WANTED: Adverts for album & single releases.

To all bands & artists out there who might happen across this (hopefully widely shared) post.

I just had a thought. An epiphany, if you will.

If a band can record an album or single for public release, why not take the time to record an *advert* for its public release?
I play the same advert halfway through my show every week. It's nice and all, but wouldn't it be more fitting if I spared that 30-second break for something more appropriate and most of all, different?

So, to set the standard, if there are any bands or artists in the goth & dark alternative scene who have material coming out and who are prepared to record a short, preferably 30 seconds or so advert for it, I will play it on my show. It's not out of your ability to make, and really wouldn't be a waste of time to make, it might even be fun to do. I always appreciate your promos, and I'm happy to go that one step further if you will.

I'm also throwing this idea out to everyone else who presents a show, podcast, mix or whatever, wouldn't it be good to have not just promos, but the artists themselves plugging their music on your production?

Sanctuary playlist - WGW 31st Oct 2013

Derived from the Facebook page of martin oldgoth

https://www.facebook.com/martin.oldgoth

Sanctuary playlist - WGW 31st Oct 2013

November 6, 2013 at 4:37pm

Well, looks like the first Sanctuary night was a success..  thanks to the DJ's on both floors, and to Dead Eyes Opened and Berlin Black for two great sets. We made £807.50 for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.  Huge thanks also to Esk Audio who provided the PA and gave us a great sound.. Here's the music from the main floor..

 

martin oldgoth

Cocteau Twins - Lorelei

Miranda Sex Garden - Ardre Tempre

Autumn - How It Came To Be This Way

This Burning Effigy (with Julianne Regen)- Exquisite

The Eden House - Timeflows

Red Sun Revival - Nothing to Hide

Razor Skyline - Sahara

The Creatures - 2nd Floor

 

Cruel Britannia

Star Industry - Last Crusade

Rosetta Stone - Something Strange

Grooving in Green - Stranglehold

The Wake - Sheet Metal Eyes

Hatesex - Unwant

Play Dead - Propaganda

Loud - D Generation

Faith and the Muse - Relic Song

Kindred Spirits - Freakshow

Marionettes - Like Christobel

Still Patient? - Bad Dreams

Blacklist - Dawn of the Idols

 

** Dead Eyes Opened **

 

DJBen

Rhombus - Here Be Dragons

Last Cry - Haunting Me

Chapman Family - Anxiety

Savages - She Will

Panda Club - All I Need

B Movie - Echoes

 

** Berlin Black **

 

Bauhaus - She's in Parties

The Cure - Fascination Street

Fields of the Nephilim - Chord of Souls (r)

Killing Joke - Love Like Blood (12") (r)

New Model Army - Lights Go Out (US remix)

The Cult - Rain (12")

 

Cruel Britannia

Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire

The Mission - Garden of Delight

Cardiacs - Is This The Life

Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The Last Dance - Do You Believe in Angels?

Bellwether Syndicate - 101 Go

Bauhaus - Sanity Assassin

 

DJBen

Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection

Rosetta Stone - Adrenaline (mainline mix)

The Editors - Papillon

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

Corpus Delicti - Saraband

Suspiria - Allegedly Dancefloor Tragedy

Joy Division - Transmission

Fields of the Nephilim - Psychonaut

The Cure - Hundred Years

Chameleons - Don't Fall

 

martin oldgoth

Siouxsie - Cities in Dust (r)

The Stranglers - Peaches (r)

X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage, Up Yours

The Cramps - Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?

Bombay Royale - You Me Bullets Love

Sisters of Mercy - Alice

Marionettes - Ave Dementia

 

Cruel Britannia

All About Eve - Every Angel

Torpedoes - Twisted Love Song

Adoration - Slow Motion

Pretentious Moi? - The Haunting

Solemn Novena - Faerytale

Dream Disciples - O.P.S

The Bolshoi - Away

 

DJBen

Eyes of the Nightmare Jungle - Shadowdance

Angels of Liberty - Black Madonna

Nightwish - Over The Hills and Far Away

The Cure - Just Like Heaven

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Happy House

Savages - Shut Up

March Violets - Snakedance

Terminal Gods - Electric Eyes

Foreign Resort - Take A Walk

O Children - Ruins

Bellicose Minds - Visions of Pain

The Mission - Wasteland

Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

Fadeout; a bit of a makeover

Upcoming music: Carnival Star

My friend Producer Mark is behind a brand new musical project called Carnival Star.

Carnival Star is a post-punk / gothic rock studio project assisted by a collective of musicians and very soon (as in a few days) you'll be able to hear some of the fruits of a several-month long period of blood, sweat & tears.

I was asked (quite foolishly, given that I talk such a lot of rubbish) to lend a few words of support for a Carnival Star promotional drive. Here's what part of that drive looks like:

If you want to learn more about Carnival Star, use the links below.

http://carnival-star.com

http://www.twitter.com/Carnival_Star

http://www.facebook.com/CarnivalStar

https://soundcloud.com/Carnival-Star

UPDATE: since this blog post went live, you can now buy two tracks by Carnival Star on Bandcamp right here: http://carnivalstar.bandcamp.com/

Why I couldn't watch Netflix tonight.

Me: *turns on PC to watch Netflix*
PC: Hi. Sorry, but I have a bunch of important updates...
Me: Really? I only want to watch a film. Does it have to be done this precise moment?
PC: Yeah, it's kinda urgent stuff, really...
Me: Okay then, but be real quick about this. I'm off out tonight, I just want to have an hour to myself before I rush about getting ready...
PC: No probs. Hit OK and I'll get on with it.
Me: *clicks the OK button and let's it get on with it.
PC: I need to restart.
Me: Of course you do...here, I'll restart you *sigh*
PC: *restarts, does stuff, restarts itself again, gets to logon screen. 20 painful minutes have passed.*
Me: Okay, logged in. Can I watch my damn film now?
PC: I have an important update.
Me: FFS!!! You just installed a ton of them and took your damn time doing it! Why is there one more? Couldn't you have just installed it before?
PC: No, because...well...look, I just couldn't. You wouldn't understand. It's really tiny, only 379Kb, it'll take no time at all, honest.
Me: *sigh* OKAY. Get it done. I'm running out of damn time here.
PC: *update takes unusually long time to download 379Kb*
Me: REALLY? REALLY????
PC: I'm working on it-don't pressure me! .........OKAY. IT'S DONE.
Me: *by now, near to tears* Can I watch the film now please???
PC: Yes of course, no problem. I just need to reboot first...
Me: *Says nothing. Reboots. Smoke leaks from ears. Logs on.*
PC: Hi...
Me: *Turns off Windows Update.*

Ministry of Dipshit Legal Maneouvres.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23956750#

In which a record label that produces compilation albums but doesn't own the rights to the music it uses, sues a streaming service because it can be used by people to compile playlists which can replicate the order in which tracks might appear on their compilation albums.

Life imitating an Ally McBeal episode, much?
Get a fucking grip, record companies. You're practically dead in the water as it is.

Vapour Trials.

Today, the fate of E-cigarettes and their use in the UK hangs in the balance. Its (rather badly) reported on here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22867161.

For their part, the BBC are doing a very good job at demonising the use of E-cigs-the focus on their mission today must be 'Go tabloid or go home'.

 

I've been a user of them since March and I haven't been near all but two real cigarettes in all that time. They're a real godsend as far as I'm concerned. But this new found method of making me last a few more years for the sake of the kids is predictably, under fire from the ever more sinister and growing police state that is the UK & European superpowers.

There are two issues which I understand as being problems:

1.      There are no age restrictions on buying e-cigs. Of course, manufacturers are being real dicks about it and making brightly coloured e-cigs to deliberately attract younger customers. This needs to stop, seriously.
And all governemt. has to do? Restrict the age limit for buying them, just like cigarettes. Done.

2.      There are no controls on what goes into e-cig juice. All sorts of stuff could be in them (albeit no more dangerous than the cr@p already in real cigarettes I might add). There are also no controls on monitoring how much nicotine is actually in them-just because ot says 18mg on the bottle, is it REALLY 18mg?
So fine, regulate that. Nobody really wants to inhale unmonitored poison anyway. I'd rather my e-cig juice was made properly.

What the EU & UK *won't* do is either of the above. They'll likely address the issue by banning general sale altogether and make it far more difficult to buy other than online from unregulated suppliers, and anything they do allow you to buy will be so hiked up in price that it would be cheaper to start smoking again. Which keeps that tax rolling in.

Unsurprisingly, this subject has been handled far better overseas outside of Europe.
I'd love for the UK & EU busy-bodies to prove me wrong, but let's face it; at about 1pm GMT today, they probably won't.

World Goth Fair: It turned out ever so slightly better than we expected...

So, World Goth Fair in Second Life has pretty much now come to a close. the Cursed event is shut, Port Seraphine is still open for the moment.

The initial figures are in and there will be a blog post on the WGF website tomorrow, But what I can tell you now is that right at the 11th hour we apparently broke the *1 million Linden Dollar barrier*, which in real currency terms is over $3500 (or over £2500).

Of that, a staggering 83360L was made in the licensed t-shirts due to 2084 separate sales of 40L per shirt (there appears to be a lot of gamblers in Second Life). This comes to over $300 or £200.

Obviously, this isn't the final figure, is approximate & doesn't take into consideration the commission cuts that Linden Labs & Paypal will take, but I think you'll agree that this is a pretty hefty sum. The final figures will be available to us soon enough, but...WOW.

On a shopping mission (or, Children Of The Quorn)

I couldn't think of anything funny to say about this; it writes its own jokes.
It's the dark overlord of goth Wayne Hussey doing his shopping.
You're welcome.

 

All my Mixcloud mixes, ever...

Obviously.

Bank Holidays. You gotta love 'em.

My Regular Show Roundup

In amongst all the insanity that has been World Goth Day activities, it can be easy to forget I actually have regular shows to tune in to, so here's a brief roundup.

FADEOUT goes out on Phoenix Radio every Saturday evening at 7.00pm GMT-just hit the 'Listen Now!' page at www.phoenixradio.co.uk or stream it directly from your media player using this URL: http://icecast.easystream.co.uk:8000/PhoenixRadio

Of course, if you miss that, you can grab the FADEOUT PODCAST after it airs from http://fadeout.podomatic.com at about 8.00pm GMT (give it a few minutes to cook, cool and all that)

CRUEL BRITANNIA'S HAUNTED WARDROBE goes out on Nightbreed Radio, which you can visit at http://nightbreedradio.com to listen in or stream on your media player using this URL: http://199.101.51.168:8010

The scheduled airing is frequent, so take a look at what time suits you to tune in. If none of those times suit you, you can always grab it on demand at http://mixcloud.com/nightbreedradio/ too.

I have a Second Life DJ set too, because apparently, I don't ever rest.
You can listen to AFTER HOURS @ CLUB GOTHIKA every Thursday night at 10.00pm GMT by streaming it in your media player using this URL: http://aqua.neostreams.info:8036/.
If you have a Second Life account and feel like joining me, you can use this SLURL to hop straight in: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cursed/39/208/23.

If you still have a craving for shows after all that, you can dig deep through the rest of the shows on Podomatic or hit my website at http://cruelbrit.co.uk/, where I've archived a ton of old shows alongside various mixes, remixes and other goodies

So in conclusion, here's a rundown of descriptions for each show:
Fadeout: a weekly hour-long dark alternative show & podcast on Phoenix Radio.
Cruel Britannia's Haunted Wardrobe: a monthly hour-long goth show & Mixcloud cast on Nightbreed Radio.
After Hours @ Club Gothika: a weekly live 2 hour-long DJ set in Second Life.

Sinister Sunday: The DJ Sets

Sinister Sunday, 5th May 2013 @ Chamelon Arts Cafe, Nottingham

DJs:

*Po [Nottingham]

*Lee (The Scream) [Birmingham]

*Cruel Britannia [Telford]

Total DJ set length: 19.30 - 00.15

Po:

Dreadful Shadows-True Faith (Live)

Conspiracy-Plague God

New Model Army-Hunt (Live)

Inkubus Sukkubus-Take My Hunger

Beauty Of Gemina-Scarifice To The Falls

 

Lee (The Scream)

The Sisterhood-Finland White

Bauhaus-The Passion Of Lovers

Play Dead-The Tenant

Siouxsie & The Banshees-Nicotine Stain

Killing Joke-Complications

The Cramps-What's Inside A Girl?

The Damned-Democracy

Joy Division-Love Will Tear Us Apart

 

DJ Cruel Britannia

Blacklist-Dawn Of The Idols

Rhombus-Almost Everything

The Cold-Summernight

Loud-D Generation

Dream Disciples-Obigatory Pop Song

Faces Of Sarah-All That Is Divine

O Children-Malo

 

Po

Funhouse-Voices

Siouxsie & The Banshees-Night Shift (Live)

Pretentious, Moi? The Garden

Angels Of Liberty-Talk About Nothing

Plastique Noir-Creepshow

Play Dead-Walk Away (Live)

 

Lee (The Scream)

Rosetta Stone-Adrenaline

Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle-Shadowdance

James Ray-Texas

The Cult-Phoenix

Lords Of The New Church-Dance With Me

The Mission-Serpents Kiss

Sisters Of Mercy-First & Last & Always

Joy Division-A Means To An End

 

DJ Cruel Britannia

Chatshow-Kings Of Confusion

Gene Loves Jezebel-Desire

Specimen-Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Rose Of Avalanche-Too Many Castles

The Wake-Sideshow

Switchblade Symphony-Bad Trash

You Shriek-No Heroes

 

Po

New Model Army-Christian Militia (Live)

Salvation-Listen To My Heart

The Last Cry-Punishment

Merry Thoughts-Second Generation

The Mission-And The Dance Goes On

Claytown Troupe-Hey Lord

 

Lee (The Scream)

Danielle Daxx-Cathouse

Salvation-All And More

Big Electric Cat-Paris Skyes

March Violence-Snake Dance

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry-Walking On Your Hands

Miserylab-Making A Bomb

PWEI-There Is No Love Between Us Anymore

The Cure Disintegration

 

Po

Demented Are Go-Love Seeps Like A Festering Sore

The Cramps-Heartbreak Hotel

Die Krupps-Iron Man

The Bellwether Syndicate-All Fire

Killing Joke-Blood On Your Hands

Stranglers-5 Minutes

 

DJ Cruel Britannia

Cardiacs-Is This The Life?

Siouxsie & The Banshees-Cities In Dust

Grooving In Green-Dirt

The Eden House-To Believe In Something

Timezone-World Destruction

Bauhaus-Sanity Assassin

Torpedoes-Twisted Love Song

Lee's Law of Microwaves

Like any area of life, science has rules, constants or laws. Today I have discovered three as yet unstated events and have named them Lee's Law of Microwaves.

Lee's Law of Microwaves are:

1. All recipes for microwaveable meals will contain suggested cooking times for ovens incompatible with your power rating, eg. if the suggested cooking time is 2mins 30secs for 800W or 1min 15secs for 1000W, it is likely you own an 850W oven.

2. Where the contents of a cup are being heated by a microwave, the heating process will complete when the handle of the cup faces the furthest point from the door.

3. If clingfilm or other covering is used during the heating process, this is automatically regarded as a 'challenge' by the microwave. As a result, the most liquid and/or adhesive component of the food will be used to breach the weakest point of contact of the covering with the container until the liquid and/or adhesive component makes permanent contact with the glass plate underneath the container.

So there you go. I've done science so you don't have to.

KFK 35th Anniversary Tour San Diego show

I'll be grabbing a Fadeout interview with Patrik soon to talk about the upcoming tour too. Watch this space...

The DJ; The Reality TV Celeb of the music world?

I'm a little confused as a DJ.

I just saw an advert for a dance compilation "as mixed by (insert random DJ here)". The advertisement's focus appeared to be entirely about the *DJ*, not the musicians responsible for the music itself, without which this guy would just be a bloke standing in front of some shiny gadgets.

I've never got this concept in all the time I've been er, inserting a CD, pressing play and shoving another CD on while that one plays, with the end result of following the current song with one that is similar.
No really, that's it. No magic. No pyrotechnics. Just a bloke who can press the 'play' button on a CD player seemingly better than others according to some unknown quantification of opinions.

Now, granted, I do not beatmatch. I assume that there is some modicum of talent around making two tempos the same and blending one CD into the other. I imagine it's a real shitter to do it with vinyl. Call me cynical, but I imagine that the job is made a whole load easier if a laptop is involved. I could be wrong-I have never tried it.
I'm lucky; I need not bother myself with such shenanigans. Goth is expected to be this loose, fluid arrangement of emotions, rhythms and noise that has a beginning and an end that people recognise. I'm grateful for this of course because anyone who knows me knows that my grasp on timing is less than favourable-a NASA computer couldn't help me beatmatch. But I digress.

How on earth did we get to the point where DJs get as much, if not more famous than the musicians that put them there?

How is it that this guy whose name I've already forgotten, gets a higher billing on a Ministry of Shyte dance compilation advert than the people who made the oonzty-boom-boom-gerbil-voice stuff? I mean, it wasn't him who put in the hours & money required to make this music, which despite not being my cup of tea, mostly had artistic reasons behind its making?

Don't get me wrong; I quite like that people appreciate & compliment me on whatever the heck it is I'm doing every week on various stations. That sort of recognition has got me doing some incredible events & experiencing some even more incredible moments over the years. For all of that I am more than just a little grateful. But christ only knows, I'm realistic about it.

I'm extremely aware that it's the people who write & perform the music who really *make* the shows, not me. I'm just the grout between the tiles, mate. I'd be awfully uncomfortable if I was billed at the same level as the artists themselves for essentially doing a tiny fraction of the work they did at an event or by some weird quirk of fate, a goth compilation album.

Maybe I'm wrong about it all. But it just seems a bit...odd.

Emergency Exit Festival 2013

(I'm posting this for Lilly because she's great.)

The Emergency Exit Festival enters it's second round on March 30-31st 2013.

As with the first Emergency Exit Festival, the venue is the Schlachthaus in Dornbirn, Austria, close to the border of Germany and Switzerland. This time it is extended with the café of the youth center, where you can sit down for eating, drinking and talking. This time there will be several label's offering merch next to the band merch in a separate room.

The hosts are none less than the Static Magazin Germany, who have gained an excellent reputation with their online magazine, booking, events and lots of other campaigns for more than 3 years now.
Also and the New Old Way Party, which has consistently kept its "Goth rock only" program for more than 6 years in the 3 country zone. So it's no surprise, that the line-up is a Goth rock and Post Punk Fest at its best. From long-established heroes to younger high achievers, everything can be found here. The following bands will perform at the Emergency Exit Festival 2013:

Grooving in Green (UK)
With their debut album "Post Traumatic Stress", Grooving in Green have already earned a relatively large fan base which, could be extended by the new album "Stranglehold". You can easily hear that the two guitarists already strummed the strings with Children On Stun. To perfect the line-up, they recruited singer Tron (ex-Solemn Novena) , who also takes care, that the Stun-mark is maintained while giving it a very new sound.

Red sun Revival (UK)
Mastermind Rob Leydon is not an unknown within the Gothic Rock scene. He has already proven that he's right for this genre, while a part of Voices of Masada,. With Red Sun Revival he tops it once more; combining soft Neo-Folk / Classical influences, with Gothic Rock, comparable to Fields of The Nephilim. Aimed guitars, a comfortable violin, solid drums and a strong bass perfect the interplay.

The Stompcrash (IT)
A rather new band, but one, you should keep an eye on, has already formed in Mailand in 2002. With their different styles, every song gets its own note and and a different feeling of , what they want to express with their lyrics, that are often about love and death. The sound is, partly reminiscent of, the early 80s, when bands such as The Cure, The Mission and Siouxsie & The Banshees called out a new age with great Gothrock and Post Punk. But in no way do they just copy the sound, instead giving their its very own touch.

The Last Cry (UK)
The Last Cry have already enjoyed great popularity. Their debut album "Walking to The Edge" already counts as a classic of modern UK Goth rock / Dark Wave. With their intensive live performance, which is very hard to describe, yet extremely intoxicating, they already found a lot of new fans at the Emergency Exit Festival 2012. The high demand for the band eased the decision, to invite them to the Emergency Exit Festival again, and to let them play as the headliner.

Twisted Nerve (UK)
Thise Scottish legend of Post Punk of the very first hour, has already caught a lot of attention on the European continent. For the Emergency Exit Festival they leave their coffins once more, to bring us their live set which ,has entertaineds parties and pulleds the people onto the dance-floors for over 30 years. Here you can experience music history!

Berlin Black (UK)
Mastermind Chris Tuke has been striking terror into people's hearts for a number of years. In the early 2000s he rocked the stage on guitar and the bass with Screaming Banshee Aircrew, always looking for new challenges. The challenge was found on the microphone, which he perfectly masters, as none else, nowadays. Musically Berlin Black are in a twilight zone, somewhere between Bauhaus and Theatre of Hate... Shrieking guitars and an enormous voice make the tone here.

Aeon Sable (GER)
It gets harder and harder to find the right words, to describe the mixture of classic and modern elements of the Essen-based gothic rock duo Aeon Sable – the perception of this form of music is too different .. Aeon Sable achieve once more the balancing act between 80s flair and progressive gothic rock, without becoming icky or drift away into popular cliches.

The Festival gets support by Djs out of every corner of Europe once again.
DJ martin oldgoth, one of the best-known Djs within the Goth rock scene, with more than 30 years of DJ experience, will take care of fitting music between and at the aftershow party. He will be supported by DJ Cyberpagan, who works on the preservation of guitar-goth with years of experience as a DJ and promoter. DJ Gianfranco from Italy organizes concerts and festivals here and also organizes a lot in Italy, will be supporting them as well. The local DJs Illi (NOW Party) and Exciter (Static Magazin) will be behind the turntables now and then as well. A DJ line-up is as promising as the band line-up!

More info:
http://www.staticmagazingermany.com
http://staticmagazingermany.bandcamp.com
http://www.af-music.de
E-Mail contact:
lilly@staticmagazingermany.com
enrico@staticmagazingermany.com
eef@staticmagazingermany.com