World Goth Day - you know, the Day that started two years ago to celebrate all things gothic, well that was the brainchild of Cruel Britannia, ably aided and abetted by martin oldgoth. Martin will be featured later on but now it's Cruel Britannia's turn.

Given the six degrees of separation within the goth world you will have probably come across Cruel Britannia at some point and you may have heard him most recently at Whitby, in some club or other somewhere in the midlands or from an internet radio station. He describes himself as a family man and a pain in the ass, a bit of a comedian and someone with too many words in his head.

Cruel Britannia was originally in a band called Nexus VI, a Telford based band that knocked out 'a loose form of electropunk heavily inspired by the likes of Carter USM and Pop Will Eat Itself'. Along with playing keyboards and bass live, Cruel was the man behind pretty much everything the band did, apart from the guitars and vocals, as he was apparently the only one who could achieve the same 'strangled swan noises' with the sampling and programming, on stage and off. If you know of Cruel Britannia you will know of his wit and dry humour so it's understandable that Nexus VI was largely known for playing lots of gigs and tom-foolery rather than technical brilliance. It was during a song writing drought that Cruel Britannia turned his mind to a different form of entertainment.

Cruel's dj'ing career started in 2003 as a resident DJ at the Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton, where our own Wild Bill Buttock has DJ'd at since about 2007. The nights Cruel DJ'd at were Seven Deadly Hertz (7DHZ) and Hex In The City, usually playing a mixture of goth, deathrock, alternative 80s and Industrial.

He went on to guest at various venues and events including an underground 80's night that was amusingly called 'I Wanna F*ck Debbie Harry' and 'Pandemonium' at The Haygate in Telford. It was during this era that Cruel had to go for an audition at a goth/fetish club called 'Skin Deep' in The Cobra Club, a Wolverhampton strip club. However, Cruel wasn't taken on as a stripper as one might have hoped and ended up djing there instead. It became clear that all he needed to get the gig was the ability to find the right song and press 'play' without 'soiling himself'. This 'audition' was enough to get Cruel the residency at The Giffard Arms.

In his life as a club DJ, Cruel Britannia has dj'd at clubs such as Funeral Nation at JB's, Dudley, Resurrection at The Barfly, Birmingham, Gothla Abomination at The Quebec Club, Leicester,the Goth All-Dayer at The Rainbow, Birmingham and has DJ'd at gigs by Cauda Pavonis at The Haygate, Telford, Deviant at The Warehouse, Birmingham and The Last Dance with Rome Burns at The Tuns, Coventry as well as The Last Dance at The Jailhouse in Coventry also, along with S.O.P.H.I.E nights in Birmingham and Whitby.

These days Cruel Britannia is probably more well known for his internet radio shows - 'Fadeout' on Phoenix Radio and 'The Other Fadeout'  and his one-off show 'Disturbia' on Nightbreed Radio. His shows are similar in that they both feature his favoured genres of 80's & 90's goth and alternative 80's genres, but can include (where appropriate) goth from 2000+ onwards, deathrock, guitar-based industrial and on occasion, synthpop.

Fadeout originally started as a monthly no chat podcast to reflect the music played at Hex In The City and then it became a weekly show on Rock 247 Online in 2006, owned by a chap called Nigel who then went on to create Phoenix Radio, the rock and metal station, after Rock 247 Online folded. Cruel says that doing these shows has directly enabled him to appear as a DJ at loads of events and it's really helped him get his name out there.

Cruel Britannia often features new bands and artists and has conducted several one to one interviews with the likes of Peter Murphy, Toyah, Rogue, Vendemmian, Fuzzbox, Voltaire, Rhombus, Pretentious, Moi? and Grooving In Green. Cruel Britannia says of his shows that ''both of these shows are 60 minutes of your time well spent getting to know the scene in a manner befitting those with a sense of humour tucked away inside their penchant for bad poetry, clove cigarettes & permanent poses of hand to forehead...'' Just don't mention Lady Gaga.

Find Cruel Britannia at:

His own Blogspot and you can download podcasts of shows from 2009 onwards,

Phoenix Radio - 19.00 Saturdays

Nightbreed Radio (monthly) The Other Fadeout - Mondays, 2-3am, Sundays 20.00- 21.00

Disturbia - Fridays 18.30-19.30, Sunday's 5 - 6am (Please not that Disturbia is a one-off show so blink or you'll miss it.)

We shall be giving you world Goth Day updates regarding events when we get the info.