SINGAPORE really does have everything when comes to entertainment.
Away from the cluster of tourist traps at Clarke Quay, the boom-boom of thumping RnB and the chink-chink of posh cocktail bars, Singapore is home to a couple of interesting, underground scenes.
On Saturday night I experienced my first 'goth' night in the Little Red Dot, and was pleasantly surprised.
Tucked away on the sixth floor of the Safra Game Haven building in Carpenter Street is club called Nova; not a major draw for the international set, but a wee local for young people.
Showing some brass, the venue hired itself out for Heart of Darkness, a club night organised by the Singapore Dark Alternative Movement (Sdam).
Goths, as a sub-culture, are generally into wearing black, having weird hair styles, mope around believing in vampires and like the 'darker' things in life (or death) like industrial club sounds, candles, coffins, bats etc.
Or that's one description; but the goth scene is as different and varied as the people who are members. In fact, actually calling yourself a 'goth' is kind of like saying you're NOT a real goth: If you know what I mean.
You've also got the other end of the spectrum with the neo-punk goth scene, the death goth scene and the BDSM goth scene, etc, etc.
The best way to explain what goths are, is to point you to this very detailed description in Wikipedia, otherwise, I'll have no room left to talk about the local scene.
Sdam, like the global goth scene, is a mixture of personalities and people who generally just like being different. Yes, there are lots of black-wearing, interesting-haired members of the group, but likewise there are non-dressed up fans who just like the music.
Again, goth music ranges from traditional goth – groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Damned, Joy Division and The Cure – to more recent innovations that focus more on electronic dance music.
Heart of Darkness on Saturday night was all about the industrial and EMB or electronic body music, which included a range of tracks from the all-local DJ line-up of Lique, Mentor and Cosmic Battlefield.
For a small venue, Nova has a surprisingly good sound system with plenty of bass, clear high-hat and a fantastic lights set up. The venue even has a smoke machine and a pretty big dance floor.
Which was just as well considering a number of the crowd specialised in glow-stick twirling – which is basically like fire-twirling without the fire, which is much, much safer and prettier.
Although the crowd wasn't huge, for an alternative night out that was competing with a number of other events, Heart of Darkness had a relatively good turn-out.
Mind you, the fact that the bar serves some of the cheapest drinks in town might have had something to do with it as well.
Still, apart from the organiser's tendency to get on the mic and over-explain, the event ran smoothly without a single incident of stupidity from either goths, management or inebriated guests – that's got to be a winner in anyone's stakes.
One thing that does make the Singapore goth movement stand out from the crowd though, is something that's just, well, very Singaporean.
At any goth club in the US, Australia, Japan or Europe, you'd be happily ignored by the crowd, the door-doll, the DJs and everyone else (sometimes including staff if you're not dressed correctly; yes, really) except for your personal friends. After all, being goth is about nothing if not about being cool.
In Singapore however, we, as newcomers, were welcomed with open arms. In fact, one of the organisers came up and introduced himself, exchanged mobile numbers and offered my friend a seat on the Sdam committee.
Which just goes to show – the Sdam crowd may look a little different, but at heart they're as warm and welcoming as any Singaporean.
Their Facebook group explains that while they're into different sounds, fashion and ideas, they are also all about tolerance, acceptance and "intolerance to any race/language/religion is unacceptable".
Sdam events are the place to go if you're looking for something with enough edge to bite but that won't leave scars.
There will be another Heart of Darkness event on or around August 28 and a more traditional goth night on August 15. Check out the various Sdam websites for details.