Interview with Mick Mercer

Author of 21st Century of Goth

	Mick Mercer, aside from his photography, is famous for his books which open a window into the goth subculture and examine it from many different angles. 21st Century Goth is his fourth book, which focuses on the gothic internet landscape and features sites from every category from bands to personal websites. Mick was very willing to answer a few questions for me, both book related and scene related, so below I have posted an interview. I hope to be posting a review of the book soon, as i made no delay in ordering it. ;) Enjoy! (and thanks Mick.)

HAPPY SKULL INTERVIEW

COULD YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE WEB SAVVY
GOTHS OF TODAY TO THE OLD SCHOOLERS?

I wonder how much the endless experimentation on offer affects the depth of their love for the music sometimes? Old school made do with gigs and clubs and bought records. Look at some forums and virtually no-one mentions new CDs they’ve bought or bands they’ve seen. You can hear so much for free on sites do people spread their interests thinly?

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDE, DRESS, MUSIC, ETC.?

None that my feeble eyes discern, apart from the obvious mainstream metal influence creeping in occasionally. The whole cyber thing makes sense for clubs, and it’s pretty much a non-event, in terms of effect, just lovely and colourful. I don’t know why people dislike it so much. Attitude-wise there seems a certain amount of I have found a few sites and that’ll do me. I want to change that by pitching people into a seething morass of ideas with my book. Music continues to develop and spiral off into newer territories, while retaining the same heart. I think everything has developed well on the Net, but not on the ground.

WOULD YOU SAY THAT THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN, AND INVOLVED IN, BEING GOTH SINCE INTERNET USE HAS BECOME SO WIDESPREAD?

Not noticeably. It makes it easier for existing individuals to maintain their interest and find out more
but without bands getting noticed there’ll be no major knock-on effect. If you don’t have a local scene then
the Net is a godsend. Trying to have the Net shape a focus on the scene overall simply hasn’t happened.

IT IS A GOOD RESOURCE FOR NEWBIES?

Yes, I hope so, and that’s one thing I was keen to do. I’ve always hated the standoffishness that
has permeated many periods of Goth where people look down on the newer people. With the book it makes
it easy for people to find out so much more without having to ask.

GOTHS (WELL, ACTUALLY, HUMANS IN GENERAL) SEEM TO HAVE A CERTAIN CATTINESS. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS TENDENCY IS EXACERBATED BY THE EASE OF COMMUNICATION THE INTERNET PROVIDES THROUGH ONLINE FORUMS, CLUBS, LISTS, AND WEBSITES, OR DO YOU THINK IT WOULD EXIST JUST AS STRONGLY ANYHOW?

It encourages the cowards to step forward and spew their pointless drivel, and many do. I found countless personal sites where people had taken down their own gallery because of the comments left in guestbooks. My answer to that would be don’t have guestbooks. If people like your site an e-mail may follow, but vermin wouldn’t go that much trouble if their comments were going to be visible anywhere. People think they’re being clever leaving comments, then they tell their friends. You even see ‘bad sites’ being highlighted in forums sometimes, and you just know some of the lower lifeforms will be heading over to add their names in the guestbook. I’ve slagged off the sites which set themselves up as arbiters of taste and supremacy.

ON THE PERSONAL WEBSITES YOU RESEARCHED, HOW SERIOUSLY
DO PEOPLE TEND TO TAKE THEMSELVES AND BEING GOTH?

Strange question, and very apt, because I’ve noticed not many actually explain, and I wonder sometimes if they don’t want to because they think other people will then attack or sneer. Very few open up. Most mention very little other than those lists of likes and dislikes, which are too boring to read, I find. When someone does explain what it means to them it’s actually a refreshing change to be able to sit and read a well thought out personal explanation.

WHAT CATEGORY OF GOTH RELATED WEBSITES DID YOU FIND
THE MOST CONCENTRATION OF? IS THERE A CATEGORY THAT
YOU FEEL SHOULD HAVE MORE SITES IN IT?

It’s bands and their own sites, but you’d expect that. There’s less zines that you might think, probably because of the amount of time involved, and there are almost too many directory sites that start then never develop beyond a certain level. The biggest area will be personal sites, by Goths, but with very little Goth content. I would personally like to see more sites where people deal with the subject of Goth in a musical and historical sense. What it meant to them, why, when and how, with pics.

IN YOUR EYES, WHAT MAKES A GOOD GOTHIC WEBSITE STAND OUT?

Content. The design side of things fails to impress if you can’t move about quickly. It can easily put you off if you’re in and find very little, as it’s a hollow triumph. I love finding great writing and interesting photos, which is the most obvious content you’re going to want, but it’s not often found. Instead you get a journal that says ‘life sucks’ and loads of dreary webcam shots of someone looking off to one side. Ho hum. Content counts, the rest is decoration.

IN YOUR SEARCH OF WEBSITES FOR THE BOOK, WHAT
WAS THE STRANGEST SITE YOU CAME ACROSS?

The weirdest was something DJ Epine put me onto called Animal Anime, but seems to be down now. It was photos, and paintings, of people transformed into animal life, including crustaceans. Perhaps the most intriguing sites I found are some of the Japanese sites which cover dolls. The imagery is often so Goth, but seriously eerie. Japanese sites with pics can be fascinating, and I highlight some of those in the book. Some Japanese Goth girls even do the most bizarre photo stories taken out and about.

AFTER YOUR RESEARCH OF BANDS ONLINE, WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MOST PROMISING GOTH, INDUSTRIAL, AND SYNTHPOP BANDS, AND WHY?

Probably some I didn’t find? I’m not much concerned about the Synthy and Industrial bands because they hit a certain level of trickery with their equipment that disguises the actual talent, so you have to wait a few years to see if they have something to offer. I believe there is now good UK talent coming through. Some of the best bands I found were the Japanese bands who do it differently. I’m reserving comment until my next book, which only be about bands.

I'VE HEARD MANY PEOPLE COMMENT THAT GOTHS AREN'T INDIVIDUALS, THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME, DRESS THE SAME, WEAR THE SAME MAKEUP, ETC. WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ABOUT THAT?

Well, I’ve just been the down the shops for some ciggies and everyone there was dressed the same, with the same make-up, dress and hair etc. They are viewed as ‘normal’. It’s always the smaller touches that distinguish someone anyway, and people either recognise it or they don’t. Nobody has any right judge anyone else. If people don’t like the way someone looks, for any reason, then they have a problem with themselves that needs examination.

WHAT DO YOU THINK LIES AHEAD IN THE FUTURE OF GOTH AS A SUBCULTURE? WILL IT STILL EXIST 20 YEARS FROM NOW? WILL IT FALL UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME? WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE DOWNFALL OF GOTH, IF THERE COULD BE SUCH A THING?

It will continue its progress and develop quite healthily I believe. With the music media in the UK, as an example, falling apart Dance and forms of Rock become the real survivors, as Indie struggles to achieve impact. Goth is closer to Rock than Indie, and will do well. Bands need to start hooking up more, to find out ways to create an impression and build an audience together. Organised scenes will survive. Being music which circulates around other areas of someone’s interest - be it fashion, film, literature etc, Goth has less chance of ever dying than any form of music I can think of. It will have intermittent bursts of what other people would see as ‘popularity’ and that helps long-term.

WHAT IN PARTICULAR STRIKES YOU ABOUT GOTH AND CAUSES
YOU TO WANT TO CONTINUE WRITING ABOUT IT?

The music and its mood is the soundtrack to the thoughts in my head. It just has so much in it as a scene to discover, and with the Net there’s so many areas to delve further into. I’m hoping the book will encourage people to look more. We all know that after a year of frantic exploration you start to concentrate on a selection of genuine favourites as sites to visit regularly, which naturally leaves less time to go off looking for newer areas. I hope my book will help make that possible easier. Most of these sites I cover aren’t going to pop up unless you spend hours trawling through specific directories. I believe I’ve made that aspect less time-consuming.

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