iBrattleboro Interview: James M. Doyle

Sunday, February 01 2004 @ 06:04 PM EST

This interview is part of the pair of interviews with DJ Nocte and DJ Rabid Angel, co-hosts of rfb's gothic-industrial music show "Corruption's Manifesto." Pull up a chair and listen in as we discuss the same things as in the other interview, but from a different perspective. Jim is DJ Rabid Angel.

Name: James M. Doyle, AKA DJ Rabid Angel of radio free brattleboro

Birthday: July 10th, 1974

What do you enjoy about being a part of Brattleboro?

I love Brattleboro because it's sorta this little world of its own. Over the years that I've lived in this area I've met more people that I've been proud of than I ever imagined I'd meet. Bratt's got this great sense of social responsibility coupled with an outgoing, friendly and accepting nature. As part of rfb's street team I've met [literally] hundreds of people and had a chance to talk to folks that have made me feel like a welcome and important part of this community. It's a very rewarding thing, to meet your neighbors and discover that they're very likable and wonderful people.

How did you end up here?

I moved here in 1994. I was born and raised in Spencer, Massachusetts. My grandmother moved up to Marlboro when she retired in 1981, and the highlight of every school and summer vacation for me was always spending time with her up here. I grew up in a really crappy home where there was a lot of substance abuse, physical violence and emotional damage. When I was twenty I needed to get out, I needed to rebuild my life and straighten myself out. I came here because I really had nowhere else to turn. It took me a long time and it wasn't easy, but this area gave me a second chance. The pace of life is so different from what I was used to that it allowed me to slow down and prioritize what I needed to do to clean my life up. And I was blessed with some truly amazing friends who've helped me a lot along the way.

Do you work in town?

I work at C&S Wholesale Grocers, up on Putney Road. When I first moved here I worked at Subway on Main Street. From there I got into publishing with Stratford Desktop Services, and when the economy took a downturn after 9/11 I joined the rank and file on the dole for almost ten months. I've been at C&S for just over a year. I work as a Scanning Analyst, which is a fancy way of saying that I maintain price changes and data files for grocery chains like Grand Union and Great American.

Did you go to school here?

Nope. I have an Associates in Business Administration from Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA and several PC and applications certs from Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA. I'm thinking about picking up some more basic certifications in computer related fields, but time and finances are both in short supply these days...

Tell us about your radio show on rfb...

I'm one of the miscreants who run Corruption's Manifesto. Originally DJ Nocte and I started separate shows with a similar gothic-industrial bent. We had both been interested in DJing - on the radio and at clubs - but DJ Nocte got me motivated to turn the idea into reality. Later, when his college schedule forced him to abandon his own show, he became my other half on Corruption's Manifesto. It's been a great experience for us both.

Corruption's Manifesto has been far more successful than I'd ever dreamed. From the start our show has always focused on two principles: to promote community, both within the circles that we frequent as goths and within the greater community as a whole, and to promote the music and bands that we listen to. On the first point, I think we've done extremely well. We've picked up quite a few listeners and many of them have become really close friends of ours. In turn the people who gather around our show have made friends with each other and spread the love.

On the later point, we've had some great experiences getting listeners involved with the bands that we play. Most of the artists that we feature are independent bands working off of small labels like Cleopatra, Metropolis and Dancing Ferret. They don't get any exposure outside of goth clubs and other specialized venues. People hear what we play and they call in, or they attend the concerts that we promote.

Our fans are great like that, and the bands that we play have given us a lot of support in return. Small bands are great. Over the last year or so we've met Bella Morte, The Cruxshadows, Thou Shalt Not, You Shriek, Scissorkiss, Razed in Black, Collapse Into Reason, control.org - some of the best names in our genres - and they've all encouraged us to keep up our work.

It's a great partnership: us, our listeners and the artists that give us such awesome music.

We're going to interview Dj Nocte, too. The show has quite a following, especially on the Internet. How did that come about?

When Corruption's Manifesto first started I was unemployed. I spent most of my time online because, well, there wasn't much else for me to do. I had made a lot of friends online and it seemed natural to drag them along and make them listen to my show. DJ Nocte did the same. And then a funny thing happened. They not only listened, but they liked what they heard. Some of them, like my friends Eric and Gary, designated themselves as official "Pimps for Corruption." It was a hilarious campaign where everyone who listened would post about Corruption's Manifesto on their BLOGS. From there DJ Nocte and I used our own weblogs to meet new people and to promote the show. Then came www.livejournal.com/users/corruption_man , a journal dedicated specifically to our show. That's probably the best move we made on the Internet. Because our journal's open to anyone who wants to post, our listeners congregate while we're on the air and they chat with each other. Whichever DJ isn't on the air joins our Net Minions and chats as well.

It's a real trip knowing that our itty-bitty little radio station has listeners scattered across the globe. We've had listeners from as far away as Australia, and we have regular listeners in Wales, England, Washington [State and DC], Pennsylvania, Texas, Boston, Chicago, Georgia, New Hampshire and a few places in the Midwest.

For those unfamiliar with the genre, what is goth music? Are there defining characteristics?

(Laughs) Those very questions have kept me and my friends awake well into the night in many, many discussions. Historically, goth music evolved from the punk and glam scenes in the early eighties. The first band to ever get called "goth" - a term that was assigned to them and not chosen on their own - was, according to common lore, Bauhaus. From there goth music assimilated or got lumped in with a handful of other musical styles. New Wave and Synth were pseudo-goth - just look at A Flock of Seagulls or Depeche Mode for example.

Today "goth music" incorporates a bewildering subset of musical styles. There's EBM [Electronic Background (or Body) Music], which is a direct evolution of New Wave and Synth. EBM tends to be very dancy, beat and rhythm driven. There's industrial, a genre defined by heavy machine-precision beats and aggressive, often distorted lyrics. There's darkwave, house music's sinister dancefloor kissing cousin. There's death-rock, which is closest to goth's roots in punk. Most death-rock could easily pass for Oi or thrash, but the lyrics are darker and there's a bit more melody.

The whole thing is very complicated. If you were to pick any band that we play on our show and then ask ten random goths whether that band was, say, EBM or industrial, you'd most likely get ten different answers - including, neither, one, the other, or some other obscure genre. Like "power noise" or synth pop.

Ironically, one of the rarest finds these days is a band that claims to be goth and actually plays "goth" music, pure and simple.

Can you recommend some music for us to begin exploring goth?

For goth music I'd recommend Bauhaus, first and foremost. "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was the first gothic anthem. I'd also recommend anything by The Cure - Robert Smith is virtually goth's poster child - and such bands as The Rosetta Stone, SNOG, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, Switchblade Symphony and The Sex Gang Children. If you'd like to get a quick snapshot of death-rock, Bella Morte and The Newlydeads are great bands to start with. Gary Numan is my pick for the best example of darkwave. Remember the 80's band, The Cars? Gary Numan was their lead singer. After such poppy goodness he went on to write some of the darkest music ever written. These days the goth club scene is all about EBM - on the dancefloor you'll hear artists like Covenant, The Cruxshadows, And One, Neuroticfish, God Module, Apoptygma Berzerk, Assemblage 23, Beborn Beton, Evil's Toy and VNV Nation. And there's industrial music: Ministry, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, E-Craft, Funker Vogt, Kevorkian Death Cycle and such.

There aren't really any "ABCs of Goth" or step-by-step guides to "Goth 101." For anybody who's interested in learning more I suggest listening to our show or to the Tempest [Saturday nights on rfb from 10PM to midnight], or that interested parties go to a club like The Haven [Northampton, MA], Konstruct [Springfield, MA], Manray [Boston, MA] or Bound [Hartford, CT]. The essentials are the songs and bands that you hear and like.

Does Brattleboro have a goth scene?

Yes, all five of us. (Laughs) Goth scenes tend to be proportionate with the population of an area. Big cities like Boston, Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle have un-lively and active goth scenes. Vermont has a scattering of goths to go along with its scattering of populace. We're pretty lucky here in Brattleboro, though. There are several gothic events within driving distance and the DJs who run them are a tight-knit group that do a lot of networking with us. The Internet has helped the gothic community grow very tight-knit and informed.

Is it required for goth fans to look or dress a certain way?

That's an issue of opinion, really. There's no dress code by which you're either goth or not, though some clubs require that you dress the part in order to join the party. There are as many unofficial "styles" of goth as there are people and sub-genres of music. Corporate goths [white collar by day, all black after hours], rivetheads [most likely seen stomping to industrial music on the dancefloor], romantigoths [lots of black velvet and lace]; cybergoths or gravers [lots of clothing made out of recycled computer parts, and a dance style that's part raver flow and glow sticks], death-rockers [obscure band T-shirts and ripped black jeans, leather jack and a billion band buttons] - for an amusing spoof on gothic trends I highly recommend that people check out gothiccolor.com .

Most goths would agree that being goth is far more about mindset than it is about how one dresses. Goths tend to be very open and accepting, mainly because goth is about individuals and not about societal judgments. Lately I've been a bit concerned that the gothic image is being co-opted by the mainstream without any of the substance of being goth. For example, back in the day being goth meant that you were different and OK with that. You knew who you were, you accepted other people for their individuality, and you went through life with an open mind and an eye for new experiences. Today the mainstream is co-opting the gothic look in movies like Underworld and Gothika [which, as far as I can tell, has squat to do with goth... ] and bands like Slipknot, Evanescence and Disturbed are considered goth by the mainstream. The problem is that there's no sense of history, no sense of belonging. No substance. It's a good example that it's not about the look, it's about who you are.

rfb has been in the news many times in the past year. How do you think this has impacted the station and its listeners?

DJ Nocte and I have been pretty active in rfb's affairs since the first shut down last year. We've spent a lot of time collecting signatures for both of our petitions, networking with our staff and dealing with interviews and the media. On the one hand, it's a total shame that we even have to fight this fight in the first place. The FCC was created and mandated to provide for stations like ours. This is a massive failure on the government's part and a horrible dereliction of duty.

On the other hand, rfb as a group has grown much tighter in the face of such a threat. Since we were shut down I've met more of our DJs than ever before and more of our staff has taken an active role in the station's affairs. For many DJs rfb used to be all about going into the studio, having a good time with a two hour show and then going home. End of story. Our struggle with the FCC has driven home that rfb is far more important than a weekly venue for our own personal interests. Our standards and expectations have been raised because our meaning and part in this community has become more clearly defined.

Getting shut down also provided us a means to meet John and Sally Q. Public, the people who listen to and support the station. In the weeks that followed our last shut-down support from the community flowed in like the tides. rfb has always been a community station. When we got shut down all of the support we received affirmed that and helped define our purpose, our sense of resolve that what rfb is doing is right. It's been an amazing experience, meeting the people in this area who make rfb possible.

Our spies tell us there is some sort of game going on in town, and that if we are told the rules, we must play. Can you comment on this underground diversion?

I can comment on it, but if I explain the rules in specific I'm opening myself up to a whole world of trouble. Years ago DJ Nocte and I played this silly game. The gist is that if a person makes a certain gesture and you see them, you have to lay down on the ground for three seconds, no matter where you are [unless it's unsafe to do so, obviously...]. There's another gesture that you can use to "block" that maneuver, or, if you're quick on the draw, there's a third gesture that allows you to catch the sender in the act of the first gesture. If they get caught they have to frog-hop three times.

Confused? Good. The less people who have the details, the better. The deal is that if you know the exact rules of the game, you have to play. I don't relish the idea of everybody who reads iBrattleboro dropping me in the slush because I gave away too much information. :-)

Do you have a world view? What's your take on the world situation?

Note to self: this could turn into a novel. Be brief.

This is purely opinion, but I think we're living in dangerous times. Not dangerous times where we'll be shot or exterminated on a whim due to civil unrest, but dangerous times because we have lost control of our government, media and corporations. We're living in the age of New McCarthyism. If you look at the politics of the Cold War era there's a clear pattern of societal manipulation: the government defines an enemy, a Great Evil That Must Be Stopped. That Evil gets marketed to the people through very strict control of the media and the people get told only what the government deems they should know. Through spin and propaganda it becomes "unpatriotic" to stand against the party line, but collusion with "sympathizers" is left broadly defined. The government steps in and institutes broad, sweeping changes that curtail civil liberties and make it easy for the government to monitor dissent. There's an atmosphere of fear, a threat looming on the horizon that keeps people too scared to question. Behind the scenes corporations and PACs are growing fat off of the public's fear of looking into things. And there's a system of patsies and fall-guys lined up to take the blame for any backlash that should fall upon the government for its failures if anyone does keep questioning.

Terrorism and weapons of mass-destruction. Terror alerts and embedded reporters. Freedom Fries and mass burnings of The Dixie Chicks' albums. The RAVE and PATRIOT Acts, the government's use of unconstitutional detainment of "terror suspects" and the mandate that protesters should be reported to the FBI's terrorist task force. You can now download a toolbar for Internet Explorer that tells you today's terror alert level. Haliburton and the corporate restructuring of Iraq, while on the home front we drill and log in the Tongas and dummy down the Clean Air Act in the name of "Clear Skies." And when the government fails to find weapons of mass-destruction the CIA steps forward and takes the bullet, despite the fact that Hans Blix and the UN gave us a billion reasons not to kill that we routinely ignored.

That seems pessimistic, doesn't it? To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, I consider myself an optimist disguised as a pessimist. Over the years I've lost faith in the government and faith in the media, but as that faith has deteriorated I've found a new faith. I believe strongly in my community, in the people that I know and that I meet every day. I think that there's hope there, hope for the future based on my belief that we can change the world, one person and one community at a time.

If you could give anything to Brattleboro, what would it be?

The strength of my commitment that this is one of the best places in the world. An affirmation that this tiny, unique little town makes a difference. And my love, which Brattleboro already has.

What do you like to do for fun?

I'm a club kid, so music takes up much of my free time. DJ Nocte and I listen to music and it helps define who we are. We both have pretty busy schedules these days, but whenever we get the chance we go to The Haven or concerts. We both dance a lot. Actually, he dances - I just kinda move around with the music. :-) I enjoy roaming around on the Internet. I have a Virtual Family that's far more fun and interesting than any Sims-style game could ever hope to be. I'm a huge movie buff, with a special fondness for cheesy schlock horror and vampire flicks. A goth into vampire flicks?! No! (Chuckles.) I like driving around aimlessly whenever I can afford the gas to do so. And I like art - I do a lot of computer generated art and at any given time I usually have one or two little real-world art projects going. Other than that most of my time is spent just hanging around with my friends, enjoying the company.

Thanks for taking time with iBrattleboro!

Thanks for the chance to speak my mind! And thanks to everyone patient and interested enough to read this whole thing through...

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