Encyclopedia Gothica (14 page)

IDM
Short-form for intelligent dance music, a type of post-rave electronic music considered more for home listening than for dancing. The somewhat ridiculously elitist genre designation (every other kind of dance music is stupid?) originated in 1993 with a Usenet list set up to discuss recordings emerging on such British labels as Warp and Reflex, now applied to a wide variety of electronic music from
AMBIENT
to techno, only some of which could be considered Goth (e.g., post–
SKINNY PUPPY
projects like Download) Still, Goths could do worse than to listen to more
IDM
and less
EBM
, IMHO.

I’M SO GOTH
Every Goth website has, at some point, run its sarcastic “I’m So Goth I . . .” list to show off how we are perfectly capable of making fun of ourselves. (e.g.: “I’m so Goth I wear sunglasses to open the refrigerator,” “I’m so Goth I make Happy Meals cry,” etc.) But somehow, the community seems to have settled on one joke most of all: “I’m so Goth I shit
BAT
s.” Yes, there’s a T-shirt.

INDUSTRIAL
Goth’s meaner sibling, a style of dark, heavy music with some similar themes that’s just as slippery to define, with a bewildering number of ever-evolving subgenres and sub-subgenres from avant garde to metal. Let’s just say it’s generally electronic, generally noisy and at its best when experimenting with unconventional construct and provocative content, although most popular when you can stomp your army boots to its beats. The term originates with British sonic terrorists Throbbing Gristle in the 1970s, is most exemplified by German scrap metal scavengers turned ballet composers Einstrüzende Neubauten and can be applied to dozens of 1980s groups using synths and drum machines and shouting — although is most associated in the mainstream mind with the mid ’90s industrial rock sound of
NINE INCH NAILS
and Ministry. While there are distinct differences between camps, the term Goth/Industrial is often used to represent where they meet, usually in nightclubs and clothing shops appealing to both.

INDUSTRIAL FISHNETS
Style of
FISHNET
stockings with larger holes, also called fencenets.

INDUSTRIAL GOTH
See:
Rivethead

INDUSTRIALNATION
American music zine, founded in 1991 by Paul Valerio as a black-and-white Xeroxed affair but well established by 1995 as a full-size, glossy-covered mag based in Chicago. Dedicated to the
INDUSTRIAL
, experimental, noise and, to a lesser extent, Goth music scenes at the time they were really breaking through; it was the leading source of information on new releases, with hundreds of CD reviews, band interviews and scene reports from far-flung communities (including a Toronto column written by yours truly). Despite its unpredictable publishing schedule and limited distribution, played a part in the rise of bands like Ministry and KMFDM as well as many indie upstarts it featured on compilation CDs. Lost steam around the time of the internet explosion; a 2003 relaunch failed to generate much interest.

INTERPOL
American
POST-PUNK
band formed in 1997 in New York City. Why this band has not been more widely embraced by Goths everywhere is a supreme mystery to me. The 2002 debut album
Turn on the Bright Lights
was exquisitely Gothic: tense, intense, bass-driven death disco about urban malaise played by beautiful, morose art school boys in sharp, dark suits. And it’s not like the accusations of ripping off
JOY DIVISION
that accompanied Interpol’s arrival on the scene should have been a strike against them with this crowd. And yet, too few have recognized them and their black-and-white-and-red soundtrack to desolation and decay as the next coming not of Curtis and co. but of
THE CURE
. Is it because the hipster bloggers claimed the band first? Is it because the members don’t dress in enough
PVC
? Fine then, at least those of us who love them can stand at the front of their shows and not have our views blocked by big spiky
DEATHHAWKS
. Your loss!

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Novel by
ANNE RICE
, originally published in 1976 and considered a Goth Bible of sorts, popularized by the 1994 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The first of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, it’s set in New Orleans and narrated by undead
LOUIS
de Pointe du Lac, eigthteenth-century plantation farmer turned
VAMPIRE
by the sinister
LESTAT
de Lioncourt (a French noblemen) and also featuring their “daughter” Claudia. In it, Rice establishes an original vampire mythos that diverges from the traditional
DRACULA
-based narrative (garlic and stakes won’t kill them, they can’t transform into
BAT
s) and presents instead the
NOSFERATU
as romantic, emotional, suffering creatures of great beauty and fluid sexuality with a fondness for art and fashion. So, basically, Goths. The book/film kickstarted a new era of sensitive vampire stories and further solidified New Orleans as a top choice for Goth Places to See Before You Die.

IPSO FACTO
1. Retailer of Goth/Industrial clothing and band merchandise based in California; founded by Goth singer Terri Kennedy in 1990. 2. Short-lived British all-girl band (2007–2009) with subtle Goth tendencies; keyboardist Cherish Kaya has since played with Florence and the Machine.

J., DAVID
British musician (né David J. Haskins, b. April 24, 1957) founding member of
BAUHAUS
and
LOVE AND ROCKETS
, the boy with the glasses, hanging in the background, holding it down on bass. (Stepping up to the mic on occasion, such as on L&R’s “No New Tale to Tell.”) Has also released music with The Jazz Butcher and several solo albums, plus worked in visual art, as a DJ, and composer of scores for film and theatre. He may not be nearly as gloomy in his solo work, but he still winks at his past, such as on the song “Goth Girls in Southern California” from his 2003 EP
Mess Up
, featuring too-true charming lyrics like: “The beach is a bitch and no fun / Goth girls don’t like that California sun.” Recent work includes the single “Bloodsucker Blues,” with
DARK CABARET
singer Jill Tracy.

JEANNIE NITRO
American clothing company, founded by designer Liz Tucker in 1993, specializing in
TRAD GOTH
and
ROMANTIGOTH
gowns of flowing
VELVET
and lace, including bridal and baby. Celeb clients include
TIM BURTON
and
NINA HAGEN
. No retail outlet, but the webstore is called The Bone Church.

JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC
Comic strip created by Goth Boy Jhonen Vasquez, appearing first in
CARPE NOCTEM
magazine then published by Slave Labor Graphics from 1995 to 1997. Goth in its black-and-whiteness, its black humour horror, and its
ÜBER
characters, including Anne Gwish, a
MORTICIA
-type stick figure girl who exists mostly as both a parody and a critic of the lifestyle. The fact that
JtHM
was once sold at mall chain
HOT TOPIC
is a reminder of the quaint times before
COLUMBINE
when it was still okay to make jokes about gothy serial killers.

JOY DIVISION
British
POST-PUNK
band, formed 1976, originally under the name Warsaw, by Bernard Sumner (guitars) and Peter Hook (bass), soon including
IAN CURTIS
(vocals) and Stephen Morris (drums). Some claim the first use of the G-word in a musical context was when producer Martin Hannett described their sound as “dancing music with Gothic overtones” in 1979. Some think they are the most Gothic of all because Curtis actually killed himself (May 18, 1980), as if depression and suicide are inherently Goth. No, Joy Division are heroes eternal for their small but seminal output. Two albums only,
Unknown Pleasures
and the posthumous
Closer
, that laid the groundwork for decades of sparse, eerie, baritone- and bass-heavy death disco about isolation, loss of control and love tearing us apart.

KAMBRIEL
American clothing designer of
VICTORIAN
-inspired elegant attire, since 1994.
GOTHIC BEAUTY
named her Designer of the Year in 2005 and her work was selected for the 2008 Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibit at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology Museum. Think bustles and mourning veils, with original updates as worn by
FAITH AND THE MUSE
,
AMANDA PALMER
,
NEIL GAIMAN
and others. Even
Elle
magazine has taken notice. Well done.

KAND, VALOR
American singer and musician, best known as the leader of L.A.
DEATH ROCK
icons
CHRISTIAN DEATH
. What’s that, you say? You thought that was
ROZZ WILLIAMS
? Well, that is true too. Valor, the band’s original guitarist, took over the mic when Rozz left in 1985, sparking a long-standing debate about which version of the band is worth your while. (If you’ve ever wanted to see Goths arm-wrestle, open this question.) Many do enjoy Valor’s equally provocative musings on religion, the apocalypse and sex on albums like
Pornographic Messiah
. Others find him pompous and lacking in poetry. Regardless, it is Valor who keeps Christian Death alive today.

KICKING THE SMURF
Sarcastic name for the dance move in which one kicks a leg out in front or to the side, low to the ground and with great fury. (The Smurf is imaginary, obviously.)

KIERNAN, CAITLIN R.
Irish-American author (b. May 26, 1964) of dark fantasy, horror and science fiction who is of great interest to Goths because she comes from inside the community herself. She even had a short-lived band, Death’s Little Sister. And thus, her misfit characters (Spyder Baxter in 1998’s
Silk
for just one) ring true for a change. Might be more widely known in the mainstream if her writing wasn’t so raw, so filled with the kind of sex and drugs that scare away people, but in a field where it’s easy to fill your stories with blood and guts, Kiernan would rather be gutsy. Also known to comic book fans for writing the
Sandman
spin-off
The Dreaming
, from 1996 to 2001.

KILLING JOKE
British
POST-PUNK
turned Goth/
INDUSTRIAL
band formed in 1978 by vocalist/keyboardist Jaz Coleman, drummer Paul Ferguson, guitarist Geordie Walker and bassist Youth. Despite the name, not all that funny. Rather, quite serious. About politics, about the occult (Jaz once moved to Iceland to escape the Apocalypse he believed imminent) and shocking the public into action, even if that meant using fascist iconography to do it. But on top of all this, an irresistible groove that has made them staples of dark dance floors through the 1980s (“Love Like Blood,” “Requiem”) and the 1990s (“Pandemonium,” “Millennium”). Too busy with more esoteric solo projects to bother with rock ’n’ roll much in the 2000s, until meeting at the funeral of one-time bassist Paul Raven in 2007 inspired a reunion of the original members. The 2010 recording
Absolute Dissent
shows they haven’t lightened up much. Good for them.

KILPATRICK, NANCY
American writer and editor of dark fantasy, horror, fantasy and mystery (b. May 6, 1899) now based in Montreal and known as Canada’s Queen of
VAMPIRE
Fiction for her many, many short stories, novels and general expertise on the
NOSFERATU
, most recently exhibited in the anthology
Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead
. (Under the pen names Amarantha Knight and Desirée Knight, also authored horror-themed erotica.) A genuine
ELDER GOTH
, lover of
CEMETERIES
and black cats, she is also an expert on
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
, having penned
GOTH BIBLE
: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined
.

KINDERGOTH
1. An underage, usually preteen, Goth
POSEUR
. Derogatory.
Compare:
Babybat
2. Comic strip about a gang of sarcastic
TATTOOED
Goth kindergarten kids who defend the Earth from alien invasion, created around 2001 by Lee Kohse and Jeff Zugale. 3. Plush toy line by
BLEEDING EDGE
, issued only for three seasons around 2003 before changing the name of the line to Minor Misfits.

KING, STEPHEN
American author (b. September 21, 1947). Could it be more exciting that the most well-read, bestselling storyteller of our time is a master of Gothic suspense? That he penned one of the scariest
VAMPIRE
tales ever with
Salem’s Lot
, as well as the horror classics
Carrie
,
The Shining
,
The Stand
, etc. etc.? No, it could not! King doesn’t need to wear black or write about Goths to be one of us.

KOHL
Cosmetic for lining or highlighting the eyes, commonly sold in pencil form. Used since the time of Ancient Egypt and traditionally made from crushed galena, a.k.a. poisonous lead sulfide. So, plenty of
GOTH POINTS
even long before
THEDA BARA
or
SIOUXSIE SIOUX
started slathering it on, or
EDWARD GOREY
penned the lines: “the Wanton, though she knows its danger / must needs smear Kohl about her eyes / and catch the attention of a stranger / with drawn-out, hoarse, erotic sighs.”
See also:
Eyeliner

KUKL
Icelandic
POST-PUNK
band formed 1983 and best known as the first group for Björk Guðmundsdóttir. The name means “witchcraft,” and their first single was a doomy, bass-driven
CURE
-ish number with church bells, translated as “dismembered,” from a debut album (
The Eye
) inspired by the pornographic George Bataille novella. So, despite the punk rock and art school philosophical roots and jazzy, avant guard tendencies, probably more Goth than they’ve been given credit for.

KUTNÁ HORA
City in the Czech Republic renown for its Gothness: the Gothic Stone Haus museum; St. Barbara’s Church, one of the world’s greatest examples of Gothic architecture; and the unbelievable Sedlec Ossuary, or “Bone Church,” decorated with the bones of up to 70,000 dead souls. (No, the bone chandelier is not for sale.) The city even has an annual Gothic festival. Not as in
PALE
faces in
FISHNETS
, as in costumed kings on horses and other historical re-enactments. If UNESCO had not already declared the place a world heritage site, we would have.