A subculture of fantasy and fun...

Halloween is very far away but enter one of the Goth clubs in New York City and you will wonder how quickly the months have passed.

Hundreds of people dressed in elaborate outfits and pierced bodies crowd around the stage at Downtime, one of the largest Gothic clubs in the Garment District in Manhattan.

They are listening to Mesh, a London-based band belting out industrial music. Bodies are moving as if in a trance with hands waving and lips chanting. Sounds like another club scene. Close, but not quite.

"For me, Gothic is just a way of dressing up. But for a majority of Goths, I think it is something deeper- a fantasy, an identity, even a religion," says Ivana Martin, a freshman at New York University.

The Gothic scene has its own brand of music, wardrobe, nightclubs and magazines.

"Gothic is really an out-branch of punk-only it’s more gloomy and morbid," says Robert Xian, a 31-year-old disc jockey who has been working at Downtime for the last six years.

"The music is sort of like the Doors- the songs are pretty dark and trippy," he adds.