So i finally went to a goth club. The place was called Factoy (held at Cafe 331). Sadly not many dressed up. About five or six girls though looked amazing and completely breath-taking, while only three guys (my husband included) looked as if they had actually put effort in their attire as most just wore blue jeans and black shirt.

The music was the best part. I could have stayed there all night listening to it, though i did not actually hear what i thought was 'goth' music. It was mostly just industrial and EBM. Though i did not talk to anyone (except a comment here or there) and pretty much spent the evening watching and enjoying, it was the most fun i have had in a very long time.

The decor was beautiful. The walls were done in different shades of red (at times looking like blood spatter in some lighting), dark with lowly lighted chandilers, and candles on every table and placed in different areas of the smal night club. Very tiny dance floor, but considering how many showed up, it was plenty big enough.

Overall, I have to say that i would go back anytime.

So, what was your first goth club experience like? Where was it, What did it look like, and what did you do there?

(Dear mods and admins. I beg your forgiveness if this is in the wrong section. Feel free to move it and beat me with a stick if it is).

Okay-

I was 15 , it was the 90's. It was called 'Stairways' in Birkenhead. It was pretty much a dive- black walls, sticky floors, horror movies playing on the projector. The music was a mix of Goth, industrial and metal. I wore striped tights and black lycra tank dress with DMs. I loved it but it took some time to get used to dancing to metal.

After that i ventured to: (in the North of Engalnd)
Hexx (Birkenhead)
Krazy House (Liverpool)
Jillies (Manchester)
Rios (Bradford)
Wendy House (Leeds)
Rock City (Nottingham)
Legends (Newcastle)

Engalnd is small so most city's are quite close together so it's not hard to try out different clubs in each city. I guess it's much different in the US.

At the start of my clubbing days people made much more effort as Goth was more popular (Black lace lingerie and veiled top hats were common outfits) but as grunge took over people started showing up in dirty old jeans and scungy T-shirts. Now adays it's much the same- except on dedicated Goth nights- like The Wendy House where people still make a huge effort. (more fetisy these days- latex seems to be the hight of fashion)

I was 17, it was an all-ages club called Scarlett O'Hara's in Bethlehem, PA, and it was 1990. The interior didn't really scream "goth" because it was a club that was shared with other theme nights. The DJ (his name was Ronnie - I don't think giving oneself a "DJ name" was popular yet) played a mix of goth, punk and new wave. I remember that everyone was really friendly, and those who were not were quickly ejected. It smelled strongly of clove cigarettes, and there was no alcohol served to my recollection.

I remember that the club was more just a backdrop for me and my friends to hang out. I wasn't really concerned with the "I'm at a goth club!" idea.

I was 21 and I went to Orpheus in Baltimore city. It still feels like it was yesterday too. I don't know if we went at the wrong time or what but the majority of the music played was not even remotely Goth in any way. In fact, it was mostly screamy garbage like SLipknot and Mudvayne, which was popular at the time.

I met a girl from high school there and we talked for a while, then I went downstairs to the BDSM room where you could get involved in some light bondage and whipping. It really wasn't as exciting or as kinky as it sounds.

The club itself, as I remember it, was nothing more than a dank hole in the wall. Since then, I have heard it has improved and I know now that Friday nights are Goth/Industrial nights and I have been planning to go back again as soon as I can. I'd still rather go to a straight up Goth club that only plays Goth music and nothing but. I almost don't feel like I have even been to a Goth club yet because of the music that I heard at Orpheus was just Ozzfest bullshit. Still, the place had and still has a reputation as being a Goth club.

Oh yeah and it was the first time a gay man ever hit on me. And it was all because of the fishnet shirt I wore, lol.

Wow - this was a loooooooooong time ago. I was probably 16 and the place was a total dive called "The Underground" in Colorado Springs. It was in a mini strip mall/business building that had a gym on the bottom floor right next to the club and a teeny tiny little parking lot. There was a chick in a window when you stepped through the doors we affectionately referred to as "the door whore" who took your $3 cover. The inside of the club was dark and filthy with the underage side separated from the bar by a 6 foot high chain link fence and a bouncer. The youngsters could get sodas and smokes (and something called "Rush" that smelled suspiciously like bleach) from the opening at the end of the bar near the unisex-ish bathrooms. There were a few tables around the dance floor that were decorated with Radiation symbols and the DJ booth was up on a pedestal at one end. The place reeked of cigarettes, cloves and patchouli.
I went with my best friend and we must have been there with her older sister because I vaguely remember there being a bottle of Grape Mad Dog 20/20 floating about outside the club. At the time I didn't really know the music, and my best friend and her sister must have dressed me (I think I have a picture somewhere from that night and I look a lot like Ducky form Pretty in Pink). I remembered thinking it was awesome that they had giant tvs inside that showed the videos from the music they were playing (my first exposures to NIN, KMFDM, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, The Cure - you get the idea), and during the songs between videos they played this trippy video called The Mind's Eye. I thought it was damn near the coolest thing I had ever seen (think Max Headroom).
I also remember being terrified of the people and thinking they knew I was a first timer. I didn't know how to dance, so I was taking cues from my best friend. I think the majority of the night was spent sitting on the floor next to a table and just watching people.

~spidey

I'm not 100% sure but I think this picture is from the first time I actually went into the local goth club instead of sticking with the old familiar metal bar around the corner.

The fact that the picture says 2007 makes me feel ooooooooooold. lol

~spidey

It was one of those weird things where I knew roughly where it was but never bothered going for a solid five years. Map of laziness (slighty inaccurate, the club is closer to the end of the first "upper" in "Upper O'Connell Street").

I got a VERY late start - the first time I went was a little over a year ago. Somehow Goth slipped under my radar when I was much younger.
I reported on the club in the Club Reviews thread, but I'll just say again that it looked gorgeous inside with all the wrought iron chandeliers, one crystal chandelier off a movie set, gargoyles, a big Greek statue lookalike, etc. I was happy to sit on one of the couches and look at everything when not dancing. The wine was on the pricey side but you can't have everything...
The DJ was nice and friendly and played good old-school stuff, bands like the Chameleons and Sex Gang Children (one of the DJ's favorites). Just the kind of place where I could relax and dance to some good music and soak up the atmosphere. Most people were dressed up in Goth wear (ranging from fishnets to Victorian lace - I wore the latter) except one or two people in jeans - they looked like an older couple. A mixed age range too. And not overly crowded...
Unfortunately that club is no more the restaurant owner preferred more lucrative nights such as hip-hop and R&B. The DJ/promoter now owns a rock/punk store that hosts concerts with local bands every so often.

OMG I forgot about Rush! By '85, Extacy was illegal, but there was always Rush.

Erm... I mean... stay in school & don't do drugs, kids.

Wow. And here I thought it was just a local thing. lol

"Drugs are bad, m'kay?"

~spidey

My first time was a few years ago at a club in Salt Lake City, UT. It was a heady experience. (I think that was down in no small part to the absente cocktails I drank. ) The people were cliquey to a good degree, but that has never bothered me at all. I'm not really of a social disposition and I go to clubs alone. It took me a while to get to know people and some of them are the best people I've ever met and I'm great friends with them today.
I met drag queen, gay male and female goths, traditional goths, fetishists, designers and others. I loved it and I've never been to an ordinary club since! I love watching people, the tolerance, the individuality and the quirkiness. Really, to this day I cannot understand why I never went before.....

Yeah that is much the way it is for me, except i made no friends, as i was pretty much silent. I would love to go often, but with two toddlers and rarely able to have a babysitter, it seems unlikely, tough i do plan to go again.

And the styles of these clubs discribed seems breath-taking.

My first visit to a goth club was Diva's in Northampton, Massachusetts in November of 2008. I went there to see the Cruxshadows live. The thing I'll always remember the most is everyone waiting on the stairs outside to get into the club. I had never seen so much fishnet, vinyl and velvet in my life. We were all doing the "pogo" to stay warm, and laughing our heads off. It was like I'd known everyone all my life, and we were all strangers.

Another thing I'll never forget about that night: I was coming in from the smoking deck, and crashed into a six-foot tall guy with a really tall, green mohawk. He caught me by the shoulders, and asked "Are you okay?" while peering at me in a concerned way. I told him I was, and I thought, geez, if that was a "normal" he would have just kept on walking. Goths are good people.

I was wearing head-to-toe black velvet and stompy boots. It's a night I'll never forget, if I live to be 100. I was 48 years old.

My first goth club experience was when I was 20 and in Edinburgh (Scotland).
I'm pretty sure it was an illegal rave thing, it was in a hard to get to, out of the way dodgy looking old warehouse. They had a "bar" serving cans.
I don't remember it too well at this stage, but I remember being excited to be there, wishing they would cool it with the smoke machine, and of the music I only remember an odd cover of Pulps "Common People" were the word "common" was replaced with "gothic".

Oh! And there was a lot of swooping about in trenchcoats and change the lightbulb dancing, which I had never seen before then.


Weird that I can actually recognise some of the regulars just from the back of their heads