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“Rivet head,” for anyone who doesn’t know, is slang for an industrial music fan. I guess because of all the factory sounds in there? And because rivets are very cool, good for holding heads together, etc. The goth and industrial subcultures have been lashed together with barbed wire since the late 70’s, when both creepified music genres came bubbling out of the British (and German) post-punk scene. According to a book I just read, The Cure’s Robert Smith first met The Banshees’ Steve Severin at a Throbbing Gristle show in a YMCA. So that’s fun!

Rivet Hed is definitely a creature of the chugging, clanging, aggro end of the goth/industrial gradient. His vibe is Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Front 242, Sister Machine Gun, Ministry… 100% furious dude energy. If goth is feminine or androgynous, industrial is full metal meat-boy. And of course I love both.

For over a decade I went to every LA performance by local industrial (or, in their words, “electronic junk punk”) band Babyland. One of the highlights of any Babyland performance (in spaces that would allow it) was the shower of sparks from a belt sander used as percussion during “Dismissal.” People would run up and shove their faces in that mess! Even at a more reasonable distance, I’d still come home with teensy-tiny little bits of metal in my hair. It was FABULOUS. 

Babyland was definitely on my mind when figuring out Rivet Hed’s whole deal. But so was one very specific performance by KMFDM around 2000 (back when they were pretending their name was “MDFMK” for some reason). It was a great, poundy, intense show, just like I like, but the highlight was when – great screaming Asimovs! – an 11-foot-tall guitar-playing ROBOT rolled up on stage to shred for us all. I’ve read it was actually rigged up to mimic the guitarist’s movements, but it could’ve been flailing around like a Country Bear at his Jamboree for all I cared. As a connoisseur of absurdity, I was in heaven. The robot (apparently named “Zyclor?”) even had a camera in its head to record the crowd and project us on a screen behind the band. One of my friends labeled it “embarrassing.” The absolute PHILISTINE.

Wish I could find footage of that thing performing, but alas, 2000 was just a bit before everyone had video recorders in their pockets. So just imagine this song, but with a massive robot off on the side threatening to fall on everybody. This is the rivet head way. 

REF ROUNDUP: Yep, “Marvin Garden(s)” is from Monopoly. And “Nyarlathotep” is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s outer gods. A sneaky trickster one, the only Lovecraftian diety who can look and talk like a person.

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Vicious is kinda spoiled, right? Her life is perfect. Everyone would want this life! 

I loved contrasting V’s idyllic country Hobbit lifestyle with the shrieking synth-rockstar she turned out to be. You don’t have to have had Rivet Hed’s repressive upbringing to become a goth. But it certainly adds a different flavor.

Sera’s had a life somewhere in between V’s perfection and Hed’s disfunction, and she’ll have a decision to make soon. Her choice of mentors will be crucial. But, importantly, her future will still be spooky either way. You never have to throw away the spooky.

When I was writing about the evolution of V’s band, Joy Division was definitely on my mind. Joy Division was possibly the most morose of all the spectacularly morose bands of the post-punk/early goth era. After their frontman Ian Curtis’ extremely untimely death in 1980, the rest of the band changed course a bit and soldiered on as New Order. Now, most people wouldn’t describe New Order’s sound as “upbeat,” necessarily, but it was definitely lighter than Joy Division. Which got me wondering what would’ve happened if they’d gone even poppier direction. More bubblegum. What if, instead of guitarist Bernard Sumner stepping into the frontman role, the remains of Joy Division somehow teamed up with, like… Cyndi Lauper? Would that have worked at all? No idea! I’d definitely want to hear it, though!

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

In 2024 news… Shock City got its first review!

From the people at Kirkus. The whole thing is very slightly spoilery, but here’s the review part:

“The vibrant colors and varied panels elevate the fast-paced reading experience. Against a backdrop of imaginative thrills and chills, Alexovich explores themes of friendship and perseverance in genuinely touching ways. A heartwarming and nail-biting adventure.”

WHEW, that’s a relief. At least one person liked it! All we need now are a couple hundred thousand more people that, and we’re golden. Thank you to Kirkus for the review!

NEXT WEEK: ‘MERICAN MADE.