The Edinburgh Goth and Rock society was conceived on a Tuesday just after tea, in a big flat at the top of a staircase.

It was, you know. All good things have to begin somehow—and in this case it involved a big flat, a staircase and an everpresent desire to do fun and interesting things.

So what possessed us to start up a society? And why does it have such a silly name? Carry on, gentle reader, and all shall be revealed ...

Back in the mists of time, there was a union building in Chambers St. It was called, somewhat surprisingly, Chamber St House. There they played rock, metal and goth, sold dodgy food and served flat beer. It was great. We loved it. Then they closed it and we cried for weeks. Luckily, just as we were about to run out of Kleenex, the goth and rock society popped into our world and changed our lives forever.

You see, all the remaining union buildings are run by EUSA (your friendly students association). They put on lots of different clubs throughout the week ranging from the indie-tastic nights at Potterow to the "lovely music for lovely people" extravaganzas in Teviot.

We asked: Would EUSA carry on running rock/goth events in another union building after the closure of Chambers St? "Sorry, We don’t have the resources" was the answer. "Never mind!", we replied, "We’ll do it all ourselves".

And we did.

So, out from the crumbling remains (literally) of Chambers St Union, a new group of enthusiastic people emerged and started organising clubs, writing newsletters, planning trips to festivals and drinking copious amounts of Irn Bru. The Edinburgh Goth and Rock society had arrived.

To bring this article up to the present day, I have to admit it all got a bit out of control. Suddenly, the membership had risen to over a hundred people. We were pulling in bands from faraway places. We were buying silly amounts of sweets, just to give them away free at conception. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all ...

The society was never intended to be just about "goth music" or "rock music". It’s for a broad spectrum of tastes—from industrial to cheesy 80s rock, from poncy goth tunes to violent punky stuff. It’s never been a terribly serious society either. You might have noticed this by now.

There’s nothing magic about the society. All the events are organised by normal (well, sort of) students in their spare time. The events are paid for by society money, and the profits go back into the society funds. All of the money is spent on society stuff, whether that be CDs for the music library, clubs or gigs. If you’ve got an idea for an event, don’t keep it to yourself—talk to one of the committee members and make it a reality. You want to DJ? Run a club? Organise a gig? It really is dead easy.

So, that’s it! You now know how the goth and rock society came into creation. I’m not allowed to tell why we all drink Irn Bru, nor tell you why Nelly the Elephant is such a popular song. Some things you just gotta find out for yourself.

Until then ...Andrew