But I'll let him speak for himself. After the interview is a sample playlist from Funeral Drive from February, 2002, as well as a piece Bubonic wrote for Starvox. (Interviewed by Oliver in November, 2011.)
No Doves Fly Here: You DJ'd a night at the now defunct Spiderbabies club in Dallas called "Funeral Drive." How long did it and the club last -- from what years?
Johnny Bubonic: If I remember correctly Spider Babies was open from 2001 to 2003/4. I could be off on my dates, although I think that's fairly close. Funeral Drive started up almost immediately after the club opened, and we lasted up until a few months before it closed down.
 |
| The eyeball bar at the old Spiderbabies club. |
NDFH: My understanding is you were originally at the large, establishment "goth" club in Dallas, The Church (Note: technically, The Church is a biweekly event night at the Lizard Lounge club), but were progressively given less and less floor space as the owners decided the music you were playing didn't fit? Tell us that story, what music you were playing, and why the club owners didn't like it?
JB: I was never a dj at The Church, but you are correct about the rest. Me, my partner at the time, DJ Crematia, and a couple of other djs, one of whom was DJ Ragnarok, ended up co-founding Funeral Drive. Before that, we were doing gigs with a group that called themselves Synergy, some of whose members later ended up working at The Church. We played a fairly eclectic mix of deathrock, goth rock, post punk, classic industrial, neo-folk, punk rock, etc. upstairs, and they played the popular industrial dance stuff downstairs. Nevertheless, we were eventually phased out as the core Synergy group decided to cater solely to the industrial dance crowd, and they ultimately dedicated both floors of the club to electronic music.
NDFH: Spiderbabies was a pretty unique Texas venue for its time in that it's MAIN FOCUS was on deathrock, underground punk, horror punk, and what at the time was sort of dark psychobilly, It's hard to imagine a venue existing like that today, let alone a WEEKLY deathrock night on the weekends in a city like Dallas, TX. How did that experience shape your perception of how feasible or realistic a night like that could be in the long run?
JB: I think a lot of it has to do with where you live. I don't think a weekly night like Funeral Drive is viable in a lot of places. Ultimately, it wasn't viable where we were, either. Weekly events are quite difficult to maintain. We were constantly struggling to get people in to Funeral Drive, and eventually I just couldn't justify the effort I was putting into it, anymore. I became burned out and quit. If someone were to try putting together an event, my advice would be to stay away from a weekly schedule. Secure a Friday or Saturday night if you can. Otherwise, expect interest and attendance to fade.
NDFH: Can you briefly explain what sort of music you played at Funeral Drive, versus what the big goth club, the Lizard Lounge/Church was playing?
JB: Basically, we were playing what other places weren't. I guess you could call it counter-programming, but it wasn't approached as cynically as that makes it sound, although there was a bit of annoyance with the establishment involved. We basically just played what we liked, which just happened to be what you couldn't hear anywhere else. I listed some of the musical genres we liked to play earlier. I hope that answers your question.
NDFH: One of the important things you, DJ Crematia, and DJ Ragnarok would do that I liked, was you would post your setlists not only on the Deathrock.com forum(s), but also in the old Deathrock Yahoo! Group (what happened to that, by the way?). I remember going over those setlists and seeking out new bands, thanks to that. You fit in bands like Poison Girls, even Discharge (!), into sets that also included Frank the Baptist and Cinema Strange. I discovered Paul Roland thanks to a set of yours, actually. ("Gargoyles.") Any reason you blended punk with the more gothy stuff?
JB: Punk and goth are actually on the same continuum. Therefore, it isn't incongruous to put them together. These genres have definitely evolved into their own distinct and more highly stylized brands of music, with dramatically different aesthetics and points of view, but there is a great deal of overlap, especially in their early incarnations. It sounded good to me.
I have no idea what happened to the Deathrock Yahoo! Group. I haven't been subbed to it for years. I imagine it was abandoned, or handed over to somebody. I couldn't tell you.
NDFH: How is Chicago treating you? Also, what is your experience at clubs there? Do you still try to keep up with what's going on in deathrock and is that reflected in any of the venues there?
JB: Chicago is fine, but I'm going to be moving to Colorado in the next year or so. Chicago, as you know is the home of Wax Trax records, and that still very much colors the club scene here. As a result, there is a pronounced culture of industrial dance music. There are also a couple of big regular goth events like Nocturna and Back to the Grave that draw large crowds of people. The music at these events is generally above average and deathrock does get its fair share of attention. The best thing about the music scene here, though, is that we get all the great bands that go on tour. The whole thing is really extraordinary compared to what I was used to in Texas.
I have to admit my interest in the deathrock scene has cooled somewhat, mostly because I don't hear a lot of worthwhile material coming out of it. Overall, I'd say it's pretty stodgy at the moment, which I don't want to be interpreted as an attack, just an observation. I do keep my ears open for anything interesting, however, but I've pretty much moved on.
NDFH: Do you still DJ or do you plan on DJing again? Anywhere people can see you spin?
JB: I was actually part of a weekly event called "Seizure" that I started with my partner Matt the Mo back in 2007. That lasted for about a year-and-a-half. I then moved on to another night called "Blacklist" which didn't fare as well. I still do the occasional random guest dj gig with the Blacklist crew, but I have no interest in being responsible for a regular event.
=================================================
This is from the now-defunct Starvox.com website from 2002 or so:
Funeral Drive in Dallas
~by Johnny Bubonic
To put none too fine a point on it: Funeral Drive was conceived as an antidote to all of the quasi-goth posturing that has suffused the club scene in Dallas over the past few years and frustrated those of us who remember what it was like before the electronic infestation for just as long.
Prior to Funeral Drive there wasn't really any place for people to come out and hear deathrock music in Dallas on a regular basis, which is bewildering because Dallas used to have an enormous, thriving deathrock scene back in the mid-eighties and early nineties. There are a great number of clubs in the Dallas area that promote themselves as "Goth" nights but when you actually get there all you hear musically is techno, synthpop, and EBM. When they actually do play a genuine gothic song it's usually the most obligatory, overplayed, populous thing you couldn't care less about hearing again. I would personally prefer a knife be inserted in my ear than hear "This Corrosion" played in a club one more time.
Prior to Funeral Drive we (the djs) were spinning at an event that happened once a month at a bar in Dallas. We spun deathrock, punk, old-school gothic-rock, psychobilly, and whatever else was relative upstairs while downstairs it was techno-as-usual. All too soon the promoters decided to do away with deathrock and goth in favor of playing the more popular synthpop/electro/IDM. The Djs were banished to a corner of an outside patio and then liquidated altogether.
Not long after that, a bar called Spider Babies opened up down the street. How fortuitous is that? We asked the couple that own and run the place if they would be interested in hosting an old-school goth/deathrock event on a weekly basis, and they enthusiastically agreed. Two weeks later, Funeral Drive crawled its way out of the grave and into the consciousness of the Dallas scene. We've been gaining momentum ever since and are attracting more people every week. We're really gratified by the fact that we're the only genuine hardcore deathrock/gothic-rock event in Dallas. Other nights are still using the goth/deathrock moniker to bring people into their events, but looking at their setlists it's just more of the same thump-thump-thumping into the night.
We're starting to see groups of deathrockers, punks, and old-schoolers in general who remember what it's all about coming out to hear us play, drink, and just have fun in a really cool setting. We play what we want without having to worry about measuring our performance by who's dancing to the latest cut-and-paste electro band. It's really awesome to have someone come up to you and thank you for playing the Flesh Eaters or T.S.O.L. or exclaim happily that "they haven't heard that song in years," or ask you about new deathrock music from bands like Cinema Strange, Antiworld, Cult of the Psychic Fetus, or Frank the Baptist. We've come a long way to prove that the deathrock scene is still kicking contrary to the opinions of the less enlightened, and we fucking love what we're doing.
We're hoping to be able to bring in some deathrock bands in the future to play at Spider Babies simply because it's the perfect setting for them, and the proprietors, Jake (Ghoultown) and Ellie Mae are two of the coolest people with whom anyone would care to work.
=================================================
Funeral Drive @ Spider Babies - Dallas, TX
February 16, 2002
February 16, 2002
Advance song requests taken at funeraldrive@deathrock.net
** denotes a request
DJ Ragnarok
Current 93 - Lucifer Over London
Necromantik Sunshine - Pink
Lucid Dementia - Twisted
Alien Sex Fiend - Alien Sex Fiend
Sex Gang Children - Who On Earth Could That Be?
Crass - So What?
Fear - I Don't Care About You
Samhain - Archangel
Josie Cotton - Johnny, Are You Queer?
P.I.L. - Public Image
Adam and the Ants - Deutscher Girls
Subhumans - Dying World
Pain Teens - Pleasures of the Flesh
Death in June - In the Night Time
The Cramps - Human Fly
The Vandals - I Want to Be A Cowboy
The Brides - Invitation Only http://www.herecomethebrides.com
DJ Crematia
X-mal Deutschland - Mondlicht
Virgin Prunes - Sons Find Devils
Screaming Dead - Bubonia
Christian Death - Romeo's Distress **
Chrome - In A Dream
The Dark - Masque
Tuxedomoon - Incubus
Play Dead - Shine
Kommunity FK - Something Inside Me Has Died
Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
Specimen - Sharp Teeth, Pretty Teeth
Sex Gang Children - Boss and Beauty
March Violets - Religious As Hell **
Cinema Strange - Aboriginal Anemia
Tones on Tail - Performance
Phantom Limbs - Hot Knives and Hornets
Misfits - American Nightmare **
Circle Jerks - Love Kills **
The Brides - If You Dance
DJ Johnny Bubonic
TSOL - Code Blue **
DI - Richard Hung Himself **
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - This is Energy
Fields of the Nephilim - Power
Alien Sex Fiend - Hurricane Fighter Plane
Cult of the Psychic Fetus - Long Black Hearse
Psycho Charger - Psycho Charger
The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns
Diva Destruction - Enslaved **
Marc Almond and Siouxie Sioux - Threat of Love **
Deadbolt - Billie's Dead
The Damned - I Just Can't be Happy Today **
Demented Are Go - Satan's Rejects
The Brides - Black Florid Death
Forbidden Dimension - A Coffin Named Desire
Christian Death - Deathwish
Murder at the Registry - The Stolen Photograph
Voodoo Church - Live with the Dead
The Flesh Eaters - Eyes Without a Face
TSOL - Nothing for You
Lords of the New Church - Russian Roulette
New Math - Two Tongues
The Brides - Dress Code Blue
45 Grave - Phantoms
X - The New World
Frank the Baptist - Silver is Her Colour
Rudimentary Peni - Horror in the Museum
Ciril - Broken Window
Mr. Underhill - The Fashion of Fear
Dave Vanian and the Phantom Chords - Someone Up There
Eight-Ball Grifter - Spit on My Grave
Ghoultown - After Two
Mr. Badwrench - From the Cradle to the Grave
Misfits - Some Kinda Hate
The Vladimirs - Grave Girl
The Damned - Love Song
Blitz - New Age
Crass - Do They Owe Us a Living?
DI - Johnny's Got a Problem **
Dead Kennedys - Halloween **
The Ramones - I Just Want to Have Something to Do
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
Skeletal Family - So Sure
Sisters of Mercy - Body Electric
Minor Threat - Stepping Stone **
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
Samhain - All Murder, All Guts, All Fun **
Bauhaus - The Sanity Assassin
Jet Black Berries - So Hard to Leave
No comments:
Post a Comment