WALPURGIS NIGHT, LOLITA KOMPLEX IN JAPAN. TOKYO GOTHIC PARTIES. INDUSTRIAL EBM ELECTRO MUSIC EVENTS, CLUBS.
My hair’s been purple since September, but I haven’t posted very many photos yet. (Yes, my blog is months behind… patience!)
During my grueling Food Network TV shoot, I found a sliver of free time to attend Walpurgis Night, a Goth live event at Shinjuku Jam.
Leopard print slip: from Hong Kong
Black Gothic jacket: Metamorphose temps de Fille, from Closet Child.
Pirate necklace: gifted from Ghostlove (more photos here)
My spooks and I usually meet in the streets of Kabukicho for a pre-drink from the convenience store, or absinthe at Decabar.
A nightcrawl isn’t complete without… Swedish crackers?
First Mate Naomi and I were reunited with Nekoi (from cyber-industrial band Psydoll), and Arina from Paris.
Walpurgis Night is a Gothic live music event that occurs every month or so. This New Romantic ghoul sums up the vibe.
Taizo spins 1980s Goth tracks that got us dancing.
The always-cheery Naohiro, frontman of the band 13th Moon, turns the room into a Nightmare Before Christmas dance scene.
Seminal Japanese post-punk band, Madame Edwarda, is as strong on stage as ever.
Austrian band Lolita Komplex got us headbanging with their metal riffs and girl-guy vocals. A long time ago, I featured Sweet Lolita Nana on my blog, as Gothloli of the Week.
In one of the night’s best moments, Zin-François Angelique joins Lolita Komplex on stage.
He has a Marilyn Manson vibe, don’t you think?
As morning approaches, Taizo dances. Butoh-influenced, grotesque and glamorous.
For more, check out my complete guide to Tokyo Goth clubs and events.
How did you first get into Goth fashion and culture? What draws you to the dark lifestyle, music and aesthetics? Share your story in the comments; I’ll write back.
Song of the Day: Madame Edwarda – Héliogabale
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LA CARMINA
44 Comments
awesome, I love your style <3
Yarrr. Definitely yarrr.
yarr!
golly gee i want to be there with you and your friends ^^
:)
:-)))
Heh, it took me a moment; I’d forgotten that it’s also a holiday of sorts in Europe, not just the ultimate witch in Madoka Magica.
such awesome night with wonderful music and friends<3
muahhaha! More nightcrawling pics to come!
Need to come back for more adventures. ^.^v
Yeppppp working on it!
Yaaar~ Fifth photo on the right >: O Even if I’m a girl. lulz
Looks so fun~
haha :) Yeah!
How I first got into GOTH….. I honestly would not know how to answer that question. It just happened. <3
hahah yes, you fell into the dark side!
Viva La Carmina!!!
Lovely pics! I first got into the goth aesthetic when I was 15, it just felt comfortable and right to wear black, metals, have a geometric haircut. I loved Rasputina, NIN, and they appealed to me with their sound, emotion. This was in the late 90s, and seeing the shift in fashion from then to now…it’s brilliant to see how much easier it is to dress the way I’ve dreamed of when I was young. (Thanks, by the way, for helping me find where to shop/party this past summer in Tokyo!)
Heheh I was into NIN too. Glad you had fun in Tokyo!
When I was 11 or 12 my dad took me to Magic Mountain and when we were in line for a ride I saw some goths and noticed the guys wearing eyeliner. I was bamboozled instantly. That same year I got turned on to The Cure. Their album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me just came out and I fell in love. I started to realize that I felt more comfortable in dark attire and I started to dress more darkly, as far as I could get away with having strict, religious parents. As the years progressed I learned more and was in love with the music but also got caught up with skateboarding and punk rock but never lost my love for the goth style and music. I have finally embraced my love for the goth aesthetic more fully and it makes me a happier person. I’m really happy that goth is becoming morr widely accepted because when I was in school the other kids were pretty awful. I know we aren’t one hundred percent accepted yet, but with people like you, Carmina, to show the world what we’ve got, I think we can go a long way!
I became Goth at end of sixth grade
Wow thanks for writing about us! Itsumo Arigato!!
Hope to see you soon!
1981. I was a punk, but after hearing “Alice” by the Sisters of Mercy, I was goth and have been ever since. Although nowadays I prefer more electronic stuff like EBM and industrial rather than trad goth… :-)
<3 <3
That kind of depends. Metal was my gateway to goth. As early as first and second grade I started to get my hands on heavy metal bands and late in elementary school Ozzy Osbourne / Black Sabbath was by far my favorite musician. No surprise that my teen years were spent listening to Heavy Metal and Punk Rock bands and I started to dress more the part, except I heavily favored goth clothes to metal head clothes which resulted in some confusion as people assume things based on how you dress. Being open minded about it and not married to just one genre of music I was listening to a lot of industrial and mistaking it for goth music, and ultimately before high school was over (I can’t say when exactly) I had a better appreciation for it all. The interest in both music and fashion led to me being the person from my group of school friends to discover J-Rock (as you can easily figure out why). When I was 17 and in college I met other people into the same things, which resulted in a greatly expanded music, and cultural immersion into it all. When I was out of college and back in NYC there was another quantum leap forward as I was finally old enough to frequent all the right haunts .about an hour ago
Loving your stories! I can relate ;)
Great Weekend Night…(http://fasttrack.hk/)
Thanks
I’m loving the new hair!
I first came into contact with the Goth scene when I was 14 or so. I was in Highschool and some of my classmates were dressed differently and i loved it. Started talking with them and discovered we liked the same type of music and we had a lot in common. So I went on the internet and discovered more people like me :D It was awesome and from there on came the clothes! Wooh, I love clothes and shoes and trinkets!
Thank you dear!! I was around the same age :)
I guess it started from the thought: “I am different. I don’t fit in. I am an outcast. I like things other people usually wouldn’t.” It was around the time when Evanescence was rocking it with ‘Bring Me to Life’.
Knowing that there was something I can associate with, I started my research into the clothing and music. I fell in love with the Punk-Goth look…there was just something about it that scream ‘I am a frigging outcast but I don’t CARE!’.
That was when I was around 10 or 11…ten years have passed. My musical tastes have altered slightly, with me being more open to different music other than heavy rock. So has my fashion tastes; now I am more centered towards the Lolita look. However, Goth is never a phase, it’s for life…and what loves the unknown, the unventured, the untouched and thrown-aside still resides inside me. I guess over time, you still embrace the fact that you are different and you enjoy that difference no matter how much things have changed. Now, I don’t even mind wearing pink but who says you have to wear black all the time to be a ‘true Goth’?
I felt like that too… glad there are spooky friends out there!
^^ sweden have som black and goth can be really good fashion and sweden have some people with black and goth and asia style but much swedish people can´t understand or acca it.
Wait that’s the Singer from auto-mod rite? Love him! Lol
Yep!
With 10 years i start to listen metal and rock like Korn,Static-x. deftones and more… and when i was 14 i was interested in subculture like metal,punk and even gothic.I felt like a goth because i like creepy and groteque stuff sometimes i feel melancholy but on a good way XD so i stardet to be live the goth lifestyle…at school,work and everyday life.
i started being interested by the goth subculture, after playing some CastleVania Games xD
:D
Love them! ^.^ oh! you were near Christon Cafe in some photos right?
The purple looks good!
As always you look so amazing ! =) love the hair color
Now wait a minute, how did you even manage to come by Swedish crackers (“knäckebröd”)? o_o Since I am Swedish I can not help wondering, haha. What surprises me most though, is the fact that crackers even could be popular. I do not think there is anything special about hard bread.
hehehe my friend is Swedish, and brought them back with her :)
It was 1984 when I was 15 and was introduced to Bauhaus. That changed everything. I was drawn to the smart lyrics that spoke of Najinsky, seedy sex, grandeur, murder…. and so many other subjects that my young mind had not known to exist! Bauhaus was my teacher. Who was this Antonin Artaud that inspired them? We could not fail to ask questions and be taught that the world as we saw it was not necessarily the world that existed ‘out there’. Back then there were no goth shops in Montreal. Records were bought at a high price from WOW, the import place. I scoured church rummage sales for black clothes. My favourite ensemble was a long black skirt, an old white dress shirt that was my father’s and a gold lacy shawl. On a trip to England in 1986 I acquired: bat necklaces, winklepicker shoes (bought when I was alone with my father as my mother was completely against me getting them) about 6 Bauhaus t-shirts (some of which I still have) a Bauhaus album AND Peter Murphy’s first solo record, fresh off the press!
I think that what still draws me to goth, other than something inherent inside me, is finding out about that world ‘out there’. Gothic literature, plays, poetry-especially the likes of Renee Vivien, who is inspiring a lot of what I write these days and others out there like myself! My first cd was reviewed by Mick Mercer back in 2007 and one of the things he said was “They clearly have a varied rock…background as well as genuinely understanding Goth…”. I was so honoured by this!
Is it ok if I put this link? It’s from our show on November 11 2011. It’s my song about being a freak!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0jwtTuWwTU
i’m a fellow lolita, and i love your show and your sense of style, but i’ve always wondered…how come i never see you on EGL and other lolita comms?