Visitors to a Leeds festival this weekend were a million miles away from the
traditional Easter images of bunnies and chocolate eggs.
For those attending the Beyond the Veil festival in Leeds, which showcased Goth
music from across the world, were dressed in black, had long dark hair, and
wore heavy make-up and bold silver jewellery.
The two day destival at the city's Adelphi and Metropole hotels, attracted
visitors from all over the uk and as far afield as Japan.
Goth is a style of rock music derived from punk, characterised by mystical
lyrics and associated with a sombre-style of punk dress.
The event held yesterday and Saturday, attracted rising acts from the Goth
scene. Acts included Diva Destruction, Antiworld, and Butterfly Messiah, all
from the USA, and Psydoll from Japan.
Also performing was De'ath, a DJ who played at Gothcon USA last year. He hopes
that the festival will become an annual event, celebrating Goth music past and
present and putting Leeds back on the Goth scene.
In the 80s Leeds was the home for leading goth bands such as The Sisters of
Mercy and The March Violets.
The event was organised by Gog Promotions, which regularly promotes events in
Leeds.
(Yorkshire Post - Monday 21/04/03)
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This was the first year of the Beyond the Veil festival (they are already
looking at next year) put on by GOG Promotions, who also run the club Black
Veil. The expertise they brought to the event showed as it was very well run
(Despite Dance on Glass - the only UK act pulling, out the afternoon before)
every thing went well. The bands playing in the ballroom of this grand Hotel
(nice touch was the special room rate for people attending, hmm meant no limit
to the trips to the bar). This was the best one-day festival I can remember and
look forward to the next.
Last Days of Jesus - As an opening act they set a very high
standard. They are a four-piece Mary O (vocals), guitar/drum, keyboards and
drums, from Slovakia. They opened their set with Doc Doc a good example of
their material. sounding a bit like some American Deathrock bands with early
80's Goth and post punk influences.
Mary O puts on a very theatrical performance, imagine a cross between a mime
and the joker (batman). The whole band putting a highly Enthusiastic &
Energetic performance - In Fact they could be headliners in their own right
(they have toured the UK on a couple of occasions).
Their set included Arrest the Angels, Army of God, Corrupted, Too Weak for
Suicide, and the Visage classic Fade to Grey (they do a really good cover of
this), finishing their set with Man of Calm.
Even though they were the opening act of the day they played for about an hour
and managed to get a sizable crowd down the front dancing despite the early
start. This made a very pleasant change to most all dayer's where the early
bands end up performing a taster rather than a proper set.
Psydoll are normally a three piece but only two had been able
to make it over from Japan (they came over to play this as a one off gig.)
Nekoi (vocals/ keyboards) and Ucchi (guitar). The biggest problem with their
set was it's short length (them choosing to play a short set).
While it doesn't sound odd to hear someone singing in German or even Latin - it
does sound a little unusual to hear Japanese and by the time You got used to it
their set was almost over. Don't let this put you off, it is well worth
listening to.
They describe themselves as Industrial Goth - certainly the music has very
strong industrial influences. They put on a very good performance. Nekoi has a
very good voice and stage presence, avoiding being stuck in one place by the
use of a guitar style keyboard, while Ucchi seemed to become more confident as
their performance went on.
Numbers included Theme for Psydoll, In the Fog, No 7, Red Moon and Machinery
Lemmings (a faster paced number which went down very well with the audience).
They finished their set with Spell which went down well and then it was over -
people were surprised at the short length of the set - the way they were going
down with the audience they could have stayed on a lot longer. After their set
they had a few Cd's they had brought with them for sale and all were gone
within a couple of minutes.
In Mitra Medusa Inri are a three piece from Germany Michael
Gronau (vocals), Holger Meyer (guitar) with a keyboardist Added for the gig.
The most traditionally Goth of all the Bands of the Day. They started with
Estrangement, a very 80's sounding track. Which went down well with the sizable
audience present.
Michael knows how to put on a good performance, whilst Holger is a good
guitarist who towards the end of their set came off stage and played from the
front of the audience. Their material is a mix of slower powerful numbers with
faster more 80's influenced tracks.
Their set included The Truth, Love is a killer. Dreams, Hear Me (powerful epic
feel), Just Like Heaven (it's rare for a Cure cover to be aporoved of by fans
but this was) and Disappointment Remains. Finishing their set with Do You Call
That Human - they went offstage to strong applause, having made a very good
impression on the audience.
Butterfly Messiah are a three piece Shannon Garson
(vocals/occasional kevboards), Robert Nightshade (keyboards/vocals) and
keyboards from the US. They play a mix of Ethereal and EBM. Opening the set
with it's Time, a dancey synth track with ethereal vocals, it took a couple of
tracks for them to warm up however by the time they reached Serpentine, Shannon
started to move about the stage more.
For Introspections they exchanged duties with Robert on lead vocals (he
exhibits a lot of stage presence and makes a very good 'Front Man') this track
having a slower vocal delivery but sounded like it would appeal to an EBM
audience.
They finished off the set with Virtual - a very dancy EBMish track. They came
back to do an encore with Robert on lead vocals Deadly Ground a very powerful
brooding slow paced number and Machines which sounded like a heavier Dust of
Basement. Another very enjoyable set from a band never seen before in this
country.
Antiworld - The first of the new wave of US Deathrock bands to
play in the UK. Grandma Fiendish (vocals), Forty Five Frank (bass), Ravenscraft
(guitar) and Tony Tombshed (drums) set about making the event their's. They
opened with The Brain That Wouldn't Die which is typical of their material.
Horror Movie themed lyrics with strong punk influence played with the speed of
the Rammones. (Most of their tracks only last 2 to 3 minutes, aka Bad
Religion). They put on a very impressive fast paced, theatrical performance
with various props including severed heads, skulls and a book with glowing
eyes.
At one point Grandma opened up a small coffin and started showering the
audience with toys and sweets. They had the most enthusiastic audience reaction
of the day so far with a large number of people dancing away in front of the
stage as soon as their set had begun tracks included Cellar Dweller, Francis of
Death, Tall Man, Story of Lorre, Portland Zombies, Living Dead and I walk.
They finished off (their 28 track set) with Phantom - another fast paced number
which went down very well with the audience. Unfortunately they were another
band who only came over to the UK to play the festival.
Diva Destruction were the headliners of the night who had only
arrived a couple of hours earlier (having flown in, from their tour in Holland,
to play). This was only their second UK gig - they are one of the biggest of
the newer US bands - alongside the Cruxshadows.
Presently a four piece Deborah (vocals), Keyboards, Benn Ra (guitar) &
drums. They opened with Cruelty Games to an enthusiastic audience - they did
suffer during the first few tracks from sound problems (Deborah's Powerful
voice being low in the mix - but this gradually improved).
Their set was split fairly evenly between their two albums - tracks includina
Enslaved, The One, Valley of the Scars, Hypocrite. The Abuser and Black Heart.
Deborah puts on a very theatrical performance with various props such as a
sword (You're the Psycho). Flag (Hypocrite) and a whip.
Their set seemed to fly by very fast - helped in part by the general fast pace
of their songs. Unfortunately a few people had to leave during their set due to
transport home - Diva not coming off stage until gone 11.30.
The main set ended with The Broken Ones. They came back on (to enthusiastic
applause) to do a four-track encore Starting with You're my Sickness and ending
with Snake a slower paced track. A really good set it being a pity they don't
play here more often.
Alan Rogers - Kaleidoscope
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Beyond the Veil
Hotel Metropole, Leeds
20 April
Beyond the Veil's mission statement was to bring the best groundbreaking gothic
acts to the UK and it certainly did just that. With four of the six band line
up playing UK debut performances, organisers Gog Promotions definitely took
some risks with this, their first one-day festival but they paid off!
Opening were Slovakia's The Last Days of Jesus, a dynamic deathrock inspired
four-piece. A sombre bass, ghostly organs, an Audi Sexgang influenced frontman
who worked the stage like a zombified clown mixed with helium-induced backing
created a kind of warped and very dark circus theme tune. That was all before
their darkly spooky cover of Visage's Fade to Grey. They were certainly a show
- stopping festival opener and a difficult act to follow...
Second were Japanese goth-industrial band Psydoll Normally a trio, they'd left
one member at home this time, so female vocalist/keyboardist Nekoi and
guitarist Ucchi made their UK debut alone. With impressive stage presence and a
sound that's distinctly different from most Western goth bands, welding angry
guitars to complex keyboard work and delicate, precise vocals (mostly in
Japanese), they made a definite impact on the audience. The highlight was
probably the oddly named Machinery Lemmings, a fast paced song that ratchets up
the tension as it goes and really gives Ucchi's guitar work a chance to shine.
After that, it all seemed to be over far too soon, with the band thanking the
audience with a bow. Probably the shortest set of the day, but also one of the
most memorable - hopefully we 'll be seeing them back in the UK in years to
come!
German trio In Mitra Medusa Inri dropped the pace a little with their UK debut
performance. Spacey electro soundscapes with jangly dark wave guitars and
dreamy male vocals conjured up a bizarre hybrid image of Wolfsheim mixed with
Clan of Xymox. It worked, even if it did come across a little samey after a
while. Still, they certainly seemed to win the audience over, especially when
the guitarist wandered down into the crowd for one song...
Next were Florida's Butterfly Messiah, a female-fronted trio mixing electronic
and ethereal elements. It's a combination that works well - with Shannon's
haunting vocals mellowing what would, in many cases, otherwise be quite punchy
songs. Backing vocals come from keyboardist Robert (who, between songs, also
handles the banter...). As a rather nice contrast to the rest of the set, for
one song the roles were reversed, with Shannon taking over the keyboard while
Robert handled had vocals - an arrangement which also works well. With a
distinctive and impressive sound, plus a fair bit of stage presence, this is a
band that seems likely to make its mark on the European and UK scene in the
next year or two.
Antiworld were apparently the band that everyone had been waiting for. Making
their UK debut, the old school deathrock four-piece worked up a storm with
their blend of horror punk complete with theatrics. Where some bands let their
stage shows compromise the quality of their sound, Antiworld remained
consistent both visually and aurally. Vocalist Granny Fiendish's screeches
punctuated the band's raw guitar and drums riot and really came to life with
their cover of Sex Pistols' Bodies. If we don't hear some more from this band
very soon, there is something seriously wrong!
Their hectic European tar schedule meant that the headliners, Californian
quartet Diva Destruction, arrived in Leeds only an hour or two before their
set. Vocalist Debra certainly didn't look fatigued, though, pacing the stage
and brandishing props as the band worked their way through highlights from new
album Exposing The Sickness and a few old favourites from their first album.
It's a polished performance - and its certainly good music, lush but slightly
unsettling darkwave with a definite edge to the vocals - but it did
occasionally feel as if, despite all of this, something was missing. Generally,
though, it was a good set and a fine way to end the evening - it certainly
seemed to go down well with the audience.
Beyond the Veil did exactly what it pledged to do and really was a festival of
groundbreaking gothic talent.
Natasha Scharf and James White
Meltdown
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