In this fast and frightening episode of GothCast, Dr.Sanders and Cameron take a look at the beginning of Danzig’s career as well as the birth of an entire music genre when they put the Misfits under the microscope. Horror punk may not be strictly goth music, but it’s certainly spooky and loved by many in the scene. They examine the albums Static Age, Evilive, Walk Among Us, and Earth A.D as well as the strange events and legal troubles that plagued the band.
Timestamps: 10:23 Static Age (1979/1996) 27:11 R.I.G.S. Aka Random Interesting Goth Stuff 33:35 Evilive (1982/1987) 44:29 Walk Among Us (1982) 1:05:19 Earth A.D. (1983)
We’re finally like halfway through covering this franchise…who knew there was so much Addams? This movie is considered a goth staple at this point that I’m sure is loved by many of you watching. Honestly this look at The Addams Family products has been interesting as I really didn’t know just how much existed before I started this series.
Bryan, Dr.Sanders, and guest star Cameron join together the derelict pieces of their scattered opinions to creature a horrific episode focusing on three different adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This time we have the 1931 Universal classic Frankenstein, the 1957 Hammer Horror masterpiece The Curse of Frankenstein…and that one from the 90’s starring Robert De Niro.
Timestamps: 4:07 Frankenstein [1931] 25:10 Random Interesting Goth Stuff 38:39 The Curse of Frankenstein [1957] 57:16 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein [1994]
That’s right. My band Dr.Sanders (Yes, I know, I go by Dr.Sanders and my band is called Dr.Sanders. Think of it like how David Bowie had lots of different band members) has just released a new full-length album. It’s not stereotypical goth sounding music, but it does incorporate some of my favorite elements of the genre while blending it with a ton of other stuff. I would say it’s closest to alternative rock, but I’m not necessarily trying to make it align with any particular sound, just what feels right to me. Here’s a little blurb I wrote about the creation of the album.
Patch Overlap is the first Dr.Sanders album in 6 years. We started working on many of the songs in 2015, but I (Donny) began suffering from a very serious illness related to infected tissue. Robert Gaar, Chase Hawkins and myself recorded the rhythm tracks together and began fleshing out the songs until I became too ill to play. It was a horrible experience and I became incredibly depressed as my physical state made it almost impossible to hold a guitar for extended periods of time. I spent so much time in hospitals until I underwent a surgery in 2017 and finally began to feel like myself again in 2018.
After essentially learning to play guitar again, I jammed with some musicians in late 2019 and after some difficulties I decided to revisit some of the older material we had started and complete my vision for Patch Overlap. I wanted to push myself really hard as a songwriter and spent a large amount of time working on melodies. I’ve worked with Robert and Chase many times over the last decade and they always make every song that much better. When the three of us play together it just seems to click and we always make material that I feel very passionate about.
The album really evolved from the three of us just jamming together. I usually brought an idea or a guitar riff and we would just play until we found the right groove for the rhythm. If we needed an additional part for a bridge or chorus then Robert would almost immediately pull the perfect piece out of thin air which is exactly what he did when we recorded Blush Response. The best thing about recording these songs was that I think we really captured the feeling of our jam sessions. We chose the takes that felt right rather than if they were technically perfect, but felt stiff. Chase really seemed to just capture the mood I wanted in just a few takes and songs like “Blue Anatomy” and “Flamingo” captured exactly what I wanted out of each track. We really bond over the heavier side of music so we started adding faster songs like “Invader” and “The Hunger” along with heavier parts to “Grey Matter Trial” and “Feldspar”.
I saw the previous album Blush Response as a test to see if I could write delicate material and something a little more experimental. Lyrically it dealt with my insecurities and my health that I was beginning to struggle with (to me it almost feels like a diary of that time period). Patch Overlap really came out of the frustration dealing with illness and with the three of us working together pushed it into a very aggressive place. The lyrics deal with a lot of the feelings I experienced while I was sick and many of the regrets I have from that time in my life. There are definitely some sections dedicated to a few less-than-pleasant people I interacted with in the last few years. I tend to interpret my experiences in a somewhat surreal way, but every lyric is always relaying my own life in some way.
If you’re interested in purchasing some band merchandise which includes an audio cassette release then you can find them here:
Like I said in the video, this was filmed last year in November, but I just now edited it together. I’m usually have a number of videos on the backburner and this ended up being one of them. It’s almost surreal now because as of writing this we’re in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and the idea of even going to a party seems totally insane at this moment.
After this video I dyed my hair purple and then blue before I cut it short. That costume must be somewhere in my apartment.
One of the most popular album associated with goth music, a pinnacle of effects laden sad music, a collection of Robert Smith’s tear-drenched jingles resulting from a midlife crisis…well maybe something like that.
Did you know I first started reviewing The Cure’s albums in 2015? I can’t believe it’s been almost 5 years. I think outside of the podcast I’ve covered a total of 2 (Three Imaginary Boys & 17 Seconds), but I’ve done different books and other topics relating to the band. I’m always hesitant to cover their albums because it’s such a popular topic and they mean so much to fans.
This was a heavily requested video when I did The Cure Puns and Bad Jokes video so I thought I would make it. There’s really not much more to this. If you don’t listen to Type O Negative then I’m pretty sure none of this will sense.
This is the first single for my upcoming album. It was actually written sometime last year in 2019 when I was trying to gain some of my confidence back in writing songs. It really came together very quickly and I’m happy with the way it turned out. I’m working on some more songs similar to it for my next full-length release, but I thought people would appreciate some new material in the meantime.
I normally hate single releases, but it seemed appropriate to provide something new to fans. The video was filmed very late at night and it was extremely cold out there with only that thin jacket on. In some shots you can even see my breath as I’m singing. Lyrically it’s very personal (like most of my songs) and to me it reflects some of the difficulties I went through at the end of 2018 and early 2019. The guitar was actually borrowed from my friend Bryan and it sounded perfect for what I needed to express.
It’s kinda funny to me that a lot of people have said the video is very aesthetically 90’s, but I honestly was not shooting for that. It just ended up happening. It was actually intended to be a much more crisp and quick kind of video and slowly turned into the more atmospheric grainy end product. I’m still very happy with how it turned out.
This whole video came about because I read A LOT, but there are certain books I’m not sure I feel like dedicating a video to. It honestly may have just been an excuse to talk about TekWar. I enjoy doing these more casual videos as it feels like much more of an actual conversation with everyone watching.
This was an idea that came out of nowhere. Wandering through a thrift store we found this animatronic and decided to make it into something more festive. He still resides in our house, now with a different hat.
GothCast 