G beat

G-Beat” is a genre tag I first started seeing last year, used by the late Kenneth Duffy (AKA Kenn Kroosaficks) to describe Deathcharge’s 2011 LP, Love Was Born to an Early Death. The hotly anticipated full-length represented a transition from D-beat hardcore to hard-charged gothic rock, emblematic of a larger sea change in punk. What exactly is G-beat, though? Until now, I’ve been using a variety of terms, like “goth-punk” (which in some ways still seems the most apt), deathrock, and “dark punk” to describe the recent trend towards gothy-sounding punk rock. There is a newer milieu of bands that includes Blue Cross, Belgrado, the aforementioned Deathcharge, Crimson Scarlet, Cemetery, The Estranged, Alaric, Anasazi, Tanzkommando Untergang, and Dystopian Society, and it merits a unique identifier. These bands all blend elements of early California deathrock, 1980s UK gothic rock, and anarcho-punk to create a new musical hybrid that is one of the more notable recent developments in punk’s evolving history. Whereas the “D” in “D-beat” stood for Discharge , the “G” in G-beat is for goth. It’s tongue-in-cheek, for sure. But it’s also a good way to refer to these bands, for reasons I’ll go into below. In interviews I’ve done with a lot of bands for whom this genre tag might fit, both The Spectres and Lost Tribe — two of the better punk bands of the present day, regardless of category — have stated they prefer to simply be called “dark punk.” ”I usually just say [we are] ‘dark punk’ to avoid having to give a lengthy description of influences that most people have never heard of or care about,” Zach of The Spectres told me. Cory of Lost Tribe seemed to agree when I asked what I should call the Richmond, Virginia band’s style of music. ”Dark punk,” he replied. And in an interview I did with Portland’s Arctic Flowers, guitarist Stan Wright told me, “Our sound is a mix of punk, deathrock, postpunk, and goth.” Marta of Germany’s Tanzkommando Untergang also explained, “We’re definitely playing too fast and too aggressive to be a postpunk band. We don’t use any deathrock imagery and don’t look deathrock enough to be considered deathrock. I think we’re way too punk in our attitude, too. I would say that we’re playing dark punk.