issue #1 gracelessa journal of the radical gothic And the ground we walk is sacred And every object lives And every word we speak Will punish or forgive And the light inside your body Will shine through history Set fire to every prison Set every dead man free “The Sound Of Freedom” Swans cover photograph by Holger Karas GRACELESS Issue one, published in February 2011 Contributors and Editors: Libby Bulloff (www.exoskeletoncabaret. com), Kathleen Chausse, Jenly, Enola Dismay, Johann Elser, Holger Karas (www. seventh-sin.de), Margaret Killjoy (www. birdsbeforethestorm.net). Graceless can be contacted at: www.graceless.info [email protected] This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to: Creative Commons 171 Second Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, California, 94105 USA What this license means is that you are free (and encouraged) to take any content from Graceless and re-use it in part or whole, or make your own work that incorporates ours, as long as you: attribute the creator of the work, share the work with the same license, and are using the product non-commercially. Note that there is a photograph that is marked as copyright to its creator, which was used with permission and may not be included in derivative works. We have chosen a Creative Commons licensing because we believe in free cultural exchange but intend to limit the power of capitalism to co-opt our work for its twisted ends. Adobe Garamond Pro is our body font. Colwell HPLHS serves for our pullquotes and most of our headers. Tw Cen MT is used for bylines, footers, and some subheads. Univers 45 Light, modified, is used for a few headers. 2 | THE RADICAL GOTHIC CONTRIBUTE Radical The deadline for issue two is May 1st, 2011 When we say “radical,” we are not speaking of a specific ideology, but we’re also not talking At least at the moment, we aren’t paying anyone involved about politics like who’s gonna vote for whom. in this project, least of all the editors. We are interested in Radical means, to us as well as the dictionary, creating a DIY culture, and we want you to be a part of it. “affecting the fundamental nature.” We’ve as little interest in mainstream politics as we do Writers in mainstream culture. We’re looking to trans- We are looking for non-fiction pieces that explore the form our society and our lives on a fundamen- darker side of the world from a radical point of view. Wheth- tal level. And while we are not interested, as a er it is a scene report on squatted gothic dance clubs or DIY journal, in promoting one specific methodol- fashion guides, or things that haven’t occurred to us to list as ogy, our focus is broadly anti-authoritarian and examples, we’re quite likely interested. probably tinged with left and post-left ideas. We’re potentially interest in fiction, as well, that is rather We are staunchly opposed to fascism and right- explicitly the work of the radical gothic. wing politics in general. And if you’re a novelist comfortable with being associated with us and our mission, then we’d love to interview you. Gothic Everything dark belongs to us. When we Crafters & Tinkers say “gothic,” we don’t mean to speak to a spe- We would love to feature your work, particularly if you’re cific little sub-category of a genre. Musically, interested in sharing a bit of how it is done. we mean industrial, gothic, darkwave, cold- wave, neo-folk, powernoise, alt-country, Bands EBM, futurepop, black and gothic metal. We’re looking for bands with goth and radical themes or We mean genres that don’t exist and we mean members to interview. We don’t care if all of your songs are music that hasn’t been made yet. We’ve inter- political, we don’t care if you’re famous. If you’re interesting, est in the occult and we’re interested in the let us know. cold, dark of atheism. We’re interested in the Romantics and of course, the gothic. Artists We feature the art of various radical goths in short port- The Radical Gothic folios with bios and work. Once again, the art itself doesn’t The radical gothic is the acceptance of the need to be politically-themed. Unfortunately, the interior of world as it is—dark and horrid, full of wan- the magazine is black and white, so we’re looking for work ton cruelty—without denying the world as we intended to be displayed in monochrome. might make it: dark and beautiful. The radical gothic rejects the myth of con- Reviews sumer identity, that our purchases—or what We are interested in reviewing: music and art shows, al- we wear—define us. But at the same time, it bums, books, magazines, zines, and anything that is appro- recognizes that aesthetics are a valid form of priate for our stated purpose and our audience. expression. The radical gothic is the acceptance of re- submit proposals and/or finished work to: sponsibility that grants us the freedom to define [email protected] ourselves, our own lives and our own society. Graceless, Issue One | 3 From The Editor For the past decade, I’ve lived two lives. I’ve been a goth and that it is the offer of a society other than the nightmarish one we I’ve been an anarchist. Luckily for me, black clothes and a mo- were born into that gives our culture such allure. hawk will do just fine for both. In fact, there’s always been a I’m tired of living in two worlds. ton of overlap between these cultures: gender-bending, queer This magazine is my love letter to goth, that finest and most positivity, sex positivity, veganism, atheism/antitheism/pagan- remarkable of cultures, that raven-haired, androgynous beauty ism, DIY. But still, my world has always been split. who has captivated me for over half my life. Let’s run away to- I told my punk friends in Germany last summer that I was gether. Let’s not be trapped by what society expects of us. With heading off for a weekend to attend Wave-Gotik-Treffen, a you by my side, I would face any peril that might await us. goth festival. “Why?” they asked. “Goths are all either apoliti- Through the yearlong process of getting this first issue cal or right-wing.” And this wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. out (first issues always take longer than subsequent ones, I’ve From the other side of things, I’d hear that radicals are all learned), I’ve found plenty of contributors who have wound either boring, preachy activists or cliquish, elitist punks. up editors and friends. Like most any project worth doing, Unable to prove my point that the radical gothic exists— Graceless quickly became a shared vision. Although I took the hell, that it’s the foundation of gothic culture—I kept these lead editorial position on this first issue, an international col- two parts of myself separate. lective has formed to see it continue. I live mostly in the anarcho-punk-traveler world. I used Graceless is a journal rather than a book because a jour- to listen to VNV Nation quietly in my room while folk punk nal doesn’t claim to be the last word on a subject. (Not ev- blasted in the kitchen. I admit it: I was embarrassed to be ery book makes that claim, of course, but it lies implicit in heard listening to Faith & The Muse. Somehow, my peers had the format.) The radical gothic is a breathing culture that will convinced me (without really trying, to be fair), that goth mu- hopefully outlive us all. And, well, Graceless is a journal instead sic was cheesy. Sure, I could get away with listening to some- of a proper magazine because none of us are yet in a posi- thing “tough” like Swans or “punk” like New Model Army, but tion where we can commit to the regular publishing schedule I was shy about Wolfsheim. necessary to keep up with our rapidly-changing culture. We’re With age came self-confidence, and I outed myself. I’d put aiming for every six months, however. on my music in the living room and let people deal. (If I have We don’t intend to serve as a one-way conduit of informa- to listen to Ghost Mice, it’s only fair.) And what I found, right tion, either. We’re looking for everyone who shares our pas- away, is that I wasn’t alone. I met dozens of anarcho-goths sions to consider contributing what they can, whether it be wilting away in punk houses, trapped in the spooky closet. I material for the magazine or by helping spread the word-of- met Earth First!ers who’d break from treesitting to go to club mouth. We’re looking for feedback: how can we be useful? nights in the city. I met squatters who could translate Ein- What would you like to learn, to read? stürzende Neubauten lyrics for me. I met train-hoppers with In this issue, we’ve gathered interviews with bands across the corsets in their packs and I met facially-tattooed young wom- spectrum, from giants of the scene who are still fiercely DIY like en who lived under bridges.