my "goth" night out

Last night I went to a show. It was marketed as an all-ages goth extravaganza, but I went to see Hate in the Box.

I didn't dress up, as I felt I should for a "goth extravaganza" but I was wearing the long black skirt that I wore to work, and I always have my bat-too. That's pretty goth on it's own.
Plus the orange hair. When I bought the dye, I was told it glows under a blacklight. It didn't matter; I would never test this theory. That's where I was wrong. There were blacklights galore in the downstairs lounge of CBGBs, and I was told by one Rainbow Blight that my hair "glowed like mad." Of course I couldn't see it myself, but orange hair is orange hair, and awesome no matter what. Also glowing in the blacklight were my green nails and Craig's vodka tonic. Blacklights are so fun in moderation.

As it was an all ages goth show, I was expecting to see many more 15 year old boys with dyed black greasy hair and Bauhaus t shirts, but I actually didn't see anyone like that. Maybe they left before I got there at 11. There was a nice mix of victorian goth women (a few actually wore velvet! In this heat!), metalhead guys, fratboys, and lots of people I can't classify so easily. I myself fit in with this last group. But that's cool, if I wanted to go to a pure-sterotype-fest, I'm sure I could find one.

I caught Dust, the band right before HITB. They were very standard goth-industrial, and barring the sound problems, I had no strong feelings one way or the other towards them. The thing about goth-indust music is that it is generally not good live. It is much better listened to on a cd in a teenager's room while comtemplating dramatic suicides that will never come to fruition. Not that all goth kids are like that, but you know I like to stereotype.

So we sat in our chair (one big chair between Craig & I) drinking our glowing drinks and looking at our glowing nails during this short set. When they ended, we moseyed closer to the tiny stage to see HITB. I've been promising to go to a HITB show for decades, but this was the first time I actually got off my lazy duff and made the trek. (By trek, of course I mean the 15 minute ride on the J train and walking the few blocks to CBGB.)

HITB is very theatrical and energetic, and this tiny stage was too tiny to contain them. Optimus Crime kept coming very close to hitting his head. Blight kept narrowly missing the other members of the band while jumping around. They sounded great, and this is definitely a band that is better live than on cd. And They sound great recorded, so live is quite a feat. The set was maybe too short, but it was a long show all around. Since HITB play fairly often in their home town (that I share) I will definitely see them again in a larger venue with a longer set. Normally they have all sorts of fun/evil props, but again - tiny stage. Even Craig had fun, and he's definitely not the goth-indust type. Of course, HITB isn't clearly defined as goth-indust themselves. This from their myspace site:

"... their music is often likened to punk, rock, goth, and industrial while angering the purists of each! Theatrical and comical, they are an anime rock band brought to monstrous life, with a frontwoman that's a cross between gothic lolita and Tank Girl."

Everyone should go see them, all the time.

After HITB came Voltaire, the "premier goth satirist." It was just him and an acoustic guitar, singing songs he wrote, and he was funny. One might say deliciously funny. His songs were catchy and sounded great. I had the song "Brains" (from the cartoon "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy") in my head all night - after the show we went for pizza and then went home. The song was in my head that whole time. Even though we left early because of our pizza-demanding stomachs, Voltaire was great and everyone should be on the lookout for an appearance. Another HITB / Voltaire show is demanded by the masses, and when it happens, everyone should be there.

So, I had fun times. Good fun times.