Dylan Kerr

Exodus 20:3

3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Digital painting by Mateusz Bratkowski

Dylan Kerr is dead and what’s left of them now takes the form of Baptist Goth. Baptist Goth is the meeting point of the Idol - The Idol of religious belief, the Idol of popular culture. Baptist Goth is the intersection of the Idol. Both in popular culture and in Religious belief, Idols are born out of martyrdom and death. Baptist Goth is the fusion of past and present. From Lil Peep, to St. Agata. From Kurt Cobain, to John the Baptist. Baptist Goth is a rupture to the second commandment (exodus 20:3) A rupture which creates the opening to a non-binary re-imagining of christianity, of religious energy.

Dylan came close to taking their own life, but Baptist Goth saved whatever parts of Dylan were still living and became a new entity.

Religion undoubtedly has made the life of many of its believers meaningful to themselves and useful to others. Through religious faith their adherents have been able to transcend themselves and been able to do great things. Even if it is all based on delusions, would not this be enough for us to protect, maybe even encourage its practices, in spite of the intellectual reservations we may harbour? ^

That’s where Baptist Goth came from, an early fascination with the church and religious music, combined with Dylan’s “worship” of Lil Peep during lockdown. Baptist Goth performs under the guise of a saint, a fusion of an emo trap idol and a Catholic idol. Baptist Goth performs re-interpretations of hymns and religious scripture, appreciating the beauty of religious music, but also raising questions about the church and the problems associated with it. Religious energy will not wither, despite scientific discovery. But the institutions that have claimed ownership over religion are riddled with corruption - rife with sexual abuse and enforced patriarchy. Religious energy is weaponized the world over. Dylan Kerr was living in Poznan, Poland, as hateful and violent rhetoric against the LGBT+ community was being used for political gain. The reasoning for this violence - biblical scripture.

Dylan died, Baptist Goth was born.

Let’s look at the recent protests in Warsaw, where three activists from the group Stop Bzdurom were charged for placing pride flags on religious statues in protest of all the hate speech brought about again by Andrzez Duda before his re-election. Duda says that these actions were an attack on religious feelings. What about the spread of homophobic ideology by polish government officials? After they removed the flag from the statue of Jesus, the statue and the square it was in were then guarded by the police, while there was a rise in attacks on queer people around the country.

^ Breaking The Spell, Dan Hennett, Penguin, 2006

Duda says that these actions were an attack on religious feelings. What about the spread of homophobic ideology by polish government officials? After they removed the flag from the statue of Jesus, the statue and the square it was in were then guarded by the police, while there was a rise in attacks on queer people around the country.

Polish hate speech laws protect religious statues, but not living, queer people. Baptist Goth is the creation of a queer sainthood in Catholic Poland.

Baptist Goth presents us with a world in which our idols are queer, inviting us to overhaul our concepts of structural belief. This invitation takes its form in the fusion of religious ceremony and music. Baptist Goth is a means of rebirth out of darkness. Of saviour from death. Baptist Goth’s first work is now available on Bandcamp. ‘I wake up in the morning and I cry’ was composed for Dylan Kerr’s funeral in June 2020. Baptist Goth Bandcamp

All proceeds from the sale of this work will be donated and split between two Polish charities:

1. Fundusz Dla Odmiany, whose goal is to make LGBT + people feel at home in every community in Poland. The money will be used to fund workshops, educational programmes, support networks etc. Providing support to queer people in local communities across the country

2. Aborcja Bez Granic, which is a source of information and practical and financial support for people in Poland who need an abortion in the country (by obtaining information on safe abortion pills) and abroad (surgery in a clinic).

Baptist Goth will continue to work towards releasing an album in 2021, and who knows what after that, or what form they will take. They will forever be evolving.

Under this mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these faces^

^ Aveux non avenus, Claude Cahun, Editions Du Carrefour, Paris, 1930