When one looks at the scope of concert festivals in the goth/industrial underground, or even those of other genres (such as metal), one tends to notice certain similarities that pervade through most of them. Wave Gotik Treffen, Black Sun, Mera Luna, etc... all of them tend to exhibit characteristics that have become familiar ground to patrons of these festivals, from the abundance of divergent bands from across the musical spectrum, to the various DJs who do their best to keep the energy going between the bands' sets, to the patrons themselves, usually featuring a plethora of subgenre-centric fashions and tastes. Regardless of the bands performing, there is almost certainly going to be a mixture of the various categories, all of which become ultimately irrelevant when considering the true purpose of these festivals: to bring people together through music. Taking place at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, NC this past October 13th, 2007, the fourth annual Eccentrik Festival is a perfect example of this point. Beginning in 2004 as a celebration of goth/industrial culture, organized by Mouse with Kantrip acting as the Master of Ceremonies, Eccentrik differs slightly from other festivals of its ilk, focusing not simply on music, but on visual arts as well with an exhibition that runs throughout the entire month of October and featuring a wide range of styles from painting to fashion design to photography. However, the music is the main focus here, and at this year's proceedings yielded some rather entertaining moments.

With DJ coordinator Kangal's and AnnabelEvil's set lists and Kantrip's animated mannerisms starting the proceedings, the festival began with an intriguing appearance by The Hellblinki Sextet. The group's live setup was rather unorthodox, but impressive in its execution as each band member took on multiple instruments throughout the course of their demented yet delightful set. Fronting the group behind a minimal drum-kit, while strumming away at his guitar, was Andrew Benjamin, wearing his toothy grimace on his pasty-white façade while donning a top-hat. Singing in a low, humorously seductive drawl and singing behind that almost psychotic smile, Benjamin is backed by the operatic voice of Valerie, who also plays keyboards (including the accordion) and xylophone. The trio is rounded out by an upright bass, as the music brings to mind the bluesy jazz noir atmosphere of the Weimar Republic, taken to an extreme that would make Voltaire blush. It's as if Nick Cave were possessed by the spirit of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, with Abby Travis on backup. What the band may have lacked in actual stage movement, as each musician stood rather firmly in their positions behind their instruments, their unique musical approach and appearance did add that extra element of theatricality to it, such that the audience (scarce as it was so early in the show, yet still showing assured signs of anticipation and enthusiasm) could be drawn into their dark yet somewhat cartoonish world.

Mighty Mike Saga kept the energy going with a DJ set to lead us into a blistering performance by The Gothsicles. While no less whimsical than The Hellblinki Sextet, The duo of darkNES and :EYG: deliver a searing mix of electro/punk with lyrical topics exploring the range of all things geeky, a combination that the band has dubbed "Nintendustrial/EB-Mulator." With their very costumes baring accoutrements of the original Nintentdo, from belt buckles made of the controllers to darkNES' Power Glove, and songs like "One Second Ghost" and "Konami Code IV," complete with video projections featuring montages of various Nintendo and Atari games from the early '80s, The Gothsicles are this scene's answer to nerdcore; watching them, one can almost expect MC Chris to step up from backstage to contribute to the band's raucous show. They even take a self-deprecating look at the goth/industrial culture with "So You've Decided to Become a Goth" and "I Can Tell You Shop (At Hot Topic)" as the projections feature many luminaries of the scene (including several of the DJs and artists present, which only heightened the audience's unwavering enjoyment of the performance), and even their own geeky natures with "Hey, I've Got that Font." Shouting out his vocals with dramatic fervor, darkNES jumps on and off the stage, dancing with the audience at various times, truly breaking the invisible wall that seems to exist between spectator and performer at so many shows. Only the second band on the bill, and yet The Gothsicles made a truly memorable appearance.

DJ Spider displayed her prowess behind the mixing deck next, after a remark or two about her intimidating stature, courtesy of MC Kantrip, segueing us into the seductive industrial fury of Terrorcouple. On a personal note, this band's set was a pure thrill, having seen their development of sound and style since their inception. From their aggressive mix of modern synthesis with decrepit atmospheres augmented with a pummeling percussive range, complete with metal canisters, Terrorcouple's stage show is more akin to the classic industrial horror of groups like Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle. The trio's appearance at Eccentrik was especially noteworthy as the band performed four new songs, along with what has become one of their signature tracks, "Rip it Open." Had one not been aware of their status as new songs, one would think that the group had been performing them for years; there was nary a faltering moment, despite the band's admittance of such later in the evening. Despite the lack of fake blood that had been up-to-now so abundant in their performances, there was no shortage of theatricality; with Mars firmly planted behind his rack of synthesizers, and K.Nivek banging away on a makeshift drum set, Psychofaerie flailed about on stage like a manic doll having a seizure, writing in and ripping out the pages of a black book, and serenading a plastic human heart. Having seen Terrorcouple perform in DC almost a year before, it was quite interesting to see this scaled back version of their live show, free of buzz saws, metal sparks, and fake blood; a testament to the band's abilities to alter their appearance only slightly and still maintain intrique. There was a certain satisfaction in seeing members of the audience heading to the front to grab the torn shreds of paper for themselves, or to stand up close to Psychofaerie's demonic vocalizations. If that's not a sign that Terrorcouple knows how to entertain their audience, then what is?

We're at the halfway mark, and it's already clear by this point that the festival is going well. The venue was far from packed, yet there were still a respectable number of people traveling between the bars and the vendors, with nothing but smiles from face to face and the looks and sounds of enjoyment all around. DJs Mothra and Nitrogen sets kept the audience's enthusiasm up until Cylab took the stage. To hear Cylab perform live is to risk sending your heart into arrhythmia; the sheer amount of bass pounding out of the speakers was enough to awaken the dead. In his introduction, Kantrip made note of the group's incorporation of trip-hop, evident throughout their performance from the foggy ambience that permeated throughout such songs as "Dented Halos" and "Path," and the chilling yet melodic vocals of Severina. With the other band members throwing themselves about behind their synthesizer racks, it was up to Severina to provide the visual focal point, dancing about on stage, throwing herself completely into the distorted rhythms and even donning a mask for "Mask of Silence" for a bit of eeriness, with her red and black locks flowing wildly. Another facet of Cylab's performance was the inclusion of a rather unlikely cover: Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box." Indeed, until the now famous chorus of "Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint!," one would be hard pressed to recognize the song. Transforming those sedate guitar arpeggios for a throbbing electro bass line that could almost crawl under the skin, and with Severina seductively drawing the audience in, the band managed to successfully make the song all their own. By the end of their set, the audience was spellbound by Cylab's genre-bending electro style, recalling the danceable tension of Haujobb mixed with the discomforting calm of Sneaker Pimps.

The Last Dance took the stage next, belting out their stylized brand of goth rock with all the fervor of a punk explosion. While all the bands that have performed up to now have given their all to make the event as dynamic and as entertaining as possible, The Last Dance's appearance truly stood out due primarily to vocalist Jeff Diehm's interaction with the audience in between songs. From his humorous mocking of My Chemical Romance and the emo genre as a whole to his dialogue on the importance of the audience's need to hold on to what makes the goth/industrial scene so special. Jeff even went so far as to point that band mate Rick Joyce was not only missing the 10th anniversary of his marriage to perform this night, but also that the neon-locked guitarist's wife was pregnant, which earned a huge amount of praise from the crowd. While it's difficult to recall the exact phrasing Jeff used, they can easily be summed up, "This is your scene. Hold onto it." Such words not only ring true to the spirit of the band's music being a mixture of traditional modes of goth rock with modern electro, but to the very intention behind Eccentrik Festival; this is indeed our scene, and hold onto it we must. And hold onto it the audience did as The Last Dance blasted out their psychedelic swirls of effected guitars, guttural bass lines, and vocals that ran the emotional range from gothic romanticism to dark angst. As if to one-up The Gothsicles, Jeff not only ran off the stage amid the audience, but at one point even ran up to the second floor for a brief moment, as if to remind the patrons and the vendors that they were not to be excluded from the band's attention. There was also a moment where he and bassist Peter Gorritz fell atop each other, bringing a few smiles to both the band and the crowd. However, what truly made The Last Dance's performance so special was the wedding proposal that took place on stage, with DJ Poe getting down on bended knee before a theatre filled with goths and rivetheads, proposing to DJ Vitae; as Vitae accepted, the audience let out an incredible burst of applause, solidifying The Last Dance's performance as perhaps the most emotionally satisfying of the entire event.

While the effects of the long hours were starting to take their toll, this did not diminish the thrill of hearing Steve Archer of Ego Likeness spin out a set that was chockfull of some industrial classics. Beginning rather unorthodoxly (and welcomingly) with Tool's "Schism," such tracks as Acumen Nation's "Gun Lover," "After the Flesh" by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, "Supernaut" by 1,000 Homo DJs, Download's "Glassblower," and Skinny Puppy's "Tin Omen" made for a blistering set that riled everyone in attendance up for the headliner: Meg Lee Chin. Her appearance was a special event for fans of industrial music given that she hasn't released an album since leaving Invisible Records/Underground, Inc. in 2002 under dubious circumstances, though her presence in Pigface during her tenure with the label are regarded as some of the industrial collective's finest moments, and to be backed on stage by Michelle Walters and Steven Seibold (both also alumni of the Invisible/Underground camp, including of course Pigface) made it all the more worth seeing. If you weren't a fan of Chin's work before this night, you certainly had to become one now as she performed some of her best known songs from her two albums, belting out her occasionally shrill, sometimes diminutive, always melodic vocals with all the bravado of a punk rocker. Adding a bit of humor, Chin even joked that she'd initially asked to be mixed to a lower volume than the preceding bands, only to change course throughout her set and keep pushing the volume up high enough to entertain the audience without literally deafening them. While her plans for the future remain uncertain, to see the enthusiasm of the crowd during her show was proof positive that should she decide to release a new record, it would be greeted with more than open arms, marking Meg Lee Chin's appearance at Eccentrik to be a triumphant return to the goth/industrial fold.

By this point, midnight had crept up, and after so rigorous a schedule and so passionate a series of performances from all involved, the time to leave had come slightly earlier than it should have; we ended up leaving before Meg Lee Chin's set had completed. Nonetheless, one could walk away from the Lincoln Theatre that night still feeling the power of the music filled the North Carolina air. With nary a technical difficulty or incident unbecoming to the atmosphere of camaraderie between the bands and the attending crowd, and with each band and DJ putting forth as excellent a performance as they could, this year's Eccentrik Festival could undoubtedly be considered a success from the spectator's point of view.

Eccentrik 2007

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