Put it this way - they'll let ANYONE in as long as they pay a hefty cover charge (I read that they're charging $20) so you get definite non-goths (fraternity types, scenesters, older people like the accountant in a Halloween costume cape) coming in to stare and to say afterwards "Hey I'm so daring, I went to a fetish club and got whipped!"
And I have NO idea what they mean by "black upscale" but "gautier goth" means wear Jean-Paul Gaultier fashions in black.

Release the Bats is great - very down-to-earth and has a homey feel to it. People are there just to enjoy the dancing and bands, to chat, and get a nice cheap-yet-strong drink or two. The only reason I haven't gone more often is because I have to be up super early the next morning (it's 4th Fridays of the month and I run with a Saturday morning running club).

Club Eternal is actually two clubs in one venue:
Eternal = trad/deathrock, even a bit of new wave (they played a little Adam and the Ants when thirtiesgirl and I were there) - the biggest room with the stage
Eterno = EBM/industrial - that side room

Other context: people dressing in black clothing (usually PVC) designed to show off as much of their body as possible - essentially a hypersexualized cyber-goth look, the point being to call as much attention to themselves as they can (in my opinion); an interest in goth, not for the history of the subculture or what it means to most of us, but because it's the 'trend of the moment,' the 'freakiest thing to do in LA'; and no appreciation for trad goth or romanti-goth music, just an interest in EBM because it's hard to ignore and can compel you to dance with the insistent beats. In other words, people going out to these clubs simply to be seen by others there and to be 'part of the scene' because they've heard it's the hippest/freakiest thing to do. Not my idea of a crowd I want to hang around with.

-- Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:21 am --


Ah, that explains the dual name, which I didn't get. I was a bit surprised at the inclusion of the EBM stuff with the death rock crowd. They don't really seem to go together.

I can dig on your definition. I used to see them all the time. I used to call them "tourists" too. Sort of like "Gothworld" as opposed to "Westworld". (And they seemed to expect people to play a "role" a la Yul Brynner.) They just came to be "edgy" or to shock people back at the office on Monday morning. No real interest or regard for the music/culture. A few times I've looked up the most aggressive people like this on Myspace a year or so later, and found not a trace of Goth. They were into Hip-Hop or the latest fad.
The saddest thing I saw was when DJ's began catering to these "tourists". (Perhaps they liked all the skin...) That usually spelled the beginning of the end of the night right there.

it was absolutely amazing!!!!!!

i went to Numbers in Houston
it was so great
projections of Revolting Cocks videos
lots of trannies

just wonderful.

dr.v

Ah, okay. Happily very few of them exist around here. Goth is not in the slightest bit cool in Ireland, we don't get tourists.

I went to a goth party while visiting Vancouver. I can't remember the name of the place, it was a cafe all dressed up for the owner's brother's birthday. Just a coffee place really, but fun anways. There was black satin hanging on the walls to cover the coffee pictures and blacklight posters, no alcohol being openly served but lots of guys brought there own. It was lower key in the dress department because it was summer, I wore a dark purple sleeveless dress with bodice straps, a black lace shawl, and black highheeled sandals. There were a lot of miniskirts and dark colored sundresses on the girls, mesh shirts and chain decorated shirts on the men. One guy wore a kilt. The music was some new wave and deathrock and there was also requests, since it was being played out of a computer hooked up to the cafe's speakers. We all talked and moshed and enjoyed cake, and hung out on the sidewalk tables having a grand time and grinning at the passeresby, who were mostly stunned to see smiling goths. The people were interesting and funny. The only downside was some gangster (slumping pants, LA hats and blond died hair) type asian kids threw trash at us and and started talking sh!t. This one bald guy drove them off, he was the oldest person at the party and he was very firm and civil, but they could tell he was angry so they shut up and moved on. Anyway, the cake was delicious, and the mesh shirted torsos on display were a sight I have not had a chance to enjoy since my return to America...

Fey, your story reminded me of a former goth/fetish club venue in LA, the Hollywood Athletic Club. It's a 4-storey building that used to be a former gym or health club, I believe, and in the '90s was turned into a dance club venue. It was typically a venue for regular hip hop club nights, but at some point in the late '90s-early 2000s, goth and fetish club promoters got wind of it and started putting on occasional club events there. It wasn't a regular thing; they'd usually rent it out for 'big' club weekends like Halloween or New Years. But they'd periodically do events on non-holiday weekends, too. The non-holiday events were usually smaller, with fewer people attending, so what the Hollywood Athletic Club did was rent out the bottom floors to the hip hop club promoters and the top floors to the goth/fetish club promoters. They'd let the goth and fetish club kids in the back and make us walk up the fire escape stairs to get to the upstairs floors, and let the hip hop folks in the main door to get to the bottom floors. It was pretty damn strange and nervewracking to have to walk by a long line of hip hop folks in our corsets and PVC. But thankfully, none of us interacted in the club. They kept to their rooms and we kept to ours. It helped that it was a pretty big venue and could house two different club nights with very diverse groups of people without causing them to literally bump into one another. I was glad when the goth and fetish club promoters found a different venue, though.

I was 21 when I went to my 1st goth club. It was an industrial night called Wasted at Don Hills in NYC. Man, I was scared witless. The only socializing I did with other goths (or at all) was small talk when I was buying clothes. I honestly hadn't a single idea what to expect. I had been to a lot of underground punk clubs but those were annoyingly crowded and teaming with hipsters.

An ex of mine and her friend dragged me out. Second I walked through that door, I was just in awe. Amazingly gorgeous people, absolutely stunning outfits, and just a mind opening experience. I wasn't very social back then so the longest I ever stayed at any club was a half hour at the most. This time, I got there at 11pm and didn't leave until 2:30am. Before this I wouldn't touch the dance floor in my life but now you'd be hard pressed to tare me off the dance floor.

Ever since then I've been clubbing non stop. I've made a tun of friends just hitting up the scene. I know there is this huge stigma of "you should never try to make friends outside the club" but I find that to be very counter productive. Maybe it's just a NY thing not to want to make friends but it's just so weird to me.

I'm the kind of person who has no idea what to do with a real life friend when I make one because i'm so boring of a person I can never think of anything to say or do that doesn't involve the words "I can't because..."

Glad you had a good time!

There you go. We'd make brilliant IRL friends because we could have real "I can't because..." contests.

Although we'd probably never get to see each other to have them!

I think it would be really fun for us to sit in a pub, around a table, supping pints quietly and going "umm..." at one another.

Agreed!

I actually often have a vision of us all sitting in a pub lounge, chuntering away to no-one in particular... The happiest/grumpiest, grumpy happy loonies to be found outside the Nuts in May Sanatorium.

As long as we don't end the night chundering away. Kebab anyone?

I think that if all of us sat in a pub together we would most likely try each other's favorite beers (or sauvignons blancs, or ice teas, or [insert favorite drink here]), start an intelligent discussion over some subject which will sooner or later derail into some kind of punning competition. In which some of us will participate more than others. Those who don't (or can't) will get to see a real-live chase by Puck, though.

Could be a fun night!