THE BATCAVE (R.I.P.) - Mini Documentary [1984]

From 1982-1984 THE BATCAVE was thee hot spot for British Goth and New Wave Punk subculture.The club quickly birthed a whole mess of killer Goth,punk and new wave bands within the 2 years of it's existence.Owner and operator Ollie Wisdom also fronted the band Specimen.Along with Specimen,Alien Sex Fiend,Sex Gang Children,and Sexbeat were regular house acts during the week.SEX?Sure.DJs Hamish 'the paranoid' McDonald and Annie Hogan spun fresh and dark sounds at the club on a nightly basis.It's bizarre style and dark vibe attracted the more well known figures in the scene.Nick Cave,Steve Severin,Robert Smith,Marc Almond,and Siouxsie Sioux were all common faces at the Batcave,making it a "Studio 54 for weirdos" to some Batcavers.It retains it's extreme elitist and fashion-forward reputation to this very day.

In 1983, a vinyl record entitled "The BatCave, Young Limbs & Numb Hymns" was released on the London recording label. The compilation included Specimen (Dead Mans Autochop), Sexbeat (Sex Beat), Test Dept. (Shockwork), Patti Palladin (The Nuns New Clothes), James T. Pursey (Eyes Shine Killidiscope), Meat of Youth (Meat of Youth), Brilliant (Coming Up For The Downstroke), Alien Sex Fiend (R.I.P.), and The Venomettes (The Dance of Death). The inside notes: "Look past the slow black rain of a chill night in Soho;Ignore the lures of a thousand neon fire-flies, fall deft to the sighs of street corner sirens...come walk with me between heaven and hell. Here there is a club lost in its own feverish limbo, where sin becomes salvation and only the dark angels tread. For here is a BATCAVE.

This screaming legend of blasphemy, Lechery, and Blood persists in the face of adversity. For some the Batcave has become an icon, but for those that know it is an iconoclast, it is the avenging spirit of nightlife's badlands — its shadow looms large over London's demi-Monde: It is a challenge to the false Idol. It Will Endure."Which didn't exactly ring true.Near the end of 1984 the Batcave closed it's doors for good,only to be resurrected again in 2008 for a 25th anniversary party.Specimen reformed and recorded the event for a live album called "Specimen:Alive at the Batcave".It is still available through Metropolis/Eyeswideshut Records.