Beneath Red Light – Glitch Mode Decode Tour

We crossed into the San Francisco Bay across a fog laden bridge and surrounded by the diffuse red lights of brakes from our large numbers of companions on this journey. Over us towers the city’s skyscrapers, their peaks lost in the Bay fog. We hit the streets and pull into a parking spot with refuse jammed up against the curb and the nearest wall laden with graffiti of a bat. We step into the crisp, cold air. A pleasant change from the inland California heat which has oppressed us in the summer months. I pull the high collar of my trench coat tighter, and my accomplice and I take to the concrete, clad in black, and in search of the Elbo Room, our destination. An iron barred doorway permits us entry. Behind a scarred plastic glass cover tonight’s show is spelled out, Glitch Mode Decode Tour: Cyanotic, Kanga, Amelia Arsenic, For All The Emptiness, and DJ Unit77.

The Glitch Mode Decode Tour comes in the wake of major album releases from the involved parties, the majority of which are on the Glitch Mode Recordings label including Cyanotic (the progenitor of the label), Relic, Amelia Arsenic, and Rabbit Junk with others being Kanga and For All The Emptiness. The tour ran from August 2nd through September 4th, hitting a number cities across the United States including San Francisco.

We’ve arrived early, and the bar’s regular clientele have already begun to settle in for the night. A second barred door is closed discouraging entry to the upstairs venue. So, we approach the bar, illuminated in red light. The bar back is supported by two black pillars emblazoned with gold kanji and capped with the mounted head of the Jackalope. We order drinks from a generously bearded bartender who deftly concocts our order. The red tinted liquor is not disappointing. We settle into a dark booth that feels just right for plotting and listen to a DJ who is illuminated in red and green from a neon sign reading Psychic Readings – Palm, Cards. The soft music is occasionally broken by the sounds of pinball machines nestled out of sight behind the bar, notable of which was a neon-topped Demolition Man machine bearing the visage of Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock.

Shortly thereafter, the black iron gate barring entrance to the upper floor opened, and we were invited in to attend the show. Red paper lanterns cast their red glow on the dark space, with black leather benches lining the wall. The stage was flanked on either side by carved golden dragons with set red eyes completing the Big Trouble in Little China vibe of the place. I briefly exchange pleasantries with Sean Payne, lead man of Cyanotic and Glitch Mode Recordings, who has invited me here tonight. A few movie references and lamentations of tour travel later, Payne departs to prepare for the show. Then it began. An eccentric man in a military styled coat stood from his seat at the end of the leather bench nearest the stage, from which he had been watching the audience. Producing a vintage style wireless microphone, he stepped into the middle of the dance floor, the stage behind him. Electronic music begins, a music video is cast against the stages backdrop, and For All The Emptiness erupts into song.

Jonathan Kaplan, the aforementioned singer, has an incredible voice that feels reminiscent of Tom Shear of Assemblage 23. His music itself was more fantastical than the fare to follow, but certainly fit the night with the synthpop, industrial, and darkwave elements. Kaplan’s newest album, Circus of the Gods, takes us to magical landscapes populated with Gods and their worshipers. The tone is not one that finds these gods welcome though, take the following lines as an example:

There are gods amongst men,
Tearing us apart,
Playing a game,
They think we belong to.

There are gods amongst men,
Taking it all,
Leaving behind,
A planet of ashes.

There are gods amongst men,
Hiding with us,
Destroying our lives,
Yet we welcome them.

Taken metaphorically, Circus of the Gods comes across as a condemnation of those who fashion themselves as elites, better than those around them, and use their power and influence in ways that destroy people and our planet. Kaplan’s engagement with the audience at the floor level was a pleasant and unexpected beginning to a night of cyberpunk music from Glitch Mode Recordings, self proclaimed as a cyberpunk label. A title they have earned.

A skillful transition from set to intermediary music before the next band was orchestrated by DJ Unit77. Upon the stage, the drums are emblazoned with cybernetic representation of a spell circle, the monkier of Relic, whose members were traveling with the tour as accompaniment for Amelia Arsenic and Cyanotic. Dan Dickershied, Relic’s live drummer in a genre of music dominated by drum machines, took a seat at his post – a perfect meld of man and machine. Jordan Davis, the frontman for Relic, clad in an enviable leather jacket prepped the rest of the stage. Donning a guitar and stepping up to the mic, Davis announces a surprise set in place of Rabbit Junk being unable to attend that night’s show. Behind him, Relic is projected on the backdrop, the white letters illuminating his face, and then Relic joined the fray.

Relic’s performance is high energy (even to the point of climbing onto the drum set itself), industrial cyberpunk music not afraid to embrace the mystical connections that cyberpunk’s subculture has in it’s roots in the likes of Robert Anton Wilson, Rudy Rucker, and Timothy Leary and making Relic’s performance a good follow-up thematically to For All The Emptiness. Relic is rooted in the now/future, thus the cyberpunk aesthetic and sound, despite their occult themes. Their music is true industrial reminiscent of the Nine Inch Nails, but with a harsher edge. Relic’s most recent album, Social Drift, is a deeply critical composition on the effects of social media on society and compares it’s spread to that of a plague. Relic’s music is an aural treat that I recommend to all cyberpunk kind.

I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing Rabbit Junk, but I didn’t want to do an injustice to the tour and leave their excellent music off this list. Rabbit Junk finds itself more on the metal side of industrial, a irresistibly compelling cyberpunk industrial metal. Frontman J.P. Anderson is responsible for this incredible music and is accompanied by Jennifer “Sum Grrl” Bernert on vocals. Their most recent album is titled Rabbit Junk Will Die: Meditations on Mortality, and it is just that. According to their official summary, the album is “influenced by the resurgence of the cyber punk aesthetic and responding to the dark mood of an increasingly authoritarian planet, [and] seeks to capture the liberating yet terrifying moment in which we accept our mortality and take responsibility for our one guaranteed life.” It certainly succeeds in this and adds it’s own unique flavor to an already excellent tour for Glitch Mode.

In the wake of Relic’s performance, Amelia Arsenic graced the stage emerging from behind the backdrop dressed in a transparent PVC skirt, light white jacket, and sports wear beneath. An eclectic but cool combination that certainly brings to mind the street wear one might see in Transmetropolition or a french cyberpunk comic in the tradition of Mobius. Her performance opened with an invitation to the crowd to move closer to the stage. An important element as she was directly engaged with the audience during the course of her set. Her most recent album Queen of Risk was compelling in the flesh and carries strong commentary on the state of society, decadence of our capitalist present, and a nihilistic tone making it thematically very cyberpunk. Combined with the unique industrial sound, and what might be described as a dash of hip-hop, Amelia Arsenic’s music is solidified in the cyberpunk tradition. Take the lyrics of Live Slow Die Old as example:

We’re so broke and fucking bored,
Allergic to our daily work,
We want that Roman opulence,
The status quo we will subvert.

Our egos bigger than our hearts,
We got the world we still want more,
Too cool to try, blaise to fail,
Our living nihilistic chore.

We believed the hype,
Dream big and reach up for those tiny stars,
We saw through the shit,
Now we wanna make our home among the dirt.

We’re gunna live slow,
We’re gunna die old,
Always doing what we’re told.

We’re Generation Y,
We’re Generation why the fuck not?

We’re just millionaires,
Embarrassed to be waiting in the wings,
Wanna be the 1 per cent,
Without the reckoning.

This is my prayer for you,
Maybe you’ll wake up and feel today,
More than utility, more than what other people say.

In gold we trust,
We’re spun, in debt, obese, addicted.

In gold we trust,
Selectively numb with reason.

The stage cleared and plunged into darkness. Kanga DuChamp of the next act, Kanga, took the stage, adorned in a white button up, to be shed later, and black shorts. A small group of faithful fans pushed their way to the front of the stage in an excited clamor. Kanga’s performance was sensual and had a hypnotically creepy element to it that was only accentuated by the bottom up lighting that pierced the darkness. Often deep red or blue. Often strobing, not for those prone to epilepsy. Kanga interacted with those immediately adjacent to the stage in an authentic physical conversation that explains the fervor of her fan base. Kanga’s music is as hypnotic as her performance. It has strong industrial elements, but also has a strong pop elements. On her Facebook, Kanga describes her genre as “Heavy Pop. Industrial but not.” The lyrics themselves are concerned with sexual objectification, disenfranchisement, exploitation, and the angst born from these deep-seated themes. Everything about her approach to music and performance has a welcome subversive quality to it. The performance came to a close with DuChamp joining the floor and inciting the already dancing audience to turn it up a notch.

Kanga leaves the floor and the stage. There is a brief lull again expertly filled by DJ Unit77. Relic’s Davis and Dickershied return to the stage in their support roles on drums and key board. Then Sean Payne, himself of Cyanotic, adorns the stage. Jenny Payne too assumes her position with laptop, synths, and the like. She has an air of Sarah Connor about her. Dangerous but elegant. An expert in what she does. Cyanotic’s music has been described as ‘Angry Robot Noises,’ and although I agree with this to an extent, that shouldn’t undercut the strong human element. Cyanotic may chiefly be Sean Payne, but he embraces the skills of others. Often I have watched inexperienced bands fail to communicate on stage, Sean had no fear of this. He constantly checked in with his team mates, but never detracted from music itself. The synergy of the band and the high energy of vocals elevated the audiences dancing to a fever pitch. It was truly excellent music, but also a thriving community, much as Payne’s Glitch Mode Recordings acts as a label. Just as my initial interaction with Payne, Cyanotic’s music seeps references to cyberpunk and other 80s properties. During the SF show, he brandished a Tetsuo The Iron Man t-shirt, but during the tour has also sported the sequels moniker, The Body Hammer, and that of Robocop. Terminator seems to hold a special place in the mind of Payne, his most recent album being called Tech Noir after the club in Terminator, and the remaster with additional songs that just came out being called T2, a clear reference to Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Payne’s music too has this cyberpunk edge, not surprising as his mind seems to be permanently plugged into the 80s nostalgia, which I am guilty of myself, so I am not one to judge. Personally, it elevated the entire experience for me. If you enjoy cyberpunk, especially classic cyberpunk from the 80s, then Cyanotic is most definitely for you.

The show came to a close, energy still bristling in the air, as those who had witnessed this excellent show branched off into cliques to discuss their various experiences on a personal level. I myself met and communed with a number of them, only expanding my perception of the event. I had a personal discussion with Jonathan Kaplan, where I lamented his likeness to Stephen Furst, who played Vir Cotto in Babylon 5, and came to learn that he had made references to Bablyon 5 in his music. I met Amelia Arsenic once she had pried herself away from adoring fans and expressed my appreciation of her music. Then, I caught up with both Paynes to prepare for the interview that we had arranged proceeding the show.

We made our way out to the street, where the tour’s RV and trailer were parked. The entire tour made their way out to the street to finish packing up along with some friends who assisted with packing and preparing for the next leg of their trip.  For All The Emptiness, Amelia Arsenic, Kanga, Relic, and Cyanotic all as their authentic selves. They are a group that embodies the word cyberpunk, and I enjoyed their presence. I followed Dan Dickershied, Jordan Davis, Sean and Jenny Payne into the RV and we had a wonderful discussion about music, the cyberpunk subculture, the state of the world, and more that you can read about here. Then we embarked on our journey home, as they embarked on the next leg of their journey to Portland, and then Seattle. The late night streets of SF have an almost solemn feeling about then, especially cloaked in the Bay fog. As we returned to our car, homeless men erupted into a a yelling match that only cemented the reality of the cyberpunk world in which we find ourselves.

If you’d like to dig deeper into the work of any of the artists from the Glitch Mode Decode Tour, check out the links below.

For All The Emptiness

Relic

Rabbit Junk

Amelia Arsenic

Kanga

Cyanotic