An interview with goth-punk band Dystopian Society!

Italy's Dystopian Society, like Germany's Tanzkommando Untergang, employ imagery and use a name that might make one think they were a political thrash band. But wait just a minute! Although the band do have a strong sense of political ethics, they're like New Model Army and Rubella Ballet in that they couple social observations with a compellingly gloomy postpunk sound. As the interview with singer Max Skam and Sara Red Hexe shows below, the goth-punk scene in Italy, as in much of Europe, is characterized by playing at squats, self-managed social centers, and other institutions of alternative political culture that simply have no parallel in the US, where being into underground music can be neatly divorced from anything political. Regardless of one's political stance, Dystopian Society make an extremely potent type of gloomy postpunk that incorporates (to my ears) the influences of Paralisis Permanente, Christian Death, and Shadow Project.

You can buy their killer new album/CD, Cages, here!

Interviewed by Oliver in May, 2012.

Playlist for May 2, 2012!

Here's what you danced, drank, passed out, and made bad decisions to at No Doves Fly Here on May 2, 2012!

NO DOVES FLY HERE
MAY 2, 2012


DJ DAMAGE DONE

toxic reasons - dreamer
the dark - masque
the damned - disco man
the adverts - safety in numbers
ciril - girls
rudimentary peni - love is not
anorexic dread - tracey's burning
the stooges - gimme danger
the sisters of mercy - marian
christ vs. warhol - the end is nigh

rosetta stone - if only and sometimes
southern death cult - all glory
warsaw - living in the ice age
bad religion - in the night
kalashnikov - laederhalse
iron maiden - prowler (request)
lost cherrees - nervous breakdown

the screaming dead - damned generation
cemetery - grave dance
the mob - cry of a morning
dekoder - like men
alien sex fiend - girl at the end of my gun (request)
no hope for the kids - the ride
the violators - gangland
blitz - solar

submission hold - last surviving crocodile

DJ STRAYLIGHT

A Certain Ratio - Oceans
Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty!
The Fall - Jawbone & the Air-Rifle
Crime - Frustration
Magazine - Shot By Both Sides
The Lords of the New Church - Kiss of Death
T.S.O.L. - Sounds of Laughter
Killing Joke - Dominator
Kommunity FK - Restrictions
Fad Gadget - One Man's Meat
Cabaret Voltaire - The Operative
Throbbing Gristle - Convincing People
The Virgin Prunes - Caucasian Walk
Bauhaus - Muscle in Plastic
The March Violets - Crow Baby
Public Image Ltd. - Flowers of Romance
Crime & the City Solution - Five Stone Walls
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Trophy
Tubeway Army - Oh! Didn't I Say
The Damned - Lively Arts

The Cramps - The Mad Daddy
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee
The Buzzcocks - Oh Shit!
Wire - Pink Flag
Love & Rockets - It Could Be Sunshine
Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation
Cold Phoenix - Binding Me To Dream
New Order - Denial

DJ NEXUS

Dead Kennedys - This Could be Anywhere
The Birthday Party -  Mr. Clarinet
The Legendary Pink Dots - Curious Guy
The Three Johns - Do Not Cross the Line
The Stranglers - Nuclear Device
Peter and the Test Tube Babies - Blown Out Again
The Damned - Melody Lee
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi

Next No Doves Fly Here is Wed., May 16!

May 2 was a blast. Hard to believe the next No Doves is coming up fast, on May 16. And we will have guest DJ Malediction, who you may know from San Antonio's monthly 1313 night and from Austin's Deathrock Disko, spinning!

The Facebook RSVP/event page is HERE!

Speaking of 1313, on Saturday, May 12, No Doves' own DJ Death Church will be guest DJing there; DJs Detra Munster and Malediction will also be DJing, as always. Call it the No Doves/1313 DJ exchange program. As always, 1313 will be at the Thirsty Camel in the Olmos Park area at 5307 McCullough Avenue, zip 78212. No cover.

Playlist for April 18, 2012!

Here's what you danced, drank, passed out, and made bad decisions to at No Doves Fly Here on April 18, 2012!

* = denotes request

DJ DEATH CHURCH

LENINGRAD SANDWICH - We Will Rise

KILLING JOKE - Money Is Not Our God

CHRISTIAN DEATH - Spiritual Cramp

45 GRAVE - Black Cross

TSOL - Code Blue

ZOUNDS - Can't Cheat Karma*

RUDIMENTARY PENI - Cosmetic Plague*

DISCHARGE - Born to Die in the Gutter

GBH - Horror Story

THE MOB - Another Day, Another Death

PARALITIKOS - Mil Cadaveres*

FLESH EATERS - See You in the Boneyard

LAS GORGONAS - Macabra La Enterradora

RIKK AGNEW - It's Doing Something

PINK MILITARY - Spell Bound

SHADOW PROJECT - Red Handed

THE DAMNED - Amen

BAUHAUS - Antonin Artaud

THE SPECTRES - Visions of a New World

JOY DIVISION - Interzone

SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - Nicotine Stain

1919 - Giant

CINEMA STRANGE - Lindsay's Trachea*

EYACULACION POST-MORTEM - Transilvania

CHRISTIAN DEATH - Skeleton Kiss

MORTICIA Y LOS DECREPITOS - Invasion Extrana

THE DAMNED - Wait for the Blackout

BLOODY, DEAD, and SEXY - Bloody Rose

TANZKOMMANDO UNTERGANG - The Walk

CRIMSON SCARLET - Two Kinds of Red

SEX GANG CHILDREN - Into the Abyss

PINKISH BLACK - Spiritual Cramp 

PART 1 - The Corpse

THE MISFITS - I Turned into a Martian

RAMONES - I'm Not Jesus

FLIEHENDE STURME - Sirenen

DEATH IN JUNE - She Said Destroy

VEX - World in Action

BOYD RICE AND FRIENDS - I'd Rather Be Your Enemy

SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES - Love in a Void

DJ DAMAGE DONE

instigators - dine upon the dead

adverts - bored teenagers

new model army - no rest

zounds - knife

killing joke - sun goes down

actifed - creation

crass - securicor

hit parade - here's what you find in any prison

futurisk - in the army now

joy division - insight

sisters of mercy - black planet

slug guts - town tied

nick cave and the bad seeds - sugar sugar sugar

blood & roses - the tower falls 

x - nausea

siouxsie and the banshees - monitor

arctic flowers - technicolor haze

burning kitchen - black high heels

submission hold - my belief

subhumans - where's the freedom?

dekoder - i refuse 

blitz - nation on fire

warsaw - they walked in line

crisis - laughing

spectres - pattern recognition

blue cross - mass hysteria

chron gen - chronic generation

regulations - police siren

alaric - your god

amebix - largactyl

killing joke - tension

belgrado - in my head

siouxsie and the banshees - regal zone

bauhaus - stigmata martyr

flowers in the dustbin - the journey's end

ghost dance - river of no return

An interview with dark postpunk band The Spectres!

Vancouver, British Columbia's Spectres released one of the finest LPs of 2010, Last Days. Their 2007 "Cold War" EP opened a lot of eyes (and ears) at the time, and it is frankly stunning to think that that came out half a decade ago. The band play an especially well-made type of dark punk that magazines like Maximum Rock 'n Roll have likened to early Joy Division, Crisis, and early 80s UK peace punk like The Mob. They've been a favorite for awhile and I was more than stoked to hear that within the next few months (as of April, 2012) the band are releasing a new LP, Strange Weather! The band have a website here, a Facebook page here, and a Myspace page here.

Interview with Brian (singer) and Zach (guitarist) of The Spectres by Oliver in April, 2012.

An interview with new deathrock band DEAD CULT!

New, dark Portland band Dead Cult have never used the word "deathrock" to describe their sound, preferring instead the terms "anarcho gothic rock" and "anarcho darkwave" (much like Christ vs Warhol describe their own sound as "anarcho-postpunk"). 

Reminiscent at times of early Siouxsie and the Banshees or Hysteria, the music -- whatever label you choose to apply to it -- is exceptionally good, especially for a band this young. In fact, it's hard to believe they've existed for less than half a year when listening to their tracks, many of which are available freely on Youtube, and some of which are below. (Indeed, I was surprised to find out how young the band were after I approached them for an interview -- the musicianship, confidence in the vocals, etc., is far beyond their years.) Dead Cult have a Facebook page here; most pictures below are from that.

A note of warning: Get ready for a torrent of band names!

Interviewed by Oliver in April, 2012.

No Doves playlist for April 4, 2012!

Here's what you danced, drank, passed out, and made bad decisions to at No Doves Fly Here on April 4, 2012!

DJ DAMAGE DONE

poison girls - under the doctor

love & rockets - mirror people

naked on the vague - happy endings

siouxsie and the banshees - arabian knights

christian death - deathwish

sisters of mercy - alice

the men - night landing

killing joke - are you receiving?

alien sex fiend - new christian music

population 1280 - bodies in the dunes

play dead - sin of sins

theatre of hate - 63

blood and roses - possession

death in june - she said destroy

the church - reptile

clan of xymox - cry in the wind

poison girls - price of grain

chumbawamba - total control

lost cherrees - nervous breakdown

bauhaus - dark entries

uk subs - living dead

the damned - ignite

adverts - back from the dead

effigies - haunted town

the vicious - dead town

screaming dead - night creatures

no hope for the kids - rainy day

daily void - several feet under

cemetery - state ward

the mob - another day, another death

zounds - can't cheat karma

rubella ballet - arctic flowers

death cult - horse nation

siouxsie and the banshees - suburban relapse (john peel session)

DJ STRAYLIGHT

Fad Gadget - Back to Nature
Public Image Ltd. - Banging the Door
A Certain Ratio - Do the Du
The Fall - Psykick Dancehall
The Three Johns - Missing
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Thirsty Dog
Suicide - Ghost Rider
The Sisters of Mercy - Floorshow
Daniel Ash - Bluebird
Throbbing Gristle - Six Six Sixties
Death in June - Nothing Changes
Gang of Four - Ether
Warsaw - Living in the Ice Age
Subhumans - Parasites
T.S.O.L. - Die For Me
Magazine - Recoil
The March Violets - Grooving in Green
Killing Joke - The Wait
The Stranglers - Toiler on the Sea

U.K. Decay - Unexpected Guest
The Cramps - Garbage Man
Wire - Ex Lion Tamer
Pink Turns Blue - That Was You
Love and Rockets - Life in Laralay
The Danse Society - All I Want
Alien Sex Fiend - Breakdown & Cry (Lay Down & Die - Goodbye)
(Request) The Sisters of Mercy - No Time To Cry
Ghost Dance - River of No Return
Lydia Lunch - Fields of Fire
Section 25 - Visitation
The Damned - Hit or Miss
Crime & the City Solution - Right Man, Wrong Man
(Request) The Danse Society - Heaven Is Waiting
Tones on Tail - Performance
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Regal Zone
(Request) The Cure - A Forest
X-Ray Spex - Oh! Bondage Up Yours!