S5E2 with Nik Fiend (Alien Sex Fiend)

S5E2 with Nik Fiend (Alien Sex Fiend)

From What Goes Around? by Deb & Eamon

March 27, 2025 · 1h 28m · Season 5 · Episode 2

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Nik Fiend, a key figure in the Goth music scene.

Our guest today is a maverick of music, an agent provocateur whose visually arresting image, razor sharp humour and mentally challenging music helped forge that most enduring of sub-cultures; 'Goth'. Back in the early 1980s when the post-punk counter culture embraced film noir and turned the technicolor of glam into a more sinister monochromatic look, festooned with spider webs, skulls and too much eye-liner Nik Fiend was one of the original bad-taste makers at London's The Batcave club. 'Alien Sex Fiend' along with 'The Specimen' and 'Sex Gang Children' made regular appearances at the infamous Batcave. Together they helped establish the look and feel of the early Goth scene in the south, where the likes of Nick Cave, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, Foetus, Robert Smith and even a freshly crimped and spiked Elizabeth Hurley were all regular attendees. The world has of course never been the same, and while music and fashion constantly evolve there is alway the reverberation of the gothic asthetic. Mr & Mrs Fiend continue to create and celebrate chaos around the world, finding success on US college radio, getting 'big in Japan' and spreading their tendrils throughout…

People in this episode

Hosts: Deb, Eamon

Guest: Nik Fiend

Topics covered

  • Goth music
  • post-punk
  • sub-culture
  • music history
  • interview

Keywords

  • Goth
  • Alien Sex Fiend
  • Nik Fiend
  • Batcave
  • music history
  • sub-culture
  • post-punk

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Alien Sex Fiend

Places: London, Japan, continental Europe

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