World Goth Day 2026

The last DJ gig I ever played was our last Reform party at Kitcheners in 2019 (Charles and I played a highly curated retro soul/disco/funk thing for over 10 years).

My last proper ‘indie’ set was probably the second last Cellardoor night sometime in 2007 (second last because the last Cellardoor was all live bands)

The last remotely/mostly ‘goth’ set was either a guest set at the early Redroom (which I have no memory of) or sometime during my two-week stint at Alcatraz sometime in 1993 around the time Carcass played in Johannesburg, just before I took over Le Club Thursdays and Saturdays nights.

What I remember about the Alcatraz gig:

I never got paid for the two weeks I worked there.

I missed Carcass as I covered for Mark Bradley (RIP) who went to see them that night.

Jason (Total Chaos) brought Carcass to Alcatraz after their gig. I was introduced to them while playing my set. One of them asked me to play something by The Black Crowes (I didn’t, because they’re shit).

That tall skinny guy who hung around Cosmic Comics at the underground flea market in Hillbrow who stole one of my Butthole Surfers CDs (not shit, but also not goth)…

Thinking about it, I’ve never played a full goth set. The crowd was so mixed then, one had to be fluid around the genres and move around a bit. A solid hour of proper goth seemed too much.

In that spirit though, I’m happy to announce that I’ve been dragged out of retirement to play at this year’s World Goth Day at Reverie at Melville’s Smoking Kills Friday 22 May 2026.

Line-up includes:

Tenrapid, Marigold, and Nikki Sixx.

I’ve been secretly nursing a ‘If I was ever again asked to play a goth set’ playlist, and over the last few years, have added 100s of songs that fall into the ‘Surely if I was still playing this would fill the floor’ category.

Come and listen, come dressed up, and come to dance. I’ve extracted a dark and highly flammable set of marginally left-of-centre classics, new wonders, and other goth-adjacent gems (sans Black Crowes)

Now I need to work out how to DJ on unfamiliar equipment using USB sticks…thanks Justin!