Our Frankenstein is among the headliners for World Goth Day San Diego

"The Lord said...Stretch your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread...darkness that can be felt." Exodus 10:21 

Old school “goth” can be traced back to the third and fourth centuries, when a Germanic tribe known as the Visigoths waged war against the Roman empire throughout Eastern and Southern Europe. They didn’t wear eyeliner but they did collect skulls and gaudy silver jewelry. Later, an architectural style called “gothic” became popular, favoring wrought iron trim, gargoyle draped columns, cathedral spires, and belfries suitable for bats. 

As far as ideology and fashion goes, 19th century poet Lord Byron and Frankenstein author Mary Shelley were most certainly goth, with their dark clothes, powdered white faces, poofy laced sleeves, depressive outlooks, and morbid imaginations. Musically, goth culture coalesced with the minor-chord melancholy of 80s bands like Joy Division, The Cure, Fields of the Nephilim, Sisters Of Mercy, and Siouxsie And The Banshees. 

Back then, the darkly dressed in San Diego congregated at now defunct venues such as the Skeleton Club, the original downtown Soma, and clubs like Stratus and SubNation. In the late 90s, places to be pale included the Empire Club (30th Street North Park, later Club Xanth), which hosted mostly 18+ and all-age events, the Sin-Klub (inside Club Elements on University Avenue), Club Luminal (Tuesday nights at Hamburger Mary's), and Therapy, held the first Friday of every month at Club Xanth and every other Friday at The Flame in Hillcrest. Wednesdays at Czech discotheque-themed club Kadan in Normal Heights featured Darkwave Garden, and Sundays at Club Montage on Hancock Street were home to Underworld.   

Crocodile Rock regularly held goth-themed events like Soil, Savage Garden, and Seventh Chamber. Trenchcoats and jewelry in the form of a religious cross were common, as was all-dark clothing and hairstyles that later evolved into variants like those seen in the emo subculture. Current local goth happenings include The Fever Vault at the Black Cat Bar, and other longrunning DJ events that have migrated between various clubs include Vanta After Dark, Darkwave Garden, Club Sabbat, Club Ascension, and Underworld, as noted at SDgoth.org.   

Locals like James Howard helped bring goth into the light, as it were, with the Gothic Volunteer Alliance, an organization providing community services such as fundraisers for the SPCA, the Humane Society, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The group became known for taking part in public beautification projects like graffiti removal, as well as for voter-registration drives, humanitarian acts, charity work, and even beach cleanups, as hard as it may be to imagine a group of darkly dressed goths moving up and down a sunny beach. 

As Howard likes to promote, the gothic lifestyle values the importance and value of individuality. Passivity and tolerance of others are treasured ideals, and vegetarianism, volunteerism and humanitarianism are common in practice.

San Diego is also the birthplace of a well-known Christian Goth ministry called Sanctuary, founded by Pastor Dave Hart of ChristianGoth.com, who attended local goth events searching out “disenfranchised youth” in need of counsel and guidance. “I became one of those ‘born-agains’ back in 1970, during the Jesus People days” says Hart, or Pastor Dave, as he likes to be referred. “I had a hard time settling on a church or denomination, because like most hippies in those days, I was distrustful of organizations and institutions and I suppose I retain some of that attitude to this day.” 

From the start, Pastor Dave was particularly interested in goth kids. He saw in them a fondness for the iconography and rituals endemic to church tradition (crosses, candles, incantations, etc.), as well as great intellectual capacity, emotional depth, and spiritual yearning. “[Goths] are into art, poetry, and music. They are passive, introspective, and can be dramatically emotional. They can also be too self-absorbed, brood to a fault, and they internalize everything, even things that have nothing to do with them! As a group and as a rule, goths take their stress and pain out on themselves, not on others - cutters, piercers, slicers, suicide addicts - they will beat themselves up in their guilt and their sorrow to prove how real their pain is.”  

Local goths even gather annually for field trips to Disneyland's (now-unofficial) Bats Day at the Park, a gathering of goths established in 1999 at the Magic Kingdom that completely clogs the already lengthy lineup to get into the Haunted Mansion. 

Several locals made a name for themselves in the SoCal goth scene by hosting popular DJ events filled with people moving around under thick fog and stark lighting. DJ Robin Roth brought goth sounds to Rock 105.3 FM with shows like 11th Hour, when she played noncommercial goth and industrial oldies and goodies from classic ’80s bands Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, and KMFDM, as well as subgenre music niches labeled “darkwave, synthpop, batcave, deathrock, powernoise, and ethereal.” Roth became a fixture in the San Diego club scene, hosting theme parties such as Naughty School Girl and Sparks Flying Metal Grind Nights and spinning vinyl at goth-friendly venues like Kava Lounge’s Club Ascension, the Flame’s Sabbat, and doing sets as DJ Pussy Galore at the Whistle Stop Bar in South Park.

Roth will join the San Diego gothic and alternative community of artists, DJs, musicians, performers, and vendors coming together for a World Goth Day festival on Friday, May 22. Launched in San Diego in 2024, the 18-and-up event offers an evening of gothic, alternative, and darkwave music, fashion, cosplay, and culture at the Handlery Hotel & Resort in Mission Valley.

Headliners Our Frankenstein are a gothic industrial metal band known for combining literature and myth with a dark, cinematic sound. With members based in Los Angeles and Rancho Santa Margarita, their concerts feature a mix of live instrumentation and sequenced electronic elements, with the lore surrounding the band centering heavily on its cybernetic and horror-themed identity. They released a new album last year called Magnum Spire Hotel and are planning to drop an EP called Cinema soon, preceded so far by a single for “Caro” featuring Kyd Barrett. "The Zombots are coming prepared with a setlist full of songs we don’t typically play often," according to bandleader Nexus.

Making a return World Goth Day appearance will be proggy goth locals Starcrossed, who were nominated Best New Electronic Artist at the 2007 San Diego Music Awards. “We combine ’80s new wave and indie rock with a touch of shoegaze, goth, and dance beats,” says singer/guitarist Mark Haemmerle (Sleepy Hollow, Winter Winds). “So, basically, it’s guitar-and-bass-driven rock, with preprogrammed electronics and a drum machine.” 

The group frequently reminds me of deadpan electro-bands whose buzzsaw hum defined alt-radio in the ’80s and '90s (Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke, Joy Division, the Cure). There’s a kind of guileless sincerity and dogged (if droning) consistency to most every song they’ve recorded since their 2001 debut. 

Clubby tracks such as “Discotheque Love Song” ring like Dead or Alive meets Sisters of Mercy, while “The Wishing Star Kills Tonight” (“All your sighing makes me cry/ all your crying kills the show”) is drenched in breathless beats à la the Motels. Singer/keyboardist Christina Haemmerle frequently injects a bit of chick power into the proceedings (“If you need me/ call my name/ I won’t come running/ but I’ll show”), particularly on “Wind Up,” which sounds for all the world like a Jesus and Mary Chain outtake (“Never knew that being optimal/ meant I was more than the perfect doll”).   

"I organized events for World Goth Day at Queen Bee’s the last two years," Haemmerle  tells the Reader, "and two of my bands - Starcrossed and Revenge Party - performed, along with several other local bands with a few standout vendors. The first year we did it, 2024, was the first ever World Goth Day in San Diego, and now it’s grown so much that I’m happy to have handed it over into Alanna Fox’s more than capable hands." 

For last year's World Goth Day, Starcrossed released a compilation containing home recordings, selections from their EPs, their first album, and two new recordings, an original called "Dangerous" and a cover of "The Sky is Falling" from the anime Robotech. 

For this year's Mission Valley festival, "Starcrossed will be playing a mix of older original songs from our darkwave/darkgaze era, as well as some re-imagined covers," according to Haemmerle. "We have special band merch for the event, alongside some classic designs. Our set is a vibe reminiscent of old school goth, '80s darkwave, and what some people like to call 'whimsy-goth.'"  

Live bands and DJs will be found in the Crystal Ballroom, a dedicated concert space with performances and DJ sets. Aside from the aforementioned Starcrossed and Your Frankenstein, the Ballroom will host Vanta After Dark, Truly Lost, The Fever Vault, and Black Nails (formally known as Goth Soul), with DJ LadyNoir and Goth Cheez spinning between live music sets.

The Presidio Room will feature a Drag Fashion Show hosted by Josette Shadows (whose name comes from the 1960s gothic TV soap opera Dark Shadows). The gothic runway experience promises drag performances by Nykky Hex, ChikaVara, Carmen UltraSoft, Luna Von Noir, Parish, Smile Mortis, and Evelyn Rose, plus a fashion display by House Of Ryura and Alter Ego Couture. DJs score every walk, act, and transition for a seamless, cinematic show soundtracked by DJs 7th Stranger, Javi Nunez, Heather Hardcore, and Madame V. 

The Garden Room will transform into a nonstop Goth Dance Club with rotating DJs Robin Roth, Grim Beatz, Vaughn Avakian, and Mysti Tonik spinning all night. The event also offers shopping with more than 50 goth-themed vendors selling dark fashion, jewelry, and accessories, as well as artists creating live-art on-site in connected hallways and a large Dark Sanctum vending hall.

"This isn’t just a show," according to the promoters at World Goth Day San Diego and Retail Slut. "It’s a ritual, a gathering, and a homecoming for the community."