The future of goth music with Valuemart’s Tory Knowles

Alice Underground is a trip back in time, not only to the goth roots that run throughout the album, but even further—to a time of mystery and dark magic. While the album is bound to draw comparisons to The Cure and Joy Division, Tory Knowles’ lyricism is even more anachronistic, conjuring imagery not unlike that of the Romantic poets.

The first track on the album, “Roses of Yakutsk,” echoes this from the beginning as Knowles sings “Frozen in time, like a work of art.” When asked about the significance of time in this song, Knowles replies, “when I was writing it I was imagining walking through a town where everything is completely frozen solid.” Immediately after, he followed up by referencing a Spongebob episode with similar imagery, to which both of us broke out in laughter.

“Icebath,” the next track on the album, begins with a catchy riff that builds and swells until Knowles’ voice trails in. “Icebath” is transcendent and dreamlike, especially in comparison to the next track, “Vapors,” a passionate anthem that could easily serve as the soundtrack to an 80s neonoir thriller.

“Vapors” was one of the first tracks that Knowles wrote for Alice Underground, and for Knowles, it set the tone for the rest of the album. “Vapors” is dark yet danceable, with lyrics such as “rip out my heart and feed it to the ghost of my past.” A definitive 80s groove drives the song, juxtaposed with Knowles’ impassioned voice singing about ghosts and drowning.

Two more standout songs are “Born to Kill,” a crazed post-punk anthem with a tinge of satanic imagery, and “Forever,” the album’s closing track that leads into bonus live demos. “Forever” is an apt closer, as it feels like a farewell song, “I want to sleep forever and sever these shaking hands.” The song trails off with a heartbreaking goodbye, “I’ll be with you again / with you forever,” reminding us that, while the sound of goth and post-punk may live on, our own lives are ephemeral. Perhaps the reason Valuemart is so compelling is because of this nostalgia for an era gone by, and our fear of losing ourselves to time as well.

While certainly paying homage to the goth and new wave artists of the past, Alice Underground still feels refreshing, and Valuemart has already built an international fanbase for themselves. Comments from Russia and South America have been flooding in on the music videos released by their new record label, Detriti Records.

I sat down for a virtual conversation with Knowles to further discuss the album, his inspirations, and what it means to be a goth artist in the digital age.

B-Side: Where are you originally from, and how did you discover your love for music?

TK: I’m from Encinitas, California. My parents are both super into music, they’re both dead heads, hippies. I think that’s why I like making goth music so much. They always wanted me to be super into music, so they would sign me up. I’d always have some kind of piano lesson or guitar lesson. They always pushed me really hard, and I’m glad I took to it. What really got me into playing music was just the fact that it was something I could do myself, and didn’t need other people.

B-Side: I also noticed that you’ve been to a lot of places. I saw a few other interviews you did, where you said that you went to Indonesia and Australia. There is a sense of traveling and expansiveness in your music. How do you think traveling to these places has shaped your art or practice in making music?

TK: When I first started traveling, I hadn’t really made any music yet. I think just that whole time, getting all those experiences and stuff…I feel like it was just building up that I had to make something. I feel like that’s what the first album is: just a big rush of ideas I had floating around in my head.

B-Side: I can totally relate to that. It’s always so important to get out there and find that outlet that you can pour all your emotions into. You can definitely feel that in the album.

TK: That’s kind of the only way I can make something that I like. It has to be something unconscious like that…I get writer’s block so much. Eventually, it’ll just come to a point where I just write something about what I’m feeling, but I’m not consciously coming up with it.

B-Side: That natural inspiration.

TK: I feel like traveling is a really good way to get inspiration, you know? Talking to different people and meeting people and doing stuff.

B-Side: How has COVID affected your music career?

TK: Honestly, I kind of see it as an opening, because there’s really no scene now. I just moved to Berkeley two months ago, so I’m not really sure about the scene here. But like, in San Diego, there was this house show, DIY scene, and a big goth scene. Like downtown at this bar called Space Bar that had a bunch of people come through that are pretty big. But all that is wiped out now, which is kind of sad. But I kind of see it as an opening because I never really had a band before this or toured or anything…and now it’s just kind of like an opening where I can start my own shit and find other bands that are cool, and we can start doing touring. I just have a foot in the door now, with COVID.

B-Side: Another song I really liked was “Born to Kill” because it seems really intense. What was the inspiration for that?

TK: I think I was drinking a lot at the time, and it’s pretty literal.

B-Side: We’ve all been there.

TK: And I was reading this satanic website, and it had some of the lyrics that are in the song. I thought “that would be kind of a sick lyric” and I just wrote the guitar riff and it went from there.

B-Side: How is your typical writing process?

TK: Yeah, it’s usually the riff, all the instruments and shit first. I just have a big notebook of lyrics that I write in randomly, and then I rearrange them into a song and work from there. A song just comes together in super little segments. One little thing at a time.

B-Side: How do you feel like the rise of social media has impacted your ability to reach new audiences?

TK: I feel like it’s turning a lot of people on to goth music, which is pretty sick. Finding goth music in general helped my mental [state]. I didn’t know what I was feeling before I started listening to it, and then I just got so fucking into it. When my friend started turning me onto The Cure, I was like “god this is sick.” I feel like it can help a lot of people understand their own feelings, so it’s pretty cool that a lot more people are getting into it.

B-Side: I know that ghosts are another prevalent theme in your music. What is your relationship to ghosts now that you’ve written about them?

TK: It’s more like how I was a much different person. I was pretty self-destructive and drinking a lot and doing a lot of drugs, and I feel like it’s kind of a ghost. I don’t know, I feel like it can still haunt me sometimes. I still feel that urge to drink a bunch and get fucked up. It’s just writing about who I used to be I guess. But it’s also like, in a literal sense too. I believe a lot in magic and ghosts and supernatural shit too. I think it’s fun. I was trying to put some magic in the album.

B-Side: What’s next for you?

TK: I’m working with my band on getting our live sound really good. I’m just really stoked to start touring and traveling once COVID’s over. That’s the plan, going on as big a tour as possible. I really want to go to Europe. I’m super into castles and shit like that. I want to go to Transylvania. I’ve been to Amsterdam and Switzerland, but I’ve never seen super cool stuff in Europe. I feel like touring there would be a really good way to do that.