On a cold March Friday night, Texas Chainsaw invited a dressed up crowd of goths, punks and other assorted freaks to visit their Travelling Horror Picture show. Blood red cloth lined the walls and ceilings, whilst luminous psychedelic tapestries adorned the walls of the dance floors, transforming Electrowerkz (better known as the home of the Slimelight) from the familiar battered industrial complex into a nightmarish circus marquee and freak show, complete with deformed clowns and bearded ladies.

The ground floor featured performance artists. Particularly memorable amongst these was The Great Voltini, who lit up the room with arcs of high voltage electricity in his own brand of death defying physics lesson. For a grand finale, an arc of electricity flared from a generator to an electrode inserted in his nether regions, not only lighting a neon lamp in his hand and another on his head, but sending sparks flying from the fingers of his other hand to light flares held by his assistant, Nurse Electra.

On the second floor visitors passed through the mouth of a dragon onto a dance floor around which cage and pole dancers in devil's horns gyrated to an eclectic mix of goth, punk, ebm and other alternative sounds. At the other end of the floor, the more masochistic patrons could play the Wheel of Death. Victims were strapped to a wheel, around the edges of which were inscribed the seven deadly sins. The wheel was the spun and, depending upon which sin it stopped, the victim had to pay a forfeit, such as sticking their hand into a bucket of maggots or burying their face in a bucket of green slime.

The top floor was set aside for live music. First up was London's own Texas Chainsaw. Singer Johnny Dark, resplendent in battered military frock coat and cowboy hat, howled and scowled his way through an up tempo gothabilly set, to the accompaniment of driving drums and whining guitars. The set included titles such as 'Dead Drunk' and 'Frankenstein's Hotrod' and ended in a wonderfully irreverent psychobilly rendition of the Nick Cave classic, 'Red Right Hand'.

Next on stage were Punish Yourself from Toulouse. Their all over multicoloured luminous body paint might have appeared outlandish anywhere else but in the surreal world of the Travelling Horror Picture show, it seemed totally natural. They soon had the whole floor moving to high-speed industrial metal numbers such as 'Gay Boys in Bondage' and 'CNN War', whilst the band's go-go dancer sent sparks flying into the air from an angle grinder applied to a plate strapped to her chest. The intimate surroundings of Electrowerkz were ideally suited to Punish Yourself's own brand of audience participation. So when the dancer took off her bra and on the guitarists dropped his trousers, a female fan decided that the singer should follow suit and stripped him naked. For the rest of the set, his modesty was partially preserved by bondage tape hasty wrapped around his lower parts. But the tempo did not let up as the band continued on with 'Gimme Cocaine' and culminating with 'Primitive'.

Unfortunately for the final band Bloody Mary from Milan, fatigue had set in and the numbers were thinning by the time they came on stage. They were also not helped by problems with the Electrowerkz sound system which was unable to bring their usually atmospheric and melodic guitars to the fore. Aldebran's gravelly vocals and the steady beat nevertheless kept the audience dancing, their slower gothic metal contrasting effectively with the previous band. They finished with an intriguing cover of the Ramones' 'Pet Cemetery' from their forthcoming album 'Party Music for Graveyards'. Performed at a much slower tempo than the original, this brought out the melancholy side of the lyrics which can seem light-hearted in the original.

Finally, with all the organised performances over, it was left to the remaining hardy souls to dance into the early hours on the three dance floors.