Cloak & Dagger Fest: The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk Till Dawn

Good “dark” music should come from a damaged yet open heart because it’s those damages that make all the styles of dark music involved in Cloak And Dagger Festival beautiful to those that wear black late at night- or during the day, for that matter. Whether it was dark wave, new wave, post punk, goth/death rock, industrial, EBM, or shoegaze, every shade of black was represented on those two cold October nights.

Right from the first lineup announcement, it was understood that this would be like no other festival. With three stages at the Globe and Tower theaters, an all black dress code, and local brand recognition, I was sure the siamese evenings would play out like a movie, think Eyes Wide Shut meets Gimme Shelter. The lineup hosted plenty of bands that are Janky Smooth favorites like Ho99o9, Health, Moon Duo, and Uniform. Iconic artists like KMFDM, OhGr, and The Jesus and Mary Chain were set to share the two stages with future headliners like Cold Cave, The Soft Moon, and Lust For Youth. So any goth kid, let alone this one, would be awestruck and elated at the chance to partake in the affair.

Night 1: Black is the absence of color and hell is the absence of God

I made sure to adhere to the unspoken dress code that is enforced at the festival’s namesake Tuesday club night in Hollywood. Black shoes, black jeans, black shirt, black vest, I wanted to be absorbed into the same dark mass as everyone, so we could all sink into one big shadow together. I arrived at the Globe Theater while the main stage was being prepared then swung down the stairs into the bomb shelter basement where Haex was rattling the foundation with hard hitting industrial metal. Ash’s grimy guitar riffs and Sarah Graves’ electronic drumming and synth-work charged Adam Jones’ Neuromancer vocal growls to get me thrashing around rabidly right from the outset.

I felt the need to keep moving and check out all the action. I quickly cruised to the Tower to see LXT. They performed a bluesy, melodramatic and deliberate sort of post punk, like if Bertolt Brecht wrote for Joy Division. Their songs wallow in sadness then explode into heart-aching maladies. They were cool but couldn’t sink their teeth deep enough in me to stay.

The first set I saw on the Globe’s stage, which was essentially the festival’s main stage, was horror film composer, Steve Moore who played music from his many soundtracks like V/H/S 2 and The Guest. As a cinephile and industrial junkie, I absolutely loved it. I always thought good industrial, the likes of Skinny Puppy and Einstürzende Neubauten, should sound like horror movie music. You could close your eyes and transport yourself somewhere sick and twisted or you could keep them open to the crimson light bathing everyone and bring the sick and twisted right to the Globe.

David Scott Stone does one of my favorite things: plug wires in and out of a modular synths and let improvised chaos ensue as calculated industrial plays below. He could be facing toward the audience, or sulking with his head resting against his modulator, or bum-rushing between the gaps in the audience like a madman. His sound was abrasive and undeniable, everything electronic music was initially made to be. He would even keep the wires slung around his neck, like extra shanks on an assassin.

Awww, Ho99o9, Janky Smooth’s black Christs incarnate. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them since they released their definitive album United States of Ho99o9. Even though there was a good twenty minutes of sound-check issues, the band still ripped the Globe apart as the most aggressive act hosted. They were ushered on stage by their house of horrors roller coaster electronic intro then began their set with their live staple “Street Power”. That song is hardcore punk personified. With the OGM in a white dress, soon to be stripped down into white jeans, and Eaddy in a bloody and torn white suit, the boys just had to dress in stark contrast to the uniform. Honestly, I’m down with any band that would sample Hawk from the Legion Of Doom saying “RRRRRRRRRWWHAT A RUSSSSHHH!”

Night 2: An Accidental Swing of the Axe delivers the Punishment and Justice Due

The bands I wanted to see most on Night 2 were going on rather early so I got there for the first set at the Globe: Uniform. Imagine if Ministry and Big Black had a baby… I would worship that baby as my lord and savior. And that’s what Uniform might just be. With thick guitar riffs and visceral and jagged drum machine clanking from Ben Greenberg, then filtered vocals from Michael Berdan that he belts out so hard his face stretches to the point of tearing, the band has enormous potential to leave their mark on extreme music.

UNIFORM & Black Marble At Union: The Mongrelization Of Music Continues…

Look, the main reason I was stoked for this festival was that Nivek OhGr of Skinny Puppy would be there. I would get to see OhGr sing and take cellphone video of OhGr, hell, maybe I’d even get to touch OhGr! This guy is one of the many Gods of music I worship, others may fancy Al Jourgensen’s Ministry or Trent Reznor’s NIN but to me, Skinny Puppy is everything industrial music should be. They were legitimately dark and disturbing, creating moods other bands dared not tread into. I made sure to be right up front, spitting distance from the band. Then as I stood there, what was supposed to be a ten minute sound check, turned into an hour long turn for the worst. I wouldn’t budge though, I wasn’t going to lose hope until some ass hole came out and told me the band wasn’t going to perform and thankfully, that never happened.

OhGr was made up of three dudes with industrial dreadlocks and an older bald bass player that came on to introduce my hero to his stage. He was wearing all black and a strange looking, human-like white mask. He pranced around with his signature body mastery. Every limb and digit being dramatically manipulated to mean something. His movements are both graceful and grotesque, haunting and beautiful. My heart was exploding with joy at this point, as OhGr threw off his mask and revealed the true face of industrial music. The organizers made the right call and let the band play what was basically a full set. And even though I was missing the beginning of Lust For Youth at the Globe, I seemed to be skipping there because my black heart was full.

The sound check snafu was a blessing in disguise though because the set time conflicts between the Tower and Globe had been made obsolete. People didn’t want to have to choose between The Soft Moon and KMFDM or Poptone and Cold Cave. Now though, with all the sets in the Tower pushed an hour, you were only forced to choose between She Wants Revenge and Cold Cave, which is an easy and obvious decision.

Sweden’s Lust For Youth is Hannes Norrvide’s brain-child. What Lust For Youth does is something I consider a bit of a guilty pleasure, new wave dance music from soft boys. Think Depeche Mode “Just Can’t Get Enough” vibes, the only other band truly doing this in 2017 is First Hate and their album A Prayer For The Unemployed is going to be on my best of the year list. I arrived at the Globe in the middle of their set and was treated to hearing songs I listen to at the gym all the time. LFY had an interesting performance set up with Hannes and his band, playing with a young guy simply sitting on stage to be viewed as an object. A purely visual human element of the performance, this kid represented an idea. Bands like Lust For Youth tap into a homoerotic element that plenty of post punk bands have always danced around. Goths have to fall somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey scale, somewhere from 1-5, experiencing a strange attraction to humanity. That said, Lust For Youth’s music could bang just as hard in straight clubs as in gay clubs. The thought crossed my mind that events like these are just part of the Europeanizing of California. As the rest of the country drifts to the right, becoming more American than ever before, perhaps we will take-on the European model of economics and culture in response.