Ahh, those were the days, my formative years spent in basement rock clubs drenched in dry ice, the smell of patchouli, the floor sticky with spilled cider, and black and half-hidden figures rope dancing by the front of the low stage as three black-clad figures (and a drum machine) fire off gothic salvos of mystique and misery, ornamental sonics and obscure lyrics. What a time to be alive!
The Tuppenny couldn’t deliver all of that, but it was good to see the dress code still intact, even down to the impracticality of wearing sunglasses in an already low-lit room. Hey, all rock ‘n’ roll is theatre, and the goths always did it better than most.
Flowers of Sacrifice opened the night in fine style, with the requisite doomy basslines, contrasting razor-wire guitar sounds, electronic beats, and a vocalist ritually pulling his lyrics from a higher plane…or so it seemed. Apparently, these three guys have been serving the cause since, well, if not the golden age of the genre, a time when you were still able to bathe in the diffused light of that first stygian wave. If you were there, this show was time travel; if you weren’t, it set out the stall perfectly.
Goth bands always embraced the new technology; synths and drum machines held equal sway with guitars and basses in a way that it took the rock world a long time to get on board with. Deadlight Dance seemed to have taken this to the extreme. The band has its roots in acoustic covers of gothic classics. And although now they are well into a run of original albums, pretty much one a year, the duo’s use of digital effects to turn those same acoustic instruments into the requisite big and bombastic sound (alongside electric guitars and basses) is well worth experiencing. (Gothic mandolin is a surprising twist.)
Tim’s sonorous and often intricate bass lines blend riff, melody, and drive all in one delivery, the perfect core for the band’s sound, as Nick undertook guitars and much of the vocal duties. Underneath it all, electronic beats and haunting synth washes tethered the sound. Goth is such a broad and subjective term. It is fair to say that within the Deadlight sound there are darkwave delicacy, early synth groove and plenty of dance grooves – a reminder perhaps that goth and darkwave were never that far removed from alternative dance, the formative synth pop sound and a feral New Romantic vibe a million miles away from those that went overground and slipped effortlessly into chart-friendly sounds and Armani suits.
And if you needed proof that the electronic track and trickery weren’t merely a sonic crutch for the band, an unplugged, rousing cover of The Cult’s ‘Rain’ on mandocellos (the clue is in the name) sealed the deal as they wandered around the room serenading the crowd.
Both bands deserve to be seen in a bigger room, and with Flowers of Sacrifice having recently supported Balaam and the Angel, Claytown Troupe and (programmed TR-707 drum roll please) The March Violets and Deadlight Dance heading off to Morcambe’s Bat’s In the Attic Festival the next day, you will certainly get the chance. But even in this more compact and bijou space, both put on a great show, a nice nod to the past and, given the revival of post-punk’s darker corners, which is gathering pace in the grassroots and middle ground, particularly in the US, perhaps a nod to a dark tsunami to come.
We can but hope.
Picture thanks to Gideon Liddiard
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