#gothing

The story begins nearly ten years ago in a dark, smoky L.A. club called Fetish. Two mysterious, raven haired men dressed in all black sit in an unlit corner discussing their future and the future and of the L.A. music scene. Their names are Rozz Williams and Bari-Bari. As the leader of the legendary death-rock cult band Christian Death, Rozz has just [illegible] Bari to join his morose crew of musicians as the band’s new bass player. Christian Death is thus set to tour for their infamous ASHES Lp that has Rozz doing vocals along with Gitane Demone, Valor on guitars, and David Glass on drums. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ironically, Rozz would leave the band less than a year later. Bari-Bari and the others would bravely press on, even without the band’s guiding focal point. Club impresario Johann Schumann joined as the new bassist and Bari moved to guitars, with Valor moving to vocals. BELIEVERS OF THE UNPURE and ATROCITIES were this line-up’s crowning achievements. Shortly thereafter, Bari and Johann left to form Mephisto Walz, and thus another legend was born. With the help of such underground luminaries as James McGearty (of the original Christian Death) and Rob Graves (of 45 Grave), Mephisto Walz created some amazing music. THE ETERNAL DEEP Lp, released last year, contains a nice selection of songs from the ‘87-’92 period of European import releases. It encompasses such classic Eps and Lps as MEPHISTO WALZ, CROCOSMIA, AS APOSTLES FORGET, and TANGIA. With the addition of vocalist-keyboardist Christianna, the band was set to invade the states. They’ve just released the TERRA-THALIA* [sic] Lp on Cleopatra Records. Bari-Bari admits that his writing style still has a little of the old Christian Death flavor to it. 

“True, some people see a bit of Christian Death influence on Mephisto Walz,” says Bari, “And why shouldn’t they? My style of writing and playing was something I had even before joining Christian Death. It’s not gonna suddenly disappear now.”

On the new Lp, TERRA-THALIA [sic], there is a song called “Facade (Closet of Faces),” which epitomizes Bari’s lyrical and instrumental styles. The mood is both atmospheric and sensual, and Christianna’s vocals are positively unearthly.

“Because of mass frustrations / Emotions hid in chains / How no forever can be measured / Eventually it just has to fade / Yet as a hunger beckons me / In fear I heed the call / A desire comes to me / Arresting touch as I recoil...”

“If you [illegible] the lyrics,” explains Bari-Bari, “they are very much on the dark side of things, but they’re not trite. I’m not gonna write about graveyards and vampires or something as obvious as that. Those things get really old really quickly. I prefer more abstract stuff, to set moods, it’s almost a subconscious thing because it’s less contrived that way.”

Mephisto Walz are now poised to sweep America. They already have large followings all over Europe. They lived in Germany for awhile, where they toured with Rozz Williams and Shadow Project a couple of times. Will the two mysterious men in black once again meet to discuss the future of the scene? Stay tuned!