T-Shirt Front designs BTV

 

 

 

 

Beyond the Veil was a goth music festival held in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. The festival was primarily run and financed by Roger, Trish and myself as partners of Gog promotions. It was an expansion from the stand alone gigs we used put on as either part of a special Black Veil clubnight event at the Adelphi in Leeds or stand alone gigs mostly billed as Nights of the Black Veil, mainly at Josephs Well, and  a couple of other locations in Leeds.

The Black Veil clubnight in Leeds was one of the few Goth nights at the time actively playing and promoting a new mix of gothic styles (due to my visits to German festivals and club nights in the late 90s) and new bands from across the world.

In 2002 I had privilege of being invited to DJ at Gothcon in New Orleans, which utilised a Marriott hotel at Easter, as it usually wasn’t a busy time and it also had a ballroom which the bands played in and there was also a clubnight which I had the the privledge of  playing at. It was a great atmosphere due to everyone including the bands being friendly, approachable and hanging out together. This got me thinking about whether it might be possible to host something similar in Leeds.

Thinking back to this time and the reason that a lot pictures and detailed information has been lost is that we relied a lot on Yahoo Groups for the Black Veil clubnight setlists, live journal, gothnet and of course Myspace which had its own Beyond The Veil Festival site but they destroyed it when that prat Justin Timberlake took it over ;(. So I have managed to find bits of pieces from the festival which I have gathered here to create a record of Beyond The Veil in Leeds to mark its 20th anniversary.

We were tired of seeing the usual  and sometimes second-rate bands that were propping up the stagnating UK Goth scene and  so we actively set out to get new and exciting well known Gothic bands from outside the UK whilst giving the opportunity for some of the more exciting new UK bands a chance to shine.

A budget was set aside and business plan was created for each event which guaranteed the event would go without total dependency on advance ticket sales. When I see events being cancelled due to poor ticket sales seems like lack of business planning on behalf of the organisers as only a chancer would just rely on ticket sales. There was a lot of contract discussions and negotiations that were ongoing with multiple bands for months before the lineups were completed and only announced once contracts had been agreed.

Part of the putting the lineup together was to encourage people to travel from across the UK and also outside the UK by having UK exclusive shows from the bands taking part. One of the frustrations was sometimes even though we would be covering their travel, accommodation, catering  costs and giving them an agreed appearance fee, they would try to get an extra gig in London which wouldn’t fit in with travel  over the Easter weekend or we would be paying the travel costs and other promoters didn’t want to discuss splitting these costs so we would actually be paying the bands travelling costs to play for someone else. Some of the booking agents we spoke to also preferred to put a tour together in the summer as there were more festivals, so they could earn more and the bands could make longer tours. Some bands that were contacted had decided to take a break from live shows, one band I contacted and agreed a fee with ended up being impossible to do, due to their music instruments e weight which was really expensive to fly in. I arranged to meet a lot of bands at concerts and they really liked this personal approach, but even when this t went very well, despite the bands enthusiasm they had managers who just didn’t want to communicate. So here are a few of the bands we had discussions with but it just didn’t happen  that they could play Beyond The Veil – The Birthday Massacre, The Cruxshadows, Ikon, Miguel and The Living Dead, Kirlian Camera, Corvux Corax, Tanzwut, Death in June, Unheilig, Suicidal Romance, Agonoize, Tristesse De Luna, Deine Lakaien, Die Form, Decoded Feedback, Dope Stars inc, Illuminate, Karmadeva, Dance on Glass, The Drowning Season, Golden Apes to name a few.

 

The festival was held over the Easter weekend to avoid clashes with other festivals. For the first 3 editions of the festival the live band event with gothic stalls was held on Easter Sunday at the Metropole Hotel, a Victorian hotel in central Leeds, notable for its ornate red brick facade. Guests and bands all stayed in the same hotel which helped create a special gothic family vibe. The night before a Black Veil warm up clubnight was held at the Adelphi in Leeds. In 2005 the event was extended to a 3 day event with live bands playing at the Vine on the Headrow on the Friday night.

In 2006 the venue changed to the cockpit for the live band event on Easter Sunday and the Golden Lion Hotel hosted the Black Veil clubnight in its ballroom.

YEP Press preview

2003

 

Diva Destruction(USA) (exclusive UK show)


Antiworld (USA)(UK Debut)


Butterfly Messiah(USA) (UK/European Debut)


In MitraMedusa Inri(GER) (UK Debut)


Psydoll(JPN) (UK/European Debut)


The Last Days of Jesus(SK)

View of mobile sound desk

GOG crew with Benn Ra

2004

ASP(GER) (UK debut)


Bella Morte(USA) (UK/European Debut)


Escape with Romeo(GER) (UK Debut)


The Last Days of Jesus(SK)


The Last Dance (USA)


Screaming Banshee Aircrew


Deathcamp Project(PL) (UK Debut)

2005 26th-27th March

Murder at the Registry(GER)(UK debut)
Violet Stigmata(FRA)(UK debut)
Deviant UK
Opened Paradise(GR)(UK debut)
Zeitgeist Zero
Voices of Masada
Agonised by Love(PL)(UK debut)
Uninvited Guest

2006

The House of Usher(GER)
Ardor(GER) (UK debut)
Sol Invictus
Violet Stigmata(FRA)
Deviant UK
Uninvited Guest
Trauma Pet

2007

ASP(GER)(exclusive Uk show)
Elusive(NOR)( exclusive UK show)
Screaming Banshee Aircrew
Sieben
Lahka Muza(SK)(UK debut)
The Eternal Fall(ES)(UK debut)


The Eternal Fall(ES)(UK                          

 

2009

Rosa Crvx(FRA)(exclusive UK show)
Ghostfire
Heavy-Current(GER)(UK debut)
Sieben
The Eternal Fall(ES)(exclusive UK show)
John Merricks Remains
Legion

Beyond The Veil VI Day I *Black Veil special* Sat 11th April 2009 Cosmopolitan Hotel Leeds
DJ De’Ath

Summoning Of The Muse – DEAD CAN DANCE
Can You Hear The Devi Laughing Or Is It Just Me – ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO
Fable – NOX ARCANA
Love Eternal – ARCANA
Maellus Malleficarum – ORDO FUNEBRIS
Inksterna – LIFES DECAY
Falling Into Different Flesh – SOPOR AETERNUS
De Profundis – ASP
Hopeful Despair – ANDREAS GROSS
Somebody – ESCAPE WITH ROMEO
Invocation – THE HOUSE OF USHER
Damnation (Thomas Rainer mix) – WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW
Another Day – VENDEMMIAN
Talking Scarlet To A Corpse – THE IMAGINARY STIGMA
Death – WHITE LIES
Isolation – JOY DIVISION
To Believe In Something – THE EDEN HOUSE
The Boo – WUMPSCUT
Ersatzeil – FEINDFLUG
The Curse (freak edit) – DIARY OF DREAMS
Synthesize Me – DIORAMA
Delight – SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS
Sandiago 2k (Qntal rmx) – THE ETERNAL AFFLICT
Skudrinka – CORVUS CORAX *R
Mitdans – BARBARIAN PIPE BAND
Herren Der Winde – SCHANDMAUL *R
Werben – ASP *R
Horror Show – THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE *R
Jasmin & Rose – CLAN OF XYMOX
Cities In Dust – SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES *R
In The Flat Field – BAUHAUS
Wardance – KILLING JOKE
Deathwish – CHRISTIAN DEATH
Whitecoats – NEW MODEL ARMY
In Wald – UNDERCURE
Shadow Of Love – THE DAMNED
Preacherman – FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM
Lucretia My Reflection – SISTERS OF MERCY
Monkeys On Juice – RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY
It’s Lonliness – ESCAPE WITH ROMEO
Tyranny For You – FRONT 242
Cut To See How Much I Bleed – WUMPSCUT
Be Like Me (radio edit ) – TERMINAL CHOICE *R
Honour (memorial mix ) – VNV NATION *R
Herr Mannelig – HEIMATAERDE
Mitternacht – E NOMINE *R
Nummus – HELIUM VOLA
Valrulven – GARMANA
Sarah – CULTUS FEROX
Fallen Angel – ENGELSTAUB
She Said Destroy – DEATH IN JUNE
Sage Ja – UNHEILIG *R
She’s Lost Control (12 mix) – JOY DIVISION
Snakedance – THE MARCH VIOLETS
Spiritwalker – THE CULT
Romeos Distress – CHRISTIAN DEATH
Sebastian – SEX GANG CHILDREN
Sexbeat – SEXBEAT
Like A Bad Girl Should – THE CRAMPS *R
Hexen Leben Lange – DER FLUCH
Graveyard Love Song – MIGUEL & THE LIVING DEAD
It’s Halloween – SHADOW REICHENSTEIN
Copycat – LACRIMOSA *R
Stripped – RAMMSTEIN
Fade To Grey – PHASE III
Tanz Mit Laibach – LAIBACH
Fu*kit – WUMPSCUT
Seelenschmerz – BLUTENGEL *R
Totesfleisch – TERMINAL CHOICE *R
Face Of Death – SUICIDE COMMANDO

CD draw congratulations to our winners Steve, Katie, Rhona & Stew. Thanks to
Escape With Romeo , Wumpscut & Hardbeat Promotions for their support.

Happy Birthday – THE CRUXSHADOWS *R
Licht N Schatten – SALTATIO MORTIS
Omnis Mundi Creatura – HELIUM VOLA
Strangelove – DEPECHE MODE *R
Eclipse (vers 4.0)- KIRLIAN CAMERA *R
Little Black Angel – DEATH IN JUNE *R
All Pain Is Gone – COMBICHRIST *R
Tanzwut – TANZWUT
Flamma – QNTAL
Baby Turns Blue – VIRGIN PRUNES *R
Promised Land – SKELETAL FAMILY
Holiday In Cambodia – THE DEAD KENNEDYS
Temple Of Love (orig) – SISTERS OF MERCY

 

Over the years a number of bands and people have been asking if I had any spare T-Shirts as they had worn out the original ones, so I decided for 20th anniversary to create an order on demand design for all the bands that played for BTV in Leeds over the years. It’s available on a friends T-Shirt shop and can be purchased here if you so wish
BTV 20th Anniversary Shirts

Thanks to all the bands and people who attended Beyond The Veil and helped make it very special and unique Gothic event in the birthplace of Gothic music.