Deathrock.com

Recently I read an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the newly named head of the Cleveland library system. In the article he mentioned that he used to play drums in an industrial band, THEATRE OF ICE, and it reminded me that originally most of the fanzines considered THEATRE OF ICE an industrial noise band. Which brings me to the subject of from hence did goth and death rock spring forth. Everyone agrees that it came from punk, or was it post-punk, or maybe it was glam... or was it industrial noise? In the 70's a lot of the genres that are so well defined today were used as descriptions of music. I went back and looked at some old reviews and articles about THEATRE OF ICE and the term industrial gets thrown around as much as any other descriptor.

Around 1976 I had the idea of starting a band that incorporated heavy machinery into music, especially farming equipment. I had thought that a hay baler would make a perfect rhythm track for a song... the same with milking machines and other various devices. I never quite did that (in retrospect I sure wish I had) but I did put a lot found sounds and banged on a lot of metal objects for percussion. Not sure just where that fits in with industrial music but a few years later when I heard the term being used to describe an entire genre of music I thought that the bands included in that genre were doing that type of stuff... merging the sounds of industry with regular intruments.



The link above is to the THEATRE OF ICE song "The Last" which at the time it was released was labeled as industrial. It's an example of what was considered industrial by the media back before 1980. Obviously the definitions of goth, deathrock, industrial have change over the years... but it appears an argument can be made to support the earliest deathrock sprang forth from industrial noise.

If for the American Gothic scene (Deathrock)
CHRISTIAN DEATH is the link between glam and deathrock...
and 45 GRAVE is the link between rock and deathrock...
then THEATRE OF ICE is the link between industrial and deathrock...

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"The GODFATHER of DARK PREP"

DON'T FORGET THE ICE

Wikipedia says "The band [45 Grave] evolved out of an industrial music band called Vox Pop, who recorded two singles and played around the Los Angeles area, specifically in the punk institution the Masque."

I never hated industrial but a lot of it sounds so crappy nowadays. Maybe I am just to lazy to find out about good new stuff I am sure it exist. Some of the old punk bands were very much industrial even before punk exploded in the late 70's. There was bands that could easily be called industrial. There is no denying the link...I could see it.

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I'm definitely over simplifying the whole thing. The term industrial got applied to anyone who was even slightly experimental or noisy. Especially if they had that big pistons and cogs chugga chugga sound going on.

If memory serves me right VOX POP hit the scene around 1978 and was gone by 1981... 45 GRAVE hit around 1980. I always considered THE CONSUMERS to be the true origins of 45 GRAVE... The CONSUMERS started around 1977 and that was more rock via ALICE COOPER than industrial.

THEATRE OF ICE began as THE FARMERS... around 1976 but by 1977-1978 they were already the BLEEDING HEARTS.

I don't think the time-line means as much as what scene the bands were coming from. 45 GRAVE was definitely coming from the Phoenix punk rock scene and THEATRE OF ICE came from out of the Nevada desert (no scene there) and was therefor much more experimental

_________________
"The GODFATHER of DARK PREP"

DON'T FORGET THE ICE

The origins of ag(g)rotech, ladies and gentlemen!

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http://www.myspace.com/deprivationchambercz

Quick response: Thank you for posting the links to earlier TOI industrial tunes.

I'll post a longer response on the subject tomorrow after I get some sleep.

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Always write first things uppermost in the heart.

I really think it had possiblities... melding farm equipment into music. I used drive up and down those fields in the wee hours of the night, pulling that hay baler behind me and writing song in my head... doubt I could even get access to a baler nowadays. I could have been famous... I could have been a contender

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"The GODFATHER of DARK PREP"

DON'T FORGET THE ICE

As a rural goth/noise listening kid, this brings me so much nostalgic joy. Makes me think of being back home and using deer bones to bang around metal junk I found in the woods back on the meatgrinder album.

RURAL GOFFS 4 LYFE

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HIGH FIVE BRO!










Thought I was the only one.......

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It does. If not for originality, it would be great source to mangle, mutilate and twist in post-processing, I can imagine it would create some awesome soundscapes.
You just gave me an idea for next song.

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http://www.myspace.com/deprivationchambercz

I admit that my generally negative view of industrial music has been skewed by the fact that a lot of modern industrial music is simply terrible. That said, my first thought upon listening to Chrome some time back was "Wait a minute, this can't be industrial, this actually sounds good. And sort of punky."

So, yeah, I can definitely see how there may have been a connection between industrial and deathrock/goth in the good old days and the terms may have even been used almost interchangeably, but as with deathrock/goth the music has developed so far from its origins that hardly any similarity exists between modern goth and industrial.

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GOTH IS A VERB

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http://www.myspace.com/deprivationchambercz

Oh shit ratpick, we never got you into the GOOD old industrial shit?

OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAN

This threads gonna be fuuuuun.

Yo:

THROBBING GRISTLE
NEGATIVLAND (not many people think they're an industrial band, but fuck em.)
SPK
NON
MONTE CAZZAZZA
NURSE WITH WOUND
TEST DEPT.
EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN
SCRAPING FOETUS OFF THE WHEEL
Ã…;GRUMH...
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE
NITZER EBB
TWITCH ERA MINISTRY (by which I mean the band ministry during the album twitch-but wouldn't "Twitch Era Ministry" be such a good name for a band?)
HALFLER TRIO
ZOVIET FRANCE

Go from here, boys!

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You should add some albums as well, cause some of these bands can bep retty hard to get into if he grabs just a random album, especially SPK, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. Nurse With Wound are also pretty hit-and-miss, for example the latest single was pure unspeakable trash.

For me.. usually those are the more noisy bands, and not only "pure" industrial stuff..
Current 93 - I Have A Special Plan For This World (GET THIS NOW AND I'M SERIOUS!)
Sickness of Snakes/93C93 - Nightmare Culture
Brighter Death Now
IRM
Whitehouse
Herpes Ö Deluxe
Nicole 12 (well, some of it. Substitute has couple of good songs, otherwise don't bother)
Raison D'Etre
some Dahlia's Tear stuff
Psychic TV (some of it.. Hex Sex: The Singles may be good place to start)
Coil
Our Love Will Destroy The World
Cedric Fermont's projects (Kirdec, The Klank of Črno Migs, C-drík..)
Einleitungszeit
Diagnose: Lebensgefahr
Leather Nun (Slow Death 12'' only)
The Christopher Drexler Experiments *licks balls*

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http://www.myspace.com/deprivationchambercz

By the way, Capt'n, I have an audience recording of Zoviet France from around '97 in Prague, do you want it? It sounds quite nice, altho I didn't hear it all yet.

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http://www.myspace.com/deprivationchambercz