Goths in the Sun: Review of the Darker Waves Music Festival
November 18, 2023 — Huntington Beach, CA
Last Saturday, the goths came to the beach. The first ever Darker Waves music festival gathered many “new wave” groups of the the 80s, and also later bands who continued in this tradition. I was fortunate to be there (thanks Nora!) and here are my impressions.
This giant one-day fest was an overload of music, featuring dozens of bands on three separate stages. Most of the day had groups playing at the same time, making seeing all or even most of the groups impossible. So this is in no way a comprehensive review of the fest. Instead it’s a chronicle of what I experienced while trying to take in as much as I could.
Much of the day was spent hoofing it between the stages, trying to navigate the gnarly crowds (tens of thousands of people attended, I bet). As a New Yorker, I felt like I was stymied by an ocean of tourists who were committing the unforgivable sin of walking slowly or just standing in my way. Don’t they have someplace to be!?! Quickly, I was able to chill out and connect with, dare I say it, the vibes of the beach.
Yet culture shock kept happening throughout the day. People in general at this So Cal festival were definitely more mellow and less ornery than back east. Even the guy cooking burgers where we got lunch was cracking jokes and not miserable (what was his problem?). And this mondo beach party brought hordes of black-clad goth types (some with truly cool and freaky makeup) together with lotsa vintage car bros with well groomed, slicked-back hair who showed me that the Smash Mouth guys did not emerge from a vacuum. You couldn’t swing Doc Martin without hitting a Joy Division or Cure t-shirt. Devo fans were everywhere too, their bright red energy domes sparkled among the crowds of black leather and teased up hair. It was a scene to fly your own “new wave” flag in the bright Cali sun.
The first band I saw was 45 Grave. I’m not very familiar with this long running punk band from LA. This group definitely has a goth, doomy punk sound to go with their funereal name. But they also have a fun surf rock energy. And the singer (and only remaining founding member) Dinah Cancer is an original. Definitely a band to get to know better.
Next up was venerable LA punk legends X, who it’s very cool to note currently has all original members. They kicked ass. Their rockabilly-punk energy is fun as hell. John Doe and Exene’s vocal harmonies are still mesmerizing. Guitarist Billy Zoom (who was christened the “last rock star” in the essential rock doc Decline of Western Civilization) had traded in his iconic wide-legged rock stance, for leaning back on a stool. His serene intense presence was still in effect. At this point in the day, my intrepid fest companion Nora and I actually snuck into the rarified “Ultimate VIP” section of the “Darker Stage,” X was playing. This area was a private, guarded area with elevated platforms and comfy couches, where we could opulently lounge above the unwashed hoi polloi. We had an unobstructed view of the band, which is nice. Hut sitting on those lofty couches distanced from the band and the crowd does dilute the rock energy. That was on us.
Then it was time for sprint to other end of festival, to the “Waves Stage” for a midwestern portion of the day. Milwaukee’s Violent Femmes were next. And they were fantastic even though the sound mix at the beginning of their set was completely messed-up. For the first few songs, the acoustic bass boomed instead of rang, like the thick brass strings are meant to. The guitar sounded off too, and sometimes you couldn’t hear the drums at all. With the tight timetable of bands at this fest perhaps sound checks were not possible. There were only five minutes breaks between bands. And they miraculously stayed very close to on schedule all day. The rotating stages made this tight schedule possible. My guess is that the unique make-up of this band (electric guitar, acoustic bass guitar, and in lieu of a drum kit, the drummer just plays brushes on a snare) threw off the sound-man. After a handful of songs, they straightened the sound mix out, so the Femmes could deliver their acoustic grease properly.
Their set was full of surprises. They began by doing something most groups would never do, start off with their most famous tune. “Blister in the Sun,” that dewy paean to puberty, was their opener, sounding wonky as hell (see above) but exciting nonetheless. The next two songs were unexpected choices too, deep cuts from their first album. “Add It Up,” their other big “hit” was next (they were really blowing their load early), followed by another deep cut. Then Brian Ritchie told us to “flip it over” as it was time for the second side of the record. OMG! How did I not realize that they were celebrating their debut record (which is now forty-years-old and ingenious as ever) by playing it track-for-track! It’s a perfect album and one of my favorite records. Duh! That was on me. As the sound mix was fixed and I knew what to expect, the set became even more absorbing. For a quirky group like the Femmes, their performance with bad sound and mislaid intentions, it was the set we needed!
Next up was Devo, at the same stage! It’s a festival treat to not have to dart to another location to catch a band. Due to this scheduling luck, we were able to move up through the crowd and get a little closer to the band. This was the group I was most excited to see. This is a group I’ve connected with since grade school. To me they seemed to be from another planet and yet entirely relatable. They had amazing songs, ridiculous costumes, and revealed in making fools of themselves. They were certainly through being cool (never had been cool) and had no use for it. I’d seen them five years ago at the Burger Boogaloo festival and they delivered what I considered a perfect set, mainly playing songs from their early, guitar-centered albums. I was selfishly hoping to relive that high.
No dice! The venerable “altruistic perverts” from Akron, Ohio, kicked off their set with a song that was new to me, “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” from their latest album. It’s driven by a flange keyboard riff, that’s futuristic and retro at the same time. The next couple of songs (such as “Peek-A-Boo,” “That’s Good,” and the eternal “Whip It”) were from what I consider their “mid-period” when they shifted from the future-art-garage rock sound of the earliest records to a more electronic aesthetic. All middling to good tunes, they just don’t have the peculiar bite of earlier material. More to my liking, they went into some songs from the first two albums Are We Not Men and Duty Now for the Future. Their debut’s opening song “Uncontrollable Urge” steered the set back to prime Devo! Their manifesto or sorts “Jocko Homo” was delivered with as much wonky energy that they could muster and the crowd, including me, was more then willing to enlist in the mass devolution, yelling back over and over “We are DEVO!” Riding that mutant high, the band went into their absolute slammer two-song medley “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA,” songs that make me want to “sacrifice myself so many others may live” or whatever the hell they’re singing about. There was actually one more song (the straight-forwardly boring “Gates of Steel”) to close the set, one that they often play live but never appealed to me. But it didn’t matter. The devolution was complete.
As the song choices represented different eras of their career, so did the visuals. Over the course of the forty-five minute set, the Ohio boys went though their requisite costume changes. Their first outfits were some well-tailored, dark Nehru-type suits, that were quite befitting these elder-statesmen of New Wave. A few songs in, they switched to the iconic, yellow plastic industrial cover-alls and red pyramid helmets, officially known as “energy domes” (from the sublime to the ridiculous). These flimsy suits fall apart after a song or two, leaving the spuds in their more breathable black sleeveless-Ts and shorts ensembles. Also, on the large screens we were treated to clips of their cheeky music videos (e.g. the cartoon French fry twisting into a donut) that were innovative in the 80s and are still subversively silly.
The cavalcade of perversion continued as we rushed to the far away “Darker Stage” to catch Soft Cell. This UK synth-pop duo is best known in the US as a one-hit wonder for their ’80s hit “Tainted Love.” Back in their home country, Soft Cell had many more hits in England, and their spritely front man Marc Almond has had a long career releasing around twenty-five solo albums. Absence was definitely making this crowd’s hearts grow founder, since they were eating up every song they played. Darker Waves fest was the place for this group to exhibit their performative sleaziness with songs like “Sex Dwarf” and “Seedy Films.” While the audience loved it, I found them mildly amusing to annoying. Almond’s talk-singing wears out it’s welcome. Their “naughty” shtick is just too on the nose for my taste. Talking about perversion is not as engaging as just being perverted (musically)!
Now it was time to class it up … with another UK band from the ’80s … Human League. We skipped over to the “Tiki Stage” to secure a good spot to see this long awaited show. Their stage set-up was quite elegant, with a raised platform for the electronic drum set that was flanked by two keyboards (all these instruments matched in a silvery gray color). After waiting the band started and Human League bandleader Philip Oakey took the stage festooned in a leathery jacket with giant shoulders. He was quite the peacock, changing his look a few times with several haute couture long coats. He looked fabulous and sounded amazing. League synth pop singles “Mirror Man,” “(Keep Feeling) Fascination,” and the eternal “Don’t You Want Me” were all on point. Their set was a treat except the blaring volume was way too loud for me. Maybe we were too close to the stage (or I’m too old), but the bass was too damn loud! It made me wonder on what day did god create the synthesizer and could he have tested on that day too (thanks Tap!). Anyway, HL was lovely. The two backup singers (who barely sing at all) did a great job of balancing the stage out.
It was finally time for the headliners of the fest, the group that got the longest set time and had no competition from other stages … Manchester’s New Order. Back in college, this group was the first electronic/dance music group that I could get into. Discovering them a revelation. They opened up my music palette, making me realize that drum machines and synths could be used to make amazing, poignant music (duh!).
New Order’s power is in their subtlety. For a band that’s in the electronic/dance world and uses heavy drum tracks, their music is nuanced and even understated. The songs are carefully crafted with layers of sounds (mixing guitars with electronics). They sneak up on you.
Unsurprisingly, the band themselves are an understated lot. Anti-pop stars. Singer/“frontman” Bernard Sumner was plainly dressed in a zipped-up jacket and baseball hat (he seemed chilly), definitely not wanting to attract attention. This is, of course, a band that often wouldn’t even appear in their own music videos. Their show did have an impressive video mix on the big screens, deftly cutting between black-and-white shots of the live band. It moved so well that it looked like something that was edited in post. This is a group that could use extra visuals since they let the music do the talking and do not “work the crowd” in any way.
New Order delivered all their hits such as “Blue Monday,” “Bizarre Love Triangle,” and “True Faith” faithfully and sometimes extendedly. They have no short songs. They don’t see the point in being short and sweet. They love extending a song. For their final number, they played a stretched out version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” a song that is beyond compare. Playing the most famous song from their earlier incarnation, primal, postpunkers Joy Division, was the perfect closer.
The final band of the festival was Tears for Fears. Another trek to the far stage, and we found the place jam-packed with Dark Wavers. We checked-out two different areas (and also unsuccessfully tried to sneak into the super VIP pavilion area again). But we couldn’t find a decent view of the stage. Eventually, we discovered another zone called GA+ that worked for us. It wasn’t crowded and even had places to sit (hadn’t sat down in hours). The only drawback was that while we could hear the band perfectly, the stage wasn’t visible. At this point in the fest, this is what we needed. Tears for Fears sounded amazing. “Everybody Wants To Rule the World” and “Sowing the Seeds of Love” were stand-outs. Throughout the day, the stage banter from these aged groups was mostly just thanking the audience for their support. At one point, Tears’ Roland Orzabal confessed that “at this point in time I’m really stuck for words” acknowledging the sad state of the world. And then he praised the other groups at the fest. A class act indeed.
And after those many hours, we made our way out of the festival grounds. Regrets, I have a few. Wish I could have seen the B-52s, Psychedelic Furs, T.S.O.L., OMD, Echo and the Bunnymen, and others. But they are were in direct conflict with one or something two other groups. And hard choices had to be made.
Going into this festival, I had some baggage, some preconceptions and misgivings about the bands and other festival goers. But at Darker Waves what I found out is that we are ALL gloomy goths, synth-poppers, old punks, new wavers, and spud girls.
