Update – February 2024

I’ve been quiet in recent months, but I can now say the draft of the ‘Dark Scene 500’ (final title to be determined) is complete.  I’m now looking into options for external editing and publishing.  Expect to hear a LOT more when this process begins in earnest.  Thanks go to everyone who came to me with ideas and suggestions.  There’s still a long way to go before this thing becomes reality, but the part I do largely on my own is done now.

Meanwhile, I’m going through my older writings and updating them to 2024 status.  To start with, I revisited my old Infest retrospective, which now covers the festival in it’s current incarnation.

Infest – A Personal Retrospective

Work! (To Live) – November 2023

Probably the last Terminates Here set of 2023, joining Nathan Nothing and guest Matt Hart for a night of body beats, with a live show from German chip-punk act GrGr.  In amongst all this, here’s what I played.

9pm

Vince Clarke – White Rabbit
Riotmiloo – Define Normal
Benefits – Warhorse
Tackhead – Mind At The End Of The Tether
Lead Into Gold – The Final Blows
Signal Aout 42 – Shut Up
Dupont – Planless Exhibition
Project Pitchfork – Song of the Winds
Das Ich – Kain und Abel (short cut)
Placebo Effect – Slashed Open
The Eternal Afflict – We Libanon You

 

Midnight

:Wumpscut: – On the Run
Front 242 – Punish Your Machine
Nitzer Ebb – Murderous
Portion Control – Amnesia
Red Meat – Providence
Ministry – Just Like You
Die Krupps – Metal Machine Music
Cabaret Voltaire – I Want You
DAF – Verschwende Deine Jugend
Jäger 90 – Dessau
Spark! – Ett Lejon I Dig

Work! (To Live) – July 2023

Back to Work!  Tonights event featured guest DJ Traumahound – by joining Nathan and myself, we recreated a DJ line-up last seen and heard in Aces way back in 2015.  Also featured tonight was the first London show of Vagerr.  Anyway, this is what I played.

 

9pm

Flesh Eating Foundation – Report Highlighting Gross Incompetence….
No Sleep By The Machine – Lye
Dead When I Found Her – Downpour
Dorsetshire – Brothers and Sisters
Seven Trees – Going Down
A Split-Second – Bend My Body Armour
Signal Aout 42 – Pro Patria
Underviewer – Nobody But You
Borghesia – Ni Upanja, Ni Strahu
High-Functioning Flesh – Hunger Cries
SARIN – Crash
Kanka + Bodewell – Marathon


12:10am

Rein – Bodyhammer
Youth Code – The Dust of Fallen Rome
Project Pitchfork – KNKA (Climax version)
Leæther Strip – Strap Me Down
Test Dept. – Landlord
Front 242 – Tragedy >For You<
Die Krupps – Metal Machine Music
RevCo – Attack Ships On Fire
Klinik – Moving Hands
Fad Gadget – Ricky’s Hand

Update – April 2023

Some of you might remember I’m writing a book about scene music – focused primarily on notable songs. The draft is current around 75% complete. So one way or another, it’s going to be finished – and soon! There’s still a few gaps in my knowledge, but knowing the people I know, I was hoping some of you might be able to help me finish this thing off.
 
So, if you think you know about any of the following (or know someone who does) and are willing to contribute a few ideas, please get in touch.
  • Psychobilly
  • Horror punk
  • Deathrock revival (i.e deathrock bands formed from the mid-90s onwards)
  • Steampunk (even if this is more of a fashion genre, there’s bands associated with it)
  • Industrial hip-hop hybrids
  • Industrial bass music (all past disagreements will be forgiven and forgotten)
  • Club-friendly industrial from the past 10 years
  • EDM that works in scene clubs (again, mainly from past decade, but the 00s area could use some help too)
  • Digital Hardcore (anyone remember that?)
  • Witch House (ditto)
Note that all assistance will be credited and I’m not asking anyone to do any writing – I’m really just asking for some playlist suggestions and a bit of fact and reality-checking.

Work! (To Live) – March 2023

The first anniversary of Work! (To Live) – with Mara Mortem back to join Nathan Nothing and myself for an evening of classic EBM and related styles.   Here’s what I played.  

9pm-9:45pm

Kite – Castle of Sand
Kirlian Camera – Odyssey Europa
The Weathermen – Punishment Park
The Neon Judgement – Chinese Black
Attrition – The Switch
Object – The Ethane Asylum
Scapa Flow – Crucial Impact
NTRSN – You See Me
Oldschool Union – Stressi
Frontal – Lass Mich
Elite! – Maschinen
Sturm Cafe – Koka Kola Freiheit

 

11:15pm-Midnight

Portion Control – Amnesia
Nitzer Ebb – Warsaw Ghetto
Front 242 – No Shuffle
Eco – Hass Und Liebe
Project Pitchfork – Go Further
Front Line Assembly – Plasticity
Covenant – Speed (Club Version)
Die Robo Sapien – Robo Sapien
Cabaret Voltaire – I Want You
Militant Cheerleaders On The Move – Freaks (single edit)

LAVA – January 2023

My setlist from the first LAVA event, joining Mark13 and event founder Translight for a night based around the rockier end of the industrial spectrum.

Nine Inch Nails – March of the Pigs
Killing Joke – Asteroid
Big Black – Bad Penny
Lard – Forkboy
Fear Factory – Demanufacture
Rammstein – Feuer Frei! (BANG! BANG!)
Die Krupps – Fatherland
Front 242 – Welcome To Paradise
Skinny Puppy – Tin Omen
Ministry – Deity
Godflesh – Crush My Soul
White Zombie – More Human Than Human
Tool – Stinkfist
Filter – The Best Things
Mortiis – Parasite God
Eisbrecher – This Is Deutsch
Oomph! – Gott Ist Ein Popstar
Zeromancer – Doctor Online
Gothminister – Angel
Gary Numan – Pure

Update – December 2022

There isn’t much Terminates Here DJ activity at the moment (none, actually), but progress on my ‘Dark Scene 500’ book continues.   I’m well over halfway through the first draft, and I’ll soon be at the stage where I’ll be asking for help.  Specifically, I will be looking for some expertise in certain sub-genres which haven’t featured heavily in my own scene experiences, but I know are too important to leave out. 

As for getting the thing published, self-publication seems to be the way to go these days.   I’m hoping crowdfunding will be a cost-effective way of paying for this, given I’m not seeking any personal financial gain from this endeavour.  As a sign of good faith, I won’t start this process until I know the text is close to the “finishing line”, given the real costs of self-publishing don’t really come into play until after the text is drafted.  

The one area where I’m really stuck, and looking for suggestions – finding an editor.  Google searching mainly seems to yield US-oriented editors practised in either academic texts or works of fiction, and this book is none of these things.  So if anyone has any ideas for how to find someone who could help get a mammoth tome about obscure musical styles written in colloquial (sometimes cynical) British English into some kind of publishable shape, please get in touch.  

Work! (To Live) – November 2022

Back to the Aces basement in Tufnell Park for body beats and assorting electronic oddities with Nathan Nothing and guest DJ Nick Octopus down from Edinburgh.   Almost certainly my last set of 2022, and my 150th in total.  Here’s what I played.

 

9pm-9:45pm

Absolute Body Control – I’m Leaving
Silke Bischoff – On The Other Side I’ll See You Again
Psychic Force – Underpass ’94
X Marks The Pedwalk – Paranoid Illusion
Numb – Dead Inside
Pankow – Gimme More (Much More)
Cobalt 60 – Bye Bye
Orange Sector – Für Immer
Spark! – Ett Lejon I Dig
Jäger 90 – Dessau
Elm – Wapenrustning
Signal Aout 42 – To Talk Nonsense

 

11:15pm-Midnight

Go_A – Shum
Kirlian Camera – Eclipse (Anniversary)
Project Pitchfork – Requiem
Kraftwerk – Radioactivity (The Mix version)
Nitzer Ebb – Getting Closer
Front 242 – In Rhythmus Blieben
DAF – Verschwende Deine Jugend
Die Krupps – Tod Und Teufel
A Split-Second – Flesh
Ministry – Revenge
Camouflage – The Great Commandment
Eleven Pond – Watching Trees

 

Work! (To Live) – July 2022

A return to the Aces and Eights basement, where I joined Nathan Nothing and Cavey Nik to play a night of EBM and related styles.  I don’t play that often these days, so every set like this is special.  

 

9pm

Vangelis – Alpha
32Crash – Slow Crash
Haujobb – Dead Market
AutoDaFeh – Identity Unknown
klack – Discipline
á;GRUMH – C.B.B. (14%)
Borghesia – Discipline (same title but different song to the klack one…..)
The Young Gods – Jimmy
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – Do You Fear For Your Child
Revolting Cocks – Attack Ships On Fire
Kraftwerk – Numbers
Welle:Erdball – Starfighter F-104G
Kirlian Camera – Nightglory

 

11:15pm

Project Pitchfork – K.N.K.A. (Climax Version)
Front Line Assembly – Iceloate
Leæther Strip – Adrenalin Rush
The Invincible Spirit – Push!
Das Ich – Destillat (Original version)
Front 242 – No Shuffle
Nitzer Ebb – Control I’m Here
DAF – Kebabträume
Cabaret Voltaire – I Want You
Klinik – Moving Hands
Skinny Puppy – Far Too Frail

Update – June 2022

Writing on the “Dark Scene 500” continues at a steady pace, with close to 50,000 words written so far. Still a lot to do, but I’m not working to any specific deadline here so no need to rush things. The aim is to get at least some of each chapter written within the next month or two, and then the overall shape of the thing will become clear.

As for DJing, I haven’t fully re-joined the circuit (as if I was in said circuit in the first place!), but I will be making a second appearance at the Work! (To Live) night in July – details are available on the Facebook page for those of you who like EBM done the ‘old way’.