It would be foolish for us, as a band obsessed with subjects that most people would consider unnerving, frightening, or even downright loathesome, to deny that we've a certain connection with the wide, wonderful world of the Goth and Industrial subcultures. All of our members have, at one point or another, been active members of the G/I scenes in Pittsburgh (primarily), Ohio, New England, West Virginia, and Washington, DC--as well as, no doubt, many other places we were probably drunk as hell when we visited them. :) Nonetheless, we know alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll type of goths and are very aware that no two goths are ever quite the same. Myself, I have many pleasant memories related to the Pittsburgh Goth Scene and the wonderful music that it has exposed me to over the years.

Yet, over the past few years, I and my fellow bandmates have lost more and more interest (and respect) for the Goth scene--not just in Pittsburgh, but in general, all over the country and world--because...well, perhaps it's just because we're all becoming bitter old bitches and bastards in our 30s--but there are certain aspects to what the Goth Scene in general has turned into over the years that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

The influx of and confusing presence of "emo" is, of course, one of our greatest pet peeves--yet I own every My Chemical Romance Album, Megan loves H.I.M., and I'm sure even aRvin likes something that could remotely be called "emo" (in fact, I would dare say that his favorite rock band, Radiohead, is whinier and more "emo" than half the so-called "emo" bands currently out there!). But I digress.

Worse still are the Shock Goths. Shock Goths have always been around; their ancestors were the ultra-punk kids of the late '70s and early '80s who stuck so many safety pins through their faces and covered themselves in so many tattoos that they prettymuch invalidated their ability to ever set foot on an airplane or hold a job outside of a tattoo/piercing parlor ever again. Marilyn Fucking Manson feuled the rebirth of the Shcok Goth--the Goth who is so fucking Goth--so covered in chains, buttons with snarly slogans, and so obsessed with malcontent, antisocial behavior that he or she really does appear to be some form of droog excreted from the pages of Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. Sorry, children, you are no Alexes nor even Dims: in fact, your pathetic dress code "statements" and gutter-punk snottiness reveal you to be dimmer than dear ol' Dim.

If it's one thing Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, despises, it's kids--and kids they be, even if they have physical ages in their '20s and '30s--who wish to use gothicism as a weapon. They dress to offend. They listen to music that normals recoil from in disgust and horror. They walk through society like hot knives through butter, spouting quotes from Charles and/or Marilyn Manson, clinking with more buckles and chains than an entire mental hospital would need to confine the "violent" wards, and shitty attitudes of mock-superiority (oftimes supported by Nietzsche quotes they've learned to parrot--though not understand--from much more intelligent friends).

There are people Out There in the world who wear torn fishnets, boots o' many buckles, vinyl skirts, and outlandish fake hair not because they are trying to  thrust their style upon others in an offensive manner, but because dressing/making themselves up that way simply makes them feel good for the time being. Of course, shocking the public a little is always a part of any good goth's style--but there's a big difference between being provocative and being downright threatening. Shock Goths go to great lengths to make themselves look like cartoon villains in order to leave a wake of aggitation amongst the "pinks" and the "normals" wherever they go...rarely realizing that the only wake they leave behind is a wake of puzzled looks, laughter, and certain derision. Most of it coming from other goths--more mature goths, who have a more solid sense of self and a pride in their subculture.

Shock Goths have no pride in anything, least of all themselves. Their attire and attitudes do no exist to further goth culture, but to strip it down of its imagery and ideas, and hammer them back together into anti-zombie weapons aimed at Everyday Folk. Real goths don't want to bother everyday folk; if Johnny Pop-Collar Fratboy wants to dress like all his buds and spend his evenings drinking himself sick and making fun of "freaks," that's his business--most goths would look upon such a sad waste of young manhood with sadness but think, "Hey, that's how he wants to live his life, he can handle the consequences. Whatever."

But the Shock Goth will run across the street to Johnny Pop-Collar, even when all he's doing is walking around with his buds trying to find a place to get a cheap six-pack, and will do everything he or she can to splatter the fact of his/her Shock Gothicism right in his face, hoping for, lusting after a violent reaction.

We members of the Crawling Chaos are probably the most open and welcoming people you will ever meet. But do not think for one second that we won't turn a Shock Goth's come-on routine right back at him or her ten times over. Oooooh, shock us, shock us with that deviant behavior! How 'bout I drop trou right now and show you the scars on my legs were a goddamned shoggoth nearly sucked the skin off both thighs and the lashmark across my groin from some a nightgaunts tail. Then we'll see how well your Hot Topic chains and fake-fetish vinyl shirts hold up in the face of true horror. You little prigs wouldn't've lasted seventeen seconds in the ruins of Dixmont.

In many ways, Nyarlathotep aims--much like Alice Cooper, Rush, and Emerson Lake & Palmer once aimed--to shock and awe fans with the strangeness of our music. But we're not on some kind of stupid social mission to make up for our teenage inadequacies. We believe that horror and shock are things to be treated with great respect, as in classic films like Halloween and Event Horizon--not cheapened into the equivalent of bad Saw costumes worn a few months too early for Halloween.

Derek C. F. Pegritz / Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos