On the weekend of March 8th
2003, Dem
(toronto-goth.com) and Crimson headed off to London, ON for the weekend. Here's
their report and experiences. If you'd like to comment or have some information
about London to share, please use the comment form at the bottom of this page.
All photos are by Crimson.
Shopping: Frilly Lizard and Salamander
 Dem: Upon arriving in London Saturday afternoon, we decided
to do a little shopping since many of the shops are closed on Sundays. The
first stop was The Frilly
Lizard (362 Talbot St. in downtown London, 1-866-374-5595 or
1-519-439-1270). This shop is owned by the vivacious Sue Glass who also owns
Commander Salamander (right next door) as well as a 3rd shop in London. The
Frilly Lizard, while not an exclusively gothic store, had some good fashions,
especially more classy skirts and dresses, as well as playful items such as
panties and babydolls. Right next door, there is a retro feel to Commander
Salamander which sells knick-knacks, tshirts, pins and other fun little things.
I'd definitely recommend a stop at these two stores.
Shopping: Bohemian and the Dark
 Dem: We then headed off to Bohemian and the
Dark (402 Richmond St.), which I believe is London's only gothic
botique, but I could be wrong. It's owned by Courtney and partner. A great
selection of PVC, velvet and fetish wear. Both men's and women's wares are
available, though as always the men's selection is somewhat limited, but
apparently that will change soon. The prices compared quite favourably to those
in Toronto, and Crimson managed to take strong advantage of the $5 sale rack
and pick up some lovely bargains. I didn't end up buying anything, but if I had
the money I would have come out of there with some new outfits. I loved the
mirror at the back of the store with the name on it, as well as the music
Courtney was playing. It was also a good place to find out what's happening in
the London scene by talking to the very knowledgeable Courtney, or picking up
some flyers.
 
Bohemian and the Dark Events
Dem: Bohemian and the Dark sponsors 2 nights: SOS (Save Our Souls) every
Saturday at The Ramp (346 Ridout St.), and Bohemian and the Dark live band
night on the first Thursday of every month at Call the Office (216
York St. in London). Sidenote: this coincides with Toronto Goth's New Scream
night @ Savage
Garden (also on the first Thursday of the month) but I look forward to
a trip to London on June 5th when Bohemian and the Dark present Perdition and Aphasia. That month's
New Scream is pushed back to May 29th to allow Savage Garden to celebrate their
9th anniversary party on June 6th.
Club Perversion
Dem: There was also a fetish night going on at Gravity Club ( 355 Talbot
St.) called Club Perversion which happens on the first Saturday of every month.
While it appealed to me to check out a night in a different city to see how it
differed from Toronto's Fetish Masquerade and other fetish events, we wanted to
do the club hopping thing and didn't feel that one hour would be enough time to
get an accurate opinion and experience from the night. This may be wrong, but
that's the choice we made. Read a review on Gravity Clubs Perversion night on
FYI London
Wrecked
Dem: We took a cab to Wrecked (dowstairs of 335 Richmond St.) which we
thought would have a goth/industrial night. The place reminds me of someone's
basement.
Crimson: To be fair, London is a small scene. So if one or two other
bars are really happening (there was a fetish night at Gravity, and a lot of
people at the Ramp), then the 3rd bar will be dead. Really dead.
 Crimson: Wrecked is a long, low basement with tile floor,
leftover bar furniture, white-painted wood-panelled walls, and a typical
basement drop ceiling. Some putrid lighting is provided by Zellers black-light
bulbs stuck to the wall at intervals. We didn't stay long enough to check out
the bathrooms. We did stay long enough to have a beer and be thoroughly ignored
by the baseball hat-wearing crowd. Not that we craved their attention, but this
was highly unusual.... come on, we were a group of 3 goth Godesses with no male
accompaniment! And there were only 2 other girls amongst the sparse crowd. I
guess drinking beer straight out of the pitcher is more interesting than
girls.
Crimson: When we arrived, the music was sucky Creed-ish dreck, but it
did improve. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Wrecked, but I wouldn't advise
avoiding it either. If the other 2 bars are dead, then try going there because
that may be where everyone else is.
 Dem: After a few songs, we figured out that it was not a
goth/industrial night, but a metal night. Which is not necessarily a bad thing,
just not what I was expecting. The DJ was not very responsive to my questions,
and wouldn't tell me what his name was or what the name of the night was, even
after I told him I was doing a review for Toronto-Goth. Anyway,
the atmosphere in Wrecked was a little strange: we were pretty much the only
females in the place (not a bad thing!) but the majority of males didn't pay
any attention to us. Some of them were too busy drinking their beer out of a
pitchers (and no, not with a straw either). Why can't we have real men like
that in Toronto? :)
Dem: Anyway, I gave up on Wrecked before I even finished my beer.
Perhaps another night might be better, but this one just wasn't doing it for
me.
The Ramp
Crimson: The Ramp (346 Ridout St.) is aptly named, because it is
situated in a 70s modernist building atop an exterior ramp. I guess this was an
exciting architectural feature at the time.
 Crimson: The interior of the club is large; it could easily
have held more than 3 times the 75 or so people there the night we went. But
what the crowd lacked in size, they more than made up for in spirit. It was a
friendly, non-judgmental assembly of diverse persons: people in blue jeans were
just as comfortable as those in head-to-toe PVC. And there were some fabulous
outfits there that night. People displayed individual flair and style; the
minority of raver-clad people were just as well-dressed in their own way as the
post-punks and velvet victorian vamps. This being a university town, there was
an unusually high percentage of meltingly cute men.
Dem: It was a treat to be in a bar where I didn't know anybody. Some of
the people there were dressed quite well; I saw the usual PVC and velvet
outfits, as well as a lot of tshirts. The vibe was overwhelmingly friendly and
positive, and that was great to see.
 Crimson: The music was good, too: a satisfying mix of newer
techno and older industrial. I didn't even mind hearing KMFDM twice, as they
were both older gems that were never overplayed.
Dem: The DJ kept the dancefloor steadily busy with both new and classic
songs by bands like Apoptygma Berzerk and Alien Sex Fiend and Apotheosis. I
can't remember any of the others b/c I was just that drunk :) It's been a while
since I danced in Toronto, but for some reason I kept finding myself on that
funky tiled dancefloor.
 Dem: The Ramp has low ceilings and is exteremely spacious.
The dancefloor area intrigued me; it is segregated from the sitting areas by
pillars, kind of like a big open cage, with black and white tiles on the floor.
Anyway, there's tons of seating room, which is always a bonus.
 Crimson: The decor was basic red-black-white, with stripes
and checkers a typical motif. Essentially, they just painted over what was
already there. The bathrooms were nuclear bright and could be greatly improved
with locking stall doors and some toilet paper. However, at $3 a beer, you
don't have to concern yourself with drinking at home to save money.
Dem: Now, what review is complete without some bitching? (Take a look at
a lot of the reviews on
TG and you'll see what I mean). I have nothing to necessarily bitch about
regarding the Ramp, but I do have two suggestions/constructive criticisms.
#1. Last Call
Maybe we are spoiled here in Toronto, but we get at least 3 warnings regarding
last call, usually starting around 1.30am. I like my beer and I like to know
when last call is so that I can get one last one to tide me over for the
evening. After a great evening at the Ramp of drinking, dancing and great
conversation, I stumbled up to the bar to get us one last round of drinks. Only
to be told they weren't serving anymore (it was 2.05am according to my cell
phone). While I don't have a problem with the law that says I can't be served a
beer after 2am, I do have a problem with not being told that there was limited
time remaining to get that last beer. So anyway, I got a little bit bitter
about this lack of beer, and talked to the DJ about it. I think he said he had
called out last call, but the microphone was broken. Or something like that. So
the effort was made, but I was still without a drink in my hand. So my
suggestion to the bar/dj is to always be sure to announce last call: it's to
your advantage because you sell more alcohol and that's what pays the bills.
But on the other hand, I can understand why bar owners might not necessarily
want people getting fresh drinks at 2am. Speaking from experience, when you're
trying to pack up your gear after a show or night, you kind of just want to get
the hell out of there and don't want to have to watch the 3 drunk girls in the
corner giggle away while they finish their beer.
#2. Washrooms
We've seen some pretty nasty washrooms in Toronto (think Sanctuary) but the
ladies room at the Ramp was nothing like this. The only thing I would like to
see changed is putting some locks on the stall doors. I can be acrobatic and
hold a door closed while I do my business, but in this case the door just
seemed way to far away to beable to do this.
Crimson: All in all, we had a much better time than expected.
Dem: I had a fantastic weekend, and will return to London again when I
need another break from Toronto.
Have a comment on this review or the scene in
London? Fill out this form.
Comments &
Feedback
Zorbs wrote on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 from
Toronto:
When I used to frequent Wreckd back in 1999 and 2000, it was totally Goth.
obumbratus (joe@nocturnal.com) wrote on Friday, April 04, 2003 from
Toronto:
I'd just like to thank you two for doing this. I have a sister there, and now I
will have at least some direction as to where I can go next time I'm there.
Cheers!
Joy (dragonfly00@yahoo.com) wrote on Thursday, April 03, 2003 from Syracuse,
NY
Thanks for taking the time to write up on London... My boyfriend and I travel
various places just to check out club scenes. Usually we hit more local places
like Vertex in Rochester, NY where I grew up, or The Haunt in Ithaca, NY, and
also The Continental in Buffalo, NY, but I have been to Toronto many times, and
enjoy finding new places. Thanks for informing us of a few more to drive to....
Joy
missie (missie@rocketmail.com) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 fromm London
London is small so everything is different.
frilly lizard is alright but one of my teachers does their displays and crap
for them, so it aint that great.
there is another goth store. i think its on dundas. somewhere in the downtown
coridor.
what i dont like about london is there is no community. very hard to meet
similar people etc.
and ive found the staff at Bohem to be rude and look at you up and downto see
if you are really "goth">
but then again that is how Siren is too.
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