Lynn Twiss

Ever since Sharon moved to Boise, whenever I come into town we head to The Balcony’s “Industrial” dance night: Industria. There are three things you can count on with Industria:

• It falls on a Sunday night.
• It is located at The Balcony in Boise, Idaho.
• They won’t play industrial music.

My complaints here are identical to the ones I have with Portland’s own Crystal Ballroom’s HIVE night. It’s a corset attired alt-80s night, NOT an industrial dance night.

There have been glimmers of hope over these past couple years we’ve been going to it when I’m in Boise – but it’s pretty much the same crowd with altering DJs.

However, this time was different on many counts. This was the first time I’d been since being exposed to Portland’s GI scene and this was also the largest audience I’d seen at Industria.

When Sharon and I walked in this past Sunday, the first thing to catch my eye was that the DJ had setup a rig down on the wood dancefloor. I found this a very nice improvement. The typical DJ booth at The Balcony is located far above the audience in a hard to get to spot that keeps the DJ away from the crowd he’s spinning for. It’s tough to hear how loud the music is below when you are nestled in a booth with the door closed.

The next thing I noticed is that he was spinning 80s. (Depeche Mode was played 4 fucking times that night!)

I’m kicking myself now, but there was a song that he played and I was greatly impressed. It was a current rostered Metropolis artist and something that was fairly current. Sharon was ready to dance at that moment, but we would have been the only dancers on the floor, so we waited. We shouldn’t have. Because the very next song he spun into a damn slow alt-80s beat. It was shortly after this that I noticed the number of people filtering in. It was about 11PM now and I counted 104 people. Industria has no cover charge, so that number is to be expected from a city of 250,000. But this was a higher than usual number for this hour (By nights end, that number increased another 30-40 people). I noticed that everyone seemed to be waiting for that one song that puts them all on the dance floor. I told Sharon, “If he were to play VNV’s Chrome right now, it would pack the dance floor.” Well, his very next song was VNV Nation’s Chrome. Aside from Sharon, myself and a Ben Stiller look-a-like – we were the only ones that danced to it. I was shocked.

As the evening progressed the DJ’d mix a very wide range of music. But he played a lot of bands multiple times. Depeche Mode 4x. Covenant 4x. VNV Nation 3x. Nine Inch Nails 3x (if you include Supernaut). Derek, here’s a shocker: System Syn 3x. Icon of Coil 2x. He played some new stuff, but I noticed quickly that they were only Metropolis signed artists. So I approached him and struck up a few requests. I noticed on his table that he had a Metropolis 2005 DJ Promo disc. So that explained it. He was spinning what MR had sent him.

The resident Boise GIers were not happy. Many of them sat out the music. When one Wolfsheim would play – they’d jump out and swirl a bit. Then he’d follow up with a Benny Benassi song or mix (he played 2) and they’d gallop back to their chairs. I saw a few goth-fashioned women handed him CDs. Not one or two, but small stacks of CDs.

But I’ll say again: it wasn’t an ‘industrial’ night. I didn’t hear any Ah Cama Sotz, Mono No Aware, Neubauten etc… it was all goth-raver-dance.

Why the hell would you call your dance night: INDUSTRIA, and not play any INDUSTRIAL??!! It’s a question I’ve asked of this club in particular for ages (Before, when many residents considered it a good night, there was a resident DJ who spun that same alt-80s goth shit and I’d walk in and just sit down with a beer – there was no point dancing). Boise is smaller than Portland, yes; but the scene is almost the same size. Boise Goth Industrial Rivetheads don’t have an excuse.

Why must goth’s constantly dip their chocolate gothbar into my tub of industrial peanut butter?! I like my carbs and protein thank you. Not candy.

For all the musical up and downness, it was an interesting night. Sharon and I finally had a dinner alone (SUSHI!), uninterrupted by children or friends or ringing doorbells etc…, so that was very nice. Since I’ve been here, neither of us have had the luxury of spending a few moments alone to get caught up on our lives and happenings (and I’m LIVING in her house!). Later, The sky opened up and dumped the snow that had earlier that day hit Portland. It fell in huge flakes, and made the drive home slow and fun. While there were many old familiar faces at Industria, there were plenty of new ones as well.

ADDENDUM FROM THIS POST: I wanted to say that even with my criticism of the multiple plays of the same artist, I really do appreciate DJ Savage. He makes every attempt to please everyone, even when no one will dance. I can’t count how many times Sharon and I are the only ones dancing (I’m reminded of the Metric song Combat Baby**). Sharon and I both enjoy his sense of humor. How he’ll play some Rammstein and no one will dance, but then he mixes into Du Hast while holding his fingers up, starts a countdown to when everyone will go dance simply because they recognize it (unlike the previous track). Like clockwork, the GIers do.