Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Minze.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I went to my first underground show in 2001. I was 11 years old. It was a Christian death metal band called Living Sacrifice. Growing up a fan of dark music in an evangelical house hold came with its challenges, but also its loopholes, and through these loophole I was able to con my youth pastor into taking me to this show. It took place in Canton Texas in an independently owned venue called The Revelation Room. We paid the cover, and the person at the door took a la The rumble of the double bass drums rattled the building. The electrifying guitar solos filled the air. I felt hands grabbing me by the arms, legs and torso. I was lifted up above the crowd and thrown into the air, but before I fell back to floor, time froze. I experienced perfect stillness. I could see the entire room from every angle. Every face. Every drop of sweat. I experienced perfection and wholeness. Some in eastern philosophy refer to the type of experience as “samadhi”, and the rest of my life will be spent searching for that stillness.
25 years later I’m running one of the most influential goth blogs on social media. There’s been many different eras of my content, but probably the most significant is my homelessness era. It came about due to being misperscribed a handful of ssris. I lost my mind and ended up on the streets. But I was on the best possible streets I could be on for my content, and I suspect that is what yall want to hear about. It’s the best story I have, and I would rather not give it away in a preview.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’m not sure there was even a road. I’m a new type of artists. Ive noticed that the younger generation is looking at content creators the way my generation looked at rock stars. But those rock stars had a template to follow. The music industry today is unrecognizable compared to how it was a decade ago and because of that, new kinds of figures are going to emerge and I suspect I’m one of those figures.
However on the topic of obstacles, mental health has been my biggest. I’m type 2 bipolar, adhd, and have an additional mile long list of mental health issues. The trick it to learn how to harness them. I dont think my videos would be near as creative if I werent adhd.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Secret Society of Goths is the name of my blog. It started off as just a meme page that focused mainly on goth music and humor but quickly evolved into much more. These days, it seems like most accounts on social media that provide music content are basically ran by bots. My page is better than all those because you get a deeper and more authentic look into the subculture. Anytime a goth band comes to Austin, you can bet Im on the guest list. They want to put me on the guest list because they know Im going to come record their show, take back stage pictures and spread them all over the internet, which helps them sell more tickets. Its a big ecosystem.
What were you like growing up?
I was born March 3rd, 1989 in Longview TX to two teenagers. I was a one night stand baby. Which a little bit of an embarrassment for a well-to-do evangelical family in east texas, so I stayed with my mother all over east texas. I was homeschooled til high school because I have adhd and she didnt want to have to give me medical attention, so I was basically locked in a room til highschool. My only social interactions were church related.
My high school experience was a lot like the movie Mean Girls. I was bullied pretty hard the first year, but I found out pretty quick I was meaner than most of the other kids. I also found out i was a talented video editor. My team was the first from my school to ever win state in UIL.
But those country towns are so dull. I needed a little more flavor in my life. So when i was 18, the day after christmas, my gf and I packed my things and ran to the border of mexico, and thats the beginning of the story
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsocietyofgoths
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secretsocietyofgoths/
- Twitter: @ssofgoths
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SecretSocietyofGoths
Image Credits
All photos were taken by Jacob Minze of Secret Society of Goths
