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   elements of style, substance, presentation and past association.  It's 
   generally dark, often so are the band - but it is definitely more than 
   singing about vampires, satan, blood, death, doom, love, sex and 
   whipping; although that's enough for some people.
   Most importantly the music must speak to you, the little bit which seems 
   to enjoy the night, and the dark.

   
  Subject: 3.6 So what does the word 'goth' mean.
   
   The word 'Goth' does indeed refer to a tribe of the indo-european
   kind. The Goths slowly integrated into the melting pot of Europe and
   basically disappeared.
   
   The word 'gothic' is first found in common usage in 1611, referring
   mainly to an 'uncivilized lack of taste or education'. The people who
   built in the 'gothic' style would have never used this term. These
   people were monks or artisans who worked for the church to build a
   land of Cathedrals from the 11th century on. They also built castles
   and other edifices. The 16th century saw a large amount of turmoil
   with the reform and all. This opened up the architecture field quite a
   bit. This new wave of artists looked back on what they saw as a bland
   repetitive style of architecture as 'gothic'. Unfortunatly, because of
   the shallowness of the learned men at that time, it stuck. It was also
   referred to as Ogive - or the characteristic arch of this style - this
   word is usually used by most politically correct historians.
   
   The fact is: Ogive architecture today is extremely inspiring and
   beautiful. The nameless men who designed and built these works of
   grandor were very talented and inspired. One merely has to look at the
   Cathedral of Chartres, Paris, Amiens, Canterbury or any of the other
   edifices of this age to realize irony of using 'gothic'. In fact, to
   augment the irony, the popular opinion today is that much of the
   baroque architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries is gaudy and
   flamboyant.
   
   

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Section: 4 Various Trivia
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  Subject: 4.1 Is the Nefilim a spelling mistake?
   
   This was the name for Carl McCoy's band after he left Fields of the
   Nephilim. The rest of the original Fields went on to form Rubicon, who 
   were not considered 'gothic'.
   Carl McCoy is no longer in the Nefilim.
   The Nefilim are now called Sensorium, and despite rumours to the 
   contrary, Carl McCoy does not sing on their work. The new vocalist
   is Bob (aka Peter White).

  Subject: 4.2 Have the Fields of the Nephilim re-formed then?

   Yes, although a the time of writing the exact line-up is unclear. It is
   understood that there is a new drummer.

   
  Subject: 4.3 Where does the phrase Sisters of Mercy arise from?
   
   Andrew Eldritch chose the phrase as the name of this band from a
   Leonard Cohen song of that name. The song may be referring to
   prostitutes as 'Sisters of Mercy' (although Mr Cohen disagrees). 
   There is also a religious order who are sometimes known by that name.

   
  Subject: 4.4 Are the Sisterhood the same as the Sisters of Mercy?

   The Sisterhood was a one shot band created by Andrew Eldritch to stop
   Wayne Hussey using the name when Hussey left the Sisters of Mercy. By
   the way, 25000 pounds was not granted in a court case - it is merely
   the advance budget that the Mission didn't get.

  
  Subject: 4.5 What's this SSV thing I've heard about Andrew Eldritch doing?

   In order to escape his contract with WEA/East West records for two 
   remaining Sisters albums Andrew Eldritch reputedly spent an afternoon 
   mumbling into a microphone to record what he calls an album that "bears 
   no resemblance to *any* quality product, let alone the Sisters". For a 
   total of two days work over "reject material of some amateur 
   acquaintances" we have an album of "rather bad sub-techno" that dwells 
   almost exclusively on the glorification of shooting people and selling 
   drugs to schoolchildren. It is rumoured that the full name of the band 
   (SSV-NSMABAAOTWMODAACOTIATW) apparently stands for 'Screw Shareholder 
   Value'.

   Of the record, alt.gothic regular Pete Scathe said: 
   "Imagine an early demo where they're still not sure where to put the 
   drums, the vocals & the tune & that's about right."
  
   The album's called 'Go Figure'.

   
  Subject: 4.6 What has Anne Rice written?
   
   Anne Rice is alive and well and writes supernatural romance. 
   Interview With a Vampire is her mort artistic work (and the
   mook on which the film of the same name was based) but other 
   books are all good readable stuff with strong themes.
   
   The Vampire Chronicles:
          Interview With a Vampire
          The Vampire Lestat
          Queen of the Damned
          The Tale of the Body Thief
          Memnich the Devil
          
   She has also written:
          The Mummy or Rameses the Damned
          The Witching Hour
          
   As well as a trilogy of bondage stories under the name of A.N.
   Roquelaire - which are not gothic. Two 'romance' novels as Anne
   Rampling, called Exit to Eden and Belinda, as well as a short story:
   Master of Rampling Gate.
   
   Anne Rice's Vampire LeStat Fan Club
   Vampire LeStat
   P.O. Box 58277
   New Orleans, Lousiana 70158-8277

   The newsgroup alt.books.anne-rice is, surprisingly enough, a good place
   to look for more information :)

   
  Subject: 4.7 Who is Storm Constantine?
   
   Another Gothic author. Storm is more Gothic and less mainstream than
   Anne Rice. She has a series of books which have a lot in common with
   Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. She is interested in the occult and in
   very ancient mythology, biblical connections et cetera. Some of her
   ideas are very controversial, often in total contradiction with most
   well known academic research. She is published by Headline in the UK.
   
   Inception: Storm Constantine Information Service
   c/o Vikki Lee France & Steve Jeffery
   44 White Way
   Kidlington, Oxon OX5 2XA
   England

   There are also a large number of WWW sites dedicated to Storm 
   Constantine, these can be searched for on www.yahoo.com etc.

   Inception can be reached at http://www.crl.com/~vanyel/inception.html
   and there is an apparently official site at
   http://members.aol.com/Malaktawus/Storm.htm

   
  Subject: 4.8 Any other interesting goth authors?
   
   There are plenty, including Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft. Bram
   Stoker wrote Dracula and Lair of the White Worm amongst others. He
   died of syphilis and was quite mad at the end. 

   Edgar Allen Poe was also a talented author. Many of his works can be 
   found at http://www.visi.com/~talon/bizarre/poe.html

   H.P. Lovecraft wrote many short stories, most of which involved the 
   Cthulhu mythos which he invented. He died after a tragically short 
   career. He had a phobia of cold and was quite reclusive. He wrote 
   a classic paper on Gothic Horror which is a must read.

   There's an excellent HPL/Cthulhu site at: 
   http://www.primenet.com/~dloucks/hpl/ 


  Subject: 4.9 Any interesting goth movies?
   
   The German Expressionists are quite Gothic and the film Nosferatu (the
   B&W version) is considered very Gothic. The remake: Nosferatu the
   Vampyre is also Gothic despite being in colour. The Cabinet of Doctor
   Caligari is probably the most Gothic film of all.
   
   And of course there are the common ones, "Dracula" (in its many
   remakes) and The Hunger staring David Bowie, and "Interview with a
   Vampire"

   
  Subject: 4.10 Who is Andrew Eldritch, Carl McCoy, Wayne Hussey, ...?
   
   Andrew Eldritch and Carl McCoy are the singers from The Sisters of
   Mercy and The Fields of the Nephilim respectively. They both were 
   pillars of the Goth community. However, Andrew Eldritch has recently
   taken to being exceedingly obnoxious (rather than just plain obnoxious), 
   trying to distance himself from the gothic 'scene'.
   Some nasty accusations have also surrounded Carl McCoy's departure 
   from the Nefilim and reforming of Fields of the Nephilim.
   
   Wayne Hussey was a guitarist in the Sisters but he left in a bad mood. 
   He then failed to get a slice of record company money allocated to the 
   Sisters despite a court battle. He and Eldritch are now reconciled 
   personally if not musically.

   
  Subject: 4.11 What do Pre-Raphaelites have to do with goth?
   
   The Pre-Raphaelites were an artistic movement in Victorian England.
   They were part of the revival of Gothic architecture. Their art is
   stunning - try and see the originals if you can.

   
  Subject: 4.12 What is 'Snakebite'?
   
   Half a lager and half a cider. Lager is what americans would call
   "beer" and cider is the same sort of thing made from apples basically.
   The combination is somewhat lethal. A lot of pubs will refuse to serve
   it. Variations: "snakebite black" - the same drink with a splash of
   blackcurrant in it, also known as a "purple nasty" up north and is the
   cliche goth drink (also can be prepared as snakebite and black with a
   pernod and a vodka in it). "red witch" - a snakebite with pernod and
   black in - not to be taken lightly under any circumstances. "Anaconda"
   - made with half a pint of Theakstons Old Peculiar (or another real
   ale) and a bottle of Diamond White or 1080 (or other strong dry
   cider), a dash of black and two straws. It can also be *real beer* and
   cider (i.e. ale) e.g. Theakston's Old Peculier (~5.5%) + Scrumpy Jack
   (erm, ~5%ish), a rather entertaining mix
   

  Subject: 4.13 What's all this about Cloves?

   'Cloves' is normally used to refer to clove cigarettes, these are much 
   like ordinary cigarettes, but contain a small amount of powdered clove.
   They are (generally) more expensive than ordinary cigarettes, and are 
   reputed to do very nasty things indeed to your lungs, although a AMA 
   report suggests otherwise.
   It is possible to manufacture your own clove cigarettes with ordinary
   hand rolling tobacco and powdered clove from a spice supplier. It is 
   extrordinarily easy to 'overload' home-made clove ciggies though, so
   the utmost caution is advised.
   Cloves can be very difficult to obtain; apparently they are available
   by mail order from 'Tobacco and Novelty Boutique' at
   http://www.headshopgear.com:/CL.htm There is also a wholesaler
   (Quintin at http://www.quintin.com:/index.html) who's site is reputed
   to contain further information.

   For further information, see 
   http://www.obscure.org/~vlad/gothic/cloves.html


  Subject 4.14: Absinthe?

   Absinthe is an alcoholic drink. It is also halucinogenic and therefore
   illegal almost everywhere (if not everywhere).

   It should be said that I (Tom Fosdick/Bloodstone) do not encourage the
   usage/manufacture/trade of illegal drugs, and that I do not believe that
   it is the place of a document such as this to do so either. The following
   URL is included then for two purposes.
   1) Education, that some people will be academicly curious about it.
   2) Saftey, I recognise that some people will try to make/use/obtain
      it regardless of what is said in this document and elsewhere, and
      that having good information could well prevent serious illness
      or death.

   http://realbeer.com/brewery/library/absfaq.html

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Credits
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   Special thanx to the following for information provided within,
   beware however that several of these wonderful and gorgeous
   people who have made the alt.gothic FAQ what it is today are
   no longer with us here on the 'net (sob sob).
   
   Peter Wake (peterw#cs.man.ac.uk) 
   John McDonagh (endymion#iol.ie) 
   Digitar (digitar#io.org) 
   Ian Grimstead (I.J.Grimstead#cm.cf.ac.uk) 
   Jeff Harmon (harmon#elia.epfl.ch) The
   Great Grendel-Khan (argent#iastate.edu) 
   Sexbat (sexbat#batt.demon.co.uk) 
   Ace of Hearts (uaceohrt#mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu)
   Petro (petro#mcs.com) 
   Austen Jackson (Ozric#tentacle.demon.co.uk)
   Ryan J Watkins (lestat#vamp.org)
   Mike Jourard (aka Mikey) (mjourard#badinage.com)
   Richard something-or-other (AxxE1#aol.com)
   Rev Dr David Gerard (gerdw#cougar.vut.edu.au)
   little o (cc158019#mail.idt.net) 
   LadyReynee (lrenee#umd.umich.edu)
   Haydn Black (haydn#goth.org.au) a lot of input to v3.2
   and others to numerous to mention....
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