Look, if you are gonna search for rock gods, sometimes you have to look in unfamiliar territories. It’s rather easy to find them in arenas and stadiums. And it’s easy to just concentrate on the bands and artists you already know and love. 

But there is so much music out there in the world, and if you are gonna call your blog “In Search of Rock Gods,” you really should explore more than just those arenas and names you know.

As a music lover, not just of the artists I love, but of music and live music itself, I tell myself frequently I should go to more concerts at smaller venues and pubs and clubs. To go to shows of musicians I don’t know.

“You never know what new U2 love affair you will discover,” I whisper in my own ear.

Usually the introverted tired person in me counteracts this desire (what do you mean the concert starts at 9 pm on a work night?!?!). But sometimes the reason to go is strong enough to get me out the door. 

Sometimes the reason is not the music, but the company I’ll keep. Like a close friend who lives overseas who’s coming over to my town with the show and that show is the only time we can connect. 

That show – a trifecta of Die Krupps, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and Ministry – is not my normal type of show. All three are industrial rock music, some with a twist of metal, some on the goth -ier side of things.

I mean, I’m not without some awareness and love for these genres, but my level is mostly mainstream. The goth-iest I get is perhaps Depeche Mode, though I dabble in the Cure and have been known to appreciate my sister’s Bauhaus tapes

(*goes now to Spotify to play Who Killed Mr. Moonlight…).

The most industrial – Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, with maybe some EMF, KMFDM from back in the day.

But I won’t lie – I had to google to see who is in these genres to know I actually do listen to them!

And I’ve definitely heard of Ministry, though not the other two.

So I say to myself (apparently I talk to myself a lot…) “You are gonna go see your friend anyways, so here’s your chance to experience something new. Step out of your musical / concert comfort zone. Go see your friend AND enjoy some live music. Even if you don’t know the music. Especially because you don’t know it!”

And, not gonna lie, it IS uncomfortable to try something new. What if I don’t like it? What if it just isn’t my thing?

The answer should always be, so what? Try it. If you don’t like it, now you know. No big deal. Try something else. The worst thing that’s gonna happen this night is I get to spend the evening catching up with a dear friend I rarely see.

I should really know better anyways.

As my uber pulls up to Midway Music Hall, I see the line of people dressed predominantly in black and I break out in the biggest grin. The first thing that pops in my head is how much I love goth fashion, punk fashion.

I spent my high school years and most of my 20s dressed in all black with dyed black hair. I was goth without knowing I was goth. At least in fashion and vampires, if not attitude or musical tastes. I was Michael Jackson Anne Rice goth. Punk adjacent.

And all around me tonight are people in black. and reds. and purples. Leather and lace. Fishnet stockings and biker boots. (And a few oilers shirts – it’s game two of the Western Conference Final this night, a fact that does not go unnoticed by Ministry, who announced as they begin their set the Oilers have won 3 – 0 against Dallas!)

There’s a rainbow of coloured hair everywhere and my own Blue and Orange streaks (ummm Let’s Go Oilers!) fit right in. (Why did I not wear my Siouxsie Sioux tshirt!!!)

There’s just something about music and fashion where both are soooo much better when they go together.

And I should know better. The second thing that pops in my head is I’m at a concert. All is well with the world.

The energy of concerts, those moments when the lights go down and the crowd screams. When the band walks on stage, the first notes. I looooove live music. This is not uncomfortable at all. This is home.

Die Krupps up first. The industrial metal band. The German industrial metal band. I can’t understand the lyrics to most of the songs, but the music gets to me. I can dig this.

Give me a good solid beat and I’m in. Give me a good solid, live, beat, with a multitude of people moving together to it and how can anyone not be in!

Die Krupps are without a doubt the metalist group I’ve ever seen live and they are commanding the stage. I’m doing my photo thing – trying to stand still so I can take the shots, but the drums get in my veins. The – industrial, I’m guessing – metal pipes, the synth, the bass. it’s hard to not move with this. And the crowd is eating it up.

I’ve often thought concerts in Edmonton are like that baseball movie adage – “if you build it, they will come.” Edmonton, and really all of Canada that is not Toronto or Vancouver, are so often overlooked for tours that when we do get them, the audience shows up. Boy, do they show up! We love live music here. We want more of it. And we will express that gratitude 3000-fold in high energy.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult are next and I am just now looking them up and finding out their music was featured on the soundtracks for The Crow (1994 version), Cool World, and Showgirls.

The industrial sounds here have a more vampiric vibe to it. I don’t know why, but that’s the image that strikes me. I think I’ve hurt my eardrums, but this is so much fun! (Also, is Groovie Mann (the lead singer) wearing Bono Fly Glasses????!!!!)

And finally, Ministry. Like I said, I had heard of them before so was excited to see what they are like live, and all I can say is WHAT!?!? And I mean that as the highest compliment.

They were fantastic, but I’m not sure what happened, lol. I feel like there were dancers and trumpets at one point. As with the previous two bands, the industrial beats and synth coursed through my body. I love so much when the music reverbs from the ground through your legs, up to your core.

That feeling makes me feel alive and tuned in! Like literally connected through the music, to the music and the earth beneath my feet and the people all around me.

I love too, when the music takes over my senses, my autonomy of control and just moves me. And it did.

So much so I consciously had to bring myself back in control to take more photos. And these through concert fog (or whatever its called) that left for spectral images of the band.

What a great night!

So, lesson learned. Go to the concerts. Try the new things. Embrace the uncomfortable. (Buy the earplugs.)

If nothing else you have fun with your friends and get connected to and through the music.