Swampie

Originating in Australia, and largely contained there, "Swampies" were/are a "proto-Goth" subculture. According to natives of Oz, Swampies are either a) an early form of the Gothic subculture in Australia prior to the import of Goth from the UK, b) a distinct subculture that originated alongside Goth, or c) a term used by a very small minority of Sydney, NSW, goths to identify others as "baby bats" or "poseurs".

Swampies are described in a handful of alt.gothic archives from the mid-1990s as looking like "more-disheveled early goth rockers" with charity shop paisley shirts, skinny jeans, cowboy boots or Chuck Taylor sneakers, hastily backcombed hair, and minimal or very heavy black eyeliner. Loose black sundresses have been described as a common attire for female Swampies.

Swampie music shares more in common with certain strains of 1960s revival sounds, especially Rhythm and Blues, alternative country and cowpunk (which is distinct from psychobilly), avant-garde folk, and free jazz than most other early Gothic Rock (which borrows most-directly from glam and psychedelic music), or Deathrock (which initially evolved from Los Angeles' hardcore punk scene) and bands with the Swampie sound include The Birthday Party (who began as The Boys Next Door, and were basically a 60s and Power Pop cover band until the addition of Rowland S Howard), The Scientists (who began as a power pop band, and their early single, "Last Night", being a minor staple on Mod Revival compilations), These Immortal Souls, The Triffids, The Saints, Laughing Clowns, Crime and the City Solution, Los Angeles-based "spaghetti Western" New Wave /Gothic band Wall of Voodoo, and L.A.'s punk blues band (featuring future Sisters of Mercy member, Patricia Morrison) The Gun Club, and (in the late 1980s and early '90s) UK punk blues and punk folk musician, PJ Harvey. Other influential music inclues Lydia Lunch and other No Wave performers (James Chance, the Del-Byzanteens, etc...), The Velvet Underground, Lee Hazelwood, Frank Zappa, and Leonard Cohen.

Bands and musicians with a similar look and sound to, and /or strong influences in Australia's Swampies have sprung up sporadically since about 1999, starting with The White Stripes and singer/guitarist Jack White, from the States and Neils Children from the UK. The Gore Gore Girls, The Horrors, The Love-Me-Nots, and The Black Belles also are known for a dark sound taking a lead from 60s Rhythm and Blues. Amy Winehouse, known for a 60s-influenced Soul sound, big hair, both arms covered in tattoos, and a refusal to shy from dark, emotional themes, lyrically has (according to Raven Digitalis in his book Goth Craft) become well-regarded among some Goths attracted to a vintage style. This might suggest a deeper influence of Swampies, if not for the fact that some alt.gothic posters considered Swampies largely a remnant of Sad Old Australian Goths' memories of the 1980s by about 1996, but nonetheless, a tiny minority of Gothically-inclined sorts (no longer contained to Australia), have adopted a Swampie subculture identity, most prominent being WFKU DJ and Dark cabaret singer, Ruadhán.

"THE SWAMPIE MOVEMENT IS RETURNING, LOOK OUT BRISBANE."

Swampie Bands and Musicians

 * The Birthday Party
 * Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
 * Bone Orchard
 * These Immortal Souls
 * Crime and the City Solution
 * Mick Harvey
 * Anita Lane
 * The Gun Club
 * P.J. Harvey
 * The Scientists
 * The Saints
 * The Triffids
 * The Laughing Clowns
 * Wall of Voodoo
 * The Velvet Underground
 * Lee Hazelwood
 * Nico
 * Leonard Cohen
 * The White Stripes
 * The Black Belles
 * Neil's Children
 * Jack White
 * The Gore Gore Girls
 * Naked Prey
 * The Love-Me-Nots
 * Amy Winehouse
 * Frank Zappa
 * Mazzy Star
 * Bat for Lashes
 * Cowboy Junkies

Swampie and No Wave
Around the same time as Swampies were coming out of Australia, New York's No Wave scene was emerging and, through Teenage Jesus and the Jerks / Lydia Lunch, and The Birthday Party / Nick Cave, cross-pollinated witb Swampie. The fashions of No Wave were often similar in drawing heavily from 1960s influences, but musically, many of the more prominent No Wave artists, like James Chance and the Contortions, or Lydia Lunch, had more obvious influences in Jazz and experimental music than in Rhythm and Blues or cowpunk.

Director Jim Jarmusch, known for the gothic/existential Western Dead Man (starring Johnny Depp) and vampire art film Only Lovers Left Alive (starring Tilda Swinton) was in the No Wave band, The Del-Byzanteens.