So…I was going to write an article about goth/industrial clubs and the balance it takes to please everyone on the dance floor without going to the same well every time with music people recognize; it’s the same problem in many different clubs depending on the genre – people want to dance to/listen to what they KNOW and the DJs don’t want to spin to an empty floor, so even though they are SICK of “TDZV” they are tempted to drop it anyway.
That idea took a major halt after the events in Las Vegas that went down October 1st. I’m certain you all have heard or are at least aware of the mass shooting that saw a man with basically no motive open fire with modified semi-automatic weapons INTO A MUSIC FESTIVAL CROWD, killing nearly 60 innocent people. Even though it’s been a few weeks, I really haven’t been able to think about anything else when I sit down to write.
I am not going to get into a political debate here, nor am I going to try and jam my opinions and feelings down everyone’s throat. However, what I cannot shake from my mind is the idea that these people were at an outdoor music festival enjoying their favorite bands and artists and being completely oblivious to what was happening around them, which is exactly what a great show or concert should allow you to do – tune out the world, tune in to the music.
That idea took a major halt after the events in Las Vegas that went down October 1st. I’m certain you all have heard or are at least aware of the mass shooting that saw a man with basically no motive open fire with modified semi-automatic weapons INTO A MUSIC FESTIVAL CROWD, killing nearly 60 innocent people. Even though it’s been a few weeks, I really haven’t been able to think about anything else when I sit down to write.
I am not going to get into a political debate here, nor am I going to try and jam my opinions and feelings down everyone’s throat. However, what I cannot shake from my mind is the idea that these people were at an outdoor music festival enjoying their favorite bands and artists and being completely oblivious to what was happening around them, which is exactly what a great show or concert should allow you to do – tune out the world, tune in to the music.
This is far from the first horrible event to take place at a music event – the Pulse nightclub shooting last year was perpetrated at a packed club on a Saturday night with a floor full of patrons drinking and dancing to the music. There was also the suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena in the UK that occurred as people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert, with them likely riding a euphoric high that one gets after seeing a performance from their favorite artists before having their lives altered forever. There have also been attacks in Istanbul and Paris – all occurring within the last three years.
I think that’s what makes me the most sick about this whole thing. As a music lover and concert going patron (as I’m sure many of you are as well), I can’t help but think about all the shows I’ve attended over the years and the open-air festivals that exist all over the world and how fucking evil it is that someone would prey on people who are experiencing one of life’s most consistent joys – MUSIC. I know that when I attend a show, I completely immerse myself into the experience. I take in every element of the performance; try to hook on every word, watch all of the artists on stage perform their craft, and take photos and videos to remember the experience by. I am NEVER thinking about the banality of reality at that time, nor the horrors or evil that exist around us in the world. I am in the moment – and I am certain I am not alone in how I experience music. So, for someone to prey on the sanctity of that experience and open fire into the crowd is heartbreaking, infuriating, and downright fucked up.
That being said, these events clearly have the most impact on the family and friends who have to cope with the loss of their loved ones due to senseless violence, but this also has a residual effect on everyone who was in these venues at the time of these attacks. They likely could have severe trauma that they now associate with concerts and live music and may never be able to attend these events again, or if they do, never truly being able to let their guard down and truly enjoy them ever again. I know this is nothing compared to a loss of life, but it is certainly the loss of QUALITY of life, as any of these people attending this festival likely were fans of these artists and live music and the sanctity of that experience is now destroyed for them as well.
We may never know why someone would do such a thing, but now we face a new reality where music events may be considered major targets for these psychopaths. I certainly hope that this bullshit doesn’t result in too many people now being terrified of concerts or festivals; in a small scene like ours, the artists make most of their revenue and merch sales off of touring and attending large events like Cold Waves or Amphi or Terminus or M’era Luna to get their names out to a larger audience. Even in small club shows, there isn’t always a pat-down or metal detector to prevent someone from bringing a gun into a club (especially in our goth/industrial scene, where a close sense of community combined with a bunch of metal rivets and chains has made the metal detectors fairly uncommon). It’s a gross, uneasy feeling that I’m having a hard time shaking.
Obviously the next steps our world will take will be pointing fingers, looking for answers, and spinning the wheel on what steps will prevent something like this from happening again. The cycle of blame will rotate from the hotel security to a mental health debate to the availability of high-powered guns and likely never land on any one place for there to be a true solution from any of this, which is unfortunate but also to be expected based on the number of shootings we still continue to have after events like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Hell, we just dealt with one here in our backyard in Spokane – a boy brought a gun to school and shot a kid in the face at Freeman High School.
As I said earlier, I don’t want to over-politicize this article and force any left or right wing agendas up anyone’s ass, but I do have one thing to say about guns. As someone who personally does not own a gun, nor had any interest in doing so, I cannot wrap my head around the idea of gun culture and the need to possess multiple devices that are designed ONLY for killing and doing so in an extremely easy way. I have asked several of my gun-owning friends about the reasons why and I get several answers - hobby, hunting, protection being the most numerous. I do not wish to argue with them and their choices, nor do I feel that any of these people have the capacity to commit mass murder. What I do question is how socially acceptable gun owning and gun culture all around is in our society.
It’s just very strange to me (especially in the light of recent events) to walk around the grocery store and see magazines called “Gun World” and “Combat Armed” with taglines such as “Armed & Mobile” and “Home Defender”. These are magazines about gear that is designed solely for the purpose of harming or killing another living thing. How weird would it be if we had a magazine called “Bomb Making” or “Poison Craft Weekly”? I’m just saying that with guns being so readily available and easy to learn about, their true purpose gets clouded in all of this “right to bear arms” and “protect the home” and “if I don’t have a gun, then someone else who does can harm me” stuff. We don’t hear stories about “Man protects family by shooting burglar with family gun”, but we do hear “boy shoots up school with father’s gun he found”.
The point I’m trying to make here is that this asshole owned a fucking ARSENAL of guns LEGALLY – who needs an arsenal of guns? I know ‘arsenal’ is a relative term, but still – this guy had 23 guns just IN the hotel room and owned over 40. Gun culture is always going to be a thing in the country, and the idea of taking away guns will never be considered on a federal government level. I guess I just feel that past a point, there should be something that can be done. Limit the number of guns a person could own, or ban any modification devices that could turn a gun even deadlier. Require more extensive background and mental health checks for gun ownership. Make it HARDER to own a fucking gun!
The obvious backswing of all of this is as more people get nervous about active shooters, more guns are purchased, thus increasing the number of guns in the world. If we disarm the country, the people getting the guns illegally will be the ones with the power to kill. This is why this debate rages on and on and on – there is literally a wrong answer everywhere you look. But this particular shooting was done with legally purchased firearms, so that brings a whole different element to the debate.
I am aware that none of the suggestions above likely would have prevented this massacre, nor are they as easy to enact as just MAKING IT SO. I just think that with any other major tragedies that occur in this country, we are quick to act and correct things so they don’t happen again. If an airplane crashes & kills all passengers, we tighten down regulations & inspections. If a high-rise catches fire and burns to the ground, we change the laws on fire escapes and alarms. If a mass-produced automobile has a flaw that causes it not to break and it kills several innocent drivers, they recall and fix and are on the hook for millions in damages. But if a psychopath with an army’s worth of guns opens fire into a crowd, we scramble around to find answers and reasons and motives and ultimately do nothing. I don’t know how many more people need to die before the country figures it out.
This hit very close to home for me – whereas I never cared much to debate gun control or politics or anything with folks, I saw myself and my friends in the crosshairs this time – festival attendees and music lovers, and it struck even closer to home when I was sitting at a concert just last weekend (DEPECHE MODE!). This shooting crossed an emotional line for me – the thought of someone going to a show to see their favorite artists and wanting a great time & experience but instead ending up with nightmares they’ll never forget (or, fucking DEAD). Writing this article helped me to understand my feelings, so I appreciate anyone who took the time to read it. I don’t have any real answers. I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know if it will happen again. I don’t know ultimately what will fix it. But here’s what I do know – a shitload of bullets killed a shitload of people at a fucking concert and there HAS to be something done to protect us from this bullshit, or else it’s only going to get worse. Please keep on enjoying live music and supporting our scene and any other scenes you wish to; just please do what you can to protect yourself and others going forward – because your government likely won’t do it for you.
Sorry about the heavy shit. Next article will be silly as fuck. Gotta get this taste out somehow.
I think that’s what makes me the most sick about this whole thing. As a music lover and concert going patron (as I’m sure many of you are as well), I can’t help but think about all the shows I’ve attended over the years and the open-air festivals that exist all over the world and how fucking evil it is that someone would prey on people who are experiencing one of life’s most consistent joys – MUSIC. I know that when I attend a show, I completely immerse myself into the experience. I take in every element of the performance; try to hook on every word, watch all of the artists on stage perform their craft, and take photos and videos to remember the experience by. I am NEVER thinking about the banality of reality at that time, nor the horrors or evil that exist around us in the world. I am in the moment – and I am certain I am not alone in how I experience music. So, for someone to prey on the sanctity of that experience and open fire into the crowd is heartbreaking, infuriating, and downright fucked up.
That being said, these events clearly have the most impact on the family and friends who have to cope with the loss of their loved ones due to senseless violence, but this also has a residual effect on everyone who was in these venues at the time of these attacks. They likely could have severe trauma that they now associate with concerts and live music and may never be able to attend these events again, or if they do, never truly being able to let their guard down and truly enjoy them ever again. I know this is nothing compared to a loss of life, but it is certainly the loss of QUALITY of life, as any of these people attending this festival likely were fans of these artists and live music and the sanctity of that experience is now destroyed for them as well.
We may never know why someone would do such a thing, but now we face a new reality where music events may be considered major targets for these psychopaths. I certainly hope that this bullshit doesn’t result in too many people now being terrified of concerts or festivals; in a small scene like ours, the artists make most of their revenue and merch sales off of touring and attending large events like Cold Waves or Amphi or Terminus or M’era Luna to get their names out to a larger audience. Even in small club shows, there isn’t always a pat-down or metal detector to prevent someone from bringing a gun into a club (especially in our goth/industrial scene, where a close sense of community combined with a bunch of metal rivets and chains has made the metal detectors fairly uncommon). It’s a gross, uneasy feeling that I’m having a hard time shaking.
Obviously the next steps our world will take will be pointing fingers, looking for answers, and spinning the wheel on what steps will prevent something like this from happening again. The cycle of blame will rotate from the hotel security to a mental health debate to the availability of high-powered guns and likely never land on any one place for there to be a true solution from any of this, which is unfortunate but also to be expected based on the number of shootings we still continue to have after events like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Hell, we just dealt with one here in our backyard in Spokane – a boy brought a gun to school and shot a kid in the face at Freeman High School.
As I said earlier, I don’t want to over-politicize this article and force any left or right wing agendas up anyone’s ass, but I do have one thing to say about guns. As someone who personally does not own a gun, nor had any interest in doing so, I cannot wrap my head around the idea of gun culture and the need to possess multiple devices that are designed ONLY for killing and doing so in an extremely easy way. I have asked several of my gun-owning friends about the reasons why and I get several answers - hobby, hunting, protection being the most numerous. I do not wish to argue with them and their choices, nor do I feel that any of these people have the capacity to commit mass murder. What I do question is how socially acceptable gun owning and gun culture all around is in our society.
It’s just very strange to me (especially in the light of recent events) to walk around the grocery store and see magazines called “Gun World” and “Combat Armed” with taglines such as “Armed & Mobile” and “Home Defender”. These are magazines about gear that is designed solely for the purpose of harming or killing another living thing. How weird would it be if we had a magazine called “Bomb Making” or “Poison Craft Weekly”? I’m just saying that with guns being so readily available and easy to learn about, their true purpose gets clouded in all of this “right to bear arms” and “protect the home” and “if I don’t have a gun, then someone else who does can harm me” stuff. We don’t hear stories about “Man protects family by shooting burglar with family gun”, but we do hear “boy shoots up school with father’s gun he found”.
The point I’m trying to make here is that this asshole owned a fucking ARSENAL of guns LEGALLY – who needs an arsenal of guns? I know ‘arsenal’ is a relative term, but still – this guy had 23 guns just IN the hotel room and owned over 40. Gun culture is always going to be a thing in the country, and the idea of taking away guns will never be considered on a federal government level. I guess I just feel that past a point, there should be something that can be done. Limit the number of guns a person could own, or ban any modification devices that could turn a gun even deadlier. Require more extensive background and mental health checks for gun ownership. Make it HARDER to own a fucking gun!
The obvious backswing of all of this is as more people get nervous about active shooters, more guns are purchased, thus increasing the number of guns in the world. If we disarm the country, the people getting the guns illegally will be the ones with the power to kill. This is why this debate rages on and on and on – there is literally a wrong answer everywhere you look. But this particular shooting was done with legally purchased firearms, so that brings a whole different element to the debate.
I am aware that none of the suggestions above likely would have prevented this massacre, nor are they as easy to enact as just MAKING IT SO. I just think that with any other major tragedies that occur in this country, we are quick to act and correct things so they don’t happen again. If an airplane crashes & kills all passengers, we tighten down regulations & inspections. If a high-rise catches fire and burns to the ground, we change the laws on fire escapes and alarms. If a mass-produced automobile has a flaw that causes it not to break and it kills several innocent drivers, they recall and fix and are on the hook for millions in damages. But if a psychopath with an army’s worth of guns opens fire into a crowd, we scramble around to find answers and reasons and motives and ultimately do nothing. I don’t know how many more people need to die before the country figures it out.
This hit very close to home for me – whereas I never cared much to debate gun control or politics or anything with folks, I saw myself and my friends in the crosshairs this time – festival attendees and music lovers, and it struck even closer to home when I was sitting at a concert just last weekend (DEPECHE MODE!). This shooting crossed an emotional line for me – the thought of someone going to a show to see their favorite artists and wanting a great time & experience but instead ending up with nightmares they’ll never forget (or, fucking DEAD). Writing this article helped me to understand my feelings, so I appreciate anyone who took the time to read it. I don’t have any real answers. I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know if it will happen again. I don’t know ultimately what will fix it. But here’s what I do know – a shitload of bullets killed a shitload of people at a fucking concert and there HAS to be something done to protect us from this bullshit, or else it’s only going to get worse. Please keep on enjoying live music and supporting our scene and any other scenes you wish to; just please do what you can to protect yourself and others going forward – because your government likely won’t do it for you.
Sorry about the heavy shit. Next article will be silly as fuck. Gotta get this taste out somehow.