Northern Gloom

Killing Joke and Joy Division began their careers playing shows together in the UK.  The newspapers referred to Killing Joke as “Southern Stomp” because they were up-tempo music from Nottingham.  Joy Division, from the very working class industrial city of Manchester, was referred to as “Northern Gloom”.

The Northeastern United States – specifically Pennsylvania – is the biggest industrial pass through on the continent so, Northern Gloom is a way of life here as it is in the Northern part of the UK.  The photography of Michael James Stipe is frequently posted to the band’s instagram account @_northerngloom_  and is here to provide a window into the gloomy realities of todays world.  The visuals are as important to the  Northern Gloom experience as the music.  Northern Gloom wants you to see the horrors of the modern world, but they want to present it to you in a beautiful aesthetic that might inspire thought and action.  There is beauty that can bloom out of the madness.  This is GLOOM – not DOOM.