What Is Steampunk Music?

I’ve been having this discussion with some associates lately, specifically Barbara and Don, the owners of our local steampunk gaming store “Afternoonified” (it’s a real word – go on: look it up). In fact it’s been a question that’s bugged me ever since this steampunk thing became an entrenched feature of my local environment, what with Ironfest and all. There are websites devoted to this conundrum and trawling through them has left me as bewildered as ever, with the consensus being that a musical offering is steampunk “if the performers say it is”. To my way of thinking, this is hardly sufficient.

The loudest proponent of the steampunk music field is, of course, Abney Park. I would contend that, as a band, they’re fooling themselves. For those that haven’t plumbed their history, Abney Park began life as a Goth rock band, named after the London cemetery of foreboding aspect. Their sales and market penetration were woeful so, in a cynical lateral arabesque, they went all cosplay, invented ‘airship pirate’ personae for themselves and changed their lyrics from doleful musings on the purpose of existence to crazy, zeppelin shenanigans. And, in their haste to shift units, they didn’t even bother to change the band’s name.

But is it steampunk music? Strip away the interminable dressing-up and the lyrics inspired by the previous night’s roleplaying (they also have their own themed roleplaying game) and it’s still just Goth rock, maybe with fewer minor chords. If you call this bunch “steampunk music” then you have to call Adam & The Ants “steampunk music”, along with Bow-Wow-Wow and practically everything else that Malcolm McLaren came up with. It’s super-saccharine Jesus & Mary Chain ultra-lite balladeering, and little else.

So kudos to them. They saw a market opening, realised they were shifting too few units to be viable, and so, with some creative reinvention, are now contentedly sucking the juices of the geek market. Good-bye artistic integrity; hello to rolling around in a tub full of royalties.

Which leaves us, still, with the question: what is steampunk music?

It seems to me that the more a band avoids the title, the better chance they have of filling the bill. Look at The Dresden Dolls (which, personally, I loathe): can a song like “Coin Operated Boy” be anything but steampunk? It speaks of mechanistic, anachronistic alt-tech in terms of its imagery while at the same time pushing a clever message regarding excessive, self-destructive consumerism. Metaphors and messages? Not things you’ll find in an Abney Park song. The Dresden Dolls actively seek to dodge labelling, content to be anchored somewhere on the fringe of the “New Cabaret Burlesque”, or simply “alternative”, that useful catch-all term. But not “steampunk”.

When I think of steampunk music, I immediately bring to mind player-pianos, orchestrions and calliopes. I think of the music of the Verne-Wells days: music hall, show-tunes, Moulin Rouge, soundtracks to “Keystone Cops” films. I think of Old-Time Music and early Blues in America during the birth of radio and the recording industry. I think of the “Cafes Mechaniques” of the French Revolution. Is any of this Abney Park? Not by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s not that there shouldn’t be music tailored to a certain themed crowd. Darkest of the Hillside Thickets has been pumping out Lovecraft-based rock music for years, and yet no-one has actively marketed them under the title “Cthulhu rock”. No - they’re alternative, they’re grunge-metal prog rock, but they know their roots and their sound: they don’t need to invent labels in order to sell songs.

So is there anything out there which could be called steampunk music? I’d like to make a case for The Handsome Family. They have solid roots in America’s Old Time sound and their disc “Last Days of Wonder” not only has a song about Nikolai Tesla (the title track) but has a song with an airship, “After We Shot the Grizzly”. I’ve also mentioned before the frenetic, industrial electro-swing of Caravan Palace, with its gypsy guitar roots and homage to Django Reinhardt. Not that these bands would call themselves steampunk, but they work for me.

In the final analysis, I’d suggest being wary of anything that overtly markets itself in this fashion – it’s probably trying way too hard to weasel your hard-earned out of your pocket. I would suggest that a certain style or piece of music is “steampunk” if YOU say it is. If it synchs well with your own endeavours, go with it and damn the clockwork torpedoes.

After all, Steampunk is mostly about D.I.Y. anyway...

Postscript:

For those who are interested in this subject take a look at little-known composer Conlon Nancarrow.

Born in Texarkana in 1912, Nancarrow spent his youth playing jazz trumpet before fighting in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and then returning to Mexico, where he spent the rest of his life. He joined the Communist Party after coming back from Europe and was churlishly hounded out of America as a result. He died in 1997, just as his genius was finally being recognised.

Nancarrow became interested in the compositional possibilities presented by player pianos - instruments operated mechanically and which played music composed by punching holes in rolls of paper (similar to old-fashioned computer cards). This allowed the piano to play compositions which no human being could possibly approach, having only two hands and ten fingers, with a fixed span.

His music is extremely avant-garde, almost unlistenable at times, sounding like a piano dropped from a great height; however, it also has great complexity of emotion and warmth  and can be eerily beautiful - it's like Glenn Gould playing effortlessly and impossibly at maximum capacity, for hours.

If you want Steampunk Music it's out there. Don't take the lazy route and binge on the corn chip excess that is Abney Park. Eschew snack food; go gourmet!