While continuing to pay homage to its literary origins, noughties’ Steampunk has evolved into a veritable subculture in its own right. Dark aesthetics, combined with a flare for antique fashion, laboratorial curiosities, cybernetics, and the reengineering of all manner of rogue mechanicals, were always destined to appeal to the goth, punk, cyber and industrial contingent. But Steampunk has also cast a wider net; its ‘period’-feel seducing anyone with a soft spot for Victoriana and alternative histories.

Fans have now come to embrace Steampunk, or ‘Steam’ as it is sometimes known, as a culture, a community and a lifestyle. ‘Neo-Victorianism’ infiltrates every aspect of their lives, from fashion to interior design to transport to music.

However, while it is fairly easy to label what constitutes Steampunk attire – corsets, petticoats, suits, goggles, laced boots, etc - Steampunk music is less well-defined. Online discussions list artists as varied as NIN for Closer, the train-like beat of the piano giving it a new world feel, Tom Waites for his use of distortion, electronics and accordion, Björk for her fusion of electronica, roaring twenties’ big band sounds and industrialism, and even Queen for their music-hall spirited, A Day At The Races. And while purists cite classical music or early nineteenth century recordings played on a hand-cranked gramophone, most aficionados agree that any modern performer whose music or stage show evokes a sense of the Victorian era can be classified Steampunk.

Yet even that margin is too small. To do the Steampunk music genre justice, we need to acknowledge a theatrical mélange of artists and artistic styles: gothic, new world, vaudevillian, Brechtian dark cabaret, Eastern European, chamber music, vintage jazz, and more.

Below is a taster of just some of the artists classified Steampunk:

Abney Park

In 2005, Seattle’s Abney Park released Taxidermy which showcased new versions of songs from previous albums, three live tracks and two covers. This album also heralded a switch in stylings from goth/industrial to Steampunk. Reinventing themselves as roving time travellers and airship pirates, the five-strong group continue to attribute their new, eclectic sound to the strange instruments and exotic musical influences lifted from the numerous locations and eras they have visited. In their own words, ‘Expect clockwork guitars, belly dancers, flintlock bassists, Middle-Eastern percussion, violent violin, and Tesla powered keyboards blazing in a post-apocalyptic, swashbuckling, Steampunk musical mayhem.’

recommended tracks: Airship Pirate, Sleep Isabella, The Secret Life of Doctor Calgori

Visit www.abneypark.com for band news, event details, and a market place selling Steampunk attire including leather flight helmets, airship crew dogtags, safari clothing and other gear.

San Francisco’s Vernian Process take their name from the works of 19th century author and one of the forefathers of the science fiction genre, Jules Verne. They describe themselves as a Darkwave band influenced by Victorian scientific romance and contemporary Steampunk. Founder, Joshua A. Pfeiffer, has made it his intention to take listeners on a cinematic journey, encompassing ‘Industrial complexes, angelic cathedrals, misty cobblestone alleyways, ancient forests, war-torn ruins, deep undersea caves, rotting clock towers, and all manner of timeless dreamscapes.’

In 2008, Vernian Process started work on the soundtrack for the steampunk themed videogame, Shades of Violet: The incredible Adventures of Violet Vendetta for Fly Games Studio.

Visit www.post-punk.com/vernianprocess.html for more information.

Unextraordinary Gentlemen have their roots firmly in the Victorian fantasy fiction genre. The bass guitar is used to represent a ‘punk’ element, a drum machine conjures up the steam-driven engine, and keyboards introduce sounds reminiscent of Victorian-era instruments such as strings, brass, and piano. Guitars and live drums are banned. They describe their sound as post-punk, synth-pop, industrial and experimental, and cite artists such as Nick Cave and Tom Waits as their major influences. Their songs range from the darkly humorous to the dour and the self depreciating, but all are infused with a sense of dramatic flair and spectacle.

recommended tracks: Mr. Soot's Little Black Book, All You Want, Black Iron Road, Frozen Mood

Visit www.unextraordinarygentlemen.com for more information.

The Vagabond Opera exists in homage to all aspects of bohemian cabaret. Theirs is truly a spectacular Spectacular, with belly dancing, neo-classical opera in eleven languages, kitsch Americana, Yiddish theatre, and European bonhomie. Originating in Portland, USA, the six-piece ensemble features trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor and alto saxophones, cello, stand-up bass, drums, and, on occasion, a burlesque hoola-hooping fire performer.

recommended tracks: Marlene, Svi Te Terran, Goodnight Moon

Visit www.vagabondopera.com for more information.

Cellist Melora Creager played with Nirvana and, after founding Rasputina, toured with Bob Mould, Porno for Pyros and, most notably, Marilyn Manson. In 1997, the band’s EP Transylvanian Regurgitations was remixed by Manson.

A 3-piece mostly comprised of cellists, Rasputina describe their sound as chamber-rock. Their appreciation for antiquities is reflected in a love for Victorian apparel and period stylings for publicity shots and stage shows. Hard to pigeonhole, their music is bewitching dark and angelically ethereal.

recommended tracks: Transylvanian Concubine, Cage in a Cave, Coraline on the Neil Gaiman tribute album Where's Neil When You Need Him?

Visit www.rasputina.com for more information.

Other recommended listening: The Peculiar Pretzelmen, Skeleton Key, Decemberists, The Birthday Massacre, The Dresden Dolls, Johnny Hollow, Beat Circus, Bat For Lashes

Wildcards –

Their inclusion here may be arguable, but in some aspects, Steampunk is all about the fusion of world music with futuristic sensibilities. No one does this better than New York’s Gogol Bordello, a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side who are renown for their theatrical stage shows. Their Eastern European sound blends accordion, fiddle, and saxophone with an eclectic punk cabaret to create a feast for the ears and eyes so appealing that Madonna cast them in her 2008 film, Filth and Wisdom.

recommended tracks: Wonderlust King, American Wedding, Start Wearing Purple

Visit www.gogolbordello.com for more details.

A classical piano major, Sarah fashions a truly unique sound that is part vintage jazz singer, part vaudevillian pianist, part crystalline vocals. Twice Juno and twice Gemini Award nominated, Canadian Sarah is a performer, artist and poet with a world-wide fan base.

recommended tracks: Pilgrim, Last Year’s War, Lucky Me

Visit www.sarahslean.com for more details.

Other sites of interest:
www.clockworkcabaret.com - a weekly music radio show.
http://steampunkworkshop.com - detailing steampunk projects.
www.brassgoggles.co.uk - blog reporting on all things steampunk.
www.steampunklab.com - for inventions of a curious sort

Location: PostList

Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married is a take on Romeo and Juliet based in an alternative future. Two opposing gangs, a forbidden love and a steam powered muscle car street race. Published in Interzone 222 (illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe), subscriptions are available from the TTA website or you can buy individual copies at The BBR Catalogue.

Reviews

A great review from Colin Harvey at Suite 101:

"Imagine West Side Story transplanted to Gotham City's outer suburbs, then add in a hint of retro-SF with fliers using glider-wings and steam-powered jet-packs and the reader will get a flavouring of Kim Lakin-Smith's 'Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married' which opens the fiction. Lakin-Smith's prose is stark, black-and-white and very, very good. Recommended."

Colin Harvey - Suite101.com

And one from John’s Reading:

“set in a post apocalyptic world, where cars are steam driven and electronics-riddled and the streets are ruled by the gangs (for an hour in the mornings anyway...). Johnny and Emmie-Lou belong to rival gangs but they were certain they were made for each other and a certain indiscretion made it desirable to put their union on a regular basis. However, the other members of the two gangs were real down on the marriage. Johnny's Flys just took away his wings and banished him from their company but the Rocketeers were groundbased and Johnny had to win the race that he found himself in with Emmy-Lou's former beau. Yeah, sure it's basically Romeo and Juliet via West Side Story, but it's got a verve and joy all of its own.”

http://johnsreading.blogspot.com

and the Internet Review of Science Fiction had this to say:

SF drag racing. Like the Jets and the Sharks, the Flies and the Rocketeers are born to enmity, but Johnny has fallen in love with Emmie-Lou, now pregnant with his baby. To survive, they have to win the race to the church to be married. It is a contest not only of the best driver, but the best car.

The tone is that of the 1950s gang culture, although the Dragsville setting is SFnally alternate, with language suggesting a US/Euro hybrid. It is the language that stars here, the lovingly obsessive depiction of the armed and augmented street rods at the center of this tale.

RECOMMENDED

and a translation from the German site Keylmann-Report

...this story is about two rivals in a race between Johnny and Emmie-Lou in their customised Chevy and Billy in his customised Daimler Dart. Johnny a "Fly" and  Emmie-Lou a "Rocketeer" a mix for disaster. Billy a Rocketeer uses the race as an attempt to win back Emmie-Lou and this becomes a race to the death...Excitement and Drama with a dark ambiance.

Gareth D. Jones at SF Crowsnest reviewed Interzone 222 and said…

'Johnny And Emmie-Lou Get Married' is Kim Lakin-Smith's steam-powered story of hot-rods and gang rivalry, a kind of 'West Side Story' at high speed. It's not exactly a fairy-tale wedding that they're heading for, but I loved the characters that the author has created, beautifully captured by Warwick Fraser-Coomb's accompanying illustration. A highly-enjoyable start to the issue.

Clare Grant at Shelf Sufficient liked it too…

Greaserpunk gang love story. This is a small and perfect story set in an original universe. Read it and tell others.

Location: PostList

10.00am saw me moderating the panel, ‘The Appeal of Steampunk’ with panellists GofH Tim Powers, Toby Frost, Cory Doctorow, Peter Harrow and Venetta Uye. It was a daunting task aided considerably for having a clear head and six hours sleep (unusual under con conditions). I was delighted that all of the panellists engaged fully with the subject, with delightful physical evidence of steampunk’s appeal courtesy of Peter Harrow’s steampunked IPod and gleaming pocket watch. Tim Powers was a gentlemen, Cory Doctorow a brain, Toby Frost an expert, Venetta Uye an academic, Peter Harrow an enthusiast, and me, well I was the gas-punk insurrectionist with the sense to listen to my wiser fellows. The panel was recorded and I will post the file as soon as it becomes available.More...

Saturday morning was perhaps understandably a bit painful to endure for the first couple of hours. But we did manage to sneak into the back of the New Con Press triple book launch. Ian Whates launched his first collection of short stories, The Gift of Joy. Ian Watson and Roberto Quaglia gifted the world with The Beloved of My Beloved, a visceral telling of bedtime stories, described as “by turns surreal, satiric, erotic, obscene, ingenious, hilarious, and quite, quite brilliant.” Eric Brown also set free his latest novella, Starship Fall.More...

So there went Eastercon. Over a week later and I am only just recovered from my immature excesses. But what a blast! It was so good to see so many friends, old and new, and I even got to a few panels this year.

Friday, a typical pre-con mania descended on Ivy House as Del and I tried to get ourselves packed up, Scarlet tied up in a bow and delivered to her grandparents, and Drake – our big fat black lab – taken care of. At last, we were on the road to Bradford and very pleasantly surprised to find it only took us an hour and a half to reach our hotel. Unfortunately this turned out to be in the town centre, with the con hotel being located several miles away on the city’s outskirts. Immediately on entering the doors though, we met up with the ever cheerful Mr Ian Whates, who was kind enough to act Easter bunny with a lovely box of chocolates. At reception, we bumped into Deborah J Miller, writer, Wonderlands extraordinaire, and administrator of the David Gemmell Awards (http://gemmellaward.com) which are taking place on the 19^th of June at the Magic Circle Headquarters. After checking into our room – a weirdly small deluxe twin which required some sort of swift footed ballroom dance to take place every time Del and I needed to pass one another – we found ourselves installed in the bar with Deborah, her beautiful daughter Tiff, and Mr Ian Watson.More...