With the theme of "The Mariner's Revenge" for this year's festival, we thought it would be wonderful to have a group of innovative musicians, who can not only showcase their own compositions, but collaborate with each other to create a unique musical experience.
The Clockwork Dolls
The Clockwork Dolls began in 2007 with a simple concept - to create music that serves not only as a source for recreation but as a means of narration, a storyteller much like the days of old. The trio's strength rests in their unique combination of skills. Their music combines Allison Curval's knack for the fusing of traditional classical music with the epic sounds of contemporary musical scores and modern electronica with Helene De Fer's passion for poetic lyrics and Cedric Mayne's immersive musical style on the violin.
The music of The Clockwork Dolls involves an elaborate world that is simultaneously familiar and strange. It is one that is filled with flights of fancy, airships, and the technology of both past and future. With songs like Maiden Voyage telling the tale of a noble woman's dream of freedom and flight to the Ballad of Black Jack Jezebel, a story of a vengeful gambler set in the wild west, The Clockwork Dolls functions not only as a band but as a group of writers and actors telling a story of adventure, bravery, tragedy, and drama all mixed in with the occasional ho down.
For more information, check out:
The Clockwork Dolls on Myspace
The Extraordinary Contraptions
A lawman, a time traveler, a gentleman explorer and a mad genius join forces... to alter the sound of steampunk as we know it! The Extraordinary Contraptions, Atlanta, Georgia's own steampunk rock band combine superb musicianship with visuals from a time that never was. The rock and roll aesthetic meets the steampunk DIY ethic to produce unique sound and visual sensation. For too long have sequencers and synthesizers sapped the "punk" out of steampunk. No more. A little band from Terminus is on its way to the rescue on a stage near you.
In their efforts to forge a steampunk rock movement, they employ neoclassic rock chops and a Victorian aesthetic to tell the stories of their otherworldly alter-egos. Their self-produced debut album, Inappropriate on Purpose, touches on universal themes before careening into pieces about malevolent alien invasions and failed mathematical romances. As the steampunk movement grows, The Extraordinary Contraptions offer their quirky, guitar-driven vision of this alternate reality.
In January 2009, the band was invited to become part of the worldwide steampunk musical collective Gilded Age Records, joining Vernian Process, The Clockwork Dolls, The Tenth Stage, Viral Millennium, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, Ghostfire, Jill Tracy, Mister Joe Black, and Revel Hotel.
For more information, check out:
The Extraordinary Contraptions on Myspace
Lemming Malloy
Introducing: a steampunk band for the twenty-first century.
We implore that you embrace inconvenience. When society must bend 'round your steadfast chanciness or bow to your obstinance, the trauma bruises the straightened arteries of our streamlined monotony and reveals a jagged corruption - and the anomolous gesture reveals that life may yet hold variance, surprise, and, hence, interest. When you feel the imposition of system, create variance. The disruption of routine is the source of all adventure. An unwashed rogue is the talk of the town, and a brush with death is a day remembered.
Contemporary mechanical advancements deem them slipshod, but the image of absurd lumbering steam-vessels invigorates the spirit. The viability of the preposterous exudes the miraculous, and extravagance need not be a negative trait. Before the time of interchangeable parts, tinkering was an exercise in expression. Dreamships handymen contrived are now vehicles laborers assemble, but technology as whimsy can be re-explored once one embraces the impractical.
We humbly proposition you to join us on our musical adventures!
For more information, check out:
Lemming Malloy on Myspace
The Two Man Gentlemen Band
What better musical prescription for troubled times than an impeccably-dressed, throwback, neo-vaudevillian duo whose live performances are a festival of expert musicianship; clever, off-center original tunes; hilarious banter, rowdy audience interactions, and free kazoos for the crowd?
Hailing from New York City, The Two Man Gentlemen Band combines hot jazz, vintage rhythm and blues, old-time country, and tin pan alley to create a joyous two-man sound that is all their own. Performing with plectrum banjo, guitar, string bass, dueling kazoos, novelty percussion, and a cornet, The Gentlemen whip themselves into a frenzy that is unlike any acoustic duo on the road today. And they belt out original songs that manage to be at once familiar, bizarre, fun, and entirely new.
On stage, the songs come to life. Their intricate harmonies, instrumental prowess, and uncanny musical connection makes The Two Man Gentlemen Band a great band to watch. But it is their charismatic embrace of a forgotten brand of showmanship that makes them a must-see! During songs, they frequently coax the audience to shout, stomp, dance, whistle, and kazoo along with them. Between numbers, their well-honed - but, improvised - banter with each other and the audience is often the funniest part of the evening. Banjoist Andy Bean - equal parts vaudevillian comic, depression-era huckster, loveable rogue, and society gentleman - serves as master of ceremonies and manic front-man. Bassist Fuller Condon plays the silent straight-man, stoically accepting the antics of his partner with the mild disdain of an older sibling.
After performing together in several dreadful rock bands, Bean and Condon began playing acoustic music together in 2005 as buskers in New York City's streets and subways. They appeared regularly on the streets for two years, during which time they entertained thousands of passersby, were featured in a documentary on street musicians, had more than a few chance encounters with celebrities, and sang themselves quite hoarse. Since taking their act on the road in 2007, The Gentlemen have embraced the lifestyle of barnstorming vaudevillians. They now play nearly 200 shows per year all across the USA and will be making their first trip to Europe this Spring.
For more information, check out:
The Two Man Gentlemen Band website
The Two Man Gentlemen Band on Myspace
Unwoman
Unwoman is a solo cellist/singer/composer/producer who has also performed with Voltaire, Rasputina, Attrition, Jill Tracy, Stripmall Architecture, and Vernian Process. Her solo work draws comparisons to Tori Amos, Amanda Palmer, and Imogen Heap. She has released three full-length albums and a new EP entitled Trouble. Unwoman's musical
goal is to combine the best elements of both past and future into timeless songs representing struggles for love, knowledge, and independence.
For more information, check out:
Unwoman website
Unwoman on Myspace
Vernian Process
Vernian Process is a musical collective. At the core of this group is Joshua A. Pfeiffer. Josh founded this project in 2003, with the sole intentions of creating music that could accompany Steampunk adventures in his own mind. Josh is a self taught artist, his only background in music composition coming from his familiarity with musical structure through his work as a DJ.
Josh never intended to define Steampunk as a musical genre when he created this project. It was simply an extension of an interest he has had for well over 20 years. At the time this project started there was virtually nothing out there that claimed Steampunk as a major influence. Which is why he decided to build his material around that theme.
In 2007 Josh began recruiting other musicians to collaborate with, and slowly but surely this became a reality. Now he is currently working with artists from other projects such as the Unextraordinary Gentlemen, and the Clockwork Dolls, as well as solo artists and even fans that just wanted to help contribute to the project. In the same year he also created the rather tongue-in cheek genre "Steamwave". Since his biggest inspirations were Steampunk, Darkwave, New Wave, Post-Punk, Industrial, and Trip-Hop. he felt the title fit appropriately.
But perhaps the biggest change to Vernian Proces happened at the tail end of 2008. when Joshua was contacted by Martin Irigoyen. Martin and Josh quickly hit it off, and started reworking all of the previous material Josh had been writing for Behold the Machine. Now the two are poised to release the album on February 8th 2009, in order to coincide with the birthday of Jules Verne.
For more information, check out:
Vernian Process website
Vernian Process on Myspace
Veronique Diabolique
The Diabolique siblings were born in France but taken from each other at an early age. They grew up and lived separately around the world, but in 2004 Didier, Dominique, Jean-Luc, and Solange reunited in North Carolina, to make music that they send out into the world with the hope that it will reach their missing sister and the band's namesake: Veronique Diabolique.
For more information, check out:
Veronique Diabolique website
Veronique Diabolique on Myspace