Almost exactly on World Goth Day, “celebrated” (in the darkest way, of course) on May 22, TSC Records hosted the perfect night at Petit Bain for bats seeking a dark nook to take refuge from the arrogant sun that was shining brightly on Paris. Soror Dolorosa was playing in the French capital for the first time in about ten years, The Cemetery Girlz was celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and these two pillars of the French goth scene were joined by the up-and-coming band Namid’A, who opened the show. So off to the Quais de Seine we went, as Petit Bain once again became Charon’s boat for a crowd dressed in black in a desperate attempt to extinguish the sun.
NAMID'A
With their debut album released in 2024, Namid'A has been performing more and more regularly in the capital’s basements and venues. The concert kicks off with Le Miroir; singer Chloé stays in the background behind her synthesizer, while the trio’s demeanor is reserved, almost introspective. You can tell they’re focused and dedicated: they can’t afford to mess this up! As the show goes on, the three of them get more and more comfortable, especially guitarist and lead songwriter Jean-Marc Bucher, who moves confidently across the Petit Bain stage, embodying the energy of his music.
Namid'A's post-punk straddles a fine line between staying true to the genre's conventions and a desire to breathe new life into what usually rains from Manchester : sure, the bass rumbles in the dark as it should, but there's also a search for luminous melodies and vocals that are neither sepulchral nor drowned out by tons of reverb. The result blends the genre's traditional coldness with bittersweet pop nuances. We’re treated to a previously unreleased track, Shanghai Cry, which will appear on the band’s upcoming EP, as well as the brand-new Alice, and a series of tracks from their entire (short) discography: Endless Sorrow and Woman with a Hole in Her Skull, from their first EP, sit alongside the more scathing Don’t Forget the Martyrs or Gegen Das Wind, about which Chloé explains she was inspired by Helena Bonham Carter (who had just turned sixty the day before!) and her offbeat roles. A wise choice: Namid'A also cultivates its own offbeat vibe with a melancholic gaze, as if the trio were searching for its place in the world. There, in the dim light, they certainly seemed to have found it!
THE CEMETARY GIRLZ
The Cemetary Girlz are a rare sight, both on stage and in the studio, having released just three albums in twenty years. The line-up has changed quite a few times, centring on the singer AlienSPagan, hidden in the shadows beneath his large black hat. This rarity creates a palpable sense of anticipation among the audience: there are some very young people in the front rows who were perhaps celebrating their twentieth birthdays too. They’re chatting: “Have you seen them before? – Yeah, they’re so cool, I can’t wait – everyone here’s so cool, I’d love to be that cool too but I’ve just come straight from my parents’ place so it was a bit of a hassle – what other gigs have you been to? – She Past Away – Wow, cool!” So cute. It has to be said that the band’s social media presence is incredibly effective and helps to cement a small community: cemetery photos every day – how can you resist? The guitar case is shaped like a coffin. The setlist is shaped like a coffin. So cool.
Smoke, the bare minimum of lighting, a projected Gothic vaulted ceiling at the back of the stage... Yeah, the atmosphere is definitely there! Apart from the highly expressive John Sarkasm on drums, who steals the show between tracks, The Cemetary Girlz are lost in their inner darkness: we’re goths, we’re not here to do the conga, we’re moping, we’re in deep thought, and AlienSPagan and bassist Danyra remain as sombre as a funeral. The atmospheric melancholy of L’Envol du Corbeau seems to wander through the dark corners of Petit Bain like a lost ghost. In the tradition of both Christian Death’s deathrock and the funereal heaviness of Violet Stigmata, The Cemetary Girlz make the guitar screech. We move from the biting, offbeat, very Batcave-style irony of their early days (Reflection) to the almost metal-like heaviness of their more recent tracks (the imposing and majestic Eternal Night), whilst the omnipresent sense of mourning is more than just imagery during a tribute to the band’s co-founder Manu Zorch, who passed away in 2023.
It’s a real treat to see The Cemetary Girlz back on stage: there’s that darkness they embrace with such pride, that tormented soul that laments in every note… and, oh what macabre delight, a new track: Your Name Bleeds, heralding a new EP. We can’t wait!
SOROR DOLOROSA
There are simple pleasures in life, little everyday joys, such as when you see a photo of musicians and imagine them wearing a certain style of trousers and shoes, and then, when you see them in the flesh, you realise they’re wearing exactly the trousers and shoes you’d imagined. Soror Dolorosa is just like that: a constant source of satisfaction. Flamboyant goths who embrace their style with exuberance, a theatrical style where raw emotions are by no means fake, rock star poses that show off to the max without being pretentious. It’s going to be sad, but above all, it’s going to be dazzling!
Whilst The Cemetary Girlz encouraged us to gaze at the floor, eyes half-closed, with Soror Dolorosa we’re here to get our groove on. Fun fact: the average age in the front rows has doubled, even though the two bands are almost the same age! But Today, with its rousing choruses, opens the concert – a funny detail, as this track served as the closing number on Mond, released in 2024. The cold wave trio’s latest album is, of course, in the spotlight, with the infectious energy of Tear it Up and You’re Giving Me subsequently taking hold of the audience. We’re three tracks in and Andy Julia, as expressive as ever, has already waved his microphone stand in every conceivable direction and shouted “good evening, Paris, how are you Paris?” 18 times!
It’s impossible to resist. Soror Dolorosa’s melancholy makes you want to dance, oozes doomed romance and exudes rock ’n’ roll. Behind his dark glasses, Andy Julia struts the stage far and wide, occasionally teasing his bandmates, the eternal Xavier Carles on bass and Dea Hydra on guitar: the attitude has something of Andrew Eldritch’s vampiric stage presence about it, but with a distinctly French flair and passion. And then, like those other sisters—the British ones who aren’t gothic at all—Soror Dolorosa no longer has a drummer on stage. A few minor hiccups delay the start of one or two tracks… but it takes more than that to dampen the mood. Especially as the dark glasses and shirts start to come off, ohlala, all those smouldering glances and gleaming torsos – it’s enough to capsize the barge!
Farewells are inevitably tinged with nostalgia, and we wouldn’t have said no to an encore, but the evening has been plagued by a series of minor delays and it’s time to return to the Muggle world. Seeing The Cemetary Girlz and Soror Dolorosa is quite a rare occurrence in France, and seeing these two major acts from the last 20 to 30 years, accompanied by a younger band looking to the future, was a fine celebration of darkness in all its shades. And guess what? The spell worked: the sun has gone down, it’s now night-time!
