interview by John Wisniewski
Dark Force Fest is, hands down, North America’s largest goth-industrial festival and convention. The three-day epic event is held each Spring at the iconic Sheraton Parsippany in Parsippany, New Jersey, a rather fitting piece of architecture that looks like a giant castle in the woods. It’s the sort of place where you might actually see the legendary Jersey Devil, the flying demon that has been sighted over rural New Jersey for hundreds of years. Devil aside, the 2026 edition will take place May 1–3 with an exciting headliner each night that includes Combichrist, Front Line Assembly and London After Midnight on each of the consecutive nights. Dark Force Fest 2026 will feature 36 bands across two stages over three days, alongside over 100 vendors, sideshow performances, DJ-driven club events, a pool party, panels, and immersive activities celebrating goth and industrial culture. We recently chatted with Jet, the impresario and man behind the curtain of Dark Force Fest.
John Wisniewski: Jet, when did you begin organizing concerts and festivals in goth and/or industrial?
Jet: I first started going to goth/industrial clubs as a teenager growing up in New York, I was really inspired by the goth clubs in the 90s such as Albion/Batcave and The Pyramid. I really wanted to DJ and share my musical tastes but nobody would book me so I started my own events as a small club promoter around 1999, it was just a fun hobby but it was a real struggle to try to get people out. I’d be out in the cold handing out flyers after local concerts and putting up posters around town. I’d pass out like 5,000 flyers and be lucky to have 50 people show up to an event lol. Over time the events grew and I started booking bands. The first major festival I hosted was Triton Festival in Brooklyn in 2010. It was a ton of fun but a huge financial failure lol, but we tried it again in 2013 and again it was a ton of fun, had a great turnout but just a huge money loss. So I took a break from festivals for a while and tried out ‘Dark Side of the Con’ in 2018, which was more of a goth convention with bands. We continued Dark Side of the Con until 2022 and then we decided to focus back on the music, we added a 2nd stage, added more bands and ‘Dark Force Fest’ was born.
John: Tell us about organizing the Dark Force Fest. Is there a basic idea behind bringing the many bands together and finding a way to have them compliment. each other?
Jet: In terms of musical styles, we try to do a healthy mix of industrial, ebm, dark wave, goth, post-punk, synthpop. And we’ll occasionally throw in some related genres such as horror punk, and industrial metal. The goal is to cater to varied flavors of the goth-industrial spectrum while staying true to our roots.
John: Do you have any favorite up and coming goth and industrial bands you would like to mention?
Jet: We do have some great up and coming bands playing at our festival each year! For 2026 some of these bands I’m excited about are SpankTheNun, Ghost Cop, Calaverx, Matte Blvck, Haunt Me. We also have some epic rare performances from bands that are a blast from the past such as Anders Manga and Crossbreed. Some personal favorites this year would also include Rabbit Junk and Priest and Light Asylum.
John: Who is new on the scene and is making a stir In dark music these days, that may be making an appearance at Dark Force Fest?
Jet: We’ve heard a lot of buzz about Matte Blvck, they give a vibe that is classic Depeche Mode but darker and more industrial, one of our followers described them as “music to make babies to”, which sounds pretty fun haha. ‘Haunt Me’ is also making some big waves, they recently headlined a large sold out show in California and they’re really trending lately online. ‘Ghost Cop’ and ‘None Shall Remain’ are both New York favorites that are gaining popularity and worth checking out!
John: How did you go about organizing the fest and how do you start the process of booking these bands to appear?
Jet: We ask our attendees which bands they’d like to see based on email surveys we send out and based on comments on our social media pages. Then we tally up the votes and try our best to book the bands with the most votes. We start booking the bands a year in advance so that we can plan everything out.
John: Any legendary or older bands showing up for Dark Forces that you are glad to see appearing?
Jet: Our 3 headliners are true scene legends that people are buzzing about! Combichrist headlines Friday night featuring a full set of classic industrial hits plus newer material. Front Line Assembly is a true legacy act headlining Saturday night, known for being a pioneer of Industrial music. London After Midnight closes out Sunday night, a very rare appearance of this influential classic goth band from the 90s. We’re also excited to have PIG and En Esch, founding members of KMFDM.
John: What makes the 2026 edition different from the past?
Jet: 2026 marks the addition of a brand new outdoor area with an outdoor stage! The new outdoor area will feature fire performances, side show performances, food trucks, a fashion show, a movie screening, plus much more! In addition we are expanding our vendor space and adding more vendors for a total of over 120 vendor spaces.
John: Any future plans and projects for you that you would like to mention?
Jet: We’re talking about maybe adding a 2nd annual festival in the future since Dark Force Fest sells out and we’ve seen increasing demand! Right now there’s nothing confirmed yet but we’ve been throwing some ideas around!