Sydney's Under the Blue Moon Festival is a dark-alternative festival now in its fifth year. Events are held in Sydney’s inner-western suburbs of Newtown and Enmore. It features events including a gothic mass, fashion, art and music. Michelle Keenan gives us the run down on proceedings.
A themed pub menu spotted on Enmore Rd during a past UTBM festival.
The Gothic Mass
St Luke’s Enmore is an Anglo-Catholic church which encourages inter-faith dialogue. And this year, it is holding the festival’s first gothic mass.
Reverend Gwilym Henry-Edwards is the rector at St Luke’s Enmore, and enjoys being part of the festival.
“St Luke’s is part of the community, and it is part of the task of the church to be active in the community. So why not be involved?”
He is looking forward to having the gothic mass at St Luke’s.
“The gothic mass is the first ever in Australia. There’s a regular one that takes place in England,” Henry-Edwards said, “The gothic mass is something I am interested in. I enjoy all the different events of the festival and am personally interested in it.”
Henry-Edwards believes that it is important to be involved with different community groups.
“At St Luke’s, we want people to understand that the love of God extends to everyone, and to show unconditional love regardless of race, background, and sexual orientation, for example. We want people to share in the love and concern of God for them.”
The Gothic Mass will be held at 7pm on October 1, with a ‘Swap and Sell Gothique’ market at 8pm. Both events are at St Luke’s, Enmore.
Lunamorph- The Alternative Fashion Show
For Liz Evanov, fashion is her passion. This is her second year of being involved with the festival. Evanov became involved with the festival after working on the Newtown Fashion Week(end) last year.
”I worked on a project called Flaunt It. I was the parade director for the fashion events held at The Marlborough Hotel last May. I co-ordinated the models, designers, music and directed the show. After that I was approached by the producers of Under the Blue Moon to assist on the last festival.”
“I helped co-ordinate the Koukie Photography Shoot and also was involved in assisting with the event's preparations,” Evanov said.
From this experience Evanov was chosen as the producer for this year’s Lunamorph, the festival’s alternative fashion show.
“This is my biggest project yet. I am not gothic but just love the people and the fashion and the other events that I have attended. I am really looking forward to the whole event unfolding as we have many surprises in store.”
Even though Evanov does not associate herself with being gothic, she enjoys the atmosphere and the experience of working with gothic fashion designers.
“I love all the designers and they all have something very unique which will make Lunamorph really spectacular this year. The Factory is an awesome venue. I love corsets and some of the fetish PVC and rubber outfits are great.”
Being part of the festival also allows Evanov to get into appropriate costume.
“I usually dress sporty but when I have a special event on I go in full costume and really like to get caught up in the dark alternative experience,” Evanov said.
Lunamorph will be held at The Factory on October 3.
“Art is Gaff!”- The Gothic Art Show
The festival also features an array of gothic artists and art work.
Fabulous Sebastian is the art curator of “Art is Gaff!” which is the festival’s art show. The idea developed out of Sebastian’s desire to make art more accessible.
“I wanted to bring the art closer to the people, and place it in a retail context. Most people don't go to art galleries even though they like art. People will buy a dodgy print or reproduced poster when there is plenty of affordable, original art out there, because they don't come in to contact with it. I wanted to expose people to more art, and more options for decorating their homes.”
An image spotted at the 2005 festival depicting Robert Smith of the Cure
Sebastian has seen a growth in gothic inspired artists.
“There have always been a lot of gothic inspired artists, even if no one saw them, but they are increasing. The internet has certainly helped to propagate the genre. It gives them an easy outlet to display their work, but nothing beats seeing it in person,” Sebastian said.
According to Sebastian, the gothic genre is extremely diverse.
“Gothic fashion and art has to have a connecting theme (dark, morbid, horrific, black humour, exploring the subconscious) but it is varied in that those themes can take many forms and use many mediums. The horror film is gothic art, as is sculpture, painting, fetish photography and performances.”
He sees art as a great expression of the alternative.
“I like art that explores the subconscious and questions the status quo. A lot of gothic art and gothic culture in general, is about that. It celebrates the weird and wonderful and lets people indulge themselves without the fear of ridicule or rejection.”
Sebastian thinks that the Goth art scene is a contrast to the everyday.
“Society places a lot of restriction and expectations on people and subcultures, like Goth and Punk, exist to break down those rules. Of course some art is just for fun, and that is okay too,” Sebastian said.
Sebastian enjoys working with the festival, even though it can be challenging.
“I like to be involved in things that I think are worthwhile and interesting, and activities that are out of the mainstream eye often suffer from lack of support and I don't like that,” Sebastian said, however, he is thankful that the festival team ‘encourage participation.’
“I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's hard work pay off, and for it to be over so I can have my free time back. And I am looking forward to seeing a lot of hot grrls out and about in exotic outfits.”
“Art is Gaff!” is on from September 27 until October 6.
Making Melancholy Music
The Under the Blue Moon Festival also showcases local and international musicians.
Ken Evans does vocals, programming and guitar for the Brisbane ‘synthpop’ band, Tycho Brahe. He is looking forward to performing at the festival.
“Tycho Brahe has wanted to return to Sydney for a long time, this is a great opportunity to play to a nice audience of persons in black. Plus we get to see Covenant and some other cool bands which is always a good thing,” Evans said.
Brisbane goth 'synth-pop' groupTycho Brahe
“Our music is about a lot of things - some songs have a message, some are dark, some are reflective, others are just about some cool synth sounds. As the principal songwriter in the band, the songs reflect my state of mind at any given time.”
As a musician, Evans wants to get the crowds moving.
“Regardless of what the music is about, it's all about getting people up off their arses and getting them dancing - we certainly don't want to come all the way to Sydney and have people sit on the floor and watch us!” Evans said.
He also sees the importance of holding related festivals around Australia.
”Any independent festival is hugely important in any city, regardless of genre or subculture - this is the alternative to the FM fodder and commercial doof, so people should support this type of festival, it helps maintain and build the scene.”
The Under the Blue Moon Festival also draws in performers from the Goth scene around the world. Adrian Hates is the lead singer of Diary of Dreams, a German Goth band that will be performing at the festival for the first time. It will be Hates’ first time in Australia.
“Seeing a country we have never been to and performing for a new audience is as exciting as it can possibly get. Besides, the bands we perform with are very good friends of ours so the whole event sounds very fun and promising!” Hates said.
His band Diary of Dreams has been around since 1989 and they have released over 150 songs, and according to Hates: “The music and lyrics deal with the darker sides of life…”
With the German gothic scene being ‘very big and constantly growing’, Hates is excited about performing to an Australian audience.
“Diary of Dreams is a band with an open musical horizon. Gothic roots are definitely undeniable and yet there is more to Diary of Dreams. Australia will be the twenty-ninth country for us to travel to. What more can one ask for than to see the world and perform for new audiences?”
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Both Tycho Brae and Diary of Dreams will be playing on October 5 at the Gaelic Theatre.
The Under the Blue Moon festival begins on September 27. Click here for more details.