Sophie Lancaster Foundation

On 24th August 2007 Sophie Lancaster was murdered for being a goth. Since then her mum, Sylvia, has been on a crusade to "Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere".

And it's working. A large number of people are now aware of Sophie and know of the Foundation, supporting it by organising events to raise money, wearing a SOPHIE wristband, or just donating a few pound.

These funds are used for educational purposes (in schools, but also in police forces), to promote tolerance and to push for parliamentary change with regard to hate crime (to include 'alternative subcultures' or to reference 'lifestyle and dress code' as defining factors). As a result, Greater Manchester Police have been logging hate crime against alternative subcultures since April 2013.

Sylvia has just been awarded an OBE for services to community cohesion.

You can find out how to support at www.sophielancasterfoundation.com

Punk Spirituality (Part 3)

Malcolm McLaren's Cash From Chaos

by Kolyn Amor

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 1

CHAOS!

A definition of chaos (theory): “When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.” Edward Lorenz

ANARCHY!

Sounds a bit ‘punk’…

What’s ‘punk’? 
A dictionary definition:

“Something or someone worthless or unimportant
a young ruffian; hoodlum
an inexperienced youth
a young male partner of a homosexual
an apprentice, especially in the building trades
a boy (prison slang).”

Take your pick!

Meanwhile, a long time ago, in a city far, far away…

“On 6th November 1975, in support of a pub rock group called ‘Bazooka Joe’, ‘The Sex Pistols’ performed several cover songs at St Martin’s College, London. According to observers, they were unexceptional musically aside from being extremely loud. Before the Pistols could play the few original songs they had written to date, Bazooka Joe pulled the plugs as they saw their gear being trashed. A brief physical altercation between members of the two bands took place on stage.

Steve Jones declared, ‘Actually we're not into music. We're into chaos’ (February 1976)”.

MORE CHAOS!

By the way, the bassist in ‘Bazooka Joe’ was some guy called Stuart Goddard… Ring any bells?
No? Well, he went on to change his name to Adam (his first wife changed hers to Eve) Ant. 

More of him later...

Meanwhile, something’s started in the true capital of chaos with the 24 hour party people…

“On June 4th 1976, ‘The Sex Pistols’ played Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall to a small room of people. It was one of their first gigs outside London” (the lesser pre made mall - not that I’m a biased, bitter Northerner!) “Like the saying about the first Velvet Underground LP, nearly everyone in the audience that night went on to have a cultural impact on Britain (and beyond).”

“A band emerged. The guy who took centre stage took the mike, took your mind. A swagger to make John Wayne look a pussy.” (I know that feeling having had a certain piece of body modification recently!) “A sneer so dismissive of everyone and everything, of God and civilisation in just one pair of twisted lips.” Anger is an energy after all and you always hurt the ones you love…

“That place was real life; that place was the clearing in the undergrowth where meaning and elucidation live…” 

“And God said: ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” 
Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 3

God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform... The Ultimate Performer?

“But they knew nothing - they just knew their world would never be the same again. A past obliterated and No Future.”

Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and The End (possibly the best track by ‘The Doors’):

“This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end”

(Don’t forget The Beginning as well).

“There to greet us was Malcolm McLaren, dressed head to toe in black leather – leather jacket, leather trousers and leather boots – with a shock of bright-orange hair, a manic grin and the air of a circus ringmaster; though there was hardly anyone else around… Look at the photographs of the gig and you can see that everybody in the audience was dressed the same way, like a Top of the Pops audience. There were no punks yet. So Malcolm – he looked like an alien to us…”

Ever felt stranger than feeling like a stranger in a familiar place? I suspect Jesus felt a bit ‘E.T.’ in that way - wanting to just phone home, even though He could’ve clicked His long fingers at any point, but He’s too loved up.

“We just stood there, stock still… Absolutely, utterly, gobsmacked.”

The day I met God I got carried away.

“Back on Manchester’s inscrutable streets I find a tatty leaflet stuck on a Peter Street lamppost telling me that the Sex Pistols will play the Lesser Free Trade Hall. They are not the saviours of culture, but the destruction of it – which suits me quite perfectly…”

Chaos. Anger. Destruction.

Flipside/B-side (you used to be able to do that with a long lost article called ‘a record’):

Creation. Love. Order.

I promised to return to Adam - the Ant rather than the first man, but maybe there’s a connection somewhere. You decide.

He wrote a song - in an angry punky way. You might find it challenging. You might find it blasphemous. You might find it liberating.

That sounds a bit like my faith…

“Day I met god
 I got so carried away
 Day I met god
 I got so carried away
 Not with the vision
 But the streaks in his hair
 Not with religion
 But the size of his knob

 The day I met god
 The day I met god
 It was pissing with rain
 And we went

 Day I met god
 I got so carried away
 Day I met god
 I got so carried away
 Not with the vision
 But the streaks in his hair
 Not with the vicars
 Or the nuns or the priests

 The day I met god
 The day I met god, the day I met the big boy
 It was pissing with rain
 And we went

 And the herald angels sang
 Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
 Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh....

 We were coming back in the van
 From Milan
 And I saw God
 Right there.”

Cash from chaos? Write your own cheque!

(But sign it: ‘God’)

Punk Spirituality (Part 2)

I was discussing this subject with a friend last week, who raised some interesting points. Punk isn't necessarily good quality, which is not the same as saying it's bad - Sex Pistols were not virtuoso musicians, but still produced a great sound. The lo-fi nature of punk is encouraging insofar as it means the focus of punk spirituality can be on content and drive, not necessarily on presentation. For me personally, if I want to do something I usually want to do it to the best of my ability, but that takes time and effort and I don't always have the necessary resources (physical and/or mental) - that may mean I don't do something, because I don't feel I can do it well enough.

May be I should be influenced by punk a bit more and accept that a lower level of quality is sometimes a good thing. A few of my friends thrive on the energy of being late and delivering at the last minute - the pressure of that situation can release creativity and remove mental blockers. It can also mean there's not enough time to get hold of the ideal set of resources, which forces compromise - to look at it another way, this forces even more creativity to come up with alternative solutions, which as a result may be better than what was first considered. So may be lo-fi output is ok...but for me the end result still has to be good somehow, otherwise it's all a bit rubbish.

Also, punk is chaotic, which is another source of its energy. When thinking about applying this to worship, it seemed like punk worship should contradict a formal, linear, led worship. It should present worship in a way that is unpredictable, unplanned...led by the spirit, not by ourselves. In this respect, one could say the Quakers are punk, which is not something I thought I'd ever consider. They wait in silence until someone is led by the spirit to say/sing/do something. This means every service 'should' be different, random, unpredictable.

Another approach is to curate worship, something Jonny Baker wrote a book about. This is to set up a range of worship points and allow people to engage with those in their own way. This method allows everyone to make their own worship trail, with each person therefore worshipping in a different way all at the same time.

Finally, a combination of these elements that Sanctus 1 has tried successfully a number of times in the past, is a DIY service. This is where a number of props are brought together and the first 2/3 of the service is spent by the congregation making the service. Split into manageable sizes, each group can focus on a particular service element. The last 1/3 of the service is where those elements are brought back together and played out as the formal worship.

What do you think - are these ways of worshipping that fit with a punk aesthetic and logic? What other ways of worshipping might punk inspire in us? Leave a comment below...

Punk Spirituality (Part 1)

Punk legend Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Rollins Band

Very recently I've started thinking about creative energy and the emotional energy that often fuels creativity. In particular, how Punk blew the world away with its explosive, aggressive energy. John Lydon's lyric, from Public Image Limited's 'Rise', that "Anger is an energy" continues to hold meaning and relevance through the decades and holds resonance for me at the moment. In past Greenbelt services, ARA has drawn upon Punk source material as part of worship, notably with Sham 69 "If the kids are united" (...then we'll never be divided) and X-Ray Spex "Oh bondage, up yours!"

There's a tension between traditional punk ideologies and the Christian faith that I think is fascinating. On the one hand, Jesus seems to embody punk ethos by way of being anti-establishment, non-conformist, championing equality. But it is (arguably) rare that he embodies other punk ideals, such as aggression and individualism. The punk ideal of being (seemingly) anti-everything led it to a defining culture of DIY - recycle clothing to demonstrate anti-consumerism, make your own records to be anti-establishment, etc.

I'm interested to explore this further and see where it leads. Just how much of a punk was Jesus? How many punk ideals can comfortably sit alongside the Christian faith? Feel free to comment below with your thoughts on the subject.

World Goth Day

These days, there's a day for everything. Well, almost. There's an International Day of Heavy Metal (December 12th), but of greater relevance right now is a World Goth Day! On May 22nd every year, Goths the world over will celebrate their gothishness and be even more goth if they can manage it.

www.worldgothday.com gives you the very short history and encourages everyone to be a little more goth this Thursday. To wear a little bit more black. To listen to (and request radio stations to play) some good 'ol classics from the likes of Bauhaus and Siouxsie. I'll be wearing my skull cufflinks as a nod to the corp-goth look and using my Ozzy Osbourne wobbly-head pen (not goth, but close enough!).

Here in Manchester you can pop along to ARA on Friday for a slightly belated celebration, where you are free to properly get your goth on. Splash out with some outrageously beautiful and wild attire. Two-step to the beat in a 17th century church, amidst a swirl of fog and pulsing club lights.

Tell us in the comments what you'll be doing for World Goth Day.

Casual insults

Just a quick post this week. I was in the pub last night having dinner and on my way out a young guy walked in to ask for directions. He was dressed like a modern goth (a little like the image above, although in a red top, with a black over-the-shoulder bag and a pork pie hat). It was an ensemble that worked very well for him and he'd obviously spent time putting it together. The woman at the bar next to him immediately commented "Look, Michael Jackson just walked in" and started laughing.

To his credit the guy took it in his stride, ignored the comment (as most goths do in these situations), got his directions and left. Although I could understand the visual link (see image below), I was surprised that someone could so blatantly insult another person - for all his problems I think Jacko was an extremely talented person and pulled some interesting fashions out of the bag, but in this situation the woman was not giving a compliment. It was such a rude thing to do. For a lot of goths, this is just part of the territory and we get used to it. But we shouldn't have to.

Steampunk Fashion

A Steampunk group at a convention
Victorian base clothing, adventuring accessories, cogs, goggles, brown colours

I like collecting things and as such am an avid user of Pinterest for collating images of things I like and sharing those with whoever else out there is interested. Fashion is part of this and gets drilled down more specifically into gothic fashion and again into Steampunk fashion. Steampunk is something that has been around for a while now, but is only recently becoming trendy. I get frustrated by the volume of outfits that get tagged as Steampunk when they just aren't. So, here's a brief overview of what I think defines Steampunk fashion.

Regular readers of this blog will know that we've touched on Steampunk a few times, but if you're not familiar it is a subculture borne of the exploration of an alternative future society stemming from the Victorian age. Imagine Victorians with better technology, where dirigibles (airships like The Hindenberg) had been refined so they don't explode as much and thus filled the sky; where the power of steam and industry had been harnessed and progressed at a much quicker rate than in real history. Steampunk has the word Steam in it to represent the Victorian age. Other retro-futures have different names, such as the slightly later turn-of-the-century Dieselpunk.

Those wanting to dress as Steampunks should start with clothing that is Victorian in some way or nods to this era of dress. It can depart from Victoriana a bit, but not too much otherwise it slips into a different aesthetic. Brown (as a reflection of brass, used in the futuristic machinery of this period) is a favourite colour palate to work with, but any colours work and it's really nice seeing people experimenting.

From a Victorian style base, accessories are where Steampunk comes into its own. While not essential, a lot of the accessories of Steampunk stem from 'adventurer' characters. So utility belts and braces, invented weaponry, sturdy boots and so on are often part of the outfits created. There are a few overriding symbols of Steampunk that have risen to the surface, namely cogs and gears on EVERYTHING, goggles (usually with cogs and gears and/or brass, otherwise they can look like Cyberpunk googles) as a nod to the (early) birth of aviation and cups of tea.

Someone just wearing Victorian clothing isn't Steampunk. They're just Victorian. This can still be very gothic, but isn't Steampunk. There needs to be something that shows how their Victorian era has progressed beyond the bounds of history.

Just my opinion, but let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree.