Encyclopedia Gothica (5 page)

BUSH, KATE
British singer (b. July 30, 1958) whose 1978 chart-topping debut single “Wuthering Heights” — an ethereal interpretation of Emily Brontë’s romantic ghost story — is one of the purest expressions of the Gothic in popular music. An ode to
HAMMER HORROR
followed too, then a successful career as an artful popstar who is rarely referenced in the Goth canon but makes music perfect for haunting moors.

BYRON, LORD
British poet (né George Gordon Byron, 1788–1824). Hero of the Romantic movement and romanticized still for his tumultuous and scandalous love affairs with both men and women. Famous to Goths by association with writers Percy Bysshe
SHELLEY
, Mary Shelley and
JOHN POLIDORI
. In 1816 in a villa on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, the gang participated in some legendary late night telling of fantastic stories, from which sprung the horror classics
FRANKENSTEIN
and
The Vampyre
. Has appeared in many fictional accounts of the era, none so seductive as the feature film
Gothic
(1986) starring Gabriel Byrne as the Lord. His remains were rejected by Westminster Abbey for burial; they rest instead at Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

CABARET VOLTAIRE
British electronic music trio formed in Sheffield,
ENGLAND
, in 1973 by Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson. Named for a Swiss nightclub with Dadaist ties, these early experimenters with tape loops and sound art are often listed as a seminal
INDUSTRIAL
band, but their most well-known tracks are pure
SYNTHPOP
, for example 1984’s hypnotic “Sensoria.”

CAMDEN MARKET
Group of adjoining open-air markets on Regent’s Canal north of central London, U.K., selling food, knick-knacks and more Goth/
CYBERGOTH
/vintage clothing than you can shake a glow-in-the-dark
VICTORIAN
walking stick at. Amongst the permanent indoor shops of the Stables Market beckoning children of the night are those famous ones with names like After Dark, Elizium,
FAIRYGOTHMOTHER
, Darkside,
CYBERDOG
and, um, Pink Fluffy. A one-stop shopping experience from head to pointy toe.

CANDELABRA
Electricity is so overrated. While the rest of the world has mostly abandoned the candelabra for lightbulbs or fat pillar candles, Goths can still be seen stalking about their abodes clutching the multi-candle holder (more likely made from wrought iron than traditional brass) trying to keep the wax from dripping onto their lacy
POET SHIRT
sleeves. A perfect housewarming gift.

CANDI, RAZOR
American model (née Kym McLaughlin, b. 1983) currently based in Romania. Starting out a go-go dancer in the mid 1990s at Florida’s largest Goth club, The Castle, then doing runway fashion shows and shoots for mags such as
DROP DEAD
and
GOTHIC BEAUTY
. Recognizable for her black
DEATHHAWK
and other extreme looks, she was alternative even in the alternative modeling world. Has released books of her most memorable photos.

CAPE
Despite what the packaging on
VAMPIRE
HALLOWEEN
costumes say,
DRACULA
does not wear a cape. Superman wears a cape.
Compare:
Cloak

CARMILLA
VAMPIRE
novel by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, published in 1872. Pre-dating
DRACULA
by twenty-five years, it may have influenced
STOKER
’s classic book, but that’s not why it’s famous. With its titular female predator and her young lady lover, it became the template for lesbian vampires, influencing hundreds of sexy stories ever since,
HAMMER
’s 1970 film
The Vampire Lovers
for just one example. British black metal band
CRADLE OF FILTH
’s 1996 album,
Dusk . . . and Her Embrace
, is inspired by the tale.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS
1. British Goth/fetish club event started in London in 1994 by a chap named Fulani and running biannually at the Zanzibar club from 2006 to 2008. Much dressing up (and some dressing-downs) ensued. 2. Cult status low-budget horror film from 1962 directed by Herk Harvey and starring Candace Hilligoss, a great organ score by Gene Moore and a creepy amusement park.

CARPE NOCTEM
American magazine published from 1993 to 2000 by Thom Cornell and Catia Carnell; name translates from Latin to “seize the night.” A glossy zine with significant distribution, it covered music, film, books and art from the dark side, interviewing big names in then-underground culture from
CLIVE BARKER
to
DIAMANDA GALÁS
(as well as a then-unknown musician/magician named Criss Angel), and featuring original fiction and art, including the earliest publication of Jhonen Vasquez’s comic
JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC
.

CARPE NOCTURNE
American magazine, founded in 2004 by editor Bob Donovan as a monthly print publication. Carrying the torch in the new millennium with coverage of the Goth/industrial/ebm/Synthpop/Steampunk scene, focused heavily on music with some coverage of fashion, comics and body art. After a hiatus in 2008, returned in 2010 as a quarterly digital magazine.

CASH, JOHNNY
American country singer (1932–2003), a.k.a. The Man in Black, whose music you won’t hear at a Goth club but who you might find on the iPods of those who appreciate his gruesome murder ballads, his sorrowful gospel numbers, his bad-ass rockabilly and his commitment to an all-black wardrobe. At the very least, they’ll know his song “I Walk the Line” (covered by
ALIEN SEX FIEND
) and his 2002 cover of
NINE INCH NAILS
’ “Hurt.”

CATACOMBS
Underground burial chambers of ancient origin and much beloved by the type of modern traveller who likes to holiday amongst the dead. Catacombs are open for visits in Rome, Egypt and elsewhere, but none more spectacular than those winding deep beneath the streets of Paris, where the walls are made from thousands of skulls and bones greeting those who dare pass through the stone portal bearing the warning “
Arrête, c’est ici l’empire de la mort
.” Rumours abound of off-the-path wanderings and illegal parties within the Parisian Catacombs; in September 2009, vandalism forced their closure for a year. Tsk, tsk. Extra
GOTH POINTS
for knowing this type of tomb is actually called an ossuary.

CATALYST, CLINT
American author and performer (né Clinton Green, b. April 8, 1971) and all-around gay Goth scenester. From his zine
As If
in the early 1990s to his 2000 book
Cottonmouth Kisses
, his spoken word performances, journalism, modeling, acting and many other gigs, he has constantly put himself out there, his way. Recently, he has taken an interest in reality TV; amongst his credits is guesting on an episode of
Germany’s Next Top Model
. A real life modern
DANDY
.

CAT O’ NINE TAILS
Flogging device, often of rope or leather, with nine “thongs,” also called the Captain’s Daughter by navy types. Catwoman had one. Anita Blake too. Whether or not you like to Whip It, a striking accessory.

CAVE, NICK
Australian-born singer, composer and author (b. September 22, 1957), now based in the U.K. As frontman for
POST-PUNK
pioneers
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
, introduced himself as a young man obsessed with religion, sex, violence and self-destruction. Thankfully, outlived the self-destruction part so he could go on to front Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and release more than a dozen albums filled with murder ballads, dark romance and ruminations on religion and other heady offerings, writ like a poet, sung like the devil. His 1989 novel
And the Ass Saw the Angel
was pure Southern Gothic; the 2009 follow-up
The Death of Bunny Munro
was perverse and hilarious. He scored the apocalyptic 2009 masterpiece
The Road
; wrote 2005’s nasty Outback Western
The Proposition
. His latest band Grinderman rocks. His canon is literary and seductive. His suits are sharp. Not obviously Goth but at some point in every Goth girl or boy’s life, they discover Nick Cave. Then there is no turning back. Essential tracks: “The Mercy Seat,” “The Ship Song,” “Red Right Hand,” “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” “Stagger Lee,” “Spell” . . . oh hell, just get the whole Bad Seeds catalogue.

CBGB
New York City bar and live music venue, operating in the Bowery district from 1973 to 2006. While world famous as the birthplace of American punk rock, and mostly home to hardcore and metal and a really, really stinky washroom, it was also the original spot for weekly Goth party Absolution, and many a death rocker met his/her soulmate there amongst the ruins.

CEMETERY
Burial ground for the dead, gathering place for the death-obsessed. Various superstitions and legend say it’s where
ZOMBIES
will rise, devils should be worshipped and, of course,
VAMPIRES
may rest. Whether any of that is true, they still make lovely places for a quiet stroll thinking about mortality, practicing your black-and-white photography and
GRAVE RUBBING
art projects or, the ultimate Goth date, moonlit sex romps on graves. If you hear about tortured cats and wax pentagrams messing up your local cemetery, chances are that’s a misguided teenager, not a Goth.

CENOBITES
Fictional
BDSM
-loving creatures from another dimension, created by
CLIVE BARKER
and stars of his
HELLRAISER
stories and film. An entire canon of philosophy and abilities exists for the Cenobites, but few would care if they didn’t look so incredibly cool. Well, cool in that “we’ll tear your soul apart” way. Mutilated, pierced,
TATTOOED
, decked out in part–religious vestment part–fetish gear, Cenobites both repulse and titillate. Barker’s fever dreams made flesh.
See also:
Pinhead

CENOTAPH
Tomb or monument for a person or group of persons buried elsewhere. Generally used to honour the war dead, and thus quite a sombre affair. But in the absence of a handy
CEMETERY
, a perfectly suitable back-up for late night Goth walks.

CHAINMAIL
A type of
MESH
formed from metal rings linked together, which can be fashioned into shirts, gloves, etc. For some reason, many Goth boys go through a phase where wearing chainmail out to clubs seems like a good idea. Chainmail was designed as armour, to protect against getting stabbed while attacking enemy tribes on your horse, so if you are recreating such a thing in a
LARP
game, by all means, get yourself some chainmail. If not, leave it to the butchers and the shark divers, won’t you?

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make,”
quoth Count
DRACULA
in
BRAM STOKER
’s novel, in reference to howling wolves in the hills around his castle. Since then, there have been films, short stories, songs and more riffing on the idea, and Goths eagerly embracing it as a term of endearment.

CHRISTIAN DEATH
American
DEATH ROCK
band, founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by singer
ROZZ WILLIAMS
, whose impact on Gothdom cannot be understated, despite never having enjoyed a chart hit. Debut studio album, 1982’s
Only Theatre of Pain
, set the template for American-style
GOTHIC ROCK
, adding to British
POST-PUNK
’s bass heavy death disco a bravado and blasphemy, spoken word and a wash of spooky guitars and keyboards. Did I mention blasphemy? Everything about Christian Death seemed designed to piss off the Catholic Church, from the name itself to lyrics about necrophilia, perversion and drugs, not to mention their “Litanies of Satan.” The prime line-up consisted of Williams, guitarist
VALOR KAND
, keyboardist
GITANE DEMONE
and drummer David Glass. In 1985, Williams quit the underground rock star life for pursuit of more surrealist and experimental art musings and Kand took over the mic and the name. (Rozz later decided he wanted it back and then there were competing, confusing Christian Deaths on the market.) The resulting split caused a deep rift in the Goth time-space continuum: you were either Team Rozz or Team Valor. Until April 1, 1998, when Williams took his own life, by hanging. Then it hardly seemed to matter. What remains is a catalogue of boundary pushing, deeply macabre music from all parties that is required listening for anyone who wants to understand how it all began.

CHURCH OF SATAN
Religion founded in 1968 by Anton Szander LaVey (1930–1997) in San Francisco, having very little to do with Christian, Jewish or Muslim concepts of Satan at all. Rather, it rejects heaven and hell and prayer in favour of individual responsibility, indulgence and the occasional Black Mass featuring a hot naked woman on an altar. Membership details are shadowy, but few Goths actually belong to the CoS (although
MARILYN MANSON
has) even if they like to wear inverted pentagrams and quote from the Satanic Bible. LaVey’s daughter Karla (“The High Priestess of Hell”!) keeps the fires burning with her own First Satanic Church, a radio show and the occasional special appearance at
HALLOWEEN
club events near you.

CINNABON
Chain of fast food kiosks serving cinnamon rolls and other gooey deserts, generally found in malls across America. Fictional place of employment for
AZRAEL ABYSS
of
Saturday Night Live
’s sketch
GOTH TALK
, meant to poke fun at how a dark prince has to work a
MUNDANE
low-wage food court job.
Circe: “Azrael, how does the evening find you?” Azrael: “Forlorn. I had to work a double shift at Cinnabon today.”