“It’s Friday I’m in love.”

It was Friday. I was in love.

In love with the color black. In love with the lonely. In love with the dead, cold hearts around me. The infectious moody blues of Morrisey. The spacey apathy of Robert Smith. The dreamy synth from Martin Gore. In love with what is the Holy Trinty.

It was a DJ set taken straight from the heyday of the 80’s goth era – The Teragram Ballroom in partnership with Club 90’s threw a Holy Trinity night. In lieu of the band’s 4-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl, LA was in a fury of Depeche Mode parties. For those of us sans tickets to the sold out consecutive nights, a club night seemed a viable option.

Upon arrival, the night seemed promising. The front cut us a deal before the cover price increased and we were given a raffle ticket to get any patch or pin of our choosing. How can one choose between Depeche Mode, Smiths, or Cure patches and pins? Don’t rush me. It’s a serious decision. Things of this nature must be thought through, not executed with reckless abandon. I hastily snatched up a Depeche Mode pin and quickly felt a ping in my heart for this patch. I couldn’t let it go. This moody updated meme of Pictures of You whispered sweet nothings to me. Clever.

Let’s get to the meat of the night – the DJ set. One word: infectious. Gloomy, maddening, sad, dark, apathetic….but was it really? The beauty of these artists and this era is that on the outside they are dark and pessimistic but look deeper and the beauty, hope, and happiness seep through. The light shines and that my friends, is what makes the Holy Trinity – three artists that embody an emotionally driven melancholy music genre beam bliss.

A blend of music videos, live performances, and mashups played on a monsterous screen on stage while the DJ kept the jams bumping. The Cure’s moody hits were complimented by Depeche Mode’s irresistible synth while Morrisey’s infamous sad boy lyrics were scattered throughout. But, oh no, the party didn’t just stop there my friends. Deep cuts were had and were had by all. The drowning ticking of Bauhaus’ “Bella Lugosi is Dead” took over. The infectious plague of Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”. Dead or Alive’s “Spin Me Right Round”. Siouxsie Sous. So much Siouxsie Souse. It was beautiful.

I keep this short because the night was all too short. It hurts to come back to the reality of today with the music of the past creating an escape. To best sum it up, I borrow word from a wise man, “I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour but heaven knows I’m miserable now”.-

— Rock on