cleopatra-records

Creux Lies selected as “Bands to See at 2019’s Wave Gotik Treffen —The World’s Largest Goth Festival”
There is a staggering amount of great post-punk acts to see at this years WGT, like Californian newcomers Creux Lies,
who are playing Europe for the very first time, or Dutch band Bragolin, who have been making waves through word of mouth.

For complete list read more at post-punk.com

Album available via:
Bandcamp | Cleopatra Records | Apple Music | Deezer | Spotify

Connect on Social:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Cleopatra and X-Ray Records are happy to announce the signing of Pittsburgh hip hop rising star ‘Goest Ryder’. Andrew Streshenkoff p/k/a Goest Ryder has had much underground success to date. He has been apart of national tours with acts such as; Juicy J, Travis Scott, and Project Pat. Goest (pronounced ghost), took part in last years Gathering of The Juggalos music festival. Goest Ryder has been featured on the cover of Street Motivation Magazine Vol. 31, with longtime Pittsburgh supporter and hip-hop legend “Snoop Dogg”. Goest has built an extremely loyal fanbase largely in part due to the independent release of his song ‘Dependent on Chemicals’. Goest Ryder and his Lafiosa Enterprise imprint are teaming up with Cleopatra/X-Ray Records for the release of his breakout single “Survive.

Keep look out for his Goest Ryder “Survive” single to be released worldwide Friday June 6th

Follow Goest Ryder on Social
Soundcloud | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

HIPHOPDX PREMIERE – Diego Money is on a roll. After celebrating his upcoming release with a Green Tape Release Party in Los Angeles last month and plotting the launch of his own strain of weed, the Texas-bred artist is back with a visual for “Lt. Dan.”

The video precedes the release of Green, which features Famous Dex on two songs, including “Know Us” and “Can’t Hang.”

Click here to watch!

Green Available Now!
Cleopatra | Amazon | Bandcamp | iTunes

One of the strongest young voices is hip hop is about to break out in a major way with this new album, Green!

Guest appearances by longtime collaborator Famous Dex (almost 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify)!

First single “Lt. Dan” set to drop on 4/20 and the pro-shot video for the track will drop on release date!

Poshboy Available Now!
Amazon | Spotify | Bandcamp | iTunes

Amazon | Spotify | Bandcamp | iTunes

Get The Latest Release!
CD | LP | Bandcamp | Amazon | iTunes

America’s favorite punk rock scamps jump across the pond for some British hijinks on this reissue of their 2009 compilation!

Features tracks recorded live at the BBC as well as a special cover of They Might Be Giants’ “Boss Of Me” featuring Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show / Better Call Saul) and Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang Bang)!

Available on both CD and limited edition RED vinyl

Track List:
1. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
2. Judy Is A Punk
3. Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
4. Joe
5. Costa Mesa Hates Me
6. Jilten John
7. Change The World With My Hockey Stick
8. I’m Black
9. Heigh-Ho
10. Poison
11. My Neck, My Back
12. Ball And Chain
13. Mexican Blackbird
14. Canine Euthanasia
15. Don’t Stop Me Now
16. You’re Not The Boss Of Me (Kick It) R&B Remix
17. Urban Struggle

Get the Latest Release!
2CD + DVD + Blu-Ray | LTD 2 LP | Bandcamp | Amazon | iTunes

Todd Rundgren’s seminal prog-rock / power-pop band Utopia reunites onstage for the first time in 32 years!

The vinyl companion to the prog rock concert event of the year – the spectacular reunion of Todd Rundgren’s seminal prog rock / power pop outfit, Utopia!

Superb versions of fan favorites from the band’s mid-’70s output, including “Utopia Theme,” “The Ikon,” “Communion With The Sun” and others which have not been performed live in 32 years!

Packaged in a gatefold jacket with GREEN vinyl!

• Rundgren recently received a well-deserved nomination for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame!

With Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox. Featuring Gil Assayas. Produced and mixed by Todd Rundgren

Recorded Live at the Chicago Theatre May 22, 2018

Track Listing:
Audio Disc 1:
1. Utopia Theme
2. The Ikon
3. Another Life
4. Do Ya
5. The Wheel
6. Back On The Street
7. Back On The Street
8. Something’s Coming
9. Monument
10. Overture – Communion with the Sun
11. Last of the New Wave Riders

Audio Disc 2:
1. Road to Utopia
2. Play this Game
3. Swing to the Right
4. Trapped
5. Set Me Free
6. Love in Action
7. Hammer in my Heart
8. Princess of the Universe
9. I Will Wait
10. Rock Love
11. Love is the Answer
12. One World
13. Just One Victory

Australia
June 26th – Canberra The Basement
June 27th – Brisbane The Zoo
June 28th – Sydney Manning
June 29th – Melbourne Croxton

Japan
July 13th – Tokyo Holiday Shinjuku
July 14th – Tokyo Holiday Shinjuku
July 15th – Osaka Soma

Latin America
August 15th – Argentina Buenos Aires Museo Rock
August 16th – Paraguay Asuncion Absoluto Rock
August 17th – Chile Santiago TBA
August 18th – Brasil Sao Paulo Manifesto Bar
August 21st – Brasil Londrina Valentino Bar
August 23rd – Colombia Bogota Ace of Spades
August 24th – Colombia Medellin Sala Bombay

Available Now!
CD | LP |  Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

The ripping new studio album from NWOBHM legends TANK!

Re-Ignition is a tribute to the early days of TANK and features 11 classic TANK songs chosen from the first 4 albums which were originally released in the early ‘80s: Filth Hounds of Hades, Power of the Hunter, This Means War, and Honour and Blood!

Led by guitarists Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans, TANK are joined on this album by special guests Dani Filth (of Cradle Of Filth) and thrash legend Tom Angelripper (of Sodom)!

TANK will embark on a run of shows in April visiting Holland, Belgium, Finland, Sweden and The Ukraine!

Available on CD & Limited Edition Colored Vinyl.

Track List:
1. Walking Barefoot Over Glass
2. Power of the Hunter
3. Just Like Something From Hell
4. He Fell In Love with a (Stormtrooper)
5. This Means War
6. Shellshock
7. W.M.L.A.
8. Honour and Blood
9. Blood, Guts and Beer
10. Echoes of a Distant Battle
11. The War Drags Ever On

6/9: Wave-Gotik-Treffen · Leipzig, Germany
Volkspalast, 3:30 pm
6/11: Nuremberg, Germany — Projekt 31
6/12: Cologne, Germany — Tsunami
6/13: Copenhagen, Denmark — Råhuset
6/14: Berlin, Germany — Slaughterhouse w/Night Nail and VV & The Void
6/15: Wroclaw, Poland — D.K. Luksus w/ Night Nail

Check out The Hearth album by Creux Lies on Cleopatra Records 

Available Now!
CD | LP | Bandcamp

The new full-length album from dark meodic post-punk band out of Sacramento CA, Creux Lies!

For fans of Drab Majesty, Soft Kill, Ritual Howls, Clan Of Xymox, The Chameleons, and The Cure!

Track List:
1. Silhouette
2. Portals
3. The Unclasping
4. Eulogy
5. Virginity
6. Tsavo
7. Áine’s Song
8. Simulacrum

Add to your playlist on Deezer, iTunes/Apple & Spotify |
deezer.com | itunes.apple.com | spotify.com

Follow Creux Lies
creuxlies.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Via: dyingscene.com

WHAM! POW! SHAZAM! Your friendly neighborhood crime fighters here at Dying Scene are stoked to bring you the debut full-length from BAT!, the gothabilly super-trio featuring members of Nekromantix, The Brains, Rezurex and Stellar Corpses.

The album is called Bat Music For Bat People, and it’s due out tomorrow (May 10th) via Cleopatra Records…but you can whet your appetite today and check out the whole 20-song shebang below!

Bat Music For Bat People features fifteen original tracks and five psychobilly-infused covers including their renditions of Danzig (“Mother”), the king of surf Dick Dale (“Misirlou”), The Damned (“Love Song”), Gloria Jones (“Tainted Love”), Portugal. The Man (“Feel It Still”), and Panic! At The Disco (“Say Amen” (Saturday Night). Here’s what the mysterious fellas had to say:

“With my psychic Bat vision, I knew the night of the Blood Moon was our time to record the album,” Blue Bat recalled.

“Everyone meet me at my radioactive recording studio in the Batcave,” ordered Green Bat.

“This is gonna be the best album ever! Hey, can somebody pick me up from the Spearmint Rhino,” asked Red Bat.

Check it out below, gang!

Available to order!
CD | Vinyl | BandCamp

The brand new BAT-tastic psychobilly project from members of Nekromantix, The Brains, Stellar Corpses and Rezurex!

15 original tracks and 5 BAT-ified cover tunes including a rollicking version of the Northern Soul/Soft Cell classic “Tainted Love!”

Special guest appearances by honorary BATS Jyrki 69 of The 69 Eyes and Danny B. Harvey!

Pro-shot video for “Tainted Love” set to launch the full-scale publicity campaign leading into a US tour in late May/June!

Available on both digipak CD and limited edition RED vinyl!

Track List:
1. We Fight!
2. Tainted Love
3. Villain
4. We Own The Night
5. Running Scared
6. Take It Off feat. Jyrki 69
7. You’re Running Away feat. Danny B. Harvey
8. Revenge Of The Batmask
9. Monster Party
10. Love Song [CD ONLY]
11. Graveyard Girl [CD ONLY]
12. Cemetery Man [CD ONLY]
13. She Wolf
14. Getaway Car
15. Wicked Love
16. Devil Woman From Outer Space [CD ONLY]
17. Mother [CD ONLY]
18. Say Amen (Saturday Night) [CD ONLY]
19. Feel It Still [CD ONLY]
20. Misirlou [CD ONLY]

May 3rd – Maui Sugar Mill Saloon – Tarzana CA 11 pm

May 17th – Redwood Bar – Downtown Los Angeles  11 pm

June 7 Redwood Bar – Downtown Los Angeles w/ motorcycle boy

June 12 – Old Towne Pasadena, Ca 

June 21 – Silverlake Lounge – Hollywood CA 9:30

June 22 – Sans Souci – Ventura CA

Aug 2 – Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, Tarzana CA

Aug 9 – Redwood Bar, DWNTWN LA, 11 pm w/ Claws, Joe Normal 

Sept 7- Sans Souci , Ventura CA

Oct 11 – Dublin Castle, Camden UK

Oct 13 – Brighton UK

Oct 14 – Mau Mau Bar, London UK

Oct 18 – Troubadour, London UK 

GET THE LATEST ALBUM

The debut album from the brand new project featuring founding L.A. Guns member Mick Cripps and London Quireboys founder Nigel Mogg!

The album is a mix of the members’ influences from the dirty, leering blues of pub rock to the urgency of street punk and the synthesized dance ennui of post-punk!

The band is a regular at venues in downtown LA and across California and will be setting up both a West Coast tour and a UK tour in support of this release!

Available on both CD and in a special limited edition vinyl pressing with silk-screened jacket!

Track list:
1. I Don’t Believe A Word
2. Wishing I Was Far Away
3. Form & Function
4. Meet Me Half Way
5. Jungle Nasty
6. Talk Of The Town
7. Look Whatcha Gone And Done
8. Know Your Value
9. Nutter
10. You Got It
11. Enough Of Me [CD ONLY]
12. Drinking Alone [CD ONLY]

AVAILABLE NOW ON: CD LP BandCamp

Via: billboard.com

Photo: Louis Rodiger

Terri Nunn says a reunion with Berlin co-founders John Crawford and David Diamond is “out of nowhere for me, too.” But on Aug. 2 the trio will release their first Berlin album together since 1984 — Transcendance, whose title track is premiering exclusively below — and hit the road during the summer with the B-52s.

“It’s fantastic, it really is,” says Nunn, who revived Berlin in 1997, a decade after it first broke up. “We are different people. It’s a different connection, a different partnership than we used to be. I’m not scared all the time, like I used to be, and John is a lot more relaxed than he used to be. And David is still a lot of fun; He was always the brat of the group and still is, but he’s also a lot more compassionate. So it’s really great.”

With doors of communication opened after Berlin was part of a VH1 Bands Reunited episode in 2004, the group’s current reunion was brought about by personal circumstances — Crawford’s divorce and Diamond’s split with a partner. “It was just an upheaval for both of them and we reached out to each other and it was really a reconnection,” Nunn says. “And in the process of that we got creative, as we always were ’cause that’s what we do when we’re together. And things started to pop.” After some initial sessions faltered, the trio was introduced to award-winning Australian producers Andy and Thom Mak, who brought Transcendance — which resumes Berlin’s particular brand of synth-pop, including a remake of the troupe’s provocative 1983 single “Sex (I’m A…)” — to fruition.

“I guess for me it’s proving to myself I can still make great music that’s relevant to me and that says something,” Nunn notes. “It needed to have a message. A lot of EDM and electronic music that is happening now is sonically great, but it’s not saying a whole lot…and I felt I could add to that, especially for people who aren’t 20 years old and just want to have sex in the backseat of a car and go to the dance club. That’s fine for kids but not for me. It doesn’t speak to me at all. There is more to talk about at my age and people that are around the age that we are, and this album has a lot of different topics on it.”

Chief among those is Transcendance’s title track, which was inspired by conversations Nunn had with her mother, who died in 2007, and with one of her mother’s close friends before her own death last year.

“My mom and I were really close,” Nunn says, “and (the song) is about what she described to me, what it was feeling like to let go, to die. The last thing my mom said to me was, ‘Terri, I’m going to miss you and the people I love, that’s the sadness, but this is not sad. This is cool. This is amazing.’ And right around the time we started this album, a year and a half ago, her friend Judy Taylor called and she said exactly the same things as my mother had told me; She said, ‘Terri, this is probably the greatest adventure I’m ever going to have, and I’m kind of excited about it.’

“And I was like, ‘Whoa! I want to feel like that!’ We are all going to have it, so does it have to be bad? No, maybe it isn’t. I hung up the phone with Judy and was absolutely inspired and wrote the lyrics in 20 minutes.”

Redoing “Sex (I’m A…),” a duet with Crawford, as well as other songs such as the album-opening “I Want You,” allowed Nunn to plant a flag “about a new experience of sexuality in my life right now, and how it’s different. I didn’t know what to expect to be older and what sex is going to be like now; It’s different, and there’s a lot of things it isn’t that it was in my twenties, but there’s a lot of things it is that it wasn’t in my twenties, too. There’s some really cool changes. There’s no more neediness in it anymore — it’s just fun, pleasure, enjoyable. It doesn’t need to be any more than that anymore.”

With age, meanwhile, don’t expect Nunn to be jumping on Crawford and having him carry her off stage when they perform the song. “There was a point where John had said he would never sing ‘Sex’ with me, because he was very religious at that point,” Nunn recalls. “He just slowly got himself back into it. What’s great for me is that we wrote the song together, so to get to sing it with him again is so amazing for me.”

Transcendance, which is being released by Cleopatra Records, also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Berlin’s formation in Los Angeles, though it would be a few years before the group broke through with his such as “The Metro” and “No More Words” — and, of course, hitting chart-topping and Academy Award-winning heights after Diamond’s departure with “Take My Breath Away” from the 1986 film Top Gun. But Nunn says she’s happy the group is marking the time with new material.

“It doesn’t feel like 40 years, ” she says. “I had no idea we’d get to play this long. It’s kind of like a marriage; You hope it will be forever, but you don’t know. I’m just proud of what we did — and what we’re doing.” She also predicts that working with Crawford and Diamond will be a going concern for Berlin.

“John just said the other day that if I want to do this through my seventies, he’s there,” says Nunn, 57. “It’s wonderful to hear that from him. He was born to be a writer, and he has so many songs; Even when we finished this album, he said, ‘I have 40 more. When are we going to do the next one?’ We’ll see if people respond to this. I hope they do, because we’re not just doing it for ourselves, you know. We’re not a garage band. We want people to respond and actually contribute something.”

Berlin’s upcoming tour dates include:
July 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest*
July 6 – Nashville, TN – The Cowan*
July 24 – Paso Robles, CA – California MD-State Fair*
July 28 – Costa Mesa, CA – The Hangar@ OC Fair*
August 3 – San Diego, CA – Embarcadero Marina
August 4 – Los Angeles, CA – Microsoft Theater
August 6 – Portland, OR – Oregon Zoo Amphitheater
August 7 – Seattle, WA – BECU ZooTunes Concert Series
August 8 – Missoula, MT – Kettlehouse Amphitheater
August 10 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater
August 11 – Murphys, CA – Ironstone Amphitheatre
August 12 – Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery
August 14 – Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre
August 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
August 17 – Dillon, CO – Dillon Amphitheater
August 18 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
August 21 – San Antonio, TX – The Majestic Theater
August 22 – Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall
August 24 – Sugarland, TX – Smart Financial Centre
August 25 – New Orleans, LA – Saenger Theatre
August 28 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
September 6 – Greensboro, NC – White Oak Amphitheatre at Greensboro Coliseum Complex
September 7 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
September 8 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center at the Heights
September 10 – Chicago, IL – City Winery Chicago*
September 11 – Grand Rapids, MI – Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts at Meijer Gardens
September 13 – Toronto, ONT, CA – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
September 14 – Detroit, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
September 17 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
September 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center for the Performing Arts
September 20 – Mashantucket, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino – Grand Theater
September 21 – Buffalo, NY – Riviera Theatre*
September 22 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues Cleveland*
September 24 – New York, NY – Summerstage – Central Park

*Berlin Headline Dates

via: billboard.com

As it goes through inevitable cycles, the goth subculture in America recharges and soldiers on. Beyond the “dead, undead” jokes inspired by Bauhaus lyrics, this dark underground has persevered for over four decades in America and Europe. Starting tonight (May 3) in Boston, the long-running and ever-moving Convergence festival celebrates 25 years of uniting goth, industrial and darkwave fans both musically and socially.

The live performances for Convergence 25 (check out the schedule here) in Boston will take place nightly at Brighton Music Hall through Sunday (May 5), along with daytime events at other venues including a tea party, whiskey tasting, cemetery tour, fashion swap and an aquarium tour. Musical headliners include Diary of Dreams (Germany), London After Midnight (Los Angeles) and Imperative Reaction (Phoenix). After-show parties will be held every night through Tuesday (May 7). This year’s six-person committee — co-chairs Juliet Brownell-Lee, Tony Lee, Jared Helfer, Amy Black, tea party/group outings coordinator Nicole Aucoin and graphic designer Allen Black — have been organizing the event since last August. Aucoin has been to 22 previous Convergences.

The goth community has been connected through the Internet since the ’90s, with Convergence serving as a real-world gathering place for net.goth denizens and others. The festival debuted in Chicago in 1995, and since then it has been held across North America in cities including Toronto, Las Vegas, Chicago, New Orleans, San Diego and even at a resort in Cozumel, Mexico. Convergence is unique in that it changes location every year as opposed to other musical festivals that have staked out an annual home.

What is goth today? While the fashion trappings and affinity for dark literature, movies, etc., is still there, the music and even the look has been mutating. “You ask 10 people and you’re going to get 15 answers,” notes veteran DJ Tony Lee. “Interestingly enough, a lot of people who are newer to goth like the music, but what they may listen to primarily we might not consider goth. But they go to the clubs and support the scene. I think the goth subculture has moved away from ‘gothic’ music and expanded into a wider thing.”

The goth and industrial scenes have merged. “Back in 2001, you were either a goth or a rivethead, and those lines were drawn,” recalls Brownell-Lee. “They really, really looked down on each other, but I’m finding that those people can’t really treat each other like crap anymore. It allows for a lot more cross pollination in genres. People go and support each other shows, at least here [in Boston].”

“I think that there’s still elitism, but those people can be in their corner and the rest of us can listen to whatever we want,” says Helfer. “It’s so much easier to find that stuff now that the elitism can’t keep it out anymore, the way that I think that it did years ago when the main conduit for the music was the DJ.”

Although the first definitive goth rock single was Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” in 1979 – which technically means that goth is 40 old this year – no one has really pinpointed an actual incept date. Like-minded bands in the U.K. and L.A. were already active by 1976. The post-punk revolution of the late ’70s featuring Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division was the starting point, though the 1968 album The Marble Index by Nico (of Velvet Underground fame) is considered by some to be the very first goth album. Regardless, the goth subculture and music on both sides of the Atlantic has proven to be adaptable, resilient and able to maintain its individuality without turning pop.

There have been times when the music breached the mainstream. The genre’s commercial heyday was the 1980s, when artists like Siouxsie, the Sisters of Mercy and The Cure achieved substantial sales and chart positions worldwide. In the 1990s, the genre went more underground but flourished musically with a widening array of sub genres that extended beyond the obvious rock influences, including the ethereal, heavenly voices, darkwave and electro-industrial realms. The success of industrial acts like Ministry, KMFDM and the multiplatinum Nine Inch Nails brought more scrutiny to the realm.

With the dawn of the new millennium, the “mall goth” aesthetic of the Hot Topic retail chain, the co-opting of the look by many groups in the emo genre and the increasing use of goth characters in film and television thrust a spotlight on the look. Musically, electronic sounds became more of the norm, goth metal grew in popularity, synthpop and new wave experienced revivals and there was the emergence of the electroclash style sounds of witch house in the late ’00s and early ’10s.

Today, the idea of what qualifies as goth musically is more elusive than ever, just as many artists before would not categorize themselves with that tag. Newer artists run the gamut, from the Cure-like ethereal-ism of Drab Majesty to the aggressive synthwave stylings of Carpenter Brut and Dance With The Dead to the more pop-friendly, synth-laced sounds of The Birthday Massacre and VNV Nation, two popular acts that can serve as gateway bands for goth newbies. None of them are traditional goth rock, for sure – not many bands of that old school ilk are around as much these days – but appeal to many in the community itself. Meanwhile, veteran acts like Fields of the Nephilim, the Sisters of Mercy, Lycia, Black Tape For A Blue Girl and Clan of Xymox are still active more than three decades later.

Veteran U.S. labels like Cleopatra, Projekt and Metropolis continue to release a diverse roster of artists, while younger companies like Dais and Negative Gain, along with numerous European labels, are heralding the next generation of artists. Regular U.S. club nights like Nocturna (Chicago), Synthicide (Brooklyn), Goth Night (Charlottesville, Virginia), FetischNacht (Los Angeles) and Ceremony (Boston) keep their local scenes going. Some cities thrive more than others. There are four other major annual festivals in North America, which skew a little more industrial than Convergence: Terminus (Calgary), Coldwaves (Chicago), Mechanismus (Seattle) and Verboden (Vancouver). The annual World Goth Day, founded 10 years ago by British DJs Cruel Britannia and martin oldgoth, inspires dozens of club events worldwide every May 22. Goth has also had some crossover into the synthwave and steampunk communities.

The general consensus among the festival committee, and the wider community, is that lately there has been a mixture of newer artists along with a revival of the ’80s post-punk sound that defined early goth. There have been many classic band reunions like 45 Grave, Community FK, the March Violets and Sex Gang Children. Further, classic industrial and shoegaze sounds are coming back, while synth-pop and the more recent synthwave genres are thriving.

Such diversity is echoed south of the border as well. “We’ve been touring in 45 countries and the last tour we did was in South America — Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina,” says Adrian Hates, singer and core member of German group Diary of Dreams, who headline Convergence 25 Saturday night. “I just listened to the DJs at the after-show parties and — I’m not sure if that’s representative for the complete country — but they really sound early ’80s.” He noted a lot of 4AD bands like Cocteau Twins and Clan of Xymox being played. He felt like he had gone back in a time machine.

“If you go to Germany here right now, a lot of bands coming up sound like that time period again,” continues Hates, “which I find nice because they have a fresh sound through it and use modern technologies. It gives them a little more tightness, aggressiveness and still they use the classical techniques that made the sounds so specific at that time.” But Hates also notes that the ’90s influences of Sisters of Mercy, Front 242 and Depeche Mode have morphed into a metallic, post-Rammstein influence as of late in his country.

Aedra Oh of FIRES – who play Convergence 25 Friday along with London After Midnight – has been involved in the goth/industrial world since 2004. She grew up in the Northeast before moving to Tennessee in 2004 and now recently Santa Fe. She says that the goth scene had a peak nationally around 2008/2009 (Nashville thrived between 2004 and 2009), then wound down a bit in the early 2010s. “I feel like it’s kind of picking back up right now just because the goth scene stopped giving a shit about what something sounds like,” says Oh. “Now we’ve got this really cool kind of thing happening where there are no two bands that quite sound the same anymore.”

In describing her music in FIRES, Oh prefers using “dark electronic” as a catch-all phrase. “When somebody conjures industrial, I’m thinking cyber dreads, big rivet pants and people that are making references to robots fucking,” says Oh. “I’m cool with it, but I just don’t think that that’s necessarily the image of what the scene is.”

Echoing the current scene’s diversity, the new FIRES album All Of My Dreams Are Of This Place is more rock than its synthwave-influenced predecessors and also groundbreaking in that it may very well be the first full album in this subculture to deal with being transgender. My Chemical Romance and AFI serve as big musical influences – the singers of those two bands clearly love goth. Oh also notes that goth has had an influence on various mainstream artists, including Lady Gaga and Chvrches.

“Social media has changed the goth scene in the way it’s shared and digested,” states Andi Harriman, author of Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: The Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s. “Fashion has taken the forefront – though the goth visual aesthetic has always been important, it was secondary to the subculture’s music. Nowadays, using ‘goth’ as an adjective to describe anything black is somewhat of a mainstream trend. But the scene has gained a lot of ground. There are goth/post-punk nights that tend to pop up around NYC and a lot of the goth/post-punk leaning artists stop through regularly to perform at well-attended shows. I think the scene is thriving at the moment as new people seem to be interested in our collective gloomth.”

“What I’m seeing a lot of with the younger crowd is there’s a lot more of a culture minimalism going on,” explains Brownell-Lee. “You’re seeing simpler silhouettes. A lot of occult symbolism, lots of pentagrams, runes and ankhs. It’s like [the movie] The Craft from 1996. What’s interesting about that is it has so much crossover mainstream appeal now that that witchy, nu goth thing is very much part of mainstream Instagram culture. It’s much more normalized. You’ll have a 17-year-old girl, for example, dressed like a witch and into Ouija boards. That’s a thing.”

Porl King is frontman and main member of U.K. band Rosetta Stone, whose U.S. compilation Adrenaline was one of the best ’90s goth releases. He is about to release his group’s first album in 19 years, Seems Like Forever. He sees things from a different perspective. “Thirty odd years back goth wasn’t really a widely used term, certainly not in the way that it is now,” remarks King. “These days ask anyone what a goth is – and they’ll tell you. It’s become very marketable and heavily invested in. It’s a brand – slick, technical and viable, clean cut, almost respectable. It strives for the attention of the mainstream. At its inception, the proto-goth bands weren’t attempting to catch the ear of a ‘goth market’. It simply didn’t exist at least not in a clearly defined prepackaged way like it is now. That isolated, somewhat disjointed DIY spirit is all but lost now.”

Friday night Convergence headliners London After Midnight have been active since 1990. Unlike many of their peers, they have sparingly released music (four albums in total, but a new one is in the works) and chosen not to put a label on their music. Frontman/core member Sean Brennan does feel that there is a difference between the North American and European goth worlds.

“Europe has always had a healthy music scene with large festivals devoted to weird music,” notes Brennan. Such festivals include Whitby Goth Weekend, M’era Luna, Amphi Festival and the ever-popular Wave Gotik Treffen. “The U.S., however, doesn’t really have that. It’s a little stagnant in that regard. The U.S. is way too corporate-minded and can’t present things to the public that would require them to think or that might be a risk, commercially. But they are ignoring the fact that the public really wants variety and different choices.”

That said, Brennan, who is excited to be playing Boston for the first time, feels that the audience for dark music is always growing thanks to an influx of new fans. “We have long-time fans who have children now and their kids are fans too,” he adds. “It’s pretty weird but cool.”

London After Midnight received mention on a 2015 cover of U.S. fashion magazine Runway (Paris Hilton was the model). “That was a great example of how the mainstream press should be in the U.S.,” asserts Brennan. “The guy who runs that magazine is a fan of the music and tries to incorporate it into a mainstream fashion magazine. His actions deserve credit. Contrast that with Europe, Russia and elsewhere – I walk into a supermarket and there I am on the cover of a major magazine. From U.S. press, there’s never really been a critique of the music – just my eyeliner.”

Alessandro Belluccio, singer for the newer Italian group Ash Code, whose music fuses elements of post-punk, synthpop and EBM, describes the Italian scene as fragile, but he feels that the European scene as a whole has increased in popularity since around 2010, especially in Germany. “In the last ten years a lot of bands have come out of the scene,” says Belluccio. “Ten years ago, if you went to a goth club you would only hear mid-level to super famous bands from the ’80s on the playlists of most DJs. Now it is different. Every band tries to explore the genre with his or her own sound and attitude. Maybe traditional goth is not dead, but it has been completely revolutionized.”

Referencing Convergence’s latest home of Boston, Helfer moved up there from the New York/New Jersey area five years ago and started a party and booking bands. He has noticed not only Boston bands getting more recognition, but more and more groups coming through. “The shows that are coming through are not just doing basement shows – which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with that – but these bands are coming through the bigger venues and getting real tour management,” says Helfer. “They’re not just crashing on people’s couches. It’s a really interesting time to be into this stuff.”

“My first band Fahrenheit 451 put out a record in 1986, and it was soon after that we started hearing the term ‘goth’ applied,” says Athan Maroulis, singer for NØIR and publicist for Metropolis Records. “That said, I have seen many changes over the years and was there for a few revivals. Now I feel like there’s another revival that has been bubbling up for about three or four years. But it seems to be a combo of ex-indie people throwing down the post-punk label and merging with some dark electronic dance-oriented enthusiasts coming together to create their own darkwave stew of sorts. This, mind you, while the three decade plus ongoing goth/industrial scene still sort of limps along separate from the aforementioned. Those worlds connect once in a while, yet that’s really only once in a while. I think that goth is growing again, it’s just in a bit of a different form.”

Maroulis sums it up easily: “Goth is in the eye of the beholder.”