There aren't many live acts which can hold it together for thirty years. I'm pleased to report that Sex Gang Children, who had not been in Toronto for three decades when they were booked to play the recent Salon Noir event at Lula Lounge, are one of them, and still play with the drive of a much younger act — but first, we digress for a bit of back-story …
Salon Noir has become very successful at catering to Toronto's goths, who are as few in number as they are enthusiastic about their scene. Started in 2011 by Laura McCutchan, an expatriate from New York's goth scene, the Salon Noir events have focussed on period-themed parties and performances by live acts who are rarely seen in Toronto. Having previously brought the cheerfully spooky Voltaire, the carnivalian Deadfly Ensemble, and the sombre David J to the city, Salon Noir's summoning of Sex Gang Children — a band which influenced the later dark cabaret style — to perform at its Devil's Cabaret party was a natural progression.
Sex Gang Children were one of the acts to come out of the very earliest days of what would later be called goth: they often played shows at The Batcave, a club in Soho (just west of London, England) which lent its name to the batcave scene (around which, from the bumbling popular press' point of view, goth later condensed); the band fused its post-punk music with spooky atmospheres, and with social critiques; they were noted for mixing cabaret with the Batcave sound (and for doing so a quarter of a century before Amanda "Won't Fucking Pay" Palmer became known for same); and in 1994 interview with The Alternative Press, musician Ian Astbury cited a joke between himself and Sex Gang Children's front-man as having ignited the widespread use of the word "goth" to describe the subculture that the batcave scene was at the centre of.
"The Goth tag was a bit of a joke," insists Ian Astbury. "One of the groups coming up at the same time as [Southern Death Cult] was Sex Gang Children, and Andi — he used to dress like a Banshees fan, and I used to call him the Gothic Goblin because he was a little guy, and he's dark. He used to like Edith Piaf and this macabre music, and he lived in a building in Brixton called Visigoth Towers. So he was the little Gothic Goblin, and his followers were Goths. That's where Goth came from."
In short, Sex Gang Children were "goths" before goths had even been named, let alone become recognised as a major subculture.
… with the back-story in place, it should be obvious that Sex Gang Children are not young men. That being said, their performance at the party on 2013-06-02 proved that they are still very much a proficient live act: their theatrics were dramatic without being "over the top"; the subdued stage dress (black suits) served to enhance the actual performance by placing the focus on the performers rather than on costumes; their performance was energetic even at the slow tempo of a goth act; and despite being in their fifties they played with the attitude of a group of 20-year-old punks — so much so that Justin David Minister, a twenty-something Toronto musician recruited to play bass for them at this gig, did not look out of place on stage next to them.
There aren't many live acts which can hold it together for thirty years and still be worth seeing. Sex Gang Children loudly accomplished just that, and it was a pleasure to have them back in Toronto for the night.
~ STEELCAVER
On The Web:
- Sex Gang Children (Official Website, MySpace Site, FaceBook Page)
- Lula Lounge
- Salon Noir
