Fashion From My Perspective: Deathrock

Hey everyone, it's time for a new episode of Fashion From My Perspective! This time, I'm going to tell you all about the Deathrock subculture, one of the coolest -and sadly, also one of the rarest- out there.

Let's start with explaining you what Deathrock actually is. Deathrockers are regarded by some as 'the missing link' between Punk and Goth, hence their extremely simliar appearance and musical tastes to the Trad Goths. However, while the Trad Goths tend to believe that Goth is dead, the Deathrockers see that Goth is still alive and twitching, in a suitably zombified form. 

Deathrockers are most easily recognised by their layers upon layers of ripped fishnets, band logos and enormous hair, Deathrockers listen not only to the 80s Goth Rock classics (Christian Death, Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend being notable examples), but also a new breed of crazed artists such as Cinema Strange and Tragic Black, as well as other genres such as Horror Punk and Psychobilly. As long as it’s mad, bad and features zombies / bats / death, it’s all good. 

Deathrockers may also be characterised by their love of old horror movies (the cheesier the better), and very often, a good (if slightly twisted) sense of humour.

One of the coolest things about Deathrockers, if you want my opinion, is the infamous Deathhawk. It's pretty much a mohawk, but a bit wider and with some hair on the sides of the head as well.

See?

It is interesting that deathrock nowadays fits under the Goth umbrella, as it emerged independently, beginning in America in the late 1970s, around the same time as those big four post-punk acts started to emerge in the UK. It was originally an offshoot of the punk scene combined with the Los Angeles hardcore music scene, and was first thought of as simply a darker take on punk, rather than a new genre of its own.

When the famous and influential Batcave club opened in London in 1983, internationally renowned as the world's first Goth club and 'home' of the Goth scene, the two main bands that debuted and performed there - namely Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend - were set apart from the rest of the post-punk scene in England by their strongly horror-influenced sound, the first recogniseable instance of deathrock beginning to emerge in the UK. Wikipedia says that, with the opening of the Batcave, and with UK bands such as Christian Death and The Gun Club starting to tour America, "the European Gothic rock scene and the American deathrock scene were now able to directly influence one another."

By 1984, when the UK scene (the Batcave bands, and fresh blood such as The Sisters of Mercy and The March Violets) had banded together under the label 'Gothic rock', the merger began when American deathrock band Kommunity FK toured with English Goth band Sex Gang Children, and for a while the terms 'Goth' and 'deathrock' were used interchangeably.

Nowadays, again like cyber, deathrock is both a subgenre of Goth and a genre in its own right, able to thrive within the Goth scene and still hold its own, subgenre-specific clubs and events (such as the Drop Dead Festival in New York).

Visually, deathrock incorporates some key elements from punk and trad Goth, such as ripped and patched clothing, badges and safety-pins galore, shredded tights, and big, big hair. Accessories are generally piled on by the dozen - layers of belts, chokers and chains, fishnet gloves and spiked wristbands. Clothing is generally as distressed as possible, sometimes even dusty or dirty - aiming for a 'just crawled out of the grave, and still ready to rock, ya bastards!' appearance.

Make-up is usually dramatic, often with strong horror influences - cheeks can be given a 'hollow' appearance with black or purple eyeshadow, and outfits may even be splattered with fake blood (although it takes a certain je ne sais quoi to pull this off). Deathrock can often be one of the more colourful Goth looks - bright colours, sometimes clashing combinations such as green and pink or green and purple, are used to accent all the black - and the same can hold true for make-up.

So, combine this huge amount of information and you'll get something like this:

If I've made you going 'OMG I WANT TO BE A DEATHROCKER!' by now, you might also wonder 'OMG WHERE CAN I BUY THOSE COOL CLOTHES?' Well, it's mostly just D.I.Y. Buy yourself a black blazer or jacket, and make it look cool with band patches, buttons and safety pins. Also buy loads of black pantyhoses, and some coloured ones as well. And then, well, yeah, just rip them. And wear then on top of each other. If your parents allow you, you might want to consider also buying one or two corsets, since they're worn by most Deathrockers. 

In the end, it's all about creating your own look of course. You don't have to look like a stereotypical Deathrocker to be one. 

I hope you've enjoyed this post, and see you next time!

♣ Gasoline Diamond ♣

Souces used: http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.com/2010/12/styles-of-goth-fashion-deathrocker.html , http://blackwaterfall.com/10deathrocker.php