Festive greetings from The Blogging Goth! I sincerely hope the season has been good to you, and 2023 brings you all you could desire.
2022 was the usual array of highs and lows set against the backdrop of a world going increasingly mad, wracked with the ongoing effects of COVID-19 amongst a myriad of other challenges. For example, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter was the burning of Rome, against which the goths of the bird app fiddled furiously, elevating What Is Goth? to ever strident new heights.
Regardless of where you find yourself in that interminable bunfight, the music scene has been prolific from the ground up with new bands exploding in popularity and engagement online. Male Tears, Then Comes Silence, Byronic Sex and Exile, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Vision Video and many more are electrifying a new generation of fans, and connecting with more veterans as well.
Indeed, Vision Video will bridge the gap by supporting the resurgent March Violets on a UK tour next year – which will hopefully be a nexus and herald of goth activity in my home country! I intend to get along to a few dates, namely Newcastle (my home) but hopefully also Glasgow (one of my favourite cities) and Leeds (ancestral home of UK goth and many friends!) I trust I’ll see some of you along the way?
I also intend to get online with the March Violets and talk about their return to form for 2023 – this will be on my YouTube channel as I try and balance that outlet for my creativity next year. I’ve observed but kept quiet as the online discussion of goth ‘legitimacy’ has raged on social media. I intend to use my channel to quietly put forward my own thoughts on the topic, led by the single most important fact that nobody can dispute – that nobody is the official authority on goth!
2022 was full of challenges personally – from huge home renovation projects that kept us off-balance for months, through promotions (welcome) and new challenges at work (unwelcome!) that took up more time that intended, through to the sad loss of our eldest cat Drusilla. All of this took place in a country wracked by political and economic instability that had everyone at their wits end and living on frayed nerves. I have nothing but solidarity with everyone else who faced interminable struggles this year.
Let us look ahead instead to the opportunities of 2023. Bands like Cold Cave and Lebanon Hanover have me piqued for Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival in Whitby. The Cure’s promised next album should appear. Siouxsie Sioux will return to perform live after ten years absence from the stage. The Sisters of Mercy will perform in South America, presumably after reading the hundreds of comments on Facebook asking them to play Brazil. The Sick New World Festival assembles an army of alternative acts to die for!
The goth scene (sorry Andrew) shows no signs of flagging, and indeed mainstream appeal will continue to be bolstered with news on new seasons from goth-friendly series like Wednesday and The Sandman. It falls to all of us to take our seats at a great Dark Banquet in the New Year. Let us finally raise a glass though, to those who will not be joining us in 2023.
Meat Loaf, Taylor Hawkins, Jordan Mooney, Andy Fletcher, Paul Ryder, David Warner, Darryl Hunt, Hilary Mantel, Coolio, Angela Lansbury, Robbie Coltrane, Jerry Lee Lewis, Christine McVie, Keith Levene, Angelo Badalamenti, Jet Black, Martin Duffy, Terry Hall, Maxi Jazz and Vivienne Westwood amongst many others – may you all rest in peace.
Here’s to the New Year!
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