The Dark Side: A Journey into the World of Israeli Goth

Meredith Price

Boys in black vinyl with spiked stud collars. Girls in red satin with long velvet capes. Painted white faces and starkly spiked hair. These are a few of the Gothic groupies' favorite things, which means Julie Andrews twirling through the crowd with a basket of flowers and an ear-to-ear grin might not be welcome.

Yet, despite the dark clothing and the scary make-up, the Gothic fans are generally a friendly group. Curious onlookers and the occasional dabblers are usually accepted into the social scene if they don't remind anyone of Britney Spears or Mary Poppins. The Goths are particularly wary of hypocrisy, which they sometimes associate with overly cheerful people.

"We are intimidating to outsiders because of the way we look, but we are not devil worshipers and most Goths are not into S and M," explains Eyal Ganor, who, at 29, is one of the oldest members of the Israeli Goth scene. As he proudly shows off his seven tattoos and six earrings, he explains that most people get tired of the scene as they age and "retire."

"When they get older, people start to think being Goth is immature or childish and they stop going out," he tells me. "But when a big Goth band comes to Israel, all the retirees come out too and we end up being over 600 people." Maya, who, at 23, is considered an older Goth, has been involved in the Gothic scene for the last five years, and while she hasn't fully retired, the demands of everyday life and paying bills make it hard for her to participate as much as she once did.

"I still love the music, but I don't care about the scene anymore," she says. "When you dress in Goth clothing, people look at you funny. People are afraid of what they don't understand, and only open-minded people can get beyond the way you look and examine the way you behave, which is what really matters in the end." Many Israelis were so skeptical of Maya's look that they weren't willing to hire her. "It took a long time for me to find a job," she says. "And I'm a loyal and hard worker. No matter what I look like, that doesn't change."

Somewhat of a celebrity in the small Israeli Goth community, which consists of 200 or so people, Ganor is often referred to as "the king of Goth." Like Maya, he is determined to be true to himself no matter what other people may think.

"My friends all accept my being Goth, of course, for I have good friends. Some think it's a bit weird, some are ambivalent, and some are Goth themselves. My brothers see it as weird, and my mom accepts it altogether, but my dad is suspicious at best, and I think he thinks I'm abnormal or something like that, although he doesn't say so aloud."

According to Ganor, most people come to Goth through the media or friends. With the Internet and its communities based on forums and chat rooms, the younger generation often meets people on-line, but they might also befriend other Goths in school.

Dressed for the occasion in a long black skirt and silver chains, Ganor sips a Red Bull and vodka as he settles into a chair to explain the Gothic culture in Israel. Dark feathered lines extend from his white irises as he points a black-laquered nail in my direction to explicitly add that, "there are no vampires or donors here. In Israel, the Goth scene is faster and more aggressive, but we know the vampire thing is bullshit."

Donors, for those not schooled in Goth terminology, is the same word that Magen David uses for those who volunteer their blood. The difference is solely in the method of extraction. In some places, members of the Goth community enact scenarios in which "vampires" suck the human blood of "donors," but for the vast majority of Goths worldwide, this is an unwarranted stereotype.

What is a modern Goth beyond dark clothing, spiked necklaces, funny hair and extreme make-up? An entire culture, with its own fashion, music, books, magazines, art, comics and philosophy has grown out of historical Gothic roots. But being Goth means different things to different people. For some, the importance of Goth centers on the style of dress. Others are primarily interested in the music. Bands like Skinny Puppy from Canada, or the Sisters of Mercy from England, Mephisto Walz from Germany and one Israeli band, Pulsa Denurah, top the lists for many Goth music-lovers. A few Goths join the scene for the freedom to be depressed without being considered social outcasts, and for some, dressing in Gothic clothing and going out to the clubs represents a much-needed escape from reality. The only common sentiment among the contemporary Goths seems to be their desire to be different and the enjoyment they derive from wearing outlandish clothing.

Once a month on Thursday nights, Goths travel from all over Israel to Tel Aviv to socialize, drink, appreciate the fashion of fellow Goths and, perhaps most importantly, listen to their favorite music, usually played by a group of DJs aptly named Dark Revolution. "The source of the music came from England with bands like Heavenly Voices or Placebo Effect," says one of Dark Revolution's DJs, Erez Sudai. Despite their forbidding appearance--including charcoal-painted eyes and long, raven fingernails-- many of the Israeli Goths work in the hi-tech industry or as computer programmers.

"Most of the Israeli Goths are just nerds with an attitude," says Kfir Greenman, a lover of Goth music who is not into the fashion or philosophy. "It's kindergarten here compared to the rest of the world, and the scene is relatively new," he explains. Among the younger "CyberGoths," it is common to post digital party photos and gossip on their Web site. The after-party often happens on the Internet in this crowd.

As they dance to the electronic pulse of Goth music, many groupies take the opportunity to record the events of the evening with digital cameras, video cameras and cellphones. Israeli Gothics like gadgets. "Lots of Goths work in computers and the Internet community is extremely active," says Ganor, who often finds himself up late at night in chat rooms or forums discussing Goth. That is, when he's not designing or upgrading his own home page. Ganor, aka "Arpadon," which means "little vampire" in Hebrew, dedicated his Web site to his passion for everything Goth. On the site he has links to other Gothic Web sites, party blogs, personal information, photo galleries, humorous columns and local hangouts. Not to be missed is his list of Goth types, spanning from Perky Goths (he puts himself in this category) to Mopey Goths (the bleak, suicidal types) to Fetish, Geek, Cyber and even Closet Goths (those who don't go out but like the music).

The contemporary gothic sub-culture in Israel that started gaining popularity in the late 1990s has international roots that sprang from the punk-rock movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The modern use of the term "gothic" began after the band Siouxsie and the Banshees described their new album as "gothic" in 1979.

GERMANIC IN origin, the word "gothic" originally referred to invading tribes that the Romans considered barbaric and uncultured. The etymology also includes the language of the Goths, and it later extended to include "Germanic," "medieval" and "barbarous, or not classical." Goth was a Germanic style of print and included an architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe, characterized by slender, vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses along with vaulted or pointing arches.

In 1765, Horace Walpole applied the term "gothic" to his novel, The Castle of Otranto, as a way to describe the sinister story. The most well-known gothic works of fiction may be Stoker's Dracula or Shelley's Frankenstein, but the genre is still alive and flourishing. Novelists like Anne Rice and Steven King, who write about horror and the dark side of humanity using elements of the supernatural, are the modern inheritors of gothic stories.

Oz Almog, an Israeli sociologist, explains that the Gothic trend is neither large enough to be considered an Israeli subculture nor unique to Israel. It is part of a huge world-wide phenomenon, but as he points out, "nothing is really Israeli."

"Everyone is seeking an identity, and when everything around you is falling apart, it is normal to find tiny meteors of cultural groups," says Almog. To be connected to something larger in a tumultuous world and to display that identity in a unique way provides a certain amount of comfort and fuels the exhibitionist fire burning within most Goths.

"These tiny cultures are also a form of escapism that might connect to the violence surrounding us," says Almog. "Looking for the dark part of life has nothing to do with rebellion here. Rather, it is a way to artificially get away from reality."

Yet, while these tiny cultures may not be Israeli in origin, Israelis are extremely adept at importing trends and expanding them to suit their own needs. "We adopt and import ideas, but then we do it better than everyone else," says Almog. "We love to imitate but we are also incredible initiators."

FOR YOUNG Israeli Goths who like to travel, they are sure to find other Goths anywhere in the world. The Goth social network spans the globe and transcends language. "The Goth movement has been labeled a value-based subculture because of the common interests that everyone agrees on," says Ganor. Two of the largest Goth festivals held every year in Germany draw Goths from all over the world.

Sudai, one of the DJs playing for Dark Revolution who started his career in a bar on Allenby Street in 1999, attends the Wave Gothic Treffen in Germany when he can. "I'm not actually a Gothic fan," he admits. "I don't really play Gothic music. I'm more into EBM (electronic body music), but the connections between the sounds are there. It's the same family." According to Sudai, you don't need to be a Goth to like the music. "If it speaks to you, you can listen to it. The rest is nonsense," he says.

But on rare occasions when a big Gothic band like Skinny Puppy from Canada comes to play, all of the Goths in Israel come out for the show. "At one concert there must have been about 600 Goths," says Ganor, who was introduced to Goth by a friend but found his true place in the scene all on his own.

"From an early age I had an attraction to the dark side and a fascination with death," says Ganor. "It sounds a bit Star Wars, but it's true."

"How can I explain my fascination with death?" asks Ganor. "It's like asking someone to tell you why they like chicken or their favorite color is green," he says dramatically, lifting up his tattooed hand in a theatrical wave to stroke his spiked collar. "There is simply no explanation."