(Post em português, no final)
It was such a pleasant time spent in Austria, by the beginning of my vacations. On June 30, I got a plane from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, then Frankfurt and finally Vienna. Such a tiring travel for amazing days spent in Austria.
Professor Luis Mauro Sá Martino (Cásper Líbero), Professor Thomas Bauer (Universität Wien), Sérgio Pinheiro and I (Cásper Líbero), Remzie Shahini-Hoxhaj (Universität Wien/Prishtina)
After meeting people from India, Ethiopia, Kosovo, China, Taiwan, Italy and Turkey, watching their presentations about media and society, I had the opportunity to go to Szene Wien, some kind of nightclub, where I watched Covenant's concert - a synthpop/futurepop band from Sweden.
And there I had my first steps forward on my field research. The people weren't so open to talk to me, mainly because I cannot speak in German (by now), then talking to a foreigner, in English, should be such an annoying thing to do on a freizeit. Anyway, I think that's not a common thing to do when you have a group of friends... Even in Brazil, in goth clubs, I see this kind of behavior.
Anyways, I tried to talk to a young man, who couldn't understand well what I was saying, but I had asked him about Nachtmahr's reception in Austria. He told me he doesn't like the band's style (dark-electro), that he was more into neo-folk groups like Der Blutharsch (Austria), Death in June (England) and so on. He also said that Nachtmahr doesn’t have a Nazi impression in Austria, that the scene just doesn’t care about the military imagery – because it is already part of it. Thus, I found out that the rivethead term is used just by Americans, even though there are some Brazilian people that have adapted it to the word “tronco” (branch, in English). Never heard anybody saying that personally, but...
After this concert, which was pretty awesome – and I guess I was the only girl really partying hard there – I was about to see Grendel DJing in Bratislava, but I didn’t because it was outside of Austria. Some days after, I did went there with my friends and it was really closer than Salzburg, which is inside of Austria and to where I was about to go some days after… That was a pity.
Me, a Turkish researcher (I don't have her name) and Professor Norval Baitello Jr (Pontifícia Universidade Católica)
Then I finally presented my research. It was funny because some days before it, Thomas Rainer had sent me an article that was also named War on the Dancefloor, because of Nachtmahr’s song. I got really surprised, but then I realized it was not quite as theoretical as mine. Then, the presentation was cool, but I couldn’t finish everything I had to say. Too many examples, too many authors and references… People had 15 minutes to talk and I got 25, as the Professor Baitello, who was guiding the panel, told me - I must be a talkative kind of person.
Exceptionally, the questions were made just after I presented my stuff (there was another researcher up to present after me). It was Thomas Bauer's, who was the Professor responsable for the event in the university, decision. People were really interested on understanding this martial aspect in industrial music. The questions helped me to present the rest of the content and helped people to comprehend what industrial music sounds like – they asked about Marilyn Manson and Rammstein style.
A video I played before my presentation
A Turkish researcher also was curious about the feminine presence in Nachtmahr, then I want to take this as an opportunity to tell you that Adriana Amaral, a Professor friend of mine, and I am writing an article about it. Entitled “Enjoy the abuse, Mädchen in Uniform”, we are studying Combichrist and Nachtmahr’s position according to women representation.
So, on that same afternoon, I met Thomas Rainer in a café close to the University.
Café Landtmann is known as the café where Sigmund Freud used to go
We talked for more than 2 hours - which I have recorded, but I don't have the file yet to start the translation (grr!!!!). Such a wonderful time spent with a nice person! Afterwards, he posted on Nachtmahr's Facebook page:
A lot of "likes" and comments! :)))
And as I told you all, I went to Salzburg to Overdose party, in B.lack club.
A lot of cybergoth outfits!
My friend Sérgio and I arrived there at 10 pm and we saw some people finishing their outfit outside of the party. Some people in military clothes, another ones in cybergoth outfits – there were a lot of them, wearing those colorful hair extensions and shining accessories. Everything seemed to be ok, but when we tried to enter into the club, the security guards didn’t allow my friend to. I was already inside when they called me and told Sérgio couldn’t join the party because he was not dressed properly – which means, in black. Actually, he was wearing dark jeans and a red and gray striped coat, but he needed to take it off (it was cold and rainy) to show he was wearing also two black T-shirts. Laughing, the security guards allowed him to enter and made a joke about us being Brazilian. “Oh, I’m from Rio”, said the bald blue-eyed pale guy.
There inside, an old bunker adapted to be a night club, there were some tunnels, each one with an usage: corridors, bars, store, dancefloors. There were two music options: industrial/EBM and 80’s/gothrock – plus the Noisuf-X and X-RX concerts. To watch them, I needed to have a red skull (Overdose party symbol) print, which means I had paid more for this. But I didn’t, because Thomas had included us in the VIP list, though we hadn’t receive the red mark.
So, I stood more on industrial/EBM dancefloor than on 80’s/gothrock one. In both places, I noticed that the setlist is quite related to those played in Brazilian goth clubs. Some artists like Grendel, Nachtmahr, Feindflug, Chemical Brothers (even though they’re not considered industrial music), The Cure, Eisenfunk, The Prodigy and others are played in São Paulo and also in Salzburg.
I saw that they dance pretty different from us. They seem to care more about their feelings than with the rhythm of the music. It’s like we see on Youtube: sometimes people dance in different places around the city and they add the music, whatever it is, and the movements seem to fit.
Boys dancing to Nachtmahr's song Nachtmahr
It was funny because I think I was the only one there dancing the way I’m used to, because we do like that in Brazil. I think we care much more about the rhythm, even though sometimes we are not able to accompany it – like in hardcore techno songs. During the periods of silence, the Austrian people didn’t stop to dance: some kept their steps as there was still music.
The same happened on gothrock and 80’s dancefloor. People there were more concerned about the movements on the top of their bodies: the hands, the waist, the arms and head. They followed their emotions provoked by the music. On industrial dancing, there are more movements for the legs than the gothic, which is more like one step to the front and another backwards or one to side and backwards.
Another interesting point was their dedication to the outfit. Men and women wear makeup. Men and women wear boots, sometimes high heels, latex and leather clothes. The majority of the clothing were between the cybergoth and deathrock style, with some people wearing uniforms, Victorian dresses or medieval gothic stuff. There were some examples of fetishist clothes, like a man wearing a long latex coat, hiding his body totally covered by a thin black fabric and chains that emulated bondage. There was also a girl wearing an underbreast corset without lingerie, so she was hiding her nipples with two crossed slices of black tape.
There were people using some accessories with light (which highlighted their movements on the dancefloor).
There were people wearing post-apocalyptic/steampunk clothing and also customized guns.
There were men wearing uniforms.
There were men without shirt – this is not allowed in Brazil.
There was a woman wearing camouflaged uniform with band patches.
There were a lot of things that I'd like to share, but it would take even longer than I am taking - and it's more productive when you have pictures to show!
I also met Thomas there. I tried to reach him on the DJ deck, but some people advised me not to try. Anyway, it was nice to see from over there people dancing and enforcing his idea of a "war on the dancefloor". He is such a performative DJ, especially when he rises his hands, amusing people. We chatted a little and then I needed to get back home, after a dreamy night! :)
Finally, I will get the interview file tomorrow and then I can start something more concrete. There are tons of things that Thomas said to me that are still echoing in my head. I will try to share with you as soon as possible!
