The Project Goth Playlist Tag

I'm not a content creator on YouTube, other than our two music videos so far, so I wasn't tagged. But the originator of this tag, The House of Wyvern, has made it an open one, so all kinds of content creators may join. So, thank you House of Wyvern, all my respect goes to you!

At first I was thinking I'd write about some of Hateful Chains' influences, since I've had that on my mind anyway, but they are mostly those big names everyone in (and many outside) the subculture knows already. And they were already being done by someone. So, I thought, why not choose something equally important to the formation of Goth music and aesthetics than The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sisters of Mercy, but maybe lesser known? And because singing and vocals is one of my passions and a professional interest, why not choose a singer's viewpoint? How about the singer, who in my opinion has been left a little bit in the shadow of the great Goth vocal archetype, Siouxsie Sioux?

I'm talking about Anne-Marie Hurst, the ex-and present vocalist of Skeletal Family, and ex-vocalist of Ghost Dance, which must be the lesser known of her projects. I came across Ghost Dance when casually searching around YouTube for some eighties' Goth music similar to those fore mentioned big names. I was born in the eighties' and maybe that's why the aesthetics of vinyl sound in that time, before the loudness war really exploded (cd's came) and everything, has really grown on me. Ghost Dance's sound definitely hit home.

Anne-Marie Hurst's voice is quite different from Siouxsie Sioux's. It's higher, softer, one could say more feminine, and has a throaty quality, in no way unpleasant. I've found in my profession that some people just have that kind of voice. Siouxsie, on the other hand, is chesty and commanding and lower too. If Siouxsie could be defined as mezzo-soprano, Anne-Marie is surely a soprano, and a true soprano at that. Just listen to the screams she does in the early Skeletal Family material. You can also hear that compared to Siouxsie, her lower register isn't that strong. But what does it matter? Well, to me, Hurst is an important example of using the strengths of one's voice to one's advantage. You don't have to be Siouxsie in order to do Goth music, you can find your own thing and use that. 

The first of Hurst's bands was Skeletal Family, which was formed from the remaining members of a former band, The Elements. The new group took their name from a David Bowie's song Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family. They released a single, Trees, and then were signed to an independent record label. Their first album, Burning Oil (1984) topped the UK independent chart. They then "gigged furiously" around Europe and supported Sisters of Mercy on their 1984 tour. On the second album Futile Combat (1985), was their probably most well known and successful single Promised Land.

After this Anne-Marie Hurst left the band to form Ghost Dance with ex-Sisters guitarist Gary Marx. The other Skeletals disbanded not long after...

Early Skeletal Family is quite Post Punk. Especially on Burning Oil there are the punkish tribal drums on almost every track, and Hurst's vocals are a combination of declamation and high screams with Punk frasing and long single notes in between. She uses much growling and yodeling effects to make it lively. The guitar sounds are already very gothy, much chorus and other effects are used. The bass is quite in the front, which is something they used to do in this era. (Joy Division too) Some of the songs are like a witchy horror story, with their declamation vocals and half tone melodies on guitar.

If you like Siouxsie and the Banshees' album Juju, you'll definitely find something here too.

The next album, Futile Combat, is already evolved into more of a Rock band, instead of Punk. The tracks are very up-beat, in many using the bass-drum-on-every-beat-rhythm with classic Goth style fills, which creates the air of tremendous energy. The guitars are much Rockier here too, and use an even wider range of different effects than on the previous album. Add to this mix the growling saxophones and voila! The vocals too are much more straight forward, some of the yodeling and growling still being there. The songs quite are varied in structure and style, and there's even a bubble-gum-pop-surprise you wouldn't expect from a Goth band. Promised Land is the most well known track of this album, but maybe my favourite is Street Light, just because it's so damn progressive. Oh, and Move really succeeds in incorporating the saxophone into a Goth Rock song, in my opinion.

Ghost Dance started out with a drum machine, and released their first single River of No Return in 1986. The sound, the guitar riffs, the vocals, all were now much more like classic Sisters of Mercy-Gothic Rock. They released a bunch of these singles, including some covers, before having an actual drummer join on their EP A Word to the Wise. On this EP they had in my opinion polished their sound and made it their own. There's a new softness and the melodic lines really compliment Hurst's voice. All the songs are just so singer-friendly! 

When I Call is really good, but so is Fool's Gold, can't choose. Their debut album was Stop the World after which the band slowly disintegrated. It's a more eighties Rock-album than the EP, with synths and guitar riffs lending their sound from the era's musical currents. Some one who likes classic eighties Rock, would certainly enjoy this despite not being a Goth. Me likes. Unfortunately, it seems that physical copies of Ghost Dance are very hard to find. Hopefully someone will re-issue them at some point...(Up-date: I did find Stop the World in a web store!)

But the story of Anne-Marie Hurst and Skeletal Family isn't over yet! In 2002 they reformed with the original members, Hurst included. However, due to some family issues she had to discontinue, and was replaced by another vocalist. The band released the album Sakura in 2005 with Claire Bannister in vocals. This albums soundscape struck me as reeeeally different from the original eighties' Skeletal Family. 

The guitar riffs and sounds are brought into this millennium and are quite heavy, using distortion much more than before. Even in bass. The atmosphere of menace and horror is still created with the use of the half tone harmonies, like in the eighties, and there's still some of the tribal drumming present. Bannister's vocals are ok, but cannot rival the original, in my opinion... I cannot help but comment, that compared to this album, the early albums and the Ghost Dance ones were incredibly well produced. It's the digital age, I guess.

In the 2000's they played at several festivals, including WGT and Drop Dead. The next album was Songs of Love, Hope and Despair (2009). It continues much like the previous album sound-wise. You could say that at this point it's clear that Skeletal Family has evolved into a completely different band than it was in the eighties. Which is what bands do, and it's their artistic right to do so. I can't really choose a favorite song from these albums, they're so different... Maybe Alive Again from Sakura? It's quite an atmospheric song.

So, after Songs of Love, Hope and Despair they disbanded again! In 2012 Hurst and the original guitarist and bassist re-formed the band with the assistance of two others, and they've continued with this line-up to this day. They also have a compilation album Eternal (2016), which contains singles, albums, live sessions etc. So if you've missed out the eighties, go for that.

If I were to choose, I would definitely go with the eighties' and Hurst's era Skeletal Family. Futile Combat is an excellent album! I could run for miles with that energy. But my favorite songs to sing are those of Ghost dance. And that sound production, boy, isn't that something to aim for?

Hypnosis

Part II

We sent the tracks to the producer/audio engineer. He asked for some references and I linked a bunch of them for him, along with some general ideas about the sound. He then spent a work day with the tracks and we came to listen to it in the afternoon, when the work was almost finished. I think he did a great job with vocals, and the drums did sound bigger than before. We asked for some changes in the guitars and backing vocals and then left him to finish it. Later, a mix was sent to us and we listened, commented and a few days later listed some changes for the audio engineer to consider. 

We were so far used to the system that changes made to the mix are included in the negotiated price. After sending that list it occurred to me, that this might not be the case this time, so I called the studio to make sure we weren't exceeding the budget. They assured us that we weren't, although the audio engineer had worked some overtime making the changes we suggested. The song was now ready and they would send it to us. I talked to the promoter-guy on the phone and he said they still wanted the publishing deal with us. Then he pondered aloud, that the producer wouldn't get any share of the copyrights, since he didn't arrange anything, only mixed. That kind of confirmed my initial thoughts about their business strategy, which I mentioned in the previous part.

Money issues were settled then. But when we listened to the song, we were a little disappointed, to be frank. The changes we asked for had not been made, at least to the point we hoped for, and the general sound and balance was still not something we'd hoped for. We knew and understood that the man had done his best, but at the same time it wasn't the result we wanted. But we didn't have the resources to pay for another workday at the studio. So this is where we needed to tread carefully. 

Our suggestion to the studio was, that we hoped to make one more final mix of the song where we could unite the best part of each mixes, theirs and ours. We would then send this mix for them to listen and if they would like it, we could then talk about a publishing deal. We tried to be very polite about this and be careful not to offend in anyway, because we knew this might be a touchy issue. I suspect some hurt happened because we had to wait for a week to get a response to this suggestion. In the end, they agreed, and sent us the vocals and drum tracks.

We, or rather our guitarist, set to work, expecting to finish the song quite soon. After each period of work we would listen to the results together, and this was when I noticed something odd, namely something wrong with the backing vocals. We had been promised, that no auto tune or anything like that had been used on the vocal tracks, because we wanted to keep it natural and not do what they do in metal and every other scene nowadays. But we noticed that in one cadence, before second chorus, where I specifically wanted a major chord, the backing vocals had been changed to a minor chord. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but it sure made me furious.

We took these altered backing vocals out and put the original ones we had back in. After this I sent the resulting mix for a listen to that studio and basically told them this was the one we were going to publish, adding "if it's ok for you" in the end. You know what? They never answered! This tells me they either didn't care anymore and didn't want to work with us, which is fine by us! Or, they realized we had seen through what ever the hell they were thinking.

I'm not going to name any names. It's useless and I don't really want to take that burden of directly accusing someone without any veritable evidence. This is just what happened and I can only tell how I interpret it. Maybe there were really good reasons for this "producing" without asking. Maybe this is the way it's done in the big business. I don't know. What ever the reasons, I sure would have liked to know them. You know, we did ask, if it was ok for them to have the song re-mixed by us. And they sent the tracks for us to do just that.

Anyway, this whole episode has made a slight dint in my trust towards record companies and producers. Being independent has it's downsides, but at least you know what you get. I know that producers are needed, and many people might think our songs could use one too. Maybe they could, and if a good one comes along, who's good to work with, I'll accept it. But there's a difference between working together with a band and trying to sneak in alterations without asking.

However, the story of this song is not over yet. It's All Right went through much, very much mixing and mastering back and forth. Every time we thought "This is it!", the moment we listened to the result through home stereo or any other device, we were brought back to the drawing table. It was our perfectionism and the need to make it sound better than what we received from the studio that kept us going. All thanks for enduring this goes to our guitarist and producer. At times he was very frustrated and tired at listening to the song all over again and starting over, over and over, but he endured. He's great!

One final change that was made to the song, was new bass tracks. Since the original bassist had left us when the song was still being recorded and mixed, we thought we might just as well record them with the new guy. And besides, like a pro, he had mastered the song very fast. He played it with attitude! At the final rounds of mixing the song started to sound like ready, and we still had to decide between mastering it ourselves or trust the instincts of another pro. So, at the moment It's All Right is being mastered by the same person who did the previous songs. When we receive the master, we will be able to announce the release date! So, keep your eyes peeled for that!!!

Hypnosis

Funny Story, though...Part I

You might remember me shouting about a new single in here, even posting pictures of it's possible cover on Instagram. As you may have noticed, it got delayed, and now is the time share why that happened. 

Possible cover for It's All Right, stage one

Before Christmas time I sent our songs to a new record company, which had started out quite recently, just to try it out one more time and see what happens. In my e-mail I specifically asked if there would be a chance of collaboration, seeing that they also did promotional work and other stuff. They actually replied and called me out of the blue a few months later, telling that they liked the songs and were interested. 

We had a meeting with them at their studio where we played more of our songs for them and discussed the collaboration options. Nice people, all of them, and the place was nice too. All very well done and with a specific strategy. As it turns out, it just wasn't the strategy we had in mind.

Their interest was to produce a song of ours in their studio and push it to radios etc. We heard some songs of another banda they were working with, who had apparently agreed to let the audio engineer/producer play the drums for them.  It's sometimes the job of the producer, I get it, and a good one can really bring out the best in a band this way. But to me this felt slightly uncomfortable.

It's partly my reluctance to let someone touch my creation and alter it, but partly not, because we work together all the time on these songs with our guitarist/producer. Partly, it was the uneasy feeling that these people wanted their share of copyrights, which they would have gotten by being one of the arrangers. So, we told them that one of our terms is that the band plays all instruments.

They agreed on this and we then talked about which songs would be the ones to start collaboration with. They really liked the song we had just finished, It's All Right, and said nothing would really need to be changed there structure wise. However, we had just spent a lot of hours with the song and hoped to start with something else, if a whole new production was going to take place. They agreed.

So we played the other songs as well, and another of them caught their attention: Invite Me in, a dance able tune with lyrics about the devil on your shoulder. The guy who did mostly the promotion work in the company said that if he were to choose, this would be the one. But the song was too long and would need some cuts. When I seemed to be uncomfortable with the idea, they suggested a radio edit, and a full length version on a possible full album. The reason was of course, that the song was too long for radio. They had in mind the pop-song three minute standard with no long intros and the chorus preferably at one minute mark..."You see, I have to push you through", said the promoter-guy. I reluctantly agreed to this.

One other thing that struck a bell slightly, was when he associated the song with Marilyn Manson. I told him that he's not completely off the bat regarding visual things, but musically or sound wise, this is not what we are aiming for, except maybe on modernity of sound, but yeah... no. It left me thinking that maybe this guy didn't know this genre well enough. For the record, I don't even listen to Marilyn Manson and Invite Me in doesn't sound remotely like that. Think more Siouxsie and the Banshees' Cities in Dust...

We then discussed the general terms of business: They wanted to sign a publishing deal about Invite Me in and produce it in their studio. The costs of using that studio would be payed by us. Possible full album would be a separate deal. The pros for us in this were that they would do promotion. After a while of thinking and discussing we suggested that we could start slowly, by letting the audio engineer/producer make a new mix of It's All Right. If that would prove fruitful we could then think about going all the way with Invite me in. This was agreed upon.

Back home, I commenced to work to find out what publishing deals are all about, because I didn't have a clear idea. It's basically about selling a part of your copyrights in exchange for promotion. The common way nowadays in the pop-music industry is to make a deal like this just for the one track. There are some problems, which troubled me about this: What if we want to make an independent music video about a song that's under a publishing deal? Can't do that without publishing company's agreement. What if we want that track on the album, but go to a different label or independent? Might cause problems... So you see, it's quite problematic when you don't own your music all the way. There are of course good deals and bad deals, and a good deal with a right label could help a band in the long run. But I was already thinking this might not be the one...

Stay tuned for Part II

Hypnosis