Sunday, January 23, 2011

In Exile

Saturday night was the first Exile club night of 2011. Exile is the replacement for the Chains on Velvet goth night in Norwich at The Waterfront.

I haven't been since it changed it's name a few years back, but K was interested in wearing her new purchases from the new gothy shop out here in the sticks. We've also made friends with the shop's owners G and L and they said they'd meet up with us if we went too. So off we went.

Getting dressed was slightly issue-filled as things decided not to fit properly, or to play badly with other items once on, but we left the house on time and looking good.

Not a great pic (you can't see my kitty ears), but you get the general stripey pink/black Cheshire Cat vibe from it.


We met G and L in the Hotel Nelson bar and got plenty of funny looks from the other patrons (the barstaff seemed fine though. I guess they were either professionals, or were still reeling from the cosplay event there earlier in the day!) Fine by me. You don't wear a PVC mini-dress and hair extensions to blend in! I just smiled back at the people who stared. After that we popped to a pub, and then on to the main event.

It hasn't changed much. They even had the same banners and wall hangings.

The event is held in the upstairs room of The Waterfront, with a dancefloor, stage, and bar. It was quite empty at the start, and the DJ wasn't doing much to fill the floor. To be honest the music wasn't that great all night. Apart from some Rammstein, and some dancier numbers, it was generic EBM, and slowish gothy stuff I didn't recognise. Shame really. I got in some dancing, but mostly chatted to people, and wandered the other rooms of the venue. There was an alternative-indie night downstairs, but after staying for a couple of songs K and I were unimpressed and went back up.

I didn't feel like I was passing for female (and there were lots of teen girls about), so I used the gents when needed. Which led to amusement later as a bunch of drunk lads waiting for their girls to come out yelled, "THAT'S THE BLOKES LOO!" as I went in. I wasn't feeling up to witty banter, so I just yelled back, " I HAVE A PENIS!" which caused the guy leaving the room to look me up and down and ask, "Really?"

Once inside (and waiting for the cubicle) I chatted with two lads about knighthoods and titles (as you do ;)) and was pleased when they commented on my outfit. The chattier of the pair said that he was from London, so my outfit was pretty normal for a goth night, but that he was impressed I had the balls to wear it in a backwater like this. I bumped into him later, and he said that he was still impressed :D

The general style was interesting to see. We had one or two girls in PVC and corsets, a few girls in leopardprint/50's style, a Ramona Flowers lookalike, couple of guys in fishnet and bondage pants, and quite a lot of black jeans and t-shirts. There also was a guy in a hooded cape, but he looked a little selfconscious. I think I'm gonna stick with the cyberstyle for future events, as for small town nights I have to dress-down and stick to blokey stuff.

Much later in the evening I saw a fellow clubber I hadn't met in years. It took a while to recognise me, but she said she was pleased I'd dropped the metal-headlook, and embraced cybergoth. We than had a chat and caught up. I wonder if she'll respond to the message I sent this morning on Facebook?

As the event is now every few months, rather than monthly, we'll probably make the effort next time as well, as overall it was fun, despite the so-so music

3 comments:

Lynn Jones said...

Cool outfit and the *ahem* witty reply didn't half make me chuckle.

[ caution: approaching RP nerd gag ]

Was the dude in the cloak Raistlin BTW? ;-)

Pandora Caitiff said...

Thank you very much.

I don't now what it is, but I seem to be wittier, or at least quicker with come-backs, when in character. It's also hilarious as most "hecklers" aren't ready for it, and end up looking silly in front of their mates.

Maybe I'm subconsciously accessing that zen place where drag artists draw their power from? ;-)

And no. LOL. He didn't seem the wizardly type.

He had the air of a younger brother that didn't quite get it, but who's mother had forced his older sibling to take along!

Big Girl said...

or perhaps he was a middle child...