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My first DJ gig at Cobweb Club March 2011

March 7, 2011 by

I had my first DJ gig on Saturday night at one of my fave Sydney clubs, the Cobweb Club, held at Hermann’s Bar. (I’ve written about the Cobweb Club before – and some pics are here too)

The Cobweb Club plays deathrock, goth and post-punk music..and sometimes has bands, as we did on Saturday night: “Strangers in the Dark” and “Box of Fish”.

 

As always, there were cobwebs and draped stuff hanging from the ceiling for a spooktakular effect:

 

I’d compiled a playlist of some old faves, some songs that don’t get played as much as the big hits, and some songs by new bands. After consulting with Kat, the DJ I was going head-to-head with, I decided on some hits first, as we were playing straight after the bands. Have to keep the punters dancing!

 

As for what I wore, it was a cobweb top from Topshop (not seen), t-shirt gifted from 13th Moon, jacket with safety pins and bat and cobweb motifs from GLP, striped patent Deadlygirlz corset, old black skirt, zombie leggings and platform boots from Yosuke at Marui One.

The Damned’s “New Rose” started off my set, and others I played included Siouxsie’s “Kiss Them For Me”, “Millenium” by Killing Joke, “Walk the Line” by Alien Sex Fiend, and my wild cards by newer bands, “Paper Dolls” by Christ vs Warhol and “Gravedance” by 13th Moon! Luckily, people kept dancing the whole time, and some came up to give a thumbs up, ask what a song was, or say how much they liked the music. Awesome!!

 

All in all, a fun experience for me, and one I will certainly be repeating before too long. The only thing that went wrong really, was after the set. I was walking towards Dom and there was a row of low cube footstool pouf things, but one was a little out of line with the others, a bit further forward, which I hadn’t clocked. Well, one minute I was walking, next thing – BAM! I was down on the ground, after painfully falling on my shoulder, and biting my lip and cheek inside and out. Got up with blood trickling from the corner of my mouth…and the bouncer watching. Oh, my.

I’d keep wiping it but it kept bleeding, so I realised my best bet was to cut the partying short and go home. Oh noes!! We always stay til the end.  Shoulder and puncture wounds are healing nicely now, so don’t worry. It was mainly my pride that was hurt :/

Filed Under: Blog entry, Clubs, Music Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sydney Industrial Club Shallow Nation; dancing in D Squared spine heel shoes

January 31, 2011 by

I know I’ve been a bit light-on the last week with posts; sometimes it does you good to just get away from the pc for a few day and live a little, you know?

On Saturday night, having recovered sufficiently from the Big Day Out, it was time to have another big one. This time, the goth/industrial/hard dance club, Shallow Nation. Shallow Nation occurs once a month at Gilligans in Oxford St, Sydney. This was the club’s first time on the top floor (usually it’s in the basement) – and every punter I asked, loved it, as did I!

It was also time to wear a few things I haven’t worn out previously: namely my fabulous D Squared spine heel shoes and my Grimoire vintage jet-beaded collar, as well as a white top encrusted with roses, and my harlequin style diamond tights. I added my harlequin design corset from Dangerous Nude, Sheike skirt, and Grimoire floral brooch worn as a hair ornament. Oh, and the blue leopard lenses, once again.  What I wasn’t 100% sure of, was whether it’d be possible to dance in the shoes…and so I had to try.

 

You probably want to see the top of this picture, so here is me with the lovely Bec, and following is a series of shots of the lovely ladies and gents who are regular Shallow Nationers. Clothing ranged from streetwear to military, old school goth to gothic lolita, candy raver/fruitsy to fetish.

 

 

 

And how about some of the boys? Doug on the left runs and DJ’s at goth club Die Maschine.

 

All in all it was a great night. Music included old and new classics, industrial, electro (and tv themes!), bands such as Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, Combichrist, Rammstein, bits of Gaga and Metallica and more… Here’s a pic of the dancefloor to “Omen” by Prodigy.

And while I admit I didn’t dance as wildly as I otherwise might have with big stompy boots, I answered my question about whether you can dance in the D Squared spine heel shoes – yes, you can!

And if you’re looking for a place to have a stompin’ good time on a Saturday night in Sydney and are partial to industrial, hard electro and ebm, I recommend you check out Shallow Nation.

What are your favourite looks from above? Would you wear any of them yourself?

Shallow Nation website
Shallow Nation Facebook
Shallow Nation twitter

Filed Under: Blog entry, Clubs, Fashion, gothic fashion, Music Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Under the Blue Moon Festival 2010

October 29, 2010 by

I’m excited about tomorrow and its VERY full dance-card when it comes to alternative fashion and music.

Yes, it’s the Under the Blue Moon Festival of things dark, alternative, freakish and weird. Sydney people – start off your halloween celebrations with a trip to Enmore tomorrow, and you will not only be entertained, but get some retail therapy as well.

Based in the very epicentre of Sydney gothicness – Newtown/Enmore – the Under The Blue Moon Markets kick off at 10am so you can grab all sorts of cool threads and goodies with your little black claws! Newtown plaza will be packed full with stalls of creative people showing us the best of their produce.  

 

Some of the talented people and labels include:

50ft Queenie – undergarments for the Underworld, with a burlesque vibe
Beserk Clothing – super cool range of clothing for rock, goth, glam& rollerderby type girls & guys
Debstar Designs – gothic, rockabilly, gothabilly and roller derby jewellery
Duskmoth Designs – clothing for industrial or elegant darklings
Furr Hair – Manic Panic hair colour, makeup, and accessories, as well as Synthetic hair falls, Dread falls, wigs and clip in fringes
Gallery Serpentine – amaaazing corsets and very high quality gothic clothing
Holy Kitch & Curios – Day of the Dead, Frida Kahlo and other mexican and spooky accessories
Le Lash – Street, Alternative, Punk, Fetish, Cyber and costume wear
Le Cabinet des Curiosities – Gothic, Pagan & Occult jewellery, homewares, entomology, natural curiosities, gloves, accessories & weird stuff!
Primordial Design – original, unique jewellery in silver and gemstones
Tentacle Threads – clothing for circus freaks (I’ve written about Tentacle Threads recently here)
The Wild One – fab PVC designs for guys & gals, accessories and amazing military caps
Crypt Trash & Vanity Vamp – way out burleque and spooky accessories & pasties
Zentity designs – Alternative styled clothing for boiz & girlz specialising in street fun, club wear, romantic and corporate goth looks

The famous UTBM show bags will be available once again, full of surprises, prizes & the best discount vouchers to all the stores & stalls in the Alternative Arts, Retail Fashion District of Enmore Rd & Newtown! Yes, it’s very likely you’ll score a Fiend magazine (I really have to catch up with the last few issues myself so here’s hoping 🙂  Each bag also contains a ticket to the Coffin Raffle, drawn later that night at the UTBM festival night at the Factory Theatre.

For those interested in the darker side of life, the paranormal, the seedy stories from Sydney’s past, you’ll want to head over to Simplicity Funerals to hear Lectures in the Funeral Parlour. Want to learn of medical moulages  in the 19th century, the Secret History of the Pentagram, stories from the real underbelly of Sydney,  delve into the paranormal of Enmore road and meet the ghost in the basement of The Duke Hotel? Or learn more about vampires and what happens behind the magicians curtain? You know where to go.

Then there’s just time to head somewhere for a bite to eat and a few bevvies, before changing into your dark glamour gear and heading out for a night of bands, DJ’s and general running amok! Here is the action-packed line-up of the Under the Blue Moon musical festival:

PLAYING TIMES

8:15 – 8:50pm     Lunar Module
8:35 – 9:10pm    Juke Box Zombies
9:00 – 10:00pm    DJ DAISEN
8:50 – 9:00pm     Desert Moon Dancers
9:05 – 9:15pm     Rocky Horror
9:30 – 10:10pm    Murder Of Crow
9:15 – 9:55pm        The Horrorwood Mannequins
10:00 – 10:05pm    Strong Man
10:00 – 11:00pm    DJ VOODOO
10:40 – 11:15pm    Shiv-r
10:05 – 10:40pm    Hell Fire Documentary
10.30 – 11:10pm     Psych Carni
11:20 – 11:25pm    Fancy Piece & Coffin Raffle Drawn
11:00 – 12:00am    DJ REQIEM
11:35 – 12:25am Mz Ann Thopik
11.30 – 12:10am Pom Pom
12:00 – 1:00am    DJ METAVIRUS
12:30 – 1:30am    The Holy Soul
12:45 – 1:45am     DJ [VLRK] from GRENDEL
1:00  – 2:00am    DJ VAEIN

There are some amaaazing artists and DJ’s in the line-up – get your tickets here. I’ve already got mine!

So if you’re in Sydney, please join me for a full day’s festivities and night-time activities for a Halloween 2010 to remember!!

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Decadance Bar, Shinjuku, partying with kooky gothic friends

September 9, 2010 by

I think it’s about time I shared my party pics from the first fabulous weekend in Tokyo, when I attended the Decadance Bar for Seileen night. I wrote about the Decadance Bar here, but for the first time I got to actually experience it!!

It was as colourful as I imagined…

though possibly smaller, and with more penises everywhere!! Coco didn’t seem to mind…

The best part was catching up with old friends:

I’m here with Sisen and Selia of Seileen

With G-Sus, Sayaka and Tara. I first met G-Sus at Walpurgis back in March/April, but we chat like old friends now. Tara I met LAST March, in ’09, so it was great to catch up with her again too. Sayaka is a new friend – you make ’em all the time here!

With Shin, Kenny and Tara. Kenny is the “Mr Steampunk” of the Tokyo scene, and often sports fabulously coloured hair, like myself 🙂

BTW, I’m wearing Black Milk skeleton leggings, Deadlygirlz corset, red ruffled skirt from GeoMythik, and white ribcage necklace from MissX.

On the left, I’m seated on the colourful lounge with Jab. Midnight Mess Maya was on the decks for some of the night.

And how could I forget the barperson with the mostest, Kengo? Endlessly entertaining, this one!

And some of the other lovely patrons…like these girls..and La Carmina!

We were so busy chatting to our various friends and partying, that we didn’t get a single photo together this time!! Next time, Gadget…

This time around I did video a fair bit of Shinjuku streets, nightlife and parties…ya just gotta wait for me to upload and edit it all 🙂

Filed Under: Blog entry, Clubs, Tokyo nightlife Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Singapore Goth Shops; lolita, goth and alternative happenings

August 20, 2010 by

Earlier this year I posted about the Singapore Goth store Alice 88th  – which bizarrely is one of my most-hit posts – until I realised it ranked number 2 when “Singapore Goth Shop” is googled (this post is now number 3 on Aus google).

Anyway, I thought it only fair to point out there are other gothic lolita fashion stores in Singapore, one of them being Black Alice.  Black Alice is the official distributor for the leading Japanese lolita fashion brands BABY, The Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World and Putumayo.

 
Starting out at the Cathay on Handy Rd, Black Alice is now 100% a webstore. And it is currently having a 20% off sale, so get on in there if you love sweet lolita!

Black Alice also runs events such as tea parties from time to time, and coming up is a make-up workshop in connection with Majolica Majorca.  The workshop consists of a short introduction about the products followed by a makeup demonstration by Majolica Majorca trainers, before going on to a hands-on session for the participants.
I love that participants are encouraged to wear lolita style: whether Ouji, Aristo, Kodona, or sweet lolita, and in fact, it is dress coded.
Date: 25th Aug 2010, WednesdayTime: 7pm-10pm
Venue: Shiseido office Beauty Studio – 1 Grange Road #12-01 Orchard Building S (239693). 
It’s opposite Cineleisure, above the big California Fitness center.
Nearest Mrt Station: Somerset

For any more info, see Black Alice’s blog.

Tim Wong, owner of Black Alice, also runs My Import Store which is your one stop shop for cosplay clothing, merchandise and collectibles.

Tim is also the chairman of EOY, an annual Japanese cross-cultural event that showcases the talents of individuals in the community, in areas such as: Cosplay, Anime, Comics, Art & Photography, Gothic, Lolita & Punk Fashion, vocals & dance. It’s not until Sunday, 12 December,  but mark it in your diaries if you’re Singaporean or will be in SG then and love cosplay.

Coming up before that, Mikuni Shimokawa, famed for her renditions of theme songs from Full Metal Panic, is holding a 2-hour LIVE concert & a handshaking session with fans on Sunday 22 August @ Movida, St James Power Station, also in Singapore.

So there’s a lot going on in Singapore for lovers of Japanese pop culture.

Another gothic shop – well 2 to be precise – is Haru and  Haru Goth.
Established in 2005, Haru & Haru Goth specialise in Lolita, Punk, EGA/EGL, Decora, Hime (Princess style), Yukata, Japanese school uniform and casual streetwear. Haru Goth, which opened in 2008, carries the darker gothic and punk wear, and items such as new Rock Boots. Isn’t the store gorgeous? Red and black decor, elegant chandeliers, lots of Hangry n Angry dolls, baroque mirrors – just exquisite.
You’ll find brands like h.Naoto/Peace Now/Black Peace Now, Putumayo, Sexpot Revenge, Sexy Dynamite London, Super Lovers, Hellcat Punks, Hiderock, Moi Meme Moitie, Stigmata and much much more – see their Facebook page for the entire listing. Oh, and if you’re after wigs, cosplay items and comics or even Calpis (!), they have those too.  They also hold events such as workshops with high tea, fashion shows etc, and just featured in a Visual Kei episode on Sony Style TV Season 4, on the AXN Channel: check it out here. How exciting!
Haru Goth
Far East Plaza #03-42 (Shop 6)
14 Scotts Road, Singapore 228213

New store:
SCAPE: #02-31
Orchard Link Singapore 237978
Tel : 6634 8958

Facebook: Haru House
Twitter: Haru House

For those more into the Industrial and gothic scene in Singapore, bookmark the Singapore Dark Alternative Movement site – there is a wealth of information on music, clubs, fashion, lifestyle and photos from the regular club Heart of Darkness.

I visited HOD back in April – see my post on club Heart of Darkness here – it was the friendliest goth night I’ve ever been to. I recommend it to anyone paying Singapore a visit.

The next HOD is:-
When:  4 September @ 9pm
Where: F1 goth theme “Black Circuit”
Music: EBM, Industrial, Future Pop, aggrothech
How much: S$25

From the SDAM site, an upcoming event this weekend is Strobe Like a Butterfly:

 
Strobe like a Butterfly is a visual and musical study of the industrial music movement of the 80s and 90s.  And it’s FREE!
Substation’s Address: 45 Armenian Street
Time: 8pm
Date: 23rd August 2010

Melodic Goth Metal band Age of Sinfonia will be playing at the Singapore Youth Olympics August 21st and also the week following at the launch of Kalodin’s new album.
What: Kalodin album launch.
When: Saturday, 28 August  4:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Where: Tanglin Community Club, 245 Whitley Road Singapore 297829
For more news in the dark alternative scene globally and in Singapore:
· SDAM Official webpage and forum 
· Twitter – TheSDAM

And also check out Dalsix’s blog, for more of the same. He writes voraciously for SDAM and has his finger on the pulse of all types of music, be it goth, metal, industrial, or punk, introducing bands like the Misfit Ramones. They’re hilarious, btw, with songs like “Do You Want Birdshit (on your hair)?” and “Your breasts are big (I’m gonna sue you)”

Mark Koh aka Saito has written a really informative article on the Singapore goth scene (back in 2007) – Goth with a suntan – give it a read. These videos on Singapore Goths are likewise well worth a watch.

So there’s plenty going on in the punk, metal and goth departments too!

Finally, a great resource for upcoming events, announcements etc is SG Cafe – there are forums, groups, galleries, inks to blogs and more.

You can find out, for example, that October is spooky month at the Night Safari, and spooky tales of asian horrors await you every Friday and Saturday night right up til Halloween. Or that the AFA X Anime Festival Asia is happening on 13th-14th November at the Suntec City Convention and Exhibition Hall.

I’m definitely going to check out these resources before I next hit Singapore, to make sure I miss nothing!

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Clubs, Designers, gothic fashion, Japanese Fashion, Music Tagged With: , , , ,
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