Children's Express reporters take a look at Belfast's growing culture of youth tribes.
| All tribes are scathing about each other; each group views the next as inferior, tasteless and making the wrong statement. |
Belfast is evidently becoming a more attractive place for young people to congregate as various youth tribes descend on the city centre just to hang out on a Saturday.
The distinct clans can be identified by clothing, hairstyle, where they gather, where they shop, music preferences and what sports they are interested in.
The under-belly of youth culture is made up of smicks, goths, metallers, rockers, trekkies, punks, skaters and a few outlaws that float between the clans or completely avoid them.
All tribes are scathing about each other; each group views the next as inferior, tasteless and making the wrong statement. But it should be noted that certain alliances are created. For example, rockers and skaters share similar music tastes and would be less inclined to 'diss' each other.
Although class is not intricately linked to the division of the clans, most agree that you are more likely to be from a working class background if you are a smick, whereas membership of skaters demands a certain amount of financial clout and most members would be seen as middle-class.
Smicks, otherwise know as moakes, steeks or spides, wear baseball caps, big gold coin rings, white tracksuits and use the word 'like' in every other sentence.
Music choice includes; rap, dance, euphoria and hard house. They are usually big drinkers, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.
Smick girls, sometimes called "millies" usually have bleached blonde hair and shop in trendy outlets. A lot of smick girls would have their belly buttons pierced and would also be heavy drinkers and smokers.
Hippies are 60s-wannabees. There is nothing original about this tribe, who are repeating history in terms of clothes, music and fashion.
Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins are the newer hippie grooves but Pink Floyd and the Beatles may be lurking in their CD collection next to a wardrobe filled with flares and tie-dye shirts. Hairstyles tend to be long and floppy.
Goths are a socio-sub-culture of their own. They wear black clothes, use copious amounts of eyeliner and black hair dye. They wear chokers and dog collars.
They love Pagans, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and most death metal music such as Cradle of Filth. They always seem to have really white faces.
Older Goths might listen to 80's-type music such as, the Sisters of Mercy, Bolshoi and Bauhaus. Goths come from all social backgrounds. Their clothes are strictly non-designer. Young people often get into the gothic scene because they feel they don't fit in anywhere else.
Skaters tend to at least have enough dosh to buy a board and expensive designer clothes, which would include, DC, Vans or Sketchers. They have chains on their baggy jeans, (all clothes must be at least three sizes too big); they wear hoodies, (sweat-shirts with hoods). They listen to Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring and Sum 41.
Most skaters use hair gel to make their hair look spiky. Often it is dyed different colours. They never do their shoelaces up and always show their boxers above the jeans waistline.
Metallers can be divided into three categories - new metal, heavy metal and death metal. Nu-metallers listen Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach. This branch of metaldom share many of the characteristics of skaters but don't have the board.
Heavy metallers listen to bands like Iron Maiden, Slayer and Pantera. Death metallers mostly like bands, no one else has ever heard of such as Dimmu Borgir and At The Gates.
Rockers are a small cult. They tend to like music by Blink 182 and Metallica. Although they are small in number they dress distinctively. They normally wear long sleeved shirts branded with band logos, they also wear long-sleeved black jackets, sometimes metal studs on top. Most of them also love to wear long, dangling chains connected at waist to (normally black) trousers.
Punks wear tight leather trousers, a lot of chains and generally have a lot of metal stuff all over their clothes. They wear leather jackets, big boots and look scary. They listen to bands like the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Rancid and the Dead Kennedy's. Most seem to be into body piercing.
Trekkies are not visible at street level. They live for Star Trek and shop in places that sell sci-fi memorabilia. They are not concerned with image. Their idea of fun is going on-line and talking to other trekkies.
Many adults see young people in their tribal groups as worrisome, even frightening, especially when seen en masse roving about the streets; they are seen as a burden to society, as troublemakers and as people that just don't care about anything.
But in essence - they are just young people, who are experimenting with life and trying to find out about which tribe they belong to - a practice, which has been going on since time began.
About the team
This story was produced by Raymond Lawley, Connor Scullion, Paul McAteer and PJ Hart (15), Emma Orr and Orlaith Graham Wood (13), Conor Magowan Greene and Myles McCormick (12) and Lucas Dillon (11). It was published in the Irish News.
