If you were in the Pacific Northwest and happened to be doing your bar-hopping in the early 2000’s you may have heard of a little spot called CLUB NOC NOC. Actually, first thing’s first…
Have you ever tried to explain what “Industrial” Music is? Neither have I. But I’ll give it a shot. To save you the full Wikipedia version of what Industrial Music is, lets start with the basic description.
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes.
Exciting stuff, right? For me industrial music can be explained like the Jeff Foxworthy bit:
Do you own a fishnet shirt, a lot of leather garments, and generally dress like you shop in the Matrix? Then you might just like industrial music.
Do you paint your fingernails black and have an unhealthy obsession with bats? Then you might just like industrial music.
Do you spend time during weekdays to test out your new techno dance moves under a bridge with your friends? Then you might just like industrial music.
All jokes aside, here is how I would truly describe IM: A form of electronica music that holds no normalcy of tempo. It can be a fast, pounding beat like Lords of Acid or KMFDM, or slowed down like 3TEETH or any number of Nine Inch Nails songs. It can be purely electronically written albums or written with full bands playing actual instruments. Lots of distortion. Lots of dark synths. Lots of whip sounds.
Here is what it’s great for:
✅ Teenage angst
✅ Coding software
✅ Annoying your apartment neighbors
✅ Having deep discussions about drinking blood
✅ Getting flogged
For me, the general through lines of determining if it is IM is:
(1) It has some sort of metal sound effect. Like the snare drum is the sound of a wrench hitting a hollow pipe, or trash can lids as cymbals.
(2) Compression Distortion on the Vocals! Maybe not every industrial band/song has super compressed overdrive effects applied to the vocals, but if the vocals are heavily distorted/compressed, chances are…. it’s IM. (See: N.W.O. by Ministry or After the Flesh by My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult)
(3) Samples! Lots and lots of vocal samples clipped from movies and political speeches can be heard repeated throughout IM songs. (See: N.W.O. by Ministry or After the Flesh by My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult) Side note: The sound clip at beginning of NIN’s Mr. Self Destruct is taken from George Lucas’ THX 1138. Just in case that was bugging you as much as it was me.
(4) If you’re still scratching your head and wondering if what you’re putting in your ears is industrial music, read the lyrics. Industrial bands love to write their songs in devotion to our lord and savior, Jesus Christ ✝️
Ok, maybe that last one was a bit off. Or completely off.
So now that we all know what IM is, let me tell you a tale of time long forgotten. The year is 2003, in the city of Seattle, at a place called Club Noc Noc.
Club Noc Noc was a bar I found myself stumbling into after seeing a flyer that was purely designed to lure an alcoholic like me in: $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap! How could I resist. I gathered my bro friends and valley girls and we made our way to this mysterious watering hole in downtown Seattle ready to drink them out of business.
When we arrived I gave everyone a look like “These suckers at this club don’t realize what they’re in for.” Door opens. The muffled sound of Marylin Manson’s The Dope Show now hitting us at full volume. Our collective confidence quickly turned into confusion and slight terror. Remember Pulp Fiction? And the GIMP? Yeah, he was there. Perhaps just a professional look-alike, but there he was, living it up on the dancefloor, full latex bodysuit, ball-gag and all! Next to him was a couple, feet planted and only dancing with their upper bodies, that I can only imagine Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein based there “Weirdo” characters on.
We must have all been standing in the doorway with out jaws dropped for quite some time because as I’m trying to process what this place is, the bartender yells “Hey! Are you in or out?” So I took a deep breath and stepped inside.
Now I’m sure that the dozen or so dollar PBR’s helped ease the confusion and eventually got me and my friends out of our shells. By the end of the night we had all taken turns on the dance floor and cut the rug to every NIN, Rammstein, Revolting Cocks and Rob Zombie song they were playing. And in doing so, we made friends with everyone in the club that night. Who would have thought I would have so much in common with a group of Seattle goths. And who would have thought that by the end of that night WE would be the ones who felt uncomfortable with what we were wearing.
The point of this story is: Always have a backup fishnet shirt on hand in case you find yourself at a goth-rave that lures you in with cheap gross beer!
Kidding.
The real point is this: Music has the power to unify all! If a dude-bro like me can enjoy and dance to the same songs and albums as the GIMP, then what isn’t possible? Take a chance. Be in. Make new friends in unlikely places. And let your black freak flag fly!
Unfortunately Club Noc Noc closed its doors permanently in 2013. Now, whenever I hear industrial music a tiny black tear falls down my cheek. So here’s to you Noc Noc! Your music and memories will live in our hearts forever. (Raising a toast with PBR 🍻)
To celebrate the memory of Club Noc Noc I created a playlist of new, post-2013, Industrial Music songs including some of my favorites from Priest, Wulfband, ACTORS and Hocico. If we lived in the dimension where Noc Noc is still open and thriving, I’m sure we would hear some of these songs on heavy rotation there.
Enjoy-