MC: What do you do for entertainment in Sydney? Are there many Goths/Deathrockers in your area?

A: To tell you the truth I really don’t have that much to do with the Sydney ‘Gothic’ scene these days. Ahhhh-sydney. It’s not all its cracked up to be man. There is an abundance of Goth themed nightclubs but they all seem to play poxy ebm/industrial/techno/nu-metal music. *full body shudder* The overriding themes and attitudes are all very fashion oriented and there is very little in the way of a live music. This is something I’d love to see change. I wanna form a collective of likeminded souls performing different types of music/creating artwork/discussing philosophy/whatever-as long as it doesn’t involve talking about the new pair of $300 pants that DJ Darkass just bought or whatever. I spend most of my time these days composing new music on all night 3 day benders-just trying to get as far into the creative zone as i can without any distractions from the outside world. Its really helps to have ones own hermetic bubble-where only your own rules and expectations apply-its meant I’ve been able to accumulate an enormous amount of new songs and sounds ranging from acoustic folk type ditties with emphasis on the words and simple melodic lines, to enormous wall of sound type instrumentals where i abuse the shit out of my effects pedal! There’s a part of me that pines for the good ole days where i could go out to a club, take lots of speed and dance like a spastic to Bauhaus *L* but those days are gone (at least in Sydney). I should however give a shout out to Leigh Spencer of sacrament radio who still plays the good stuff and is a huge help for local acts.

MC: In his review of your CD, Mick Mercer said something I thought was very interesting. He said “Thatch Noir are Goth internally, and the way the songs come out are a different matter.” It struck a chord with me because I feel that the Goth culture has bought into its own stereotype with the emphasis on heart-on-your-sleeve-dark-and-dreariness. But to me, Goth, and especially Deathrock, can be fun. Just like life in general, both pain and joy co-exist. Too many Goths concentrate on the pain. What do you think?

A: Oh absolutely!!! i think the trap most artists fall into is becoming too strongly identified with any one genre and thus having to adapt and squeeze themselves into a template that predefines any subject matter or stylistic choices. If you’re trying too hard to write a certain way then you aren’t playing from the heart and therefore on some levels; its gonna sound fake, its never gone MOVE people. Most Goth music is terribly regimented (ooh! another song about bats! great!),I think not only is humor an ESSENTIAL aspect in everything we do, I believe the entire gamut of human emotions must be accounted for. That way you know that its real-It’s no good pretending to be dark, morbid and mysterious 24/7.No human being is really like that-its a caricature at best. All of the best creative works are borne of an honest outpouring of emotion/intellect/rampant catharsis! However most songs still fall into the classic 3 categories for subject matter
a.the world is fucked
b.That woman is fucked.
c. I’m fucked.
*L*
But that doesn’t mean you cant summon something true and unique fashioned from your own experiences-it just means there are clichés that abound EVERYWHERE-so watch your step!
Humor has ALWAYS been integral to me-All my favorite bands have a sense of humor I mean c’mon=the Goth scene is funny as shit. It IS!!! ESPECIALLY when people take themselves too seriously!

MC: Where did the title for Wizbang come from?

A: haha! This always seems to come up. Put simply ‘wizbang’ is local slang for amphetamines. Speed/meth/whatever. The song was written at a time when i and nearly all my friends were raging speedfreaks and its meant to mix a little pathos with tongue in cheek metaphor. Most of the songs on the album deal with personal experience extrapolated and built on upon to have a more universal theme and appeal. Listen to the words again-i’m sure you’ll get the drift!

MC: Like poetry, I think that the most effective songs are the ones that are oblique. When something is too obvious, it doesn’t let the imagination of the listener take full rein. I think Thatch Noir avoids that trap admirably. Are your lyrics spontaneous, or do you do a lot of crafting?

A: Most of my lyrics are pretty spontaneous. The left brain verbal circuit of my consciousness is often *ahem* ‘artificially stimulated’ and the hyperbole just seems to tumble forth! Usually i’ll ad-lib whilst playing guitar-to get a feel for structure and melody,making revisions as i go ,even whilst playing live. I’m a huge fan of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the way he combined a real sense of rhythmic cadence and flow to his prose whilst still containing layers of meaning. Andi sexgang is also a big influence. He manages to include so much culture and history combined with some truly magnificent turns of phrase!
i still find lyrics to be the hardest part of the songwriting process though. I can come up with riffs and melodies in my sleep -but to successfully marry those tunes to a suitable and sympathetic set of words is more difficult. It comes in fits and starts - the most important thing to remember is that which sounds trite on the page can sound profound when sung. Words are transformed in this fashion, and once again, if you truly Mean and FEEl what you’re singing-you can’t go wrong.

MC: Ever since the ‘90s, what I call the ‘Gothic Mainstream’ has developed. You have so-called “Goth clubs” that call themselves “underground”, but in order to get hundreds of people in the door they play music that is essentially no different than any techno/electro club. Or Goth is simply one of fifteen different genres of music they offer. If you’re truly “underground” you aren’t going to get 500 people a night. And if you get that many people, you obviously aren’t underground. Do you think they really don’t see the contradiction? How do you feel about this whole thing?

A: I think it’s fucked!!! Anytime you pander to the lowest common denominator you get something really vapid and banal. Once everybody likes something, none of them like it much. Theres no passion, there’s no sense of community-it just becomes about fashion and pretense. Artifice over art. When Goth/post punk music was being born there was no template and so we got some truly unique bands. Sex Gang Children. The Virgin Prunes, The Birthday Party, Southern Death cult, the cure etc..
All totally different and all really new and exciting. Even the way they played their instruments was unique. I think once bands like ‘the sisters’ got started that’s when we began to see a homogenization and formula starting to creep in. The biggest and most baffling change I’ve seen though is the almost wholesale transition from quirky guitar based bands to this new wave of techno/industrial music that seems to be a complete 180 degree turnabout in terms of atmosphere and attitude. I’m honestly baffled by it. I seriously don’t see where the two styles connect in any way except for the most heavily shaded part of the ven diagram which is of course BLACK CLOTHES! *L* !!! WHAT IN THE NAME OF FUCK?!?!?! Are we really that easily seduced into rejecting everything that once inspired us and made us feel something? I want HUMAN FRAILTY, HUMOUR, INDIVIDUALITY and most importantly SOMETHING ORGANIC!!! All this emphasis on machines and Teutonic efficiency scares the fuck out of me. I don’t get it, it does NOT move me.

MC: Seems like a lot of Goths don’t understand that Goth evolved from Punk. It seems like a Goth should at least know the origins of the music, even if they don’t prefer punk elements in their music. How do you think this happened?

A: Well, each new generation has to go to successively more ridiculous lengths to rebel and to shock, so as any genre marches on-it becomes progressively more warped and manipulated-moving ever further away from its roots. The music industry is also to blame-something will create a groundswell of support and a new ‘movement’ will begin. At some stage the record companies realize that they can make money of this “newfangled thing the kids seem to be into” and they then go about watering it down, filtering out everything that made it new and unique as they homogenize it for the masses.
Everything becomes reabsorbed and repackaged and ruined, and eventually-people lose sight of the origins and passions/ideals that founded the genre. However-there will always be a minority of inquisitive souls who will trace it back-find its source and draw inspiration from it. It just requires an ability to dissociate oneself from the current trends and an interest in searching further a field for something vital. Despite the fact that the ‘Goth’ ‘ scene has REALLY lost its way, there are still some really interesting new bands out there. The pioneers will always be in the minority however, and dwarfed by the hordes of ‘me too’ coattail riders.

MC: You commented in another interview something to the effect that you couldn’t find musicians who were reliable and able to prioritize, so you did it yourself. (I can sympathize, good help is hard to find!) Was this better in the long run?

A: Yes and No. On the one hand-it’s great to have total creative control and be able to shape things to match ones vision but it does have a lot of drawbacks. I was really lucky to have access to the facilities to record the debut album on my own but when it came time to play live in support of the record I was fucked. I ended up getting together a lineup which i dubbed ‘the wizbang children’ and we did a few shows and an east coast tour and it was great. Unfortunately problems started to creep in and the whole thing collapsed around me leaving me back at square one doing solo acoustic shows. I miss being able to jam with my friends and bounce ideas off each other. I guess i took them for granted in a way and assumed they’d always be there which is a huge mistake-it’s SO hard to find the right people who share your vision and want to work towards a common goal. I’m currently recruiting for a new lineup however so if you’re interested then email me at PHAERYDUST@HOTMAIL.com. I’m also looking for new management and mebbe even a record deal -so anyone who can help oughta get in touch!

MC: What do see in the future for the Goth and Deathrock scenes?

A: Extinction? *L* The twin terrors of EBM and Emo are doing their best to kill it. The Deathrock revival was heartening at first but it VERY quickly dissolved into being about who has the biggest mohwak and ripped fishnet shirts. *sighs* Plastic passion!
I think it’ll probably carry on in much the same fashion as it has done. Bubbling away beneath the surface will be a handful of creative souls sitting in isolated pockets who will be be doing it for the right reasons and the love of the music. These people will leave behind fragments and artifacts for future generations to discover and the cycle will continue.

MC:Are your CD’s still available?

A: Yeah-though the second pressing is just about sold out now. You can still grab a copy if you hurry! Email me at PHAERYDUST@hotmail.com for details.

MC: What are some of your favorite bands and music events?

A: Oh fuscia! Well i could go on all night about this! You really can’t go past THE CURE and SEX GANG CHILDREN as my biggest influences. Both are just amazing bands driven by one single-minded individual who has evolved and reinvented themselves so many times it really leaves behind a hugely varied body of work. There are a couple of great Australian bands I’ve been digging at the moment who go by the names of LAURA (huge mogwai-esque sound) and BRILLIG (classic Goth sound).Both bands deserve your support!!

MC: What are your future plans? Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: I’m currently working really hard on finalizing ideas for the new album-i have literally hundreds of new demos I’ve been toying with at home and the sound keeps evolving all the time so a lot of ideas get left behind. With that in mind-i’ve been releasing limited edition hand numbered discs of some of the new stuff (once again phaerydust@hotmail.com for info). I’ve also been doing some acoustic shows and trying to find the right lineup to eventually begin touring again. It’s pretty discouraging at times trying to get things off the ground for a number of reasons (lack of funds, general instability, apathy etc) but i promise something fucking enormous is on the horizon!!! I wanna thank Aiden for this interview and also give lashings o gratitude to anyone who’s ever taken an interest in THATCH NOIR! It means a lot to me and helps inspire future endeavors. Please get in touch and we’ll form a creative collective the likes of which can send ripples round the world!!
SCATTER AWAY TO JOIN ME!!!

http://thatchnoir.necrophiliacs.net/main.html

http://www.myspace.com/thatchnoir