm, the child cast has aged noticeably (always the trouble with kids' shows) and it's getting darker but it's still a lot of fun. Keith Lee Castle is quite hilarious. Next episode is on tomorrow, so look out for it on iPlayer.

If you're after something spooky this Samhain, though, here's a youtube channel that will definitely give you the galloping heebee jeebies if you're into the supernatural. It's a collection of various episodes from various tv paranormal shows, like Ghost Adventures, Paranormal Challenge, and (my favourite) Fact or Faked. As is usually the case with this stuff, it's over hyped stuff done by very enthusiastic Americans, but there are definitely some creepy stories lurking in there. Enjoy!

Things involving me gawping at Peter Murphy

2011-10-27T23:16:00.000+01:00

So... let's get the proper blog posts back underway, shall we?

Way back in the Dark Ages that was the 12th of October (seriously, I planned to write this up the next day, that didn't happen) I sneaked into London on a last-minute whim to catch my all-time favourite singer (and long-suffering object of my attraction) Peter Murphy at the Garage in Islington. The Garage is a nice venue, incidentally; small enough to be intimate but large enough to feel important. The Murph himself has been touring his new album Ninth (read my review here if you're so inclined) and the "Secret Bees" EP that goes with it (Peter now has a habit of releasing B-sides on separate EPs since no-one seems to buy singles anymore). I hadn't seen him live for three years (missed the last tour because... actually I don't know why, I suppose I was just being a hermit again) so it was nice to see some of my old friends from the days of "let's stalk Bauhaus across the country because we can".

Zack and Dashangel, two very good friends of mine who run the Bauhaus Archive on facebook.

With no support, it was a surprisingly long set, close to two hours. The set-list was completely bonkers: he opened with the first three tracks of Ninth before going onto a set that was two-parts old stuff to one part Bauhaus.

I don't have many pictures of Peter, unfortunately. Well, I do, but they're terrible

I mean, look at this. How can my photography be so bad it makes Peter Murphy look like that? Deary me...

Anyway, as always, Peter's voice was lovely. His band weren't as tight as they could be and there were a lot of fuck ups, to the point that Peter actually got pretty pissed off by the half-way point. He kept having them stop and restart songs and rather scowlingly changed "Cuts You Up" to "Fucks You Up". I've honestly never seen him in such an odd mood. He didn't even bother singing the last line of Ziggy Stardust. Oh and he did his brilliant "Goth stand-up" banter again. Some of the same jokes as last time, but I did quite like his American-accented take on advertising for Bauhaus: "Four men, eight feet, one band".

Typical. This was the clearest photo I took, and he's looking at the sodding guitar. *sighs*

Apparently the rest of the tour was less...fragmented. But, yes, I did spend the whole night gawping at Pete again. He really is very pretty.

I can't really say a lot more, because I've largely forgotten it (sorry), so here's a video some website did of me awkwardly talking about the gig directly after it.

I had no idea what to say.

Yes I know...

2011-10-27T22:46:00.000+01:00

I'm lazy. Sorry internet. In my defense, I have written a lot of ~~rubbish~~ stuff on my Triond page recently, so if you're creepily into reviews, rambly articles and excuses for me to post videos I like, knock yourself out.

For those curious as to what the fuck I have been doing with my life, I got a job but then it turned out my employers were not exactly reputable and I got fired. So now I'm running around the UK applying for more jobs than you can shake a Jobcentre at. Again. Oh and I had a birthday so I am now officially more old than I was, which is oddly depressing, but hey I got some electric cigarettes and Arkham City so it's not all bad. (Seriously though, I'm 24 now. 24. Damn.)

But anyway, this is Postpunkpixie Dust and you don't want to read about my birthday, right internet? You want pictures of pretty men covered in fake blood, weird rambling reviews of gigs, and random links. Don't lie, I know you do, I've seen the blog stats. Well never fear, all the usual nonsense is just waiting in the wings and will be posted soon. Promise. Coming soon: The return of Bloody Gorgeous! New reviews! Gig write-ups! Rants in which I go off on one about something unimportant! And... (I've been looking forward to this one) Excercise for Goths!

Well... coming soon is probably a lie. Coming...eventually.

I'm crap.

Black Roses - Four Years since the Death of Sophie Lancaster

2011-08-24T22:33:00.000+01:00

Serious post today, folks. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the tragedy of Sophie Lancaster's death, four years ago today. There weere some interesting programmes on BBC Radio 4 today to mark the anniversary: Black Roses is a Play for Today featuring interviews with Sophie's mother Sylvia, who runs the brilliant SOPHIE campaign, and heart-rending poetry by Simon Armitage, who has lent his support to the charity. Be warned, you'll cry your eyes dry listening to it, it's powerful stuff. There was also "The Black Roses Debate"; an open debate on the subject of hate crimes, the definition of the term and looking at Sophie's death as the result of hate crime. I'm listening to it now on iPlayer, very thought provoking stuff.

These two programmes will be on iPlayer for a week, so listen while you can. As always, you can donate to the charity via their website, or by buying something from its official merchandise site, buying the Hope charity record, or selected products from Illamasqua. They do amazing work. I'll leave you with a little video that shows what the charity have achieved so far and what their goals are.

The Great M'era Luna Write Up Post 2011

2011-08-19T00:56:00.002+01:00

Oh dear, I am a lazy arse aren't I? It's been six months since I posted anything, and nearly a year since I posted anything substantial. My excuse is there was college, and then there was work, and then there was more college and then there was weddings and then there was laziness and then there was Hellsing Ultimate 8 and... oh well. Anyway, ignore all that, because I'm recently back from sitting in a German airfield in the rain with 20,000 goths. Yes, it's M'era Luna time again, and with M'era Luna comes the obligatory hideous write-up, with all the usual horrible photos and now with horrible video too.

The North bus, also known as "home"

As with last year, I was with the wonderful (read, mad) Goths on a Bus. I joined the North bus (I still don't know why I end up on the North bus despite living on the South coast, but hey ho) at Watford with a bunch of others and a few cans of Hobgoblin. Unfortunately the beer soon ran out, and, rather more worryingly, we missed our Eurotunnel train so we were stuck at Folkestone for four hours with nothing but a bar, a childrens' play area and a lot of scary squaddies. Naturally I got tipsy and clambered around on a climbing frame in my platform New Rocks.

Eventually we managed to get onto a train (by which time it was dawn) and onto the continent, getting stuck in every flavour of traffic on the way. By the time we reached Hildesheim, it was three in the afternoon and there was no time for the usual stop-off at the supermarket. The South coach had already been at the site for several hours and had saved just enough space for the rest of us to pitch camp (and I still can't properly pitch my tent). There was just time for beer (provided by those kind souls from the South coach), bratwurst and general mooching about before tiredness got the better of me.

I got up unfeasably early on the Saturday morning to go to the supermarket and collect supplies. And by supplies I mean...

(pic ganked from Jamie's pictures on facebook. Sorry Jamie!)

Those kegs, incidentally, are bloody heavy. And I am bloody feeble. Anyway. After acquiring boozy goodness there was just time for coffee (thanks to Big Alan's supply of proper coffee and Mr Sticks' magic jet boiler) before making our way down to the festival area. The queues were longer than last year and security was making a song and dance about searching everyone, but the "no camera" rule didn't seem to apply to anyone without changeable lenses so there wasn't any bother. The first band I caught was Omnia, a suitably nutty neo-folk outfit who won awesome-points for having a telescopic didgeridoo (which I don't have any photos of because I am rubbish, I may have to gank one from someone less rubbish than me). They were pretty catchy and I'll definitely look into getting some of their songs, just to see what they're like on record, but I was slightly distracted by the Sonic Seducer stall (those free tote bags come in handy, and they had dvds with clips from last year's festival so I neeeeeeded those).

Next up were Qntal, who were supposed to be on last year but weren't. They... weren't really my thing, folky and ethereal but a leeetle too metally for my liking, but their singer, a very enthusiastic lady with drapey sleeves, had a beautiful voice. One of those bands were I could see (or rather hear) the skill in it, but not really to my tastes.

Qntal. Look, my pictures this year actually look like human beings! Also, check out her sleeves! Layers of draped sleeves. That's class, that is.

After them were Leaves' Eyes, a metal band I remember liking way back in the days when I bought Metal Hammer and had no taste. They weren't great, not to my taste anymore, but again, the singer had a lovely voice (and a lovely velvet frock). I was disappointed that they didn't do the one song I remember, but hey, you can't have it all.

Next up were Mesh, a British synthpop band who sound like how Depeche Mode would have done if they got stompier instead of gloomier. They weren't bad, I rather liked them, but visually nothing special, so no pictures, alas.

After then, the main stage caught a serious case of the sillies, and this is where I start needing my thesaurus because I'm going to run out of synonyms for "bonkers". The next band was Equilibrium a cardboard cutout metal band with big hair, big stances, big growls and big riffs, who put me into giggling fits when I realised one of their riffs was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. Really.

Just when I thought I couldn't laugh at a band any more, on come Blutengel, a German electro-goth band who like to pretend they're vampires. They were absolutely nuts; their stage show schtick is to mime and do bizarre choregraphed routines involving girls in bikinis and lots of fire. I definitely had a good giggle when they were on.

Blutengel and fire...

...and giving their bikini-clad dancing girls showers of fake blood that looked like raspberry juice. They had Isis wings at one point. Oh and those crosses had giant Catherine wheels on them too. Like I said, bonkers.

Things got a little less silly (only a little) with Apocalyptica, who were wonderful. Cheerful shirtless Finnish guys who do metal with cellos (although honestly, if you haven't heard them by now you must have been living in a cave. Or the mainstream). They won extra points for finishing with a version of In the Hall of the Mountain King which could only have been more awesome if they'd done the vocal bit (I do love a bit of Grieg, me).

Look video. Look at me with my technology. Yeah. Look there's more.

And there are pictures too... Oooh pictures

There's something oddly erotic about cellos, don't you think? I think it must be the stance...

After they finished, there was a short wait before my band-of-the-festival, ASP. I've got to be honest I wasn't overly familiar with the vast majority of the band line-up this year (honestly, I get VNV Nation mixed up with somebody else, I'm hopeless) but I do like ASP and I was really excited to see them, I'd heard exciting things about their pyrotechnics. And my gods, did they have pyros! Lines of fire along the edge of the stage behind the monitors, eight jumping jets of flame, huge plumes of sparks, and, possibly my favourite stage thing ever, the glitter cannon, which looks like this:

and does this

Yup. Great cascades of little shreds of paper jettisoned into the air and raining down over the festival site. Stunning. So, yeah, ASP. They were great. Mad as a box of frogs, but great. And, my gods, but does that man have a pair of lungs on him! What a voice! They played some killer tracks, including a blinding cover of Temple of Love that was considerably better than the version the Sisters did last year, and the phenomenally catchy Sing Child, which has been stuck in my head ever since. Here are some more pictures of things on fire.

After ASP was Within Temptation but I was tired, and to be honest I'm not a fan. She's got a great voice but their symphonic metally schtick is dull to my mind. So instead I headed back to the tents to enjoy some first rate silliness courtesy of Messrs Paul, Paul and John. I won't go into details here (some level of dignity needs preserving and this is a public blog) but it involved foreheads, eyeliner, and large quantities of rum.

There was one final treat in store for Saturday night, however. The Goths on a Bus gazebo was treated to a private, acoustic performance from Dyonisus, whose members happened to be travelling with us. They're fabulous: ethereal, slightly folky ballads with stunning vocals. Here's their site. Go on, check them out, I'll wait for you. Had a look? Good. Anyway, they were so impressive they had quite a crowd of German passers-by and security guards stopping to listen. This small crowd swiftly looked baffled and disappeared when the ever-dapper Simon (of Rome Burns, but I'm sure if you're reading this you know them) got up and did the Dog Song though. I'm not sure the Dog Song translates well into German. It's bad enough in English. (If you've not heard it... it's painfully funny and utterly filthy. There's a line about "giving the dog a bone". Yeah.)

The next morning it was another early start. And a very soggy start, as it was absolutely hammering it down. I felt really sorry for all the beautifully dressed people having to wriggle into plastic macks and hide under their ever-so-ironic bat umbrellas. You had to feel for the bands too, there were some absolutely excellent bands on that morning and the poor buggers had to cope with depleted, soggy audiences. The Beauty of Gemina were one such band; a brilliant goth rock group who really should have been further up the bill, they were one of the best acts of the festival. If you haven't heard them and you're into your old-school gothiness, check them out, they had a slightly Nephilim-y, Xymox-y, Diary of Dreams-y thing going on. Bless them, they coped fairly well with the atrocious weather; advising their audience to dance with their umbrellas and suchlike.

Yep, despite the fact the singer looks like an anime version of Boris Johnson, they sound amazing.

I didn't catch much of the next band, Coma Divine, I was too busy getting myself a rain poncho because my cheap umbrella was leaking. I did, however, catch the part where the awning over the stage split and the lead guitarist had to leap back to prevent himself becoming part of a gothy fountain. It was a little scary, water and electrics don't tend to mix, but credit where it's due they carried on playing and finished their set.

After more than a little frantic mending, Coppelius scampered onto the slippery stage and spent the next 45 minutes running around the stage dressed in full steampunk regalia, being generally nutty with cellos and clarinets. I couldn't understand a word they were singing, but they had enough charisma, props and sheer insanity to make up for it. I particularly liked the Victorian camera that they used to "take photos" of the crowd, it even had a puff of smoke. I am definitely getting their albums. They got extra points for having a record of Anitra's Dance playing as their roadies packed away all their ephemera, it was definitely a Greig-y sort of weekend.

Coppelius and a crowd of wet goths.

Coppelius doing their natty Victoriana thing

Puddles and Goths. Goths and Puddles.

After Coppelius finished, I was too tired and too wet to bother with the stompy synth stylings of Mono Inc, who weren't bad, but didn't grab me. So I made my way back to the beer tent and ended up having a brilliant conversation about how someone ought to do a "How to Look Goth Naked" parody video series. All we need now is a Goth Wan. Anyway, the stage was still not providing anything riveting, so it was time to wander around the stalls wishing I had more money...and more fingers to put rings on.

Mono Inc. Their singer had a snazzy coat.

I ended up back by the main stage just in time for the end of Tanzwut. I caught a bit of their set last year and they're best described as "explosions and bagpipes". Great fun, completely fruit and nuts. These German bands do love their explosions.

Tanzwut. Not pictured: explosions.

Up next was Project Pitchfork. Again, I'm hopeless, I'd heard of them, I was fairly sure I'd heard them, but I couldn't place them. A few tracks in, I knew exactly who they were. They were fun. A bit samey, but I find the bleepier stuff pretty same anyway. Still, like I said, they were fun and now I know who they are I can add the Pitchies to the list of bleepy-ish bands I actually like.

How epic is my new camera (okay my dad's old camera, but whatever)? I was standing at the beer tent when I took this and you can still tell who it is.

This small child loved the Pitchies. He was trotting round and round in circles for nearly fifteen minutes with his little windmills whirling on his trolley-thing. That is one cool small child.

The last band I actually saw was VNV Nation, one of the many bands that I get confused about. Still, now I've seen them, I know who they are. I did feel a little silly, standing around going "oh this is VNV" when they were practically headlining. Someone take away my goth card! And, hurrah, another bleepy band I actually like. I don't know why but I was incredibly tired by the time they came on, so I only watched a couple of songs, but I heard they're whole set and they were great, very snappy banter too.

Pretty lights!

I might even have to go and see them do a proper show. Anyway, next on were Hurts who I've never heard of and didn't sound much from the mead tent, so eh, I dunno. From what I heard they were fairly bland indie rock stuff, nothing that indicated they should be headlining the festival. Still, they weren't horrible and they provided some fairly pleasant background noise to drink to. After slightly too much deadly gunfire tea, it was time for bed (honestly one of these years I'm going to do the whole clubbing-partying-drumming-on-beer-kegs thing, really I am). Demolishing camp took place far too early and was far too difficult, before we started the long journey back to the ch'unnel.

We're famous!

Unlike the journey out, we made very good time so we took a detour via this place

Yup. A chocolate factory that sells duty free. Heaven!

We made it back to Watford long before midnight, and I was glad I had booked myself in at the Travelodge because the three hour train journey back to Portsmouth didn't sound too friendly. Also, Travelodges have doubles beds and baths. Baths!

And here's all the stuff I managed to acquire (not including cigarettes, booze and bratwurst). I love my ASP cami.

Finally, let me say a big thank you to all the bus Goths for their company and for putting up with me again; to Ade for organising the damn thing; to Mr Sticks, Ork and the nefarious Doctor Garside for letting me lurk outside their tents and steal their rum; to the members of Dyonisus for the brilliant impromptu gig; to Simon for the Dog Song, and to our bus driver, Tom, for getting us all there and back again.

See you all next year!

I AM still here, honest

2011-01-18T14:24:00.000+00:00

Still alive. Just.

I will post some new interesting things very soon. In the mean time, here's my other blog (which also has nothing in it). It's an online sketchbook for the A level in Textile Design I'm doing, so obviously posts will be related to work and considerably less ecclectic than the nonsense I post here on a not-overly-regular basis.

Bloody Gorgeous: Nivek Ogre (or ohGr or Kevin or whatever you want to call him)

2010-08-24T02:42:00.000+01:00

I've decided that bloody gorgeous (my semi-aborted series of equal-opportunities perversion focusing on pretty men and fake blood (because there are hundreds, nay thousands of pictures of hot lady-people covered in fake blood and the internet demands balance) needs to be resurrected. Since I'm still on a Skinny Puppy kick, who better to feature than the lovely Mr Ogilvie?

Unfortunately I don't know when a lot of these were taken, I found them floating on the internet (links and resources listed below)

I'm guessing (?) these two are from the same photoshoot. He looks positively demonic!

Doesn't he have nice eyes? This picture was used for some of the promo posters for the 2009 tour.

More from the same photo shoot. It's hard to beleive he's 47, innit? (On a side note, should I be worried that the majority of male celebs I crush on are over twice my age?)

Another live shot, I would guess from 2005, just based on the hair.

This one they've been using to promote the 2010 tour, it was on the M'era Luna site. Actually, Cevin Key has quite nice eyes too...

This one's lifted from this article where the band talk about their tattoos (except Cevin Key... I'm guessing he hasn't got any?)

Sources and resources for Sk'uppy/ohGr pics:
This fan archive has a lot of pictures. The live pictures and personal pics of fans with the bands are pretty well archived (dates, credits etc) the photoshoots less so.
http://fuckyeahskinnypuppy.tumblr.com/
Litany is the fan resource to end all fan resources: really detailed FAQs and suchlike. Not so many pictures.

Anyway, I'll leave you with some of my favourite Sk'uppy videos, all of which featuring quite a lot of fake blood. I wonder if he gets much of a discount on fake blood?

Ogre pretending to stick things in his head and Cevin playing half a dozen instruments at once. Cool or what?

Intense and slightly creepy early performance of Assimilate, in which Ogre has fun with blood capsules. He's so young! And I've just noticed he has really skinny legs. (The whole of this show is available on youtube, and I highly recommend checking it out; the version of The Choke is incredible.)

Oh and this is unrelated to bloody gorgeous but it cracks me up.

"Nothing!"

I'll stop now. Next time on postpunkpixiedust: crafty inspiration, macabre imagery, interesting videos, and ways to keep the cat off the laptop.

More Bloody Gorgeous coming soon! If you have any suggestions of handsome gents that ought to be included, leave a comment!

Mysterious findings, shiny things, and things involving unemployment

2010-08-22T02:26:00.000+01:00

Isn't it funny how sometimes you can trawl through the charity shops, intent on finding something exciting but leave with absolutely nothing, when other days you pop in for something and leave with an armful of stuff you don't really need? Well this week was an armful sort of week.

Shitty photography time...

Ignore me. Ignore my stupid hairstyle. Ignore the mirror. Ignore the lack of flash. Focus instead on the pretty brownish velvet top acquired for £3 from a chairty shop. It's pretty huge, but it looks quite cool over black jeans.

Here it is viewed with flash. It's got pretty braids, rickrack and cords sewn into it and then tie-dyed along with the velvet. I think it's the first time I've ever seen rickrack look elegant. It also has little panels of floral velvet which have been tie-dyed over the top, gives quite a nifty effect.

So yeah, this is another one of those garments to wear when I feel like being a fat hippy, I suppose. Talking of hippyish garments...

Indian cotton jacket in yellow and purple. Slightly too small on the arms for me, but absolutely adorable.

The detail is worked as satin stitch which gives it a nice glossy tone and it has a raw fringe at the bottom. It's incredibly cute and wonderfully psychadelic. I love it.

Here is a picture of me, loving it. Like I said, ignore the hair, I'd bigged it up as scruffily as possible to try and avoid getting a certain job, the details of which, if you're interested, I'll discuss below.

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, I'm jobless again. My contract at the theatre ran out and although I'm still doing voluntary work for them, they can't afford to pay me so I'm stuck on jobseeker's again. It doesn't seem to be as bad as it was before, there are more apply-able jobs out there at the moment, but it doesn't stop me from making incredibly silly mistakes. Case in point: I sort of accidentally applied for a job at a chavvy nightclub, not quite realising quite how chavvy or objectionable said job was. This company was (is?) looking for people to take photos of club-goers and dupe them into spending £3 to £10 on cheap little print outs and key-rings of said photos. And seriously, whether they're chavvy and have no taste or not, they don't deserve to be duped out of £3 for a cheap photo the size of a credit card taken by some phony photographer.

Worst of all the company doesn't do interviews as such but does "training sessions" instead, a cheap way to get people working for nothing in the name of "trials". These training sessions are four hours long and during the busiest hours of the club on the busiest days (talk about getting free labour). I decided that, even though I needed the money, I didn't need this job. This is clearly one of those jobs for driving people mad. So I decided to rat out my hair and do my makeup to make myself look as unwell as possible. Besides, the dress code didn't mention hair and makeup, just black t-shirts and black trousers or skirts. When I arrived at the club, the "trainer" wasn't there and I couldn't get hold of her since they're apparently not allowed their phones on when they're working. So I was left outside this ghastly place for half an hour, with ghastly people in ghastly outfits sneering, jeering and threatening me. Nice.

Thankfully when I did finally meet the trainer, a sullen young woman who eyed me with great suspicion, announced that I wasn't dressed to fit the dress code (I was, technically, I was dressed fairly smartly; long full skirt and black t-shirt, only I had my leather biker jacket over the top) and sent me home, telling me I could phone the manager chap the next day and arrange another session. My plan was to phone him and say that since I'd been verbally abused by the club's clientelle I wasn't willing to undertake such a trial, but by the time I got up this morning there was an email telling me they "weren't persuing my application at this time". In other words, "sod off you weird gothy freak and take your high moral standards with you."

Anyway, to finish off I promised some more Alchemy reviews, and Alchemy reviews you shall have.

First up, Raven Spith a fabulous but sadly discontinued hairband. It seems to have been designed to compliment the Ravenskull earring with the same emerald green stone and cascade of feathers. It looks great, I tend to wear it with big hair to add some height but it could easily be worn with a sleek style for that flapper look. The feathers drape quite nicely. My only fault with it is the hairband itself is a little bendy, it feels like it's going to break, and though this might just be to counteract the brittleness that a lot of cheaper ones have, it does bother me.

Next up The Raven. Alchemy say this is a "graphic representation of Poe's most celebrated and tragic poem", in other words, it's inspired by The Raven. The photos make it look huge, it isn't; the raven skull thingy is under an inch, the purple crystal is about... an inch and a half (ish?), which is fine because if it were any bigger it would be a bit tacky and overly "LOOK AT ME I'M SPOOKY!" Instead it's fairly tasteful, suitably macabre without being showy. The only problem is, I in my infinite wisdom took it to M'era Luna and now the feathers are coming loose, it's nothing a bit of glue won't solve, just bear in mind, this one's a bit fragile. It's a bit of an unusual shape, too, and suits scoop necks or sweetheart necklines (or corsets, I suppose) as opposed to V-necks, so this is not one to wear with your Victorian dress shirts.

That's your lot. Next time: the return of Bloody Gorgreous with several special posts full of pretty gentlemen and corn syrup.

Book reviews!

2010-08-18T22:34:00.000+01:00

I read a lot of books. I also buy an awful lot of books, more books than I have time to read. Still, this week I treated myself to even more books from Amazon (first time I ever used them, actually, not bad at all) and since most of these recent purchases are suited to the blog, I thought I might as well review them.

So, starting with the gothiest, then: Gothic Charm School by Julian Venters. Yes, we've all read the blog and a fair bit of the content is lifted (in some cases word for word) from there, and yes, a lot of her content is really for people new to the scene, but do you know what? This is a book that everyone of a gothy persuasion (and their friends, families, and coworkers) should read. Why? Well, it dispells the myths, lays out a potted history of the subculutre, and hands out some thoroughly worth-while advice, all in a fun, accessible tone with some simply darling little illustrations. Ms Venters style, parodying ettiquette guides of yore, might be a bit wearing for those without much of a sense of humour, but then I guess it's not really going to help them much. She covers a range of day-to-day topics, from explaining goth to people who don't get it and dodging cliches, to raising gothy children, to coping with relationships, gossip and quarrels within the scene. It's a useful thing to hand over to people who keep asking silly questions.

I have to say I really like her attitude and I found myself agreeing with much of what she says (although I'm slightly perturbed by the notion that people at clubs might be rolling their eyes at my eyeliner...) Well worth reading, whether you're a jaded Eldergoth, a know-it-all but slightly clueless Babybat or just some bloke in jeans and a t-shirt scratching his head as all the black clad weirdoes walk by.

Next: Goth:Vamps and Dandies by Gavin Baddley. When I first heard Mr Baddley was writing this I was thrilled; it's predecessor Goth Chic was the book that first showed me that Goth was not some sort of weird satanic heavy-metal cult but a clique for people with interests very similar to my own. Goth Chic, for those who haven't read it (and I do heartily recommend it if you haven't), focused mostly on the origins of the subculture, through literature, film, television, and music (right from early rock'n'roll and jazz up to fully fledged nineties goth rock) with a couple of short chapters on sexuality and fashion. I've often wondered if the brevity of the fashion chapter was deliberate, an attempt to get away from the image certain people have of goth as a fashion/trend-based movement, but it looks like it wasn't since Goth:Vamps and Dandies is a study of the gothic aesthetic in fashion, tracing its roots and influences from the nineteen twenties to today. It's a fairly serious and scholarly book, but accessibly written and sumptuously illustrated with gorgeous full colour photos. This is a book to thumb through while getting ready to hit the town, or maybe to lend to people who say "goths all dress the same". It's bang up to date, too, discussing recent trends towards steampunk and cybergoth (something skimmed over in Goth Chic to be fair), the difference between goth and emo, and the goth scene's relationship with mainstream "spooky" brands like Emily the Strange. It's very interesting, fairly in-depth, well written, and, as I said, absolutely beautiful. If you don't have Goth Chic I'd still recommend reading that first, but this is a worthy appendix to it, covering plenty of new ground and looking at some of the things he covered before in a different light.

Highly recommended for leaving around on a coffee table.

Next: Paint it Black by everyone's favourite New York perkygoth Voltaire. I'm sad to say I never got the chance to read his What is Goth (it's dead expensive these days) but because I love his music and his comics (and his website, and his animation and... dammit why is this man so multitalented?) I snapped this one up too. It's pretty and it has some fun ideas but it's featherlight stuff, with whole pages given up to silly rambles and pictures of Mr V putting up curtains, or his gothy lady assistants lounging on the bonnet of a pimped out car. A lot of the projects are a bit... well Babybat; they scream out "my parents won't let me paint my room black!" And one or two are just plain dumb (there's a bottle "chandelier" that just involves collecting bottles and sticking candles in them). But still, it's fun (hell, it's Voltaire after all, what did you expect?) and some of the projects, though simple, are quite fun (I like the collection of punked-up dollies, the graveyard cake and the Hellraiser-esque picture frame particularly) so if you like your decor with a does of high camp, you might want to follow his ideas.

Next is a bit of a strange one; Go Ask Ogre by Jolene Siana, a collection of letters (and the odd journal) written by the author in her teenage years in the eighties to Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy. But these are no ordinary fan letters; Jolene is (or rather was) a troubled, lonely child, struggling with self-harm and verging on suicidal, bullied at school and at conflict with her mother. What start as rambling, stream of conciousness pieces (some of which can be pretty tough to read, I have to say) become increasingly frank, wise and painful as she strikes up a friendship with the singer. He encourages her to keep writing since it's clearly helping her, writing replies and meeting her at shows, and eventually, many years later in the late nineties, he sends her a parcel containing all of the letters she ever sent him, having kept every single one. Ogre's letters aren't published, apparently on his request, but she does publish her elated journal response to his first (hand written and pretty lengthy) letter, and the gist of some of their conversations in person are recorded in the same way. Now Ogre's request not to publish his replies is interesting, because let's face it most people finding the book are going to be drawn to his name, and to me it has two implications; that his letters were pretty personal and that he wanted her to remain the focus of the book, both of which I think are rather sweet.

Anyway, this is a lovely book; beautifully illustrated with Jolene's beautiful spiky doodles (even her envelopes are carefully constructed collages and elaborate drawings) along with photos of her and her friends and various flyers, ticket stubs and even pressed flowers kept as souvenirs. As her letter-writing continues her style develops into something at once very readable but also incredibly, painfully honest. She comes across as a very intelligent, very likeable and very brave person, but one very confused and more than a little lost. It's hard work, just because it's so raw, but worthwhile reading. I was drawn to this book mainly because I'd been looking for some sort of goth subculture memoir and they're pretty few and far between (which is funny considering quite how many books there are on the subject, but compare it quite how many punk memoirs there are and that's pretty strange) and this really fits the bill: Jolene's journey into the heart of the post-punk/industrial scene of the time is, to me, fascinating, and the solace it clearly gives her is wonderful. This is a book to give people who make complaints along the lines of "no wonder your depressed if you listen to music like that", because it illustrates the happiness and support that darker music can bring, that discovery that you're not the only person that thinks that way.

It's an unusual book, and, as I said, it can be pretty hard going, Jolene's descriptions of her depressions and self-harm are, though not always explicit, quite harrowing, but there's something about her and her survival spirit that is oddly uplifting. I have a feeling that this will be one of those cathartic, reassuring books that I'll drag out when I've got the Black Dog myself.

That's the main bunch of books I wanted to talk about, the others I've bought recently I haven't had time to read yet but I'll mention them anyway. I've finally managed to find a copy of Poppy Z Brite's Drawing Blood, the only one of her early novels I couldn't find. It's recently been reprinted (for the first time since it's publication) along with Lost Souls in a rather blatant attempt for Penguin to jump on the Paranormal Romance bandwagon (which amuses me endlessly, since Poppy is hardly a fluffy romance writer: her works are visceral, bloody, achingly erotic. The new cover for Lost Souls even has a chick with red lipstick on the cover. In a book almost entirely about gay and bisexual men. How thoroughly inappropriate!). I've not gotten far with it, but it's typical horror-period Poppy; not quite as extreme as Exquisite Corpse but getting there.

I also picked up, on a total whim, Japanese Ghost Stories by Catrien Ross which I'm quite excited by. Since discovering Japanese horror movies in the last few years I've become quite obsessed with Japanese folklore and this slim but rather pricey volume is full of traditional stories and pretty picutres. I love "true", folkloric ghost stories anyway, but my previous studies have mostly focused on European tales so I'm keen to explore this one.

Oh and one last thing, if you haven't read Let the Right One In yet, why not? It took me a long while to finally finish it (it's long and it's bleak), but it's a perfect novel. I don't care if you don't like horror, or you don't like vampire novels or whatever, read this book.

That's it for today, folks. Next time: mysterious charity shop garments, more Alchemy jewellery reviews, and things involving unemployment.

Links! And more pretty visuals

2010-08-18T01:35:00.002+01:00

There you see, I said I'd post something soon.

We'll start off with a few fun eBay finds before I forget about then completely. Looking for a quirky wedding present? How about these? Muppet-style vampire puppets with retractable fangs, customised to look like the real bride and groom. To be honest, they're damn weird looking puppets but I think the general idea is just adorable. If those are a bit out of your price range, how about this pretty dress? I've got my eye on that one at the moment. Not sure lurid purple can really be considered "Steampunk" but it's pretty, no?

Talking of things that aren't Steampunk, Regretsy have started posting things on that very topic. I'm particularly taken by the not-at-all-Steampunk-cat.

Anyway, I promised pretty visuals and pretty visuals you will have. Now, regular readers will recall that I am somewhat suspicious of tumblr (like blogger only for people with shorter attention spans), partly because the site itself encourages short, insubstantial tweet-like posts and constant reposting, but also because it seems to attract pretensious and arrogant people (case in point: if you search tumblr for "goth" you end up with this bloke who clearly isn't a goth, doesn't like goths and tends to post ugly pictures of indie kids wearing black, with only the occasional eighties post punk video to redeem him). Thankfully there are some good gothy tumblrs around too. Nowthisisgothic is an excellent collection of photos and scans, never reposted from elsewhere and quite often not seen online before. She posts fabulous pictures of big-haired new wave types from the eighties and beyond.

Deathwaves post lovely pictures of deathrockers, goths and cool, often obscure, bands, with the odd song or video thrown in too. It's a good place to look for inspiration and for links to other gothy tumblrs (most of which I won't bother posting here since if you're looking for band pictures there all you need do is type "fuck yeah (name of band) tumblr" into google and see what turns up).

One blog that doesn't need much introduction is the Gothic Charm School: Pretty Things page, which does what it says on the tin really: gothy fun things posted by Gothic Charm School Headmistress and blogger extraordinaire The Lady of the Manners. She does keep going on a Haunted Mansion kick though, not sure I quite see the appeal myself.

Another queue worth keeping an eye on for band pictures is Raw Goth Insurrection, a personal tumblr kept by a punky gothy bloke from Seattle. Lots of fun pictures of crusty punk types in spiky leather jackets, lots of slightly faded scans of bands with enormous hair, lots of good tunes, lots of slightly nerdy humour.

And talking of slightly humour, I have to say I get a real kick out of LOLbadseeds, like LOLcats but with pictures of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. There's a lot of bands whose photos lend themselves to LOL macros, why has no one thought of this before? And why, with all those silly pictures floating around, is there not a LOLDamned blog?

Oh and you know when I said there's a "fuck yeah" tumblr for pretty much anything? Well, on the plus side "anything" includes Skinny Puppy and this picture:

I'll give you a moment to absorb the sexy. Bare-chested, tattooed, long-painted-fingernailed, eyeliner-sporting, backcombed-haired, sinewy-armed sexy. Yup, I definitely have a crush on him. He's also prime Bloody Gorgeous material...

Annnnyway... Next time on postpunkpixiedust I'll be posting exciting gothy book reviews! Featuring: Gothic Charm School, Voltaire, Gavin Baddeley, Poppy Z, and Nivek Ogre! (You see, sometimes I even plan what I'm going to post.) And remember you can keep up with my less gothy reviews and rants over on my Triond page.

I'll leave you with a couple of videos for those who want to hear more of the sort of stuff I was enjoying last week at M'era Luna. Here's Unheilig, the happiest Neue Deutsche Harte band in the world with a suitably sweet song, complete with chorus of children.

I'm rather fond of Der Graf's exaggerated gestures here. And his beard.

And now, to counteract the adorable, here's some angry Laibach.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

And now it's time to shut up and go and make the most of Film4's horror season (notice the use of Bauhaus on the promo video there. Everything's better with a liberal sprinkling of Bauhaus).