Yep, back from my first ever Whitby - I did say they'd have to book me to play for me to go there, and this year they did, so I kinda had no choice really
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see that's the thing - I know (most) goths like to dress up, but like I said when I got into the goth scene (a LOOONG time ago, admittedly) nobody would have accepted or admitted that clothes came before the music... and that's the way it should have stayed IMO; without the music there would have never been any scene in the first place after all.
What I really don't understand is why people have to go to Whitby to dress up, and more importantly why they have to do it specifically on those 2 weekends of the year - I mean there's plenty of fancy dress events (themed and non themed) up and down the country all year round, isn't it cheaper and better for the people who are into dressing up to go to those instead? That way scruffy, cynical, moaning, piss-taking bastards like me won't get in their way and they won't get in the way of music fans; you wouldnt have to book your accommodation 6 years in advance to avoid ending up having to stay in Leeds or further afield, everyone would get what the go there for and everyone would win.
Like I said, each to their own but if this is the goth scene I don't want to have anything to do with it.
D
PS Carter have live guitars and vocals, despite what some people say - the rest is on backing tracks ok, but that's no more than yer average goth band (including mine ;-) ) has on tape - I've seen them before back in the day and I like to think i can tell when somebody mimes ;-)
I've seen them twice - first ime was 16 years ago and they sang live, second time was 12 years ago and they mimed. Can't speak for what they do now :)
You're a musician, so obviously you're going to consider the music to be more important than everything else. I'm not. Recently I enjoy photographing bands live far more than watching them live. Watching them live just reminds me how I'm getting old, and how I used to be able to get into it far more when I was younger. There's many goths who never go to live gigs. This doesn't make me any less of a goth in my heart. But I'm not sure what we're really arguing over/debating here. If it's just the Smurfs then I totally agree with you, cos that just aint goth in anyone's eyes, but if you're complaining that some of the women looked too good/had too much makeup/had too big dresses or that too many blokes were wearing top hats then I still don't see why you care. The fetish scene is similar - a lot of people complain that there's too much dressing up and not enough kinkyness, and that TG has just become a tourist fashion parade. But the TG annual party or the Skin2 Rubber ball always sells out 2,000 tickets at £35 each because a lot of people want the opportunity to dress up more than any other weekend of the year. They don't do it to watch the performances. If you're not one of them fine - no-ones saying you have to be, but why have a problem with other people enjoying themselves that way?
I don't (have a problem with people enjoying themselves), I just fail to see what dressing up in all sorts of costumes (the smurf and pink fluffy bear are the most extreme examples, but whether they looked good or not, goth or not is besides the point) has to do with a music festival, that's all. And like I said I thought the goth scene, like all other subcultures born between the early 70s and the mid/late-90s, was a music scene BEFORE and MUCH MORE THAN anything else - I'm obviously wrong now, though I know for a fact that it once was.
I guess what I'm saying is that the 2 events (music festival and fancy dress weekend) might as well be completely separate and held on different dates, so the 2 sets of people wouldnt get in each other's way and (presumably) both would have more fun.
What I really don't understand is why people have to go to Whitby to dress up, and more importantly why they have to do it specifically on those 2 weekends of the year - I mean there's plenty of fancy dress events (themed and non themed) up and down the country all year round, isn't it cheaper and better for the people who are into dressing up to go to those instead? That way scruffy, cynical, moaning, piss-taking bastards like me won't get in their way and they won't get in the way of music fans; you wouldnt have to book your accommodation 6 years in advance to avoid ending up having to stay in Leeds or further afield, everyone would get what the go there for and everyone would win.
Like I said, each to their own but if this is the goth scene I don't want to have anything to do with it.
D
PS Carter have live guitars and vocals, despite what some people say - the rest is on backing tracks ok, but that's no more than yer average goth band (including mine ;-) ) has on tape - I've seen them before back in the day and I like to think i can tell when somebody mimes ;-)
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You're a musician, so obviously you're going to consider the music to be more important than everything else. I'm not. Recently I enjoy photographing bands live far more than watching them live. Watching them live just reminds me how I'm getting old, and how I used to be able to get into it far more when I was younger. There's many goths who never go to live gigs. This doesn't make me any less of a goth in my heart.
But I'm not sure what we're really arguing over/debating here. If it's just the Smurfs then I totally agree with you, cos that just aint goth in anyone's eyes, but if you're complaining that some of the women looked too good/had too much makeup/had too big dresses or that too many blokes were wearing top hats then I still don't see why you care.
The fetish scene is similar - a lot of people complain that there's too much dressing up and not enough kinkyness, and that TG has just become a tourist fashion parade. But the TG annual party or the Skin2 Rubber ball always sells out 2,000 tickets at £35 each because a lot of people want the opportunity to dress up more than any other weekend of the year. They don't do it to watch the performances.
If you're not one of them fine - no-ones saying you have to be, but why have a problem with other people enjoying themselves that way?
Reply
I guess what I'm saying is that the 2 events (music festival and fancy dress weekend) might as well be completely separate and held on different dates, so the 2 sets of people wouldnt get in each other's way and (presumably) both would have more fun.
Reply
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