Encyclopedia Gothica (8 page)

DAMNED, THE
British punk band formed in 1976 by singer
DAVE VANIAN
, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. Definitely predated Goth (they are credited with releasing the first punk recording with the single “New Rose”) but did much to put the idea out there of incorporating the macabre: Vanian dressed like a gentleman
VAMPIRE
and they wrote songs about horror movies, for example. But unlike a lot of the
BATCAVERS
to follow, The Damned were always fun. Their parody of the Beatles’
White Album
with their
Black Album
cover was fun. The whole 1985
ÜBERGOTH
major label breakthrough album
Phantasmagoria
was fun (“Grimly Fiendish!”). Heck, Captain Sensible’s biggest solo hit was called “Happy Talk.” Not so fun: the band’s repeated splits and hiatuses. Things seem to be back on track: 2008’s
So, Who’s Paranoid?
, featuring the single “Little Miss Disaster,” was cross-promoted with
EMILY THE STRANGE
. Fun.

DANCING FERRET
Concert production company in Philadelphia founded by DJ Ferrett (Patrick Rodgers) in 1995, runs the city’s oldest weekly Goth club night, Nocturne, and produces the annual
DRACULA’S BALL
. From 1998 to 2008, also operated Dancing Ferret Discs, an independent record label releasing
GOTHIC ROCK
,
INDUSTRIAL
and
SYNTHPOP
music, most notably the majority of
THE CRÜXSHADOWS
’ catalogue.

DANDY
A male preoccupied with sartorial elegance.
BYRON
was one;
BAUDELAIRE
too. Many
STEAMPUNK
and
ROMANTIGOTH
men could be considered modern dandies, concerned as they are with dressing sharp, acting proper and enjoying language and leisure. A tip of the fancy hat to them.

DANZIG, GLENN
American singer (né Glenn Allen Anzalone, b. June 23, 1955) founder of
THE MISFITS
,
SAMHAIN
and Danzig, lover of B-movies and Black Sabbath, sometimes called “Black Elvis.” A true
HORROR PUNK
and heavy metal icon, but about %666 too macho to be truly considered Goth. Don’t tell him I said that: he could crush us all.

DARK AMBIENT
Subgenre of
AMBIENT
electronic music originating in the 1970s that included many early
INDUSTRIAL
acts and is sometimes used interchangeably with
ETHEREAL
or
DARKWAVE
, but has become more connected to the metal scene than the Goth scene.

DARK CABARET
Revival of cabaret and burlesque theatrics mixed with a more punk or Goth musical styling, most often applied to
THE DRESDEN DOLLS
. Popularized by the 2005 compilation
Projekt Presents: A Dark Cabaret
.

DARK FAIRY
See:
Fairiegoth

DARKRAVE
Monthly DJ night held in Toronto since 1999, organized by DJ Lazarus. Bringing together
INDUSTRIAL
,
EBM
,
SYNTHPOP
, psytrance and other dark electronic genres and the day-glo backpack–carrying fans who love them, probably directly responsible for introducing the
CYBERGOTH
scene to Toronto. (Themes like “pirates vs. ninjas” encouraging creative costuming.) Any reference to the event as “dorkrave” by
TRAD GOTH
s in the area is mostly in jest. Mostly.

DARK REALMS
American magazine published from 2000 to 2008, exploring the “shadows of art, music and culture.” Edited by Mr. Dark with art direction by Christine Filipak and featuring covers by dark fantasy artist Joseph Vargo.

DARK SHADOWS
American television’s first and only Gothic soap opera, created by Dan Curtis and airing from 1966 to 1971. Gothic as in fog-drenched mansions, mad heroines, ghosts — and an alluring gentleman
VAMPIRE
named Barnabas Collins the likes of which pop culture had not yet seen. Syndication and cult status followed, but it wasn’t until
TIM BURTON
announced he was making a new feature starring
JOHNNY DEPP
as Barnabas that most modern Goths truly took notice.

DARK SIDE OF THE NET
Online database of links to Gothic and horror websites, curated by Carrie Carolin from 1993 to 2010. Carrie now maintains Darklinks, a blog and Twitter account focused on news.

DARKWAVE
1. Musical subgenre emerging from Europe in the 1980s and applied in the 1990s to new Goth bands with more
NEW WAVE
or
AMBIENT
tendencies, as opposed to rock ’n’ roll or
INDUSTRIAL
, also referred to as
ETHEREAL
. The North American darkwave scene was particularly promoted by New York label
PROJEKT RECORDS
, which used the term in its mail-order catalogue. 2. Montreal’s longest-running alternative/Goth/
NEW WAVE
music DJ night, currently held at the Club Sapphir.
See also:
Coldwave

DEAD CAN DANCE
Australian-British group founded in 1981 by singers/multi-instrumentalists
LISA GERRARD
and Brendan Perry. To
POST-PUNK
they added folk musics from around the globe and across the ages, creating a unique kind of exotic, hypnotic neo-classical hybrid perfect for
REN FAIR
s,
ROMANTIGOTH
fashion shows and general swooning. But it was the haunting ying/yang of their vocals that truly made DCD
ETHEREAL
icons. They split in 1998 but several excellent compilations exist for those who missed them the first time around: key tracks include Perry’s “The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove” and Gerrard’s “Yulunga (Spirit Dance).”
BAUHAUS
exquisitely covered their “Severance” on a 2005 reunion tour.

DEATH
Fictional character in the comic book series
The Sandman
, created by
NEIL GAIMAN
and Mike Dringenberg. A personification of Death itself in the guise of a pretty, perky,
PALE
girl in black jeans and a T-shirt, with black hair, black
EYELINER
swirls on her face and an
ANKH
pendant around her neck, it’s no wonder all the Goth Girls love her.

DEATH GUILD
Club night in San Francisco billed as the longest-running weekly Goth/
INDUSTRIAL
DJ night in the U.S., launched by DJ Decay in 1992.

DEATHHAWK
Goth version of a Mohawk hairdo, favoured by death rockers of both genders. As with the Mohawk, sides of the head are shaved or clipped super short, with a band of length left in the middle and forced upwards. Rather than sharply defined, heavily gelled spikes, the deathhawk is more of a tangled, teased mess. Techniques for putting it up involve
CRIMPING
,
BACKCOMBING
and loads of hairspray. Famous deathhawk wearers are Jonny Slut from
SPECIMEN
and model
RAZOR CANDI
.

DEATH ROCK
Musical subgenre that came after punk but before
GOTHIC ROCK
, sprung from Los Angeles around 1979, not unlike London’s
BATCAVE
scene. (Although the two wouldn’t know about each other ’til later.) It mixed the raw and aggressive energy of punk with spooky synths and horror tropes, but took itself way more seriously than the similar sounding
HORROR PUNK
s, as epitomized by its key band, the blasphemous art project
CHRISTIAN DEATH
. The term fell out of fashion in the 1980 and 1990s, but Cyber backlash inspired a revival, with new bands eager to explore the old-school sound and dedicated websites like
deathrock.com
and
deathrock.org
providing the guidance. Some use this term interchangeably with Gothic rock but it has little in common with
THE SISTERS
set.

DEETZ, LYDIA
Fictional character in
TIM BURTON
’s horror-comedy
Beetlejuice
(1988), a teenage Goth Girl played by a young and wide-eyed Winona Ryder. One of the best loved depictions of modern Goths in all of cinema: the self-described “strange and unusual” Deetz dresses all in black, practises photography and is the only one in her family who can see the ghosts haunting their home. A whole generation fell in love with Ryder after this, enough even to forgive her years later for nearly ruining Francis Ford Coppola’s
DRACULA
film with her laughably fake British accent.

DEMASK
Fashion designers specializing in high-end
LATEX
and leather wear, of the kind often seen on the cover of
Bizarre
magazine or at the fanciest of fetish balls. Founded in 1990 and operating retail shops in Amsterdam, Munich and Dortmund. (NYC’s East Village shop, R.I.P..) You need the perfect neck
CORSET
,
BATWING
leather
CLOAK
or pair of
RUBBER
pants that attach your penis directly to a full rubber hood worn by your partner? Demask has you covered, literally.

DEMONE, GITANE
American singer, musician and performance artist, best known as a vocalist/keyboardist for L.A.
DEATH ROCK
icons
CHRISTIAN DEATH
from 1983 to 1989. Her provocative interpretations of sex and surrealism have continued in a variety of musical and visual art experiments, but she will probably forever be remembered for the cover to her 1993 solo EP
Lullabies for a Troubled World
, on which she is shown blindfolded and pointing a gun at her own mouth.

DEMONIA
Footwear company responsible for about %90 of those big honking platform
buckle boots
seen on Goth girls and boys, as well as
CREEPERS
,
MARY JANE
s, sneakers, stilettos,
WINKLE PICKERS
for the Trads and literally hundreds of other styles of a somewhat extreme or alternative nature. (Also: sandals with skulls.) Part of the company Pleasure USA, “the world’s largest supplier of sexy shoes.” What’s really sexy is their budget price point, although that doesn’t make you feel any better when they start falling apart. Still, towering over the competition.

DENNY’S
Family restaurant chain that never closes, popular in America as an after-hours hang-out for Goth kids who need a place to stay up all night drinking coffee. Generally attracts a pretty low-rent crowd in the evenings so Goths can blend in, but getting hassled in or kicked out of a Denny’s is a sort of rite of passage too.

DEPP, JOHNNY
American actor (b. June 9, 1963), granted honourary Goth status for his gothy starring roles in
TIM BURTON
’s films
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
,
Sleepy Hollow
,
Sweeney Todd
and
DARK SHADOWS
. Because even Goths need someone whose pin-up they can put in their lockers.

DEPRESSION
The one stereotype about Goths that’s got to go: we’re no more or less depressed than any other segment of the population. Wearing mourning colours, writing despairing poetry and celebrating sadness through ridiculous interpretive dance is not the same thing as suffering from a mood disorder.

DEV, THE
London pub Devonshire Arms, located near
CAMDEN MARKET
, long a second home for Goth/
RIVETHEAD
types fancying a
SNAKEBITE
, horror-themed décor and the company of other dark souls. Or it was until 2007, when it was bought out and rebranded HobGoblin, more of a rock/metal bar, and its one-time strict
GOTH DRESS CODE
posted at the door was relaxed to simply “No Wankers.” While many regulars have boycotted the new joint, others still find it a decent place for a pre-concert meet-up. However, it seems long gone are the days when the bartender would draw a skull and crossbones into the foam of your Guinness.

DEVIANTART
Online community for user-generated artwork launched in 2000 and boasting more than 14 million members. A popular place for young Goth artists and photographers to upload and share their work; heavy on fantasy and anime type stuff.

DEVILOCK
Hairstyle associated with
HORROR PUNK
s, as popularized by Jerry Only of
THE MISFITS
, in which the back and sides are kept short but the bangs are worn long and slicked down over the middle of the face into a hard, exaggerated point. Mostly a guy thing. Also, a song by The Misfits from their 1983 album
Earth A.D.