Is it Gypsies and Lace?
About a week or two ago I went to another goth-lolita night courtesy of a la Mode Tokyo. Three of the bands were the same as the last time I went, and the night seemed to be running on something of a steampunk theme. One of the bands, Strange Artifact, even claims to play “Steampunk Music,” and have been invited to the steampunk worlds fair (in Washington, I think) this year. Which got me thinking, what actually is “steampunk rock”? The picture above shows the singer from Strange Artifact – she is wearing a kind of gypsy/lace/punky outfit. The picture below is her bassist, who was wearing a gasmask last time but this time just looks like a standard leather-and-spandex rocker.
Parlour music, Ikebukuro style...
So I’m not sure what makes them steampunk. The other band that seems to have a bit of a steampunk styling is Black Dead Butterflies, pictured below in their pirate capes. These guys are calling themselves a Gothic Unit and styling themselves as lovers (I don’t know if they are). Surely pirate lesbians have a steampunk element?
Lesbian pirates are steampunk ... right?
So what is steampunk rock? As a genre steampunk literature seems to be marked out by a few simple properties:
- Victoriana and the general industrial/technological trappings of the steam age
- A fascination with Europe and European history
- Girls in lead roles
The last part might not seem obvious but it seems to me that there is always a lead female character in a steampunk story, at least all the ones I’ve read. Philip Pullman, Stephen Hunt, Scott Westerfield, Steven Harper, are examples that spring to mind. Obviously steampunk as a literary genre is also not so perfectly defined, but it seems to have this as a strong element. And the goth-lolita scene is really noticeable for the prominence of women as organizers, performers and traders within the scene. So they at least have this in common with steampunk. But shouldn’t music genres be at least partly defined in terms of their musical style? What makes steampunk rock steampunk rather than just rock? Or is it just gothic rock wearing a bit more brass and lace, with the odd lesbian pirate thrown in?
Compromise and Conceit 
May 23, 2012 at 8:06 am
Perhaps you should look at who we just played with at the Steampunk World’s Fair – http://steampunkworldsfair.com/?p=5901
Or noted steampunk music blog Sepiachord – http://sepiachord.com/
And what exactly is wrong with lesbian pirates?
Cheers 😉
May 23, 2012 at 10:02 am
A star! A star has fallen to my blog! Welcome, Dan, and thanks for commenting. Congratulations on your invitation to the Steampunk World’s Fair – I guess it went well, and you enjoyed it?
The sepiachord explanation of steampunk music makes it sound less like a genre and more like an idiosyncracy:
Do you have a definition for steampunk music yourself? The music I’ve seen (all in Tokyo) does seem to differ from Gothic Rock, but I’m not quite sure how. I’m also not sure if the genre is better defined by its musical content or its themes, because there’s a huge difference between, say, Strange Artifact and Gurimo Rizumu. What do you think?
Oh, and of course, it goes without saying that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with lesbian pirates!!
May 25, 2012 at 7:56 am
It did indeed go well – lines out the door waiting to get in, tons of CDs sold, and we’ve already begun plotting our return in 2013 (which at this point may actually become a proper tour, Cthulhu help me).
‘Steampunk’ as a musical genre is very hard to pin down and in the end “music created by steampunks” is probably a more accurate description.
On Friday night we followed the Clockwork Dolls (http://www.myspace.com/theclockworkdolls) and were followed by Victor Sierra (http://www.myspace.com/victorsierra). Our merch booth neighbor was Eli August (http://www.myspace.com/eliaugust), who sold handmade soap next to his CDs. The highlight of Saturday night was Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band (http://www.myspace.com/ensmb) playing a 1AM concert in the hotel’s car port followed by a 150-person-strong march to the other hotel, and on Sunday we were able to enjoy Psyche Corporation (www.myspace.com/psychecorp) and Platform One (www.myspace.com/platformone).
It’s not my place to defend steampunk music, because realistically I can’t; these bands have little in common with each other, and there’s another 20 or or so bands I didn’t get a chance to name. And yet, at an environment like the Steampunk World’s Fair, it worked.
Quite frankly, there’s no litmus test to determine whether or not a band is steampunk; they are if they want to be. Gurimo Rizumu would probably fit in fantastically at the SPWF, and perhaps one day they’ll be able to come along with us. In the US scene at least, the steampunk music scene is similar to the steampunk scene in general; it’s open to just about anything, as long as someone out there enjoys it.
July 18, 2012 at 5:25 pm
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