Just finishing up a tour for his new album, Riding a Black Unicorn down the side of an Erupting Volcano while drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children, we had the chance to talk to Voltaire about his music, his writing, his filmmaking, his geeky side, and even his love life.
photographer : Paul Collins
interview by : Gia C. Manalio-Bonaventura
Hey, Voltaire. I want to thank you for talking to us. I know that you just wrapped up your US Black Unicorn Cabaret Tour as well as a few international shows in Scotland and Whitby and have jumped into your next project, so we really appreciate your time.
Can we talk about the tour a bit? It was described as, “A Villainous Vaudeville of Bawdy Burlesque, Music, Mischief, and Mayhem.” The title alone is so much fun. How did the tour go?
Voltaire : It was great! I really felt like it needed to be more than a couple of bands on tour, it needed to be an event. So I brought along with me a couple of the finest bands I know in the dark cabaret genre, Hellblinki Sextet and This Way to the Egress. And we had local burlesque talent at the shows. So it was a big themed night of dark cabaret and burlesque. Lots of people came out all dressed up and all in all we had a fantastic time.
As I’m writing this, I’m listening to Riding a Black Unicorn down the side of an Erupting Volcano while drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children. Once again, I have to congratulate you on an amazing album and I again love the cabaret style. Can you tell us a bit about what went into making it?
V : I had worked with Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls on my previous album Hate Lives in a Small Town, so when I was ready to record this album, I asked him if he would join me again. So he played all of the drums. I asked Melora Creager of Rasputina if she’d play the cellos and she kindly joined us. So at this point I realized I had the makings of a supergroup! [laughs] When it came time for bass, I invited David J. of Bauhaus to contribute those parts. The rest of the musicians are amazing New York City-based players. It’s really a great line up!
If you are new to Aesthetic Perfection, you have to overlook the initial perception of cheesiness to understand it’s crucial to the music and the artistic vision behind it. And similarly in this music video for “Inhuman” from Aesthetic Perfection’s latest album, All Beauty Destroyed, you have to do the same. I thought I could have done without the imagery in the first half of the video, as I find the black and white painted body imagery in the second half much more interesting, but the honesty and personal nature of Daniel Grave’s music make it is a key aspect.
With a few new endeavors on the horizon, the famous fashion design company and Sydney, Australia boutique known for their corsets and alternative couture, Gallery Serpentine, is still going strong after 15 years.
interview by : Vanity Kills & Jennifer Link
photographer : Zelko Nedic
fashion stylist : Gallery Serpentine
makeup artist : Emma Lee Court and Renee De Bono
makeup : Illamasqua
hair stylist : Ambo Ars
models : Miroslav Naskovic, Sophie J. Wilde, Susy Natal, James Heathers, Lauren Kyle, and Jeremy Ansley
It’s safe to say that upon handing yourself over to the whimsical couturiers behind Australia’s celebrated Gallery Serpentine, you’ll soon forget all about the outmoded notion of, “being dressed to the nines”. Instead, you shall be whisked right past 10 and into a world of instantly recognizable style that is off the charts. No surprise there, since this Sydney-based “Home of Australian Corsetry and Alternative Couture” prides itself on being an “Antidote to the Mundane”. After all, nothing lights up a room like a Gallery Serpentine pointed waist cincher fashioned from black aston brocade, a distinguished pinstripe kirtle skirt that drapes just right, or a high-collared undertaker inspired coat. But that’s just one small piece of a greater fantastically fashionable puzzle. If you heart’s desire lies in transforming your entire wedding entourage into a horde of airship pirates, the brand’s alternative bridal salon, can help you satiate your steamiest matrimonial appetites. And if you wish to be plucked from the banality of day-to-day life by the way of sartorially minded old-school carnival magic, where tunes and togs collide: Dark Fashion Theatre beckons with promises of delivering a tantalizing, multi-performer road show unlike that which you’ve ever seen, letting you fulfill those, “I’ve run away with a really well-dressed circus,” fantasies you’ve always harbored. At least for one night.
Writer Vanity Kills and editor Jennifer Link had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie Calkin of Gallery Serpentine.
Jennifer Link : Gallery Serpentine has had multiple designers and guest designers throughout its 15 years, can you give us a mini history lesson, who were some of the highlights and who is still working with Gallery Serpentine today?
Stephanie Calkin : Annette Magus, my sister, was the sole designer when her first label, Magus, morphed into Gallery Serpentine in the early years after she came back from Camden in London where she had a great following. She developed the corsetry during this period when you couldn’t buy a corset in Australia. She continues to contribute her signature romantic neo-Victorian styles and also what I’d categorize as “practical goth” or “corporate goth” daywear. For me I was making “deadtech” creations utilizing circuitboard screen prints and wiring diagrams with used computer parts and often pictures of Einstein. It was great to have this recognized with a color spread in a local Sydney gay publication and getting the cover of another local paper and having the winner of the Miss Geek competition in the USA wearing one of my deadtech corsets.
Once GS started growing and we were employing some creatives who in the main came out of the theater costume background an acceleration of dramatic designs came through. Basically nearly everyone who has ever worked here has ended up contributing designs whether it is the production team or the retail team. We used to have very intense staff design meetings every few months and design sheets were rampant pieces of paperwork wherever you went upstairs in our old shop in a Victorian terrace.
Shannon Mullane is still with us after about eight years, she originally started as a work experience student and is now Production Manager and has designed some great new styles for us.
Other guest designers are USA steampunk legend, Evelyn Kriete and Sydney’s own Robert from Red Rabbit & Ensign who really helped us kickstart our GS Gentlemen ranges. Our new Dapper Bastard ranges are being spurred along by a Victorian style strong man and scientist, Abbadon/James Heathers.
Daniel Myer and Dejan Samardzic are back with a new Haujobb album, New World March, eight years after their last full length. Not focusing on club hits, but still aiming to return to the popularity they’ve had in the past, New World March is distinctly Haujobb. With this brand new material, Myer and Samardzic prove they still have it.
interview by Aaron Andrews
In 1993 Daniel Myer, Dejan Samardzic, and Björn Jünemann founded Haujobb releasing two industrial albums before Jünemann’s departure. The duo of Myer and Samardzic have continued on since and ushered Haujobb through a musical evolution away from their initial sound and explored the realm of electronic music trying sounds including drum & bass, IDM, ambient, techno, trance, and electronica. In 2003 they issued their last full album of new material, Vertical Theory, and became slowly quiet until 2009 when they remixed their reissued Homes & Gardens single with the promise of more on the way. This year Myer took a break from his other recent projects (Architect and Covenant) to focus on reuniting with Dejan as Haujobb on their all new full length release, New World March. We got the chance to interview the creative team of Daniel and Dejan to ask about Haujobb, working together and the brand new album.
It’s been eight years since Vertical Theory came out and for the most part Haujobb has been quiet. Why such a long hiatus?
Daniel Myer : It’s very simple actually. I moved away from Bielefeld and it was kind of tough, working apart. We were still working on music together but it took forever to get things done. When Dejan also moved to Leipzig the whole thing became new dynamics. We focused on the album, started to focus.
Was there any difficulty in working on this album so that the Haujobb sound was identifiable and current?
DM : No. We knew what we wanted and like I said before, we were focused on the sound.
Dejan Samardzic : Current? We don’t care about such things.
While The Human Centipede (First Sequence) might not have lived up to the hype, The Angriest Critic looks at take two which delivers more shock and gore, to see if it does.
by Adam Rosina
Though Tom Six’s The Human Centipede (First Sequence) was supposed to be last year’s instant shock classic, it was a film that ultimately could not live up to the hype. It failed to deliver on the gore front, giving scant illumination to the particulars of its central medical procedure (sewing three humans together, mouth to anus) or its revolting implications (perpetual analingus and consuming shit for sustenance). Furthermore, if the film were to be saved by technical flair, Six dashed that possibility with his bland, albeit competent, direction. The only place the film did succeed was it’s comedic moments, made possible by lead Dieter Laser’s (great fucking name) drooling, scenery chewing riff on Nazi “Angel of Death” Dr. Mengele. But in the end, it wasn’t up front enough with the gory goods for horror fans, and too outlandishly weird and perverse for pretty much anyone else, and as such was only regarded as a mere cinematic curiosity. When asked about the film’s flaws, Six referred to it as a mere dry run to see if people would accept the human centipede concept, and promised that it’s follow up would take audiences to depths of depravity and on-screen bloodletting previously unseen. Little more than a year later, Six delivers on this promise with Human Centipede II (Full Sequence), which indeed takes the concept of bad taste to shocking new lows.
As an early proponent of MP3s and music download, Sam Rosenthal, the man behind goth/folk/neofolk label Projekt Records and founder/songwriter of the legendary goth formation, Black Tape For A Blue Girl reflects on issues that not only concern musicians, but concern every creative.
by Sam Rosenthal
Ah, so what is to be done about this new Digital Dilemma? I’ve run Projekt Records (www.projekt.com) since the early 80s, we have 266 releases out. This is an immediate disclaimer to address one of the memes hurled my way. It goes, “You have to get with the times. Making money off recorded music is yesterday’s business. That’s over. Find a different way to monetize your music.” You know, I understand change; I’ve seen a lot of change over the last 28 years. A lot! In order to stay in business, I keep up.
However, what those CEOs and “fans” who live by this meme are really saying is, “I want to listen to your music, but I don’t want to pay for it. I am going to pass the responsibility for compensation down the road to some other customer. You need to find some new way to make a living off THAT person’s enjoyment of your art. Oh, but keep making music, because I want it for free.” We’ve got a problem here. FREE has become the price point that many people want to pay for music. However, free is not a price point that works for creative endeavors. There are costs to making art. Equipment. Studio time. Paying musicians… And what about the hours we spend creating? Time taken away from “a real job” earning a real income. My rent still needs to be paid, my utilities, my son’s sneakers. For some reason, some people think that artists (and musicians in particular) should work for free. Where’s the logic to this? Well, there is no logic. This is a justification for wanting something for themselves, without considering the results of their action. Do you think people can create your favorite TV show for free? Your favorite movie? Your favorite Thai meal? Will the supermarket give you a box of cereal when you are hungry but don’t have the money to pay? Sure, we’d all kinda love a free meal or movie, but we are realistic that one can’t just walk off with the things you want… and yet… with music people feel it’s different.
Buffalo NY, November 18 – In November Buffalo’s Mass Appeal 2011 took place, a unique local fashion event and runway show produced by Erin Habes and the Elmwood Village Association, featuring many designers and boutiques including Once Vintage and Made by Anatomy. Once Vintage is a Buffalo based fashion company founded by Auxiliary contributor Molly Hoeltke, featuring a carefully curated collection of one-of-a-kind vintage pieces as well as hand-made updated vintage re-constructions. Made by Anatomy is a Buffalo based fashion brand designed by Ali Eagen. Both have been featured in Auxiliary Magazine!
“Bulbform” is the second single from the up and coming electronic music duo Trust. Formed by Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski (Austra) in 2009 in Toronto and having performed with DFA1979, Crystal Castles, Balam Acab, Glass Candy, and Hercules and Love Affair, Trust release their debut album TRST on February 28 on Arts & Crafts.
Not my favorite song from Shiv-r’s latest and second full length album This World Erase and not as good as Shiv-r’s first music video “The End”. But praise must be given to an industrial artist that still makes music videos and works hard to create a distinctive visual aesthetic for themselves.
