Elepent

Well, I moved from D.C. to Richmond, VA, to attend college, where I ended up in a relationship with a fellow stage hand. She ended up landing a free ride at UNLV for graduate degree. I went on tour as a stage-manager.  We hit one or two rough spots while I was on the road so when I got back I told her I was moving to the desert; if she went with me we would go to Vegas, and if she decided to go on her own I would head to Phoenix.  We ended up here!  She has since moved back to VA, but I am still here, till I head to NoLa.

2. Given the “party” nature of Las Vegas, it’s surprising that the scene isn’t bigger.  Why do you think that is?  Are Las Vegas’ goths hiding, or are there just not that many of them?

First, let me say that no matter how much I make it sound like a numbers game, it is about the community. However to the bars that host our nights, it boils down to cash in the till and the quality of behavior from the patrons.

In reality, we have about 400 goths and rivets and noise heads in Vegas, of which only about 100-200 are active in the club community due to time or money.

I really feel the detriment to the Las Vegas goth industrial scene and frankly all underground or sub-culture scene is the “party” nature of Vegas itself. Las Vegas’ main goal is to sell entertainment–be it clubs or food or gambling–to as many people as possible, with the simplest product possible. So Vegas caters completely to the mainstream and their dollars. The industry is the casinos and what they hire are people that either are mainstream or can blend into it. So the majority of people that move here, move here for the tourist industry and fit the mold. Additionally, this is a 24 hour city, and most of the goths I know are more night owls than early birds.  A lot of us end up on night shifts. So scheduling a night that can be successful numbers-wise is that much more difficult.

The venues want people in the door, so there is less emphasis placed on maintaining the dance floor as there is rotating folks out to get people to the bar.  Slave of the Muse productions does great quarterly or so events that are tied in to the art community but due to the fact that the nights are looked at as one-offs, attendance and bar sales are even more vital to their survival.

The bars and clubs, with a few exceptions, really don’t want to cater to 100-300 people when they can cater to over 1000 people coming through the door that want to here Lady Gaga and Kanye.

Ads in the local free papers are scaled to what the casinos can afford so advertising nights in those is out–it is honestly cheaper in Vegas to get radio spots than to get an ad for a small night. Mostly of the scene’s advertising is electronic, so if you aren’t on any of the friends lists or new to town it can be a touch more difficult to find out what is going on.

With the casinos and their clubs being such big liquor buyers, we can’t get sponsorship for our nights, because it isn’t worth it to the distributors’ advertising departments. This affects the number of bands we can get out here.  Most bands see a booking from Vegas and start seeing the money that is in Vegas but not within the grasp of our community. There are exceptions: Combichrist, Terrorfakt, C/A/T, Voltaire and others that have played places other than the House of Blues for reasonable prices, scaled to our expected turnouts. But for the most part we don’t get enough live music through Vegas to keep the scene inspired about the music and introduced to things they might not have heard before. I really feel live music is vital for keeping the energy of the scene at a decent and interesting level and the money problems and a few well known booking debacles have kept live music at a minimum in Vegas.

The other problem is Vegas’ lack of any good cultural programs. This city isn’t known for our arts, we don’t get many artists moving here, our colleges don’t have the best art programs and we have only one magnet school for the arts. Without culture there can be no sub-culture.  Our monthly art event downtown is growing but struggling. We have many talented artists who would not be fighting to pay the rent as much in other cities. Most of our musicians that are talented end up in cover bands to pay the bills or have problems scheduling rehearsals due to the 24 hour table that people get scheduled on for work.

Also, our BDSM/Fetish scene is so wrapped up in its own survival as a thriving community with the
various laws they have to deal with that we don’t get much support or cross over from them.

So there you have it, those are the main items that stifle the Vegas goth industrial community and make events an uphill battle for the promoters and DJs alike. We have our share of drama, maybe a hair more than other cites, due to the lack of cultural things or places that the scene as a whole can really get interested in but I really don’t think that is what keeps the lid on our community.

3. What’s popular in the past few months, request-wise? What are people always asking to hear?

And One, Combichrist, and The Cure are always good dance floor. We pretty much get the floor with the same club staples most other cities play as well as a few tracks like A Perfect Circle’s “Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of war-drums” that might not fly in other cities. The Vegas crowd really does change in what they want to hear every week it is very dependent on how everyone’s week has been, and the balance of which circles of friends are out and when

4. Are the gogo dancers a regular feature, or were they there for a special occasion?

sKizoFrenia at the KRave Lounge is really the one that is avid about having go-gos every week. It is just something kinda fun and it is Vegas and in some cases really adds to the vibe when we can’t do BDSM demos or other things that many other cities can legally get away with.

5. What’s the origin of your “Rust Ryu” handle?