Gene Loves Jezebel may not be high on 80s playlists these days, but there has always been something special about them. Formed by brothers Michael and Jay Aston, Porthcawl’s finest came writhing out of the cellar in 1980 with [literally and figuratively] shrieking abandon. Borne of Siouxsie and the burgeoning post-punk movement, they took scything guitar […]
Scandal, sleaze, art and darkness: Sex Gang Children were and remain one of post-punk’s most difficult outpourings. Essentially the vehicle of Andreas McElligott [Andi Sex Gang] with a contentious name borrowed from Boy George*, SGC embodied the diversity, intensity and creativity of the early 80s punk fallout. Any fan of SGC knows the minefield their […]
One of the earliest entries in the Cherry Red ‘Goth’ remaster series, ‘Last Exit’ collated most of Ausgang’s short and exciting career into one hugely entertaining CD. I bought this when it came out as one of my first exposures to 80s post-punk and Goth; as a born-out-of-time teenager discovering the Cult, Bauhaus and Sisters […]
Wayne Hussey and the Mission had essentially disappeared following the creative black hole of ‘Blue’. The 1996 release created a schism between band and fans – the Blue Nun-guzzling songwriter and once press darling seemed gone for good. All fell silent until Hussey resurrected the band with co-founder Craig Adams for a one-off tour with […]
Terminal Gods followed up their promising ‘Electric Eyes’ and ‘Lessons in Fire’ singles with an EP broadening their stylistic parameters. In the late 1970s the ‘alternative’ music industry was wound tight to the point of implosion – an undercurrent of frustration had begun to occur in the face of bloated and indulgent 60s alumni. As […]
With another decade behind them, the starry-eyed revivalists of the 60s have steadfast become old bluesmen themselves. Seemingly a rite-of-passage to immortalise their idols in the shape of what could cynically be passed off as ‘another covers album’, ‘Low Country Blues’ is Gregg Allman’s first solo release in 14 years; a masterful lesson in the idiom. Best remembered […]
Rhombus have come to be one of modern Goth’s most respected bands: 2010′s ‘Open The Sky’ marked a quantum leap forward in terms of sound and song craft, so dramatic a leap in fact, that I could see them hurtling headlong up a stylistic cul de sac. With studio supremos Stephen Carey [Adoration; Eden House] […]
Out of the Cellar 