âI have always thought the term gothic to be somewhat pejorative or a misnomer at best. Growing up, I remember reading interviews with many of the bands who consistently got labeled with the G-word, wherein the members would deny the moniker. Any eyeliner-adorned, black-clad, long-banged boy or girl met with the question âAre you a goth?â would typically respond with a sneer or a disgusted roll of the eyes. No one would own up to the term.â âDavey Havok, AFI (from A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box liner notes)
AFI are not goth. Not that youâd guess from their publicity photos, featuring the quartet in all their eyeliner-adorned, black-clad, long-banged splendor. But pigeonholing the sound of their seventh album, DECEMBERUNDERGROUND, is as messy as Robert Smithâs lipstick.
For starters, frontman Davey Havok utilizes so many different voicesâoften within the same cutâthat he begs to be diagnosed with multiple-personality disorder; on âKill Caustic,â he flips between an adenoidal punk whine and a choked howl that no cough lozenge could ever soothe. For the austere opener, âPrelude 12/21,â he adopts an eerie, tremulous falsetto to offset the martial synthesizers.
The arrangements are equally eclectic. âKiss and Controlâ begins with brittle electronic rhythms and hints of hiphop, while the modern-rock smash âMiss Murderâ boasts a bottom-heavy wallop and mammoth sing-along chorus. Admittedly, âThe Killing Lights,â with its descending guitar figures and smudged bass, recalls the Cure circa 1979âs Three Imaginary Boys, but thatâs just one facet of this disparate offering.
No, AFI are not goth. Which, of course, is a totally goth thing to say. Whatever. After 15 years, these East Bay boys have heard it all. Call them what you will, but their appeal has not been lost on millions of fans. Upon its mid-June release, DECEMBERUNDERGROUND entered the Billboard 200 at number one. And early promotion to the bandâs extensive fan baseâaffectionately known as The Despair Factionâwas an integral part of the Bumbershoot 2006 marketing strategy.
AFI bassist Hunter Burgan was just as passionate about his favorite acts when he was on the other side of the stage, back in high school. âI never had band-inspired tattoos like some of our fans do, but I attended as many shows as I could,â he recalls via e-mail, from a tour stop in Japan. âThere were quite a few bands that I would drop everything to see. However, the distances I traveled to see Jawbreaker or Rancid do not compare to the distances that some of our fans travel to see us. I am completely amazed and flattered by how devoted our fans are.â
AFI are not goth. But they are not afraid to be portrayed as mouth-breathing fan boys. The Stranger asked Burgan to peruse the track list for the forthcoming Rhino Records anthology A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box (in stores September 19), and single out a few of the 53 artists featured for comment. Not surprisingly, Siouxsie and the Banshees (âshe has a beautiful and truly unique voice that is as strong today as it was 30 years agoâ) and Nine Inch Nails (âjust when you thought that rock ânâ roll was dead, out popped Pretty Hate Machine like the spawn of Satanâ) received top marks.
But the highest praise is saved for the Cure. Which makes perfect sense, since the final cut on the Rhino set is AFIâs cover of âThe Hanging Garden,â taken from the 1998 EP A Fire Inside.
âAs most fans of music know, the âcover versionâ of a song is almost always synonymous with âan unfavorable festering sore,ââ opines Burgan. âHardcore fans of a band never want to hear some inferior schmucks ruining their bandâs magnum opus. We picked âThe Hanging Gardenâ because it was one of the few songs by the Cure (one of the greatest bands of all time) that we thought we wouldnât completely ruin.â
The admiration didnât end there, either. âWe had the honor of being invited to play a song for the show MTV Icon: The Cure. The members of the Cure were sitting mere yards away from us, as we powered through one of their songs to an audience of their fans. Needless to say, it was a nerve-wracking experience. My palms are still sweating as I write this.â Spoken like a true fan⌠goth or otherwise.