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The 69 Eyes (Photo by Pasi Klemetti)
THE 69 EYES released their apocalyptically titled new album, West End, last fall and started their 30th anniversary world tour. On Friday, June 26, they celebrate three decades by streaming a live show from Helsinki.
Peter Murphy performs at Baltimore Soundstage on Feb. 11, 2019. (Photo by Paivi Salonen)
Peter Murphy visited Baltimore Soundstage recently to celebrate his former gothic rock band Bauhaus with The Ruby Tour: 40 Years of Bauhaus. And he brought along his old Bauhaus bandmate David J. on bass in a rare reunion of Bauhaus players. Paivi Salonen captured the action!
Good times await at Black Cat on Halloween! (Photo by Kevin Harber)
It’s Halloween Day!
Many of us may have celebrated Halloween over the weekend, but there’s nothing quite like celebrating a holiday on the actual day of the day, right? But Halloween falls on a particularly peculiar day this year — a Monday! What ever happens on Monday?
Well, the Black Cat has an answer for you, my friend, with a special Halloween edition of Dark and Stormy, its electro, proto-goth dance party. The party gets a new twist as DJ Mike Kangal, who always did a great job with a related kind of thing as founding DJ at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (still occurring over at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar on H St. NE), takes over.
DJ Kangal only recently has taken over Dark and Stormy, so it’s hard to gauge exactly what he’s got up his sleeve. Here’s what the party says on its Facebook event page:
“Join DJ Mike Kangal for a night of dancing to your favorite electro, goth, industrial, and other dark dance sounds. Free promo CDs and other treats from Storming the Base and Metropolis Records!”
Well, sounds perfectly dark and stormy to us — and what better day to be so than on Halloween?
Get out to a rare Monday night dance party, and hit up Dark and Stormy. Mmmmm, that reminds us that a dark rum and ginger beer sounds pretty good too!
Hey, and if you were out on the weekend, this is a perfect opportunity to break out that costume one more time. Tickets are available at the door.
Dark & Stormy
Black Cat
Monday, Oct. 31
Doors @9pm
$5
All ages
The Rain Within performs at Ivy City Smokehouse on Sept. 27, 2016. (Photo by Paivi)
The Rain Within is a one-man synthwave project by Andy Deane. If his name sounds familiar, it is probably because Mr. Deane is also the lead vocalist for Charlottesville, Virginia-based gothic rock outfit Bella Morte.
The Rain Within’s new album Dark Drive was released September 23rd through Negative Gain Productions, and it is available from Bandcamp. My early favorite track is Eclipse if you want to give it a try!
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2617269130 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]
HEALTH perform at Motorco Park for Moogfest 2016 on May 20, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
“Wow,” I said. “That guy is playing his synthesizer ON THE GROUND.”
And indeed John Famiglietti of HEALTH switched up from bass to synth, swinging the bass around to his back to swoop down on the synthesizer rig in front of him, laid flat on a plastic crate. As a man fond of big cinematic flourishes, he may have been the star player in this specific show by his band HEALTH, performing at the Motorco Park in Durham, NC, on Friday, May 20.
That’s not to say that John could do this show single-handedly! He was capably met, and balanced, by frontman Jake Duzsik, who sang in a manner occasionally evocative of New Order’s Barney Sumner and also played some dazzling guitar. Side by side, Jake and John present quite the team, effortlessly merging dynamic rock with sweeping electronics. (Drummer Benjamin Jared Miller was good as well!)
And so it was that Los Angeles noise rock trio HEALTH brought flair to Moogfest 2016.
The March Violets in 1984 (Photo courtesy The March Violets)
As many a member of Generation X knows, the songs appearing on soundtracks to the films of John Hughes in the 1980s are critical elements of those movies.
Where would we be without “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds in the Breakfast Club or “If You Leave” by OMD in 16 Candles?
And so we also embrace “Turn to the Sky” by the March Violets in “Some Kind of Wonderful,” where it sets the mood for a club scene with Eric Stoltz and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Watch the official video for “Turn to the Sky” by the March Violets from 1986 on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrr6sj1Ra2c]
The latest lineup of the post-punk/goth quartet from Leeds, England — featuring vocalists Simon Denbigh and Rosie Garland — is set to perform in DC on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Spellbound dance party, which takes place weekly at Recessions (1823 L St. NW, DC). (They also play at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on Friday night.)
The March Violets have been rather active since their reformation in 2007, releasing a new album Made Glorious in 2014 after a very successful Pledge Music campaign.
The band has launched a new Pledge Music campaign to fund yet another album, Mortality, and they already have achieved more than half their goal with more than 70 days remaining in the project.
Buy or listen to the album Made Glorious on Bandcamp:
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1489389526 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]
Tickets are available at the door! “Space will be limited, so get there early!” say the promoters.
The March Violets
Recessions
Saturday, Oct. 10
Doors @9pm
$15
21+