Alterity and his new album ‘Goodbye” has emerged as a dark form of a new wave of post-punk, fusing gothic rock and synth-pop elements.

You know your bassheads, you know your kandi kids, and you know your trance family. But do you know Alterity?

On the surface, rave and goth culture may seem worlds apart. While one is awash with colors, lights and confetti, the other… isn’t. While one champions the tenets of PLUR like the second coming of the Ten Commandments, the other may seem a bit less amicable.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find a cross-pollination occurring between the two. Take fashion, for instance. Dread falls, corsets, EL wire and light shows are just some staples that can be found in both the rave and goth scenes. While goths have adopted kandi and plush backpacks (once rave-only items), ravers have altered gas masks to create kandi masks and embraced fetish culture and other aspects of industrial life. This type of fusion of genres and cultures is on full display in this new visual by Alterity.

Check out this video below by Alterity “Move On’ Featuring Tetmax

Alterity’s Album ‘Goodbye” is a transition out of EDM and into Goth. A process where blending the genres weren’t working.

One thing music fans don’t understand is; getting signed to a record label is like going to college – both force you to declare a major. For musicians, that means dedicating yourself to a single genre. Otherwise, labels feel they can’t market your songs. Whether you’re signed or just building your fan-base, the same analogy holds true.

Artists grouse about this no end, but few have the power, guts or the right circumstance to do anything about it. Some who do buck the system do so during their struggling days, before they’ve found a substantial market to begin with. Others make the change due to a switch in personnel, allowing them to draw on the different strengths the new talent provides. In the most rousing cases, the artist just goes for it. In any case, there’s risk involved. Looks like it’s starting to pay off for Alterity! Check out our exclusive interview below!

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up in Sterling Heights, Michigan, I just decided to become an artist from my natural grasp on music. I was always into it, and I already was starting to play guitar when I first started to make music and I had just heard out from a few of my friends who were ghost producing for EDM names already and I was like “Hey, let me get in on all of this!” and I jumped in on it. I had my own situation when I tried to go out on my own and when I realized I screwed up big time, I went under an anonymous alias to get away from all of that. That’s where Alterity started, and ever since then I have been trying to stand my own ground. If that means making darker EDM that focuses on my own personal struggles, so be it. If that means making Goth music like I have been slowly headed towards, then so be it.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

I haven’t realty done gigs and all that, but what I will say for those looking to get themselves out there, plan ahead and really learn to calculate yourselves. You don’t need to be Taylor Swift or Lil Pump, you just need to have your best content ready and be able to be one step ahead of your competition. You won’t always come on top, and you will have to learn to accept that, but once you really “get there” with what you have, you will start to slowly rise up. It’s a mountain, a real big one at that. Will also give two things to artists in general: 1: Read. Your. Contracts. 2: Social. Media. Is. Everything. At least these days, be on top of your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s sort of hypocritical haven’t it been said by someone quiet like me, but I have learned it now and I can’t emphasize it enough.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

I’m currently not handling gigs now, so I can’t say a lot about this.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

As I said before, I currently don’t handle gigs.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Honestly, my “studio” setup is pretty eh right now. It works for what I need to do, but I do plan on doing upgrades once I start selling records. I’m hoping these changes are sooner than later, but honestly, I’m not in the highest of hopes for now.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

It’s way too much research. Especially these days, the Goth community is in a decline, so really trying to market myself out to them and keep myself afoot is difficult as ever, but I am finding my way into it. I said it earlier, but I will say it again: Social. Media. Is. Everything. I am starting to learn to manage that a lot better and I think that is going to pay off a lot more in the long run.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

If we are going with where, it would have to be at the Batcave. With whom though, I would have to say I would want to perform with Suspiria, they are Goth legends and will always have a place in my list of influences though. Robert Smith is a close second, as he is an artist whose work I would look to accomplish impact as he has had, but that sounds like a better idea on paper than it actually would in practice.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

I have a few singles in the works that probably will end up in the hands of a few label compilations. Alongside that will be an album I will have by the end of the year. Whereas “Graffiti” was a full EDM album and “Goodbye” was the transition from EDM to Goth, this next album will be a full on Goth project, and pursue my passions in that. It might not wind up as much in the final product, but my goal is to really experiment with a lot of different directions as there are a lot of different styles and genres in the Goth scene. Goth Rock, Industrial, Darkwave, Synthpop, Futurepop, EBM, and Gothic/Symphonic Metal are all styles I am considering in this project, it really just will be a celebration of the modern Goth scene which my passion towards led me to making “Goodbye” in the first place.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

I probably would be in journalism or politics. Music really changed my outlook on life, and one way or another I would want my mark on the world to be had, so I probably would go there.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

As said, they can look forward to me putting out new singles, probably more and more starting to drop music videos for these contents, and of course the aforementioned album. They can also expect more social media content out of me for once, and I might even decide to drop the anonymity. All of this really depends on the success of the next coming releases, and I’m really just going with the flow at the moment, just doing whatever I feel is the best decision for me.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

Big shoutout to Mind Over MattR for the verse he dropped on the album and being there in spite of being ditched by a lot of people around me, he’s been improving a lot and I look forward to his coming album. Second, will make a shoutout to Sandra Bullet, Annie Mai, Yasmin Palmer, Melisa Jiménez, and Tetmax for their own vocal contributions to “Goodbye”. Third, I want to thank the FPIA for continuing to keep it real in the EDM circle in spite of that whole community being swarmed with a lot of fake personalities and calling people out on their nonsense. Last but certainly not least, I want thank everyone now and in the future who decides to support and cover me, it’s all hellappreciated, especially in light of my past of struggling to get anywhere and being told what to do or be.

Album Score

8.5/10