Toronto goth scene
Encyclopedia
The Toronto goth scene, the cultural locus of the goth subculture
in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
and the associated music and fashion scene, has distinct origins from goth scenes of other goth subcultural centres, such as the UK or Germany
. Originally known as the "Batcavers", the term "goth" appeared only after 1988, when it was applied to the pre-existent subculture. Distinctive features included internationally recognized gothic and vampiric fashion store 'Siren', a goth-industrial bar named 'Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar', and Forever Knight
, a television series about an 800-year-old vampire living in Toronto. In Toronto, the goths
did not seek to reject mainstream status, and achieved partial acceptance throughout the mid to late '90s, and in 1998 Toronto was reported to have a higher concentration of goths than any other city in the world.
The goth subculture
faced public suspicion and the local goth scene declined after allegedly goth-related acts of violence, the Columbine High School massacre
in the United States in particular.
and style of music since circa 1982; however, in Toronto the usage of the term "goth" and the identification of a subculture as goth did not occur until years later in 1988, when goth rock was already in the midst of what is often referred to as the 'second generation' or 'second wave'.
, Punk rock
, Death punk and Hardcore punk
enthusiasts. The term "freak" was a reference to individuals in this scene, and as inclusion had no specific requirements beyond participation in the music scene, it was more diverse than other goth/punk scenes. The "freaks" at this time included fans of specific music genres, and did not exclude people of colour, transgender
ed individuals, gays, or any others who participated in the Toronto underground music
scene.
Some "freaks", notably Death punks and New Romantic
s, were extremely fashion-conscious, dressing in darker styles modeled on old black-and-white horror film
s, Morticia Addams
, Lily Munster, film noir
or ratty New Romantic
and glam rock
fashions, but maintained a local "freak" identity and a general lack of knowledge of burgeoning UK goth scene. Some thought of these individuals as "pretentious, vacuous, fashion victims."
Although the term "freak" was used generically, many punks disliked being labelled freaks themselves, and considered the term to apply only to others. Some punks used the term "Blitz Kids
" when referring to the darker styled New Romantic
s after 1982.
Paul Samuels, co-owner of Goth Club 'Savage Garden', Toronto's current longest running goth-bar, reported "we were wearing [pointy] boots, black jeans and tour t-shirts; after that it was the frilly shirts
with long sleeves. Then I mashed in make-up and black, backcombed hair with lots of hairspray. We became the freaks of the town."
The word "freak" was not derogatory; those who called themselves "freak" tended to call everyone in this music scene "freak". In this group were the same individuals who would later become known as "the goths" after 1988. However, unlike concurrent goth subculture
s elsewhere, many of these "freaks" were primarily fashion-oriented as opposed to identifying as strongly with gothic rock
genre of music in particular.
The area between University Avenue
and Spadina Avenue
on Queen Street West
was home to the artistic community for many decades, in part due to the proximity of the Ontario College of Art; however, rent increases in the '80s drove many to move to adjacent neighbourhoods, most notably West Queen West, which is west of Spadina Avenue
on Queen Street West
. Kensington Market
also attracted underground or alternative lifestyle individuals, including those who later became the goths.
Live venues in the Queen Street West
area started refusing to take punk bands, "Instead, they demanded progressive acts who were evolving out of punk like beautiful butterflies from ugly cocoons"; "music here was for connoseurs of post-punk
new music," says punk rock journalist S. Black.
Queen Street West
was the centre of goth revival at the time of the "Queen Street exodus across Spadina." The area became known as the "Fashion District" for its textile
and upholstery
wholesalers, which allowed goths to cheaply experiment with styles.
and Gothic rock
. Elsewhere, merely being a fan of Gothic rock
would generally define an individual as a "Goth", but this was not the case in Toronto, where the idea of being "Gothic" was taken very literally; until the mid '90s, the Goths in Toronto considered Gothic literature, romantic poetry
, Gothic fashion
and Gothic aesthetics, especially beauty
, to be subcultural requirements as well. Anne Rice
, Edgar Allan Poe
, Lord Byron, Bram Stoker
and other Gothic romanticist authors were extensively read and considered social obligations. A new, darker vampire fashion became the default definition of Torontonian Goth style.
The year 1988 also saw the opening of Toronto's first Gothic fashion store, Siren, on Queen Street West and by 1998 it eventually become the "world's oldest shop catering to the combined enthusiasms of the overlapping communities devoted to the gothic and vampire genres." Groovella Blak, who co-owned Siren with her husband Morpheus Blak, also founded the Gothic Society of Canada (which still exists today as "The Dark Place"). Groovella was Toronto's best known "Goth girl", considered a sort of 'fairy godmother', and at the height of the Toronto vampire craze in mid-'90s had her canine teeth filed into fangs. However, Icewind, the organizer of the Toronto Vampire Meetup Group, stated that obsession with vampire mythology and fashion is simply part of Goth subculture itself and does not make one a vampire, "they're not what we'd call vampires, they just like the culture."
Industrial music
became a major additional style popular in the Toronto goth scene; Skinny Puppy
a Vancouver
-based Industrial band inspired an interest in animal rights
in many "Industrial-goths" in Toronto. Also at this time, bands such as Depeche Mode
, although not goth themselves, were very influential in attracting mainstream music followers into the goth subculture
in Toronto.
On September 3, 1992, a bar named "Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar" opened on Queen Street West, in step with the increasing popularity of vampiric-goth archetypes. Sanctuary originally imposed a gothic dress code to strictly adhere to the gothic fashion
aspect of the scene. Sexual activity did not actually occur in the bar.
The book, "Tales From Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar" (1997) documented tales and anecdotes from Toronto's alleged "vampire" scene.
In the mid-'90s, fetish fashion
started gaining popularity in the Toronto goth scene, and gradually many individuals soon equated "Fetish" with "Goth". Similarly pop-culture began to heavily influence the Toronto goths: with Marilyn Manson
and Betty Page being perceived by the public as "goth", and the movie The Crow
showcasing gothic aesthetics and goth protagonists, more and more Torontonians became interested in being part of the "goth subculture". Although these new emerging movements did not necessarily share the same outlooks as the earlier goths, nor an interest in the same styles of music and fashion, the scene itself flourished with a new emphasis on sexuality.
By the late '90s, and continuing thereafter, Toronto goths held regular BDSM
or goth fetish nights. Costuming was a major aspect of this event. Unlike purist fetishists, goths were more likely to be found laughing or taking turns. Sex and sexuality also played a larger part at goth fetish nights than purist fetishist events.
(1992–1996) was an internationally aired television series filmed in and around Toronto about an 800-year-old vampire who becomes a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Police and attempts to regain his humanity. The local references, landmarks and street names intrigued fans as part of a city of vampires.
Torontonian fantasy author, Tanya Huff
, wrote a series of supernatural detective novels known as the Blood Books between 1991 until present, featuring a fictional historical romance author, Henry Fitzroy, who happens to be a vampire
. The series is set in Toronto and uses familiar landmarks. In 2007, this series was adapted for television under the title Blood Ties
and airs on Lifetime Television
.
The vampire novel
The Night Inside (1994) referred to West Queen West as "a crowd of vampire wanna-bes" with "pale faces, black-lined eyes."
In Toronto, the goth subculture
became widespread enough that the media referred to it as "pop-culture", in contrast with the term "cult" that would be applied in later years. In 1998, Johnson Cummins, a music journalist for the Montreal Mirror
, reported that Toronto had a higher concentration of goths than anywhere else in the world and that anyone walking down Queen Street could not avoid seeing many of them. At this time, Mitch Krol, lead singer of the Toronto-based goth band Masochistic Religion
, became disenchanted with direction of the Toronto scene, calling it shallow, pretentious, primarily concerned with money and glam, and stating that it was no longer goth. Masochistic Religion thereafter relocated to Montreal
, Quebec
.
in Littleton, Colorado
created a public backlash against local goths and especially gothic youths as some teachers and parents suddenly began to view goth fashion with suspicion and mistrust. Violence of any kind had always been very rare at Toronto goth clubs, and notable figures in the goth community spoke to the media against associating violence with "goth". They insisted that the shooters were not goths, did not listen to goth music, and that goths were non-violent and pacifistic. Certain elements of the media, notably the local entertainment and culture media, also defended goths. Eye Weekly
columnist Donna Lypchuk wrote, "I've been laughing for the past two weeks as talking heads blame the goth subculture for the killings in Colorado. The mainstream goth movement, which has been around for at least 25 years, is not secret enough to be a subversive society." Five months later a report from authorities in Colorado confirmed that the shooting was not related to goth subculture, and stated that the shooters held goth music in "contempt".
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
researched the subculture and published a report with the conclusion that goths are non-violent, pacifistic, passive and tolerant of others, and that many in the media had incorrectly associated the goth subculture with violence, hatred of minorities, white supremacy
, etc. They found that the goth ideology is actually based on recognition, identification and grief over societal and personal evils that the mainstream culture wished to ignore or forget, these being the prevalent themes in goth music.
Regardless of the fact that the Columbine Shooting was not related to goth subculture, the Toronto goth scene began to decline. Goth bars closed, and goth culture-oriented businesses shut down, including Siren and Sanctuary, which was the longest-running gothic bar as well as the first industrial club in Canada. By mid 2001 goth music was no longer in significant demand in Toronto, and consequently night clubs had generally stopped playing it. Clinging to the idea that the goth subculture was not dying but merely changing, in 2002, local goths tried to revitalize the community by holding events keyed towards introducing older goths to the younger generation. In 2003 it was reported that where other cities had lost their base of goth and industrial fans, Toronto's scene was holding on, or even growing. By 2004 it was reported that local interest in goth rock was stagnant, and some DJ's advocated a shift towards cybergoth
music.. By late 2005, one media outlet was predicting the downfall of the goth scene in Toronto, stating goth had "returned to its sociopathic roots" and advising readers to "bask in the nostalgia while it lasts." After the Dawson College shooting
on September 13, 2006, the Toronto Sun
criticized goths: describing it as "unbelievable" that in the wake of Dawson, in the nearby City of London, Ontario
, goths were organizing to raise money for charity. Toronto Sun columnist, Michele Mandele advised goths to "stay home" and suggested that goths feel no responsibility to help prevent tragedies such as the shooting at Dawson College. Whether this event and its associated media coverage has hurt the image of the local goth culture as much as Columbine is still not reported.
s in general.
, of the American television show 20/20
, dubbed goth as "a dark, underground national phenomenon".
However, according to Matthew Didier, founder of The Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society and regular contributor to the CFRB paranormal radio show "Mind/Shift", speaking of Torontonian goths "They want to be 'professional' and be accepted for their contributions to whatever than shunned. They want to be "The Goth Lawyer" or "The Goth Accountant"... not the scary person in the gutter." According to Time Out Toronto, a tourist guide published in 2005, the local goths had a slogan: "Making Toronto a darker place."
This may be consistent with the multicultural
nature of Toronto. According to the United Nations Development Programme
, Toronto has the second-highest percentage of foreign-born population among world cities. Multiculturalism
became official policy in Canada in 1971, before any other country in the world.
Rightfully or not, in Toronto, after the Columbine shooting
, goth professionals, also called "Corporate Goths", have often felt as if they had to hide their subcultural identity from the workplace because of the negative stigma associated with goth culture.
, however in Toronto, "goth" was an outgrowth of what was already a very fashion conscious subsection of the "freak" subculture (see History), and since then, fashion predominantly tended to define "goth" in Toronto. The Toronto mainstream culture media reported that fashion was the most appealing facet of the goth scene.
In 1998, Mitch Kroll, lead singer of the, then Toronto-based, goth band, Masochistic Religion, criticized "the people who were calling themselves goth in Toronto" for their shallow over-emphasis on fashion, calling them "glam".
After the Columbine Massacre
in 1999 one notable goth club owner in Toronto, Lance Goth, commented to the media that he believed the shooters "weren't the least bit goth. They didn't even dye their hair black."
It is not clear after 1999 whether what remains of Toronto goth subculture
, emphasizes fashion more, less, or the same as goth subculture
elsewhere.
IV, an annual North American meeting of net.goth
s.
Events included:
, post punk and industrial music
based out of Toronto.
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the associated music and fashion scene, has distinct origins from goth scenes of other goth subcultural centres, such as the UK or Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Originally known as the "Batcavers", the term "goth" appeared only after 1988, when it was applied to the pre-existent subculture. Distinctive features included internationally recognized gothic and vampiric fashion store 'Siren', a goth-industrial bar named 'Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar', and Forever Knight
Forever Knight
Forever Knight was a Canadian television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a homicide detective on the night shift while struggling to find a...
, a television series about an 800-year-old vampire living in Toronto. In Toronto, the goths
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
did not seek to reject mainstream status, and achieved partial acceptance throughout the mid to late '90s, and in 1998 Toronto was reported to have a higher concentration of goths than any other city in the world.
The goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
faced public suspicion and the local goth scene declined after allegedly goth-related acts of violence, the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
in the United States in particular.
History
In the UK, where goth rock originated, the term "gothic" or "goth" was used to refer to a subcultureSubculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
and style of music since circa 1982; however, in Toronto the usage of the term "goth" and the identification of a subculture as goth did not occur until years later in 1988, when goth rock was already in the midst of what is often referred to as the 'second generation' or 'second wave'.
Early years: the "freaks"
In Toronto, a subculture called "the freaks" existed prior to 1982 and was a cultural blend of New RomanticNew Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
, Punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, Death punk and Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
enthusiasts. The term "freak" was a reference to individuals in this scene, and as inclusion had no specific requirements beyond participation in the music scene, it was more diverse than other goth/punk scenes. The "freaks" at this time included fans of specific music genres, and did not exclude people of colour, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
ed individuals, gays, or any others who participated in the Toronto underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
scene.
Some "freaks", notably Death punks and New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
s, were extremely fashion-conscious, dressing in darker styles modeled on old black-and-white horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, Morticia Addams
Morticia Addams
Morticia A. Addams is the fictional matriarch of "The Addams Family", created by cartoonist Charles Addams and based on his first wife Barbara .Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday Addams and Pugsley Addams...
, Lily Munster, film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
or ratty New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
and glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
fashions, but maintained a local "freak" identity and a general lack of knowledge of burgeoning UK goth scene. Some thought of these individuals as "pretentious, vacuous, fashion victims."
Although the term "freak" was used generically, many punks disliked being labelled freaks themselves, and considered the term to apply only to others. Some punks used the term "Blitz Kids
Blitz Kids
The Blitz Kids were a group of young people who frequented the Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden, London in the very early 1980s, and are credited with launching the New Romantic cultural movement...
" when referring to the darker styled New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
s after 1982.
Paul Samuels, co-owner of Goth Club 'Savage Garden', Toronto's current longest running goth-bar, reported "we were wearing [pointy] boots, black jeans and tour t-shirts; after that it was the frilly shirts
Poet shirt
A poet shirt is a type of shirt made as a loose-fitting blouse with full bishop sleeves, usually decorated with large frills on the front and on the cuffs. Typically, it has a laced-up V-neck opening, designed to pull over the head, but can have a full-length opening fastened by buttons...
with long sleeves. Then I mashed in make-up and black, backcombed hair with lots of hairspray. We became the freaks of the town."
The word "freak" was not derogatory; those who called themselves "freak" tended to call everyone in this music scene "freak". In this group were the same individuals who would later become known as "the goths" after 1988. However, unlike concurrent goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
s elsewhere, many of these "freaks" were primarily fashion-oriented as opposed to identifying as strongly with gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
genre of music in particular.
The area between University Avenue
University Avenue (Toronto)
University Avenue is a major north-south road in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At its north end, University Avenue is the site of the Ontario Legislative Building. The eight-lane wide street is the location for several hospitals, numerous office buildings, Osgoode Hall and the Four Seasons...
and Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
on Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
was home to the artistic community for many decades, in part due to the proximity of the Ontario College of Art; however, rent increases in the '80s drove many to move to adjacent neighbourhoods, most notably West Queen West, which is west of Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
on Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
. Kensington Market
Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Robert Fulford wrote in 1999 that "Kensington...
also attracted underground or alternative lifestyle individuals, including those who later became the goths.
Live venues in the Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
area started refusing to take punk bands, "Instead, they demanded progressive acts who were evolving out of punk like beautiful butterflies from ugly cocoons"; "music here was for connoseurs of post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
new music," says punk rock journalist S. Black.
Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
was the centre of goth revival at the time of the "Queen Street exodus across Spadina." The area became known as the "Fashion District" for its textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
and upholstery
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...
wholesalers, which allowed goths to cheaply experiment with styles.
Emergence of goth beginning 1988
It was 1988 that "Goth" arrived in Toronto. The term "Goth" began to be used to refer to those "freaks" who centred on Gothic fashionGothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
and Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
. Elsewhere, merely being a fan of Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
would generally define an individual as a "Goth", but this was not the case in Toronto, where the idea of being "Gothic" was taken very literally; until the mid '90s, the Goths in Toronto considered Gothic literature, romantic poetry
Romantic poetry
Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...
, Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
and Gothic aesthetics, especially beauty
Beauty
Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...
, to be subcultural requirements as well. Anne Rice
Anne Rice
Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history...
, Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, Lord Byron, Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
and other Gothic romanticist authors were extensively read and considered social obligations. A new, darker vampire fashion became the default definition of Torontonian Goth style.
The year 1988 also saw the opening of Toronto's first Gothic fashion store, Siren, on Queen Street West and by 1998 it eventually become the "world's oldest shop catering to the combined enthusiasms of the overlapping communities devoted to the gothic and vampire genres." Groovella Blak, who co-owned Siren with her husband Morpheus Blak, also founded the Gothic Society of Canada (which still exists today as "The Dark Place"). Groovella was Toronto's best known "Goth girl", considered a sort of 'fairy godmother', and at the height of the Toronto vampire craze in mid-'90s had her canine teeth filed into fangs. However, Icewind, the organizer of the Toronto Vampire Meetup Group, stated that obsession with vampire mythology and fashion is simply part of Goth subculture itself and does not make one a vampire, "they're not what we'd call vampires, they just like the culture."
Industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
became a major additional style popular in the Toronto goth scene; Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
a Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
-based Industrial band inspired an interest in animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
in many "Industrial-goths" in Toronto. Also at this time, bands such as Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, although not goth themselves, were very influential in attracting mainstream music followers into the goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
in Toronto.
On September 3, 1992, a bar named "Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar" opened on Queen Street West, in step with the increasing popularity of vampiric-goth archetypes. Sanctuary originally imposed a gothic dress code to strictly adhere to the gothic fashion
Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
aspect of the scene. Sexual activity did not actually occur in the bar.
The book, "Tales From Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar" (1997) documented tales and anecdotes from Toronto's alleged "vampire" scene.
In the mid-'90s, fetish fashion
Fetish fashion
Fetish fashion is any style or appearance in the form of atype of clothing or accessory, created to be extreme or provocative. These styles are not usually worn by the majority of people on any regular basis. They are usually made of materials such as leather, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic,...
started gaining popularity in the Toronto goth scene, and gradually many individuals soon equated "Fetish" with "Goth". Similarly pop-culture began to heavily influence the Toronto goths: with Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
and Betty Page being perceived by the public as "goth", and the movie The Crow
The Crow (film)
The Crow is a 1994 American action film based on the 1989 comic book of the same name by James O'Barr. The film was written by David J. Schow and John Shirley, and directed by Alex Proyas...
showcasing gothic aesthetics and goth protagonists, more and more Torontonians became interested in being part of the "goth subculture". Although these new emerging movements did not necessarily share the same outlooks as the earlier goths, nor an interest in the same styles of music and fashion, the scene itself flourished with a new emphasis on sexuality.
By the late '90s, and continuing thereafter, Toronto goths held regular BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
or goth fetish nights. Costuming was a major aspect of this event. Unlike purist fetishists, goths were more likely to be found laughing or taking turns. Sex and sexuality also played a larger part at goth fetish nights than purist fetishist events.
Increasing mainstream influences
Forever KnightForever Knight
Forever Knight was a Canadian television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a homicide detective on the night shift while struggling to find a...
(1992–1996) was an internationally aired television series filmed in and around Toronto about an 800-year-old vampire who becomes a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Police and attempts to regain his humanity. The local references, landmarks and street names intrigued fans as part of a city of vampires.
Torontonian fantasy author, Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff
Tanya Sue Huff is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science-fiction series. One of these, her Blood Books series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title Blood...
, wrote a series of supernatural detective novels known as the Blood Books between 1991 until present, featuring a fictional historical romance author, Henry Fitzroy, who happens to be a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
. The series is set in Toronto and uses familiar landmarks. In 2007, this series was adapted for television under the title Blood Ties
Blood Ties (TV series)
Blood Ties is a Canadian television series based on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff; the show was created by Peter Mohan. It is set in Toronto, Canada and has a similar premise to an earlier series also set in Toronto, Forever Knight, in which a Vampire assists Police in dealing with crime...
and airs on Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
.
The vampire novel
Vampire fiction
Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of vampires. The literary vampire first appeared in 18th century poetry, before becoming one of the stock figures of gothic fiction with the publication of Polidori's The Vampyre , which was inspired by...
The Night Inside (1994) referred to West Queen West as "a crowd of vampire wanna-bes" with "pale faces, black-lined eyes."
In Toronto, the goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
became widespread enough that the media referred to it as "pop-culture", in contrast with the term "cult" that would be applied in later years. In 1998, Johnson Cummins, a music journalist for the Montreal Mirror
Montreal Mirror
Montreal Mirror is a free English language alternative newsweekly based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a circulation of 70,000, and reaches a quarter of a million readers per week. It is published by Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltée....
, reported that Toronto had a higher concentration of goths than anywhere else in the world and that anyone walking down Queen Street could not avoid seeing many of them. At this time, Mitch Krol, lead singer of the Toronto-based goth band Masochistic Religion
Masochistic Religion
Masochistic Religion were one of the first goth bands from Toronto, Ontario. Masochistic Religion went through many line-up changes over the years with Mitch Krol as the only consistent member. The band formed in the late 80s and broke up in 1998. Their album Litanies of Satan is based on Charles...
, became disenchanted with direction of the Toronto scene, calling it shallow, pretentious, primarily concerned with money and glam, and stating that it was no longer goth. Masochistic Religion thereafter relocated to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
School shootings and decline in popularity
In 1999, a school shooting at Columbine High SchoolColumbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
in Littleton, Colorado
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a Home Rule Municipality contained in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 20th most populous city in the state of...
created a public backlash against local goths and especially gothic youths as some teachers and parents suddenly began to view goth fashion with suspicion and mistrust. Violence of any kind had always been very rare at Toronto goth clubs, and notable figures in the goth community spoke to the media against associating violence with "goth". They insisted that the shooters were not goths, did not listen to goth music, and that goths were non-violent and pacifistic. Certain elements of the media, notably the local entertainment and culture media, also defended goths. Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following week, Torstar launched a successor publication, The Grid.-...
columnist Donna Lypchuk wrote, "I've been laughing for the past two weeks as talking heads blame the goth subculture for the killings in Colorado. The mainstream goth movement, which has been around for at least 25 years, is not secret enough to be a subversive society." Five months later a report from authorities in Colorado confirmed that the shooting was not related to goth subculture, and stated that the shooters held goth music in "contempt".
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance are a small group in Kingston, Ontario dedicated to the promotion of religious tolerance through their website, ReligiousTolerance.org.-History of the group and its website:Bruce A...
researched the subculture and published a report with the conclusion that goths are non-violent, pacifistic, passive and tolerant of others, and that many in the media had incorrectly associated the goth subculture with violence, hatred of minorities, white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
, etc. They found that the goth ideology is actually based on recognition, identification and grief over societal and personal evils that the mainstream culture wished to ignore or forget, these being the prevalent themes in goth music.
Regardless of the fact that the Columbine Shooting was not related to goth subculture, the Toronto goth scene began to decline. Goth bars closed, and goth culture-oriented businesses shut down, including Siren and Sanctuary, which was the longest-running gothic bar as well as the first industrial club in Canada. By mid 2001 goth music was no longer in significant demand in Toronto, and consequently night clubs had generally stopped playing it. Clinging to the idea that the goth subculture was not dying but merely changing, in 2002, local goths tried to revitalize the community by holding events keyed towards introducing older goths to the younger generation. In 2003 it was reported that where other cities had lost their base of goth and industrial fans, Toronto's scene was holding on, or even growing. By 2004 it was reported that local interest in goth rock was stagnant, and some DJ's advocated a shift towards cybergoth
Cybergoth
Cybergoth is a subculture that derives from elements of cyberpunk, goth, raver, and rivethead fashion. Unlike traditional goths, Cybergoths follow electronic dance music more often than rock.-History:...
music.. By late 2005, one media outlet was predicting the downfall of the goth scene in Toronto, stating goth had "returned to its sociopathic roots" and advising readers to "bask in the nostalgia while it lasts." After the Dawson College shooting
Dawson College shooting
The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006 at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount near downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The perpetrator, Kimveer Gill, began shooting outside the de Maisonneuve Boulevard entrance to the school, and moved towards the atrium by the cafeteria on the...
on September 13, 2006, the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
criticized goths: describing it as "unbelievable" that in the wake of Dawson, in the nearby City of London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, goths were organizing to raise money for charity. Toronto Sun columnist, Michele Mandele advised goths to "stay home" and suggested that goths feel no responsibility to help prevent tragedies such as the shooting at Dawson College. Whether this event and its associated media coverage has hurt the image of the local goth culture as much as Columbine is still not reported.
Subcultural traits
Toronto's goths have been noted for subcultural traits which are not noted for goth subcultureGoth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
s in general.
Mainstream acceptance
According to Nancy Kilpatrick's book, The Goth Bible, goths generally are secretive and goths tend to hide the meaning of goth away from the mainstream. She found that goth is an underground movement and keeping it separate from the mainstream is what keeps it alive. In 1999 Diane SawyerDiane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, of the American television show 20/20
20/20
20/20 is an American "television newsmagazine", , broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects...
, dubbed goth as "a dark, underground national phenomenon".
However, according to Matthew Didier, founder of The Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society and regular contributor to the CFRB paranormal radio show "Mind/Shift", speaking of Torontonian goths "They want to be 'professional' and be accepted for their contributions to whatever than shunned. They want to be "The Goth Lawyer" or "The Goth Accountant"... not the scary person in the gutter." According to Time Out Toronto, a tourist guide published in 2005, the local goths had a slogan: "Making Toronto a darker place."
This may be consistent with the multicultural
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
nature of Toronto. According to the United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
, Toronto has the second-highest percentage of foreign-born population among world cities. Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
became official policy in Canada in 1971, before any other country in the world.
Rightfully or not, in Toronto, after the Columbine shooting
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
, goth professionals, also called "Corporate Goths", have often felt as if they had to hide their subcultural identity from the workplace because of the negative stigma associated with goth culture.
Apparently heightened emphasis on fashion
Fashion is widely considered to be part of the goth subcultureGoth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
, however in Toronto, "goth" was an outgrowth of what was already a very fashion conscious subsection of the "freak" subculture (see History), and since then, fashion predominantly tended to define "goth" in Toronto. The Toronto mainstream culture media reported that fashion was the most appealing facet of the goth scene.
In 1998, Mitch Kroll, lead singer of the, then Toronto-based, goth band, Masochistic Religion, criticized "the people who were calling themselves goth in Toronto" for their shallow over-emphasis on fashion, calling them "glam".
After the Columbine Massacre
Columbine massacre
The Columbine massacre may refer to:*The 1927 Columbine Mine massacre of coal miners at the Columbine Mine in Serene, Colorado*The 1999 Columbine High School massacre of students at Columbine High School near Denver and Littleton, Colorado...
in 1999 one notable goth club owner in Toronto, Lance Goth, commented to the media that he believed the shooters "weren't the least bit goth. They didn't even dye their hair black."
It is not clear after 1999 whether what remains of Toronto goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
, emphasizes fashion more, less, or the same as goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
elsewhere.
Historic subcultural events
In 1998, Toronto was host to ConvergenceConvergence (goth festival)
Convergence is the annual net.goth party run by and for members of the alt.gothic and alt.gothic.fashion newsgroup, and other related Usenet newsgroups. Started in 1995, it is a chance for net.goths and others who normally only meet on the Internet to come together in real life...
IV, an annual North American meeting of net.goth
Net.goth
Net.goth is short for usenet goth. The term is used to describe regulars of the alt.gothic hierarchy of newsgroups, uk.people.gothic and aus.culture.gothic....
s.
Events included:
- Masochistic Religion and DJs Michael Salo and Greg Clow played at the Opera House on August 21, 1998.
- Faith and the MuseFaith and the MuseFaith and the Muse is an American, underground gothic/darkwave band composed of two musicians, Monica Richards and William Faith. They are well regarded in the gothic music scene as innovators and icons. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk-style songs to darker compositions. Richards is...
, Rhea's ObsessionRhea's ObsessionRhea's Obsession, which takes its name from the Greek goddess, Rhea, is a band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their music mixes several different styles including gothic rock, darkwave, and world music, similar to Dead Can Dance.-Brief history:...
, the ChangelingsThe ChangelingsThe Changelings are a band from Atlanta, Georgia self-described as a “blend of ambient pop-fusion laced with neo-Classical and Middle Eastern styles”. Formed in 1995, they have released six albums, and have been named the “Best Local Experimental/Fringe Band/Artist of Atlanta” in Creative Loafing...
and My Scarlet Life with DJ Marylace played at the Opera House on August 22. - An April March and DJs Lady Bathory and Lord Pale played Clinton's on August 23, with the goth/medieval magick sideshow Carnival Xaotika as the added attraction.
- Photographs can be found here.
Goth, punk and industrial music
A number bands that have performed and recorded goth, punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, post punk and industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
based out of Toronto.
Goth bands
- The 13th
- Alectrona
- Amy's Arms
- Ariel
- Atomic Spider
- Chains of Eden
- Delica
- Her Beautiful Death
- holoscene
- Johnny Hollow
- Masochistic ReligionMasochistic ReligionMasochistic Religion were one of the first goth bands from Toronto, Ontario. Masochistic Religion went through many line-up changes over the years with Mitch Krol as the only consistent member. The band formed in the late 80s and broke up in 1998. Their album Litanies of Satan is based on Charles...
- National VelvetNational Velvet (band)National Velvet were a Canadian goth rock band in the 1980s and 1990s. The band took its name from the 1944 Elizabeth Taylor movie National Velvet....
- No Life
- Parade
- Perdition
- Pleasure The Priestess
- Ra:tio
- Rhea's ObsessionRhea's ObsessionRhea's Obsession, which takes its name from the Greek goddess, Rhea, is a band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their music mixes several different styles including gothic rock, darkwave, and world music, similar to Dead Can Dance.-Brief history:...
- Saturday Night of The Living Dead
- Scarlet Fever
- Sex Without Souls
- Synthetika
- Themis
- Thrive
- Vampire Beach BabesVampire Beach BabesVampire Beach Babes are a surf/goth/pop band from Toronto, Canada who have toured internationally and played the Whitby Gothic Weekend in 2006....
- Vegas Beach
- Vital SinesVital SinesVital Sines was a Toronto post-punk/new wave band active between 1980 and 1988. They are best known for their hit single, Collage, which was recently listed as one of the most influential Canadian alternative rock songs.-History:...
Punk and post-punk bands
- The Creepshow
- Machetes
- The Rock Ons
- Cadillacs and Cadavers
Industrial-electronic bands
- ▼□■□■□■
- Angel Annihilation
- Autovoice
- AyriaAyriaAyria, pronounced area, is a Canadian futurepop/synthpop musical project formed in early 2003 by Toronto's Jennifer Parkin following her departure from Epsilon Minus.-Biography:The first Ayria album, Debris, was released on Alfa Matrix in 2003....
- The Birthday MassacreThe Birthday MassacreThe Birthday Massacre is a synthrock band, based in Toronto, Canada. The band formed in 1999, known then as Imagica...
- Blank Crowd
- Death and Horror Inc.
- Decoded FeedbackDecoded FeedbackDecoded Feedback is a Canadian musical project which incorporates styles of electro-industrial and aggrotech. The duo currently releases music on the North American distributor Metropolis Records, and the European record label Out of Line.-History:...
- Digital Poodle
- DYM
- entropy
- Eye Butterfly
- Famine
- FracturedFracturedFractured is an Industrial band created by Canadian Nick Gorman in 2003. Formed in Toronto, his self produced release CD-R demo titled Contami-Nation caught the attention of European label Dependent who signed them. After the release of the demo Gorman was joined by Famine and in 2006 released...
- Ghost of a flea
- Glenn Love
- High Park
- Holocaust 427
- it-clings
- LYe (formerly Aphasia)
- Nanochrist
- ProsperoProspero (band)Prospero is an industrial/rhythmic noise solo project by Canadian musician Wade Anderson of Toronto. Anderson, a long time DJ in the greater Toronto area, started Prospero in early 2000....
- Re_agent
- S:cage
- Schema
- Scrape
- Soundgazer
- Synthesis Machine
- Trench Run
- zxz
Fashion
Toronto is the home of a number of goth fashion designers and retailers specializing in original Toronto and Canadian goth fashion.Designers
- Artifice Clothing
- Dark Destiny Designs
- Decadent Designs (Olga)
- Minx Clothing (Michelle Cooper)
- Anna Morph (Formerly Morph Clothing) (Arlene Kamalatisit)
- Plastik Wrap (Adriana Fulop and Ryan Webber)
- Retro-G Couture (Georgina Lye)
- Starkers! Corsetry
- To Die For Designs
- UvKITTY
Retailers
- Hells Belles Clothing (463 Queen St. West)
- Plastik Wrap (2235 Dundas St. West)
- Posepod (622 Queen St. West)
- Ikaris Gothic
- PlayDead Cult (1233 Queen St. West, Rear Unit Entrance on Gwynne Ave Toronto, On)
- Borderline Clothing(331 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M5V2A4)
Nightclubs and bars
This is a list of nightclubs and bars which host goth nights and events in Toronto.List of open clubs
- Bovine Sex Club (542 Queen St. W.)
- The Dance Cave (upstairs @ Lee's Palace, 529 Bloor St. W)
- The Devil's Cellar (downstairs @ Celt's Pub, 2872 Dundas St. W in The JunctionThe JunctionThe Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the junction of four railway lines in the area known as the West Toronto Diamond. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own federal electoral district until amalgamating...
) - Hard Luck Bar (812 Dundas Street West)
- Neutral (349A College Street (Toronto)College Street (Toronto)College Street is a principal arterial thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, connecting former streetcar suburbs in the west with the city centre. The street is home to an ethnically diverse population in the western residential reaches, and institutions like the Ontario Legislature and the University...
at Augusta in Kensington MarketKensington MarketKensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Robert Fulford wrote in 1999 that "Kensington...
) - Velvet Underground (510 Queen St. W.)
- Nocturne (550 Queen St. W.)
List of closed clubs
- Anarchist's Cocktail (August 25, 2000 – September 29, 2001)
- Boom Boom Room
- Catch 22, where the floor was made of stainless steel.
- Club Domino (Isabella St. and then upstairs on Yonge St.)
- Club Noire (510 Queen Street WestQueen Street WestQueen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
) - The Big Bop (651 Queen Street WestQueen Street WestQueen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
) - Death in the Underground 178 Bathurst St. under the Paddock (1993 – end of 1994); Owner: Blaze & Adrian (the Underground), Andy (Stik), and staffed with the original Death Squad (ex-employees of Sanctuary); A song was written by Sex Without Souls about this club.
- Exit to Eden
- Catacombs (basement of 732 Queen St. W., June 1, 1995 – June 30, 2000); Owner: Lance Goth
- Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar (732 Queen St. W., September 3, 1992 – June 30, 2000); Owner: Lance Goth
- Silver Crown (25 Richmond Street West) Closed New Year's Eve 1989
- Courvoisie Lounge (431 Richmond St.W)
- Freak Show
- Funhaus (622 Queen St. West) Closed July 2008
- Twilight Zone
- Nuts and Bolts (Victoria and Dundas St. E.)
- Night Gallery (above Gasworks on Yonge StreetYonge StreetYonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
, 1992 or early 1993) - The Savage Garden (550 Queen St. W.) Owners: Paul (DJ Pale) & Brenda (June 1994 to January 2009)
- Stillife or Stilife (Richmond St. and Duncan St.)
- Studio 69
- The Empire (where the St. Charles Tavern used to be on Yonge St.) became the Time Club, which was closed down due to illegal activity.
- Limelight (closed 2001)
- The Vatikan (closed July 2006, Queen St. W., one block West of Ossington); Owner: Lance Goth
- Z (812 Dundas St. W.) (closed September 2009)
Goth social groups
Toronto has social groups devoted to goth or goth related activities, such as literature study, and social networking.- The Dark Place (aka. The Gothic Society of Canada)
- Fetish Masquerade (monthly goth-fetish event)
- Shadows of Toronto
- Toronto Goth
- CreepyQueenMagazine
Goth businesses
Toronto is also the home of local businesses specializing in goth and goth subcultural products or services.- Darkpartys.com event coordinators
Buildings with gothic architectural characteristics
- St. James CathedralCathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto, Canada is the home of the oldest congregation in the city. The parish was established in 1797. The Cathedral was begun in 1850 and completed in 1853, was at the time one of the largest buildings in the city...
at King Street and Church Street - Established in 1797; the current structure was completed in 1844 - Old City Hall (Toronto)Old City Hall (Toronto)Toronto's Old City Hall was home to its city council from 1899 to 1966 and remains one of the city's most prominent structures. The building is located at the corner of Queen and Bay Streets, across Bay Street from Nathan Phillips Square and the new City Hall in the centre of downtown Toronto...
on Queen Street WestQueen Street WestQueen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The... - St. Peter's Catholic Church on Bathurst Street
- University College, University of TorontoUniversity College, University of TorontoUniversity College is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the university's modern collegiate system, and its secularism contrasted with contemporary...
See also
- Goth subcultureGoth subcultureThe goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
- Freak sceneFreak sceneThe freak scene was a term used by a slightly post-hippie and pre-punk style of bohemian subculture. It referred to overlaps between politicised pacifist post-hippies, generally non-political progressive rock fans, and non-political Psychedelic music and Psychedelia fans...
- Culture in TorontoCulture in TorontoToronto is the largest city of Canada and one of its most ethnically diverse; many immigrant cultures have brought their traditions and music. It is a city of many museums, theatres, events and sports activities.- Art and exhibits :...
- Gothic Revival architecture in CanadaGothic Revival architecture in CanadaGothic Revival architecture in Canada is an historically influential style, with many prominent examples. The Gothic Revival was imported to Canada from Britain and the United States in the early nineteenth century, and rose to become the most popular style for major projects throughout the late...
External links
- Goth Girls 1 Satirical video featuring the fate of Sanctuary: Vampire Sex Bar.
- StreetSeen Jan 23, 2008 "Goth Style" Canoe.Ca - segment featuring Toronto's goth scene, music from local bands, Minx Clothing, and Club Neutral.
- The Lilith Gallery of Toronto
- Toronto-Goth.com – news and resource for Toronto's goth scene