DARQ, Salem's Goth/Industrial Night, run by Vudu DJ has routinely been the host of local band nights I look forward to in addition to regular DJ/dance events. We've covered some on the blog before. Those of us in the North Shore area of MA are truly grateful to get the chance to see these acts outside of Boston and to have a great environment to be ourselves and let loose in regularly.
Without any further introduction, let's take a look at who performed and a little about them-
- Night One April 29, 2022-
GASOLINE INVERTEBRATE is Brian Graupner of The Gothsicles. Brian brought all the energy you would expect to his solo performance! His set was improvisational and visually interesting. Vocals were in a hard/harsh industrial style. He even joined Abbey Death for their song together "Vampire Squid!" which was awesome. Based in Boston, MA
ABBEY DEATH - Abbey Death is the duo of Valerie
& Abbey, known for their energetic performances in Combichrist,
The Cruxhadows, Psyclon Nine, Angelspit, Genitorturers & Black Tape
for a Blue Girl based out of NYC. I really dug them - they draw from a little of everything - darkwave, gothic rock, and industrial sound. I'll definitely be following them in the future!
STONEBURNER is Steven Archer, another solo act, all the way from Baltimore, MD. He has worked with the band Ego Likeness. He was also joined by an electronic percussionist this particular evening. His sound covered a blend of electronic dance and industrial aesthetics. He seemed quite experimental and improvisational as well. A real showman on stage - he donned a huge, light up wolf mask later in the set!
- Night Two April 30, 2022 -
TRIGGER DISCPLINE was another band I highly enjoyed, particularly due to the sheer amount of variety they brought to the table. I found them to be reminiscent of Cocteau Twins/shoegaze at times. In addition to being excellent musicians they seemed like very friendly people as well. According to Vudu DJ, this was only their 3rd live performance - I was impressed! They have just released an LP called AMERICAN GOTHICC - check it out & support!
GHOST PAINTED SKY brought a dark introspective energy to the evening, with their sound more reminiscent of classic gothic rock, post-punk, and darkwave bands we love from the 80s & 90s. They had a violin player onstage and their vocalist really had this great presence. If you get a chance to see them definitely do so, and check out their music on Bandcamp! They have a new song out called "The Fire, The Flame."
GROUND TO DUST was featured on this blog when they opened for Moris Blak at another DARQ event here in Salem. As mentioned prior I discovered this DJ during Vudu's "COVID Chronicles" livestreams that were really a lifesaver for me during the 2020 lockdown times. During this performance I really got a chance to appreciate the way Ground To Dust was making music on the fly, it was very multi-faceted and creative. The producer noob side of me was getting curious about what exactly the equipment was in his setup. Regardless, besides being intellectually interesting he got us dancing, see video coverage below!
WAVEPEAK is a Connecticut-based collaboration between Jason Becker and Dennis McLaughlin. It can be said that a motif of these Spring '22 Darq gatherings is uniqueness, and Wavepeak's no exception. I love seeing live DJs playing unorthodox sounds I can't neatly place within a genre. I believe they refer to themselves as "Industrial Techno," which is accurate to this listener. Other influences clearly heard in them are noise, power electronics, and electronic body music. I kept yelling "TURN IT UP" all night to the sound guy because it was too low vs what I'm used to at this venue, and he finally listened - check out the video below for more dancing!
I've got a number of shorts/reels/TikToks up covering the event, so be sure to check out Some Heretic Sect on YouTube, Instagram & TikTok!
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