Dark Demo(n)s: BodyBeats Productions offers (young) talent a stage in the dark!
BodyBeats Productions, known as the driving force behind alternative events like BIMFEST and various other concert club nights in cities such as Antwerp and St. Niklaas, is proud to breathe new life into an almost forgotten initiative: Dark Demo(n)s. With this project, BodyBeats, in collaboration with Peek-a-Boo Magazine, wants to offer (up-and-coming) musical talent from the dark and alternative scene a unique chance to prove themselves live in front of a curious and open-minded audience.
The name says it all: at Dark Demo(n)s, bands and artists working within genres like darkwave, post-punk, EBM, industrial, and related styles get the opportunity to present their ‘demos’ in a dark, live setting. The concept is simple but powerful: an accessible stage, a high-quality sound system, and an audience hungry for new sounds.
But there’s more: the audience will actually have the chance to vote for which bands will get to open the renowned BIMFEST 2025!
According to BodyBeats, the idea arose from the observation that it’s often difficult for emerging acts in the alternative scene to perform on a professional stage. The organizers and driving forces behind BodyBeats emphasize the importance of this initiative: “With Dark Demo(n)s, we want to support the future of dark music. We all know how important those (first) live experiences are for (young) artists. This is our way of giving something back to the scene that has already given us so much.”
This 2025 and third edition of Dark Demo(n)s will take place at Zaal Togenblik in Beveren. It promises to be an evening of stylistic diversity and a mix of Belgian and international acts.
Dark Demo(n)s is not only aimed at newcomers: the public and bookers are also encouraged to come, listen, network, and discover new favorites. In this way, BodyBeats Productions hopes to create fertile ground for the next generation of alternative artists.
The Dark Demo(n)s bands competing this year for souls, honor, and glory are:
31st Tile – Antwerp, B (Twisted Electro)
31st Tile Facebook
Assfalt – Düsseldorf, D (Noisy EBM-Punk)
Assfalt Facebook
Candid Empire – B (Noise-Death-Industrial)
Candid Empire Facebook
Cryptochroma (Cold/Analogue/Synth)
Cryptochroma Facebook
Der Mussikant – Stuttgart, D (Minimal-Elektronik)
Der Mussikant Facebook
Euforic Existence – Antwerp, B (EBM)
Euforic Existence Facebook
They Feel Nothing– Bruges, B (Dark Wave/EBM)
THEY FEEL NOTHING Facebook
More information: www.bodybeats.be
Dark Demo(n)s 2025 Facebook event
Dark Demo(n)s: BodyBeats Productions biedt jong talent een podium in de duisternis
BodyBeats Productions, bekend als de drijvende kracht achter alternatieve evenementen zoals BIMFEST en diverse andere concert clubavonden in o.a. Antwerpen en St. Niklaas, ist trots een bijna vergeten initiatief nieuw leven in te blazen: Dark Demo(n)s). Met dit project wil Bodybeats, in samenwerking mer Peek-a--Boo Magazine (opkomend) muzikaal talent uit de donkere en alternatieve scene een unieke kans bieden om zich live te bewijzen voor een nieuwsgierig en open-minded publiek.
De naam zegt het al: bij Dark Demo(n)s krijgen bands en artiesten die zich muzikaal bewegen binnen genres als darkwave, post-punk, EBM, industrial en aanverwante stromingen de kans om hun ‘demo’s’ in een duistere live-setting te presenteren. De formule is eenvoudig maar krachtig: een laagdrempelig podium, een kwalitatief geluidssysteem, en een publiek dat hongerig is naar nieuwe geluiden.
Maar er is meer, het publiek zal namelijk op deze avond kunnen kiezen welke bands het gerenomeerde BIMFEST 2025 mogen openen!
Volgens BodyBeats is het idee ontstaan uit de vaststelling dat het in de alternatieve scene vaak moeilijk is voor beginnende acts om op een professioneel podium te staan. De organisator en drijvende krachten achter BodyBeats benadruken het belang van dit initiatief: “Met Dark Demo(n)s willen we de toekomst van de donkere muziek ondersteunen. We weten allemaal hoe belangrijk de (eerste) live-ervaringen zijn voor (jonge) artiesten. Dit is onze manier om iets terug te geven aan de scene die ons al zoveel heeft gebracht.”
Deze 2025 en tevens derde editie van Dark Demo(n)s vindt plaats in zaal Togenblik, te Beveren. Het wordt een avond met diversiteit in stijlen en een mix van Belgische en internationale acts.
Dark Demo(n)s mikt niet enkel op nieuwkomers: ook publiek en bookers worden aangemoedigd om te komen luisteren, netwerken en nieuwe favorieten te ontdekken. Zo hoopt BodyBeats Productions een vruchtbare voedingsbodem te creëren voor de volgende generatie alternatieve artiesten.
De Dark Demo(n)s die dit jaar zullen strijden voor zielen, eer en glorie zijn:
31st Tile - Antwerp - B (Twisted Electro)
https://www.facebook.com/31stTile
Assfalt - Dusseldorf - D (Noisy EBM-Punk)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552729839754
Candid Empire - B (Noise-death-Industrial)
https://www.facebook.com/candidempire
Crypyochroma (cold/analogue/synth)
https://www.facebook.com/cryptochromawave
Der Mussikant - Stuttgart - D (Minimal- Elektronik)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057960600489
Euforic Existence - Antwerp - B (EBM)
https://www.facebook.com/EuforicExistence
THEY FEEL NOTHING - Bruges - B (Dark wave/EBM)
https://www.facebook.com/theyfeelnothing/
Meer informatie: www.bodybeats.be
Dark Demo(n)s 2025 Facebook event
OWLS Drops Their Haunting Debut Album, Death Games Via Negative Gain Productions
Darkwave artist, OWLS has announced the release of their debut full-length album, Death Games courtesy of Negative Gain Productions.
OWLS' debut album, Death Games is a haunting exploration of love, mortality, and the fragile nature of existence. Drawing on inspiration from the darker realms of postpunk, goth, and synth-based music, the album crafts an immersive world that resonates with themes of impermanence and the brutality of love. Citing influences from artists like Lebanon Hanover, Boy Harsher & Black Marble, OWLS delivers a compelling narrative of a courtship ending in death, and the tension between love and loss is palpable in every note.
Death Games is an album that captures the melancholy beauty of relationships destined to unravel. It is a journey bound to the shadow of death, ultimately reflecting the fragility of life itself. This is for the dark hearts, the loves lost, the ones looking towards the inevitable end that awaits. Death Games will be available on all major digital platforms on June 6th courtesy of Negative Gain Productions.
Order the album, Death Games on Bandcamp HERE:
https://owls-emee.bandcamp.com/album/death-games
47 years ago, on June 16, 1978, Suicide performed their legendary 23 minutes lasting show at the renowned Brussels music club Ancienne Belgique, as support for Elvis Costello. The live audience recording, originally taped by a friend of the band, Howard Thompson, is not so much a registration of the quality of their actual live performance but it gives an indication of the general public's reaction to this confrontational electronic duo during their early days.
Before Suicide even starts playing booing can be heard from the crowd, indicating that they only wanted to hear the main act, Elvis Costello. Between every song the booing seems to become more intense. After roughly 10 minutes the crowd can be heard chanting "ELVIS! ELVIS!”. Then, after the band has been almost 20 minutes on stage, a loud applause can be heard; someone stole Alan Vega's microphone …
After receiving the microphone back he continues to sing "Frankie Teardrop" a cappella. After even more booing Vega shouts "SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS IS ABOUT FRANKIE!". A few moments later the band leaves the stage.
That night Elvis Costello played a very short and angry set in which he made no secret of his outrage over Suicide's treatment by the crowd. This incited a riot. The show was cancelled and Vega's nose was broken.
The recording was first released only as a promo in 1978 until it was remastered and released as a bonus track on the band’s 1998 reissue of their self-titled debut album.
21½ Minutes In Berlin / 23 Minutes In Brussels (1978 LP tracklist)
| A 21½ Minutes In Berlin | ||
| A1 | Ghost Rider | |
| A2 | Rocket USA | |
| A3 | Cheree | |
| A4 | Harlem | |
| A5 | 96 Tears | |
| B | 23 Minutes In Brussels | |
| B1 | Ghost Rider | |
| B2 | Rocket USA | |
| B3 | Cheree | |
| B4 | Dance | |
| B5 | Frankie Teardrop | |
Today it’s exactly 46 years ago since Joy Division released their debut studio album Unknown Pleasures (15 June 1979).
Today it’s exactly 46 years ago since Joy Division released their debut studio album Unknown Pleasures (15 June 1979) on the renowned label Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed in only three successive weekends in April of the same year and was produced by Martin Hannet who incorporated a number of unconventional recording and production techniques into the group's sound.
The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville while the centre sleeve depicts "100 consecutive pulses from the pulsar CP 1919" as found by Bernard Sumner in The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy (See more about the artwork in the video below)
It is the only Joy Division album that was released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Initially, sales of Unknown Pleasures were slow until the release of the non-album single, 'Transmission'. The album sold over 5000 copies within the first week of it's release, 20.000 copies were sold within the first year. However the album did not chart until it was reissued after the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. Then the album peaked at #71 in the UK Album Charts in August 1980 while it reached No.2 in the UK indie charts and spent 136 weeks in the chart in total. Factory Records did not release any singles from Unknown Pleasures,
It has since received sustained critical acclaim as an influential post-punk album and has been named as one of the best albums of all-time by publications such as NME, AllMusic, Select and Spin.
Instead of side A and B the sides were named Outside and Inside.
Unknown Pleasures - tracklist
A Outside
1. Disorder
2. Day Of The Lords
3. Candidate
4. Insight
5. New Dawn Fades
B Inside
1. She’s Lost Control
2. Shadowplay
3. Wilderness
4. Interzone
5. I Remember Nothing
Douglas McCarthy, Voice of Nitzer Ebb and Industrial-Electronic Pioneer, Dies at 58
Douglas John McCarthy, the iconic frontman of British industrial-electronic band Nitzer Ebb, passed away on June 11, 2025, at the age of 58. The band’s official announcement, shared across their social media, conveyed the news with a heartfelt request: “It is with a heavy heart that we regret to inform that Douglas McCarthy passed away this morning of June 11th, 2025. We ask everyone to please be respectful of Douglas, his wife, and family in this difficult time. We appreciate your understanding and will share more information soon.”
Born on September 1, 1966, in Barking, East London, McCarthy moved with his family to Essex where he encountered future Nitzer Ebb drummer David Gooday during his youth. In 1982, McCarthy, Gooday, and programmer Bon Harris formed Nitzer Ebb—initially rehearsing with homemade “instruments” like a metal junk-drum affectionately dubbed “John”. By 1986, they had signed with Mute Records and in 1987 released their seminal debut album That Total Age, featuring electrifying tracks such as "Let Your Body Learn" and "Join in the Chant"—songs that would go on to define the genre of electronic body music (EBM).
McCarthy’s aggressive, barked vocal delivery and commanding stage presence—described as akin to “shouting and pointing”—gave life to the band’s militaristic sound and aesthetic. He once remarked on the austerity of Britain during the 1980s, stating their provocative style was merely a mirror of the gritty, political landscape of the time.
Nitzer Ebb toured extensively, opening for Depeche Mode during their 1987 Music for the Masses tour, further solidifying their international presence. They released four more albums—Belief (1989), Showtime (1990), Ebbhead (1991), and Big Hit (1995)—before disbanding. The group eventually reformed in 2006, releasing Industrial Complex and continuing to tour into the 2010sen.
Beyond his work with Nitzer Ebb, McCarthy’s artistry extended to collaborations with notable figures such as Alan Wilder of Recoil, and French techno producer Terence Fixmer, with whom he formed the duo Fixmer/McCarthy, releasing Between The Devil in 2004 and touring regularly. In 2012, McCarthy released his first solo album, Kill Your Friends, combining his signature intensity with fresh sonic textures.
Despite his continued creativity, McCarthy faced mounting health challenges and was hospitalized in 2021 during Nitzer Ebb's U.S. tour, prompting a break from performing. He returned to the stage in 2023 but in early 2024, he withdrew from touring again after due the effects of liver cirrhosis, a consequence he attributed to years of alcohol misuse. At the time, he revealed he had been sober for over two years and was focused on recovery reddit.
Tributes have poured in from across the music world—bands, labels, fans, and artists alike have hailed McCarthy’s innovation and influence. His legacy endures, not only through his own memorable body of work but through the countless musicians and genres he inspired—artists ranging from Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein to pioneers of techno such as Jeff Mills and Carl Craig.
Douglas McCarthy’s voice defined a movement; his uncompromising energy resonated in nightclubs and festivals around the world. He leaves behind his wife, family, bandmates, and a legion of devoted fans who continue to chant in his honor.
Douglas John McCarthy, de iconische frontman van de Britse industrial-electronic band Nitzer Ebb, is op 11 juni 2025 overleden op 58-jarige leeftijd.
De officiële aankondiging van de band, gedeeld via hun sociale media, bracht het nieuws met een oprecht verzoek:
"Met een zwaar hart moeten wij u helaas mededelen dat Douglas McCarthy deze ochtend, 11 juni 2025, is overleden. Wij vragen iedereen om in deze moeilijke tijd respectvol om te gaan met Douglas, zijn vrouw en zijn familie. Wij waarderen uw begrip en zullen binnenkort meer informatie delen."
Douglas McCarthy werd geboren op 1 september 1966 in Barking, Oost-Londen. Hij verhuisde met zijn familie naar Essex, waar hij als tiener drummer David Gooday ontmoette, de toekomstige medeoprichter van Nitzer Ebb. In 1982 richtten McCarthy, Gooday en programmeur Bon Harris samen de band op. Ze repeteerden aanvankelijk met zelfgemaakte “instrumenten”, waaronder een metalen rommel-drum die liefdevol “John” werd genoemd. In 1986 tekenden ze een contract bij Mute Records, en in 1987 brachten ze hun baanbrekende debuutalbum *That Total Age* uit, met energieke nummers als "Let Your Body Learn" en "Join in the Chant"—songs die het genre Electronic Body Music (EBM) zouden helpen definiëren.
McCarthy’s agressieve, scanderende zangstijl en krachtige podiumpresentatie—vaak omschreven als “roepen en wijzen”—gaven de militaristische klank en esthetiek van de band hun karakteristieke kracht. Hij zei ooit dat hun provocerende stijl slechts een weerspiegeling was van het harde, politieke landschap van het Groot-Brittannië van de jaren tachtig.
Nitzer Ebb toerde intensief en trad in 1987 op als voorprogramma van Depeche Mode tijdens hun *Music for the Masses*-tour, wat hun internationale reputatie verder versterkte. De band bracht daarna vier albums uit: *Belief* (1989), *Showtime* (1990), *Ebbhead* (1991) en *Big Hit* (1995), voordat ze tijdelijk uit elkaar gingen. In 2006 kwam de band opnieuw samen en bracht het album *Industrial Complex* uit. Ze bleven optreden tot in de jaren 2010.
Naast zijn werk met Nitzer Ebb, werkte McCarthy samen met bekende artiesten zoals Alan Wilder van Recoil en de Franse techno-producer Terence Fixmer. Met Fixmer vormde hij het duo Fixmer/McCarthy, waarmee hij in 2004 het album *Between The Devil* uitbracht en veelvuldig tourde. In 2012 bracht McCarthy zijn eerste soloalbum *Kill Your Friends* uit, waarin hij zijn kenmerkende intensiteit combineerde met frisse klanken.
Ondanks zijn blijvende creativiteit kreeg McCarthy te maken met toenemende gezondheidsproblemen. In 2021 werd hij opgenomen in het ziekenhuis tijdens de Amerikaanse tour van Nitzer Ebb, wat leidde tot een onderbreking van zijn optredens. Hij keerde in 2023 terug op het podium, maar trok zich begin 2024 opnieuw terug vanwege de gevolgen van levercirrose, een aandoening die toegescreven wordt aan jarenlang alcoholmisbruik. Op dat moment vertelde hij dat hij al meer dan twee jaar nuchter was en zich op zijn herstel focuste.
Over de hele wereld hebben collega-artiesten, labels, fans en muzikanten hulde gebracht aan McCarthy’s innovatieve geest en invloed. Zijn nalatenschap leeft voort, niet alleen in zijn indrukwekkende oeuvre, maar ook in de generaties artiesten die hij heeft geïnspireerd van Nine Inch Nails en Rammstein tot techno-iconen als Jeff Mills en Carl Craig.
De stem van Douglas McCarthy definieerde een beweging; zijn compromisloze energie weerklonk in clubs en op festivals wereldwijd. Hij laat zijn vrouw, familie, bandleden en een legioen toegewijde fans achter, die zijn naam blijven scanderen ter ere van zijn leven en werk.
