October 12, 2011 - NEW HOLIDAY CD IN THE WORKS
Merchandise Page!
Hello, humans and other life forms. As you know, we’ve been
hard at work recording all the material we’ve left sitting
on the sidelines for way too long.
We just finished up creating demos of our next classical
re-interpretation, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition,
with our pals in Bee vs. Moth.
Now we’re making demos for a five-song CD entitled
Ornaments. Only 200 copies will be pressed and they will
only be available on our web site at and shows.
As usual, it’s already shaping up to be a busy holiday
season for us but we’re still open for private events and
holiday gatherings. Know of an event we should be playing?
Contact us: invincible czars at gmail dot com.
August 23, 2011
LET THE RECORDING BEGIN
Is it time…?Oh!It’s finally time!We’ve been calling 2011 our Year of Recording since
January and now we finally have all our big performances
(SxSW, Jekyll and Hyde, 1812) and vacations out of the way
and we’re finally getting to the recording part.On the agenda:
1812 OVERTURE CD
First and foremost, it’s time to wrap this up.This recording is officially two years in the making.Major, major thanks must go to our Kickstarter donors
who made it financially possible for us to complete.So when’s the CD going to be out?Be patient.Production on the thing is nearly done.After that we’ll need time to manufacture and then
distribute the thing (digitally and physically).That means at least another two or three months… so
we may just wait until after the holidays to release it.We’ll see how quickly mastering it goes.
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION w/
Bee Vs. Moth
We’ve actually already started on this!
This project will
culminate in recording of the entire piece and performances
by the 11-piece big band consisting of current Bee vs. Moth
and Invincible Czars members. If you’re not familiar with Pictures, it’s a solo
piano work composed by Modest Mussorgsky (A Night on Bald
Mountain) in 1874.It is hugely popular in the classical music world and
has been orchestrated and re-arranged many times over – most
famously by Maurice Ravel in 1922 and Emerson Lake and
Palmer in 1971.
Our version will be quite a departure from ELP’s.For one thing, we’re going to play all the movements.It’ll also be different than the somewhat obscure but
no less worth hearing Mekong Delta arrangement for orchestra
and metal band in that none of ours is metal.In fact, here’s a sample of the piece called
Tuileries arranged by Josh.
MUSIC FROM SILENT FILMS
We’ve been asked for years when we’ll record and release the
music from all the silent films we’ve done.Well… we’re starting on that next month!Music from Destiny, The Unknown and Jekyll and Hyde
will all be recorded and made available in the near future.Any memorable moments?Email us
and we’ll include the cues and tracks you remember!
GOSPEL OF THE BEAST
Time constraints and artistic issues caused us to scale back
on our singles releases of this project but it’s high time
it was finished.
The remaining unreleased tracks will be completed at The Ohm
Recording Facility and we’ll make them available
here when we complete them.
June 24, 2011
1812 OVERTURE - LIVE IN JULY
Well, we’re gearing up to
perform the 1812 Overture Live in three cities in early
July.These will NOT be the official CD
release shows as the CD is still not quite ready for
release. .. but it’s getting very close.In fact, listen to a sample
here.
For more info, visit our
schedule
page.We’re especially excited to finally
play 1812 in Houston!
In other news we had an excellent show at
Houston’s
Discovery Green
with our pals from
KUHF FM
in early June.Over 2000 people showed up
to hear/watch us perform our new super slow and
introspective soundtrack to the 1920 silent film Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:
May 23, 2011
NEW SILENT FILM: DR.
JEKYLL and MR. HYDE
In Austin
and Houston
After much talk about doing a new silent film, we’re
premiering our score to the 1920 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde on June 10 at Houston’s
Discovery Green
and June 11 at Austin’s
Blue Starlite
Mini Drive-in.
The film stars John Barrymore (paternal grandfather of Drew
Barrymore) as both Dr. Jekyll and his sleazy counterpart Mr.
Hyde.Plot
synopsis from imdb.com:
Doctor Henry
Jekyll's enthusiasm for science and his selfless
acts of service have made him a much-admired man.
But as he visits Sir George Carew one evening, his
host criticizes him for his reluctance to experience
the more sensual side of life. Sir George goads
Jekyll into visiting a music hall, where he watches
the alluring dancer Gina. Jekyll becomes fascinated
with the two contrasting sides of human nature, and
he becomes obsessed with the idea of separating
them. After extensive work in his laboratory, he
devises a formula that does indeed allow him to
alternate between two completely different
personalities, his own and that of a brutish,
lascivious person whom he names Hyde. It is not long
before the personality of Hyde begins to dominate
Jekyll's affairs.
We’re also starting to use looping technology and sampling
in live performances so you’ll see and hear some of that.It also features our new rhythm section, both as
performers and composers: drummer Dave Irish and bassist
Hen3ry Q. Vines (the “3” is silent).
An Invincible Czars silent film score wouldn’t be complete
without including excerpts from the classical realm.This we’ve foregone our usual Russian influences and
incorporated modern French composers Eric Satie (Gnossiennes1, 3 and 5) and Claude
Debussy (Footsteps).
May 2, 2011
GOSPEL OF THE BEAST SINGLES ON HOLD
Well, we’ve made a valiant effort to stick with our monthly release schedule for our tribute to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” but recording complications arose and now we’ve begun confirming our summer 1812 and silent film performances. We are finding we need more time to concentrate on those projects so we’re putting GOTB on hold until at least the end of the summer.
For those who looked forward to the monthly releases – don’t worry! We’re still going to release the remaining four tunes as singles on our site – they’ll just come out when they come out.
April 5, 2011
1812 CD CROWDFUNDING SUCCESS! We’re elated to say that 86 people backed our
1812 Overture CD project on Kickstarter.com and that we
reach our goal of $3500 just in time to be able to collect
it.Enormous
thanks to everyone who contributed!Now we’re working hard to finish the CD.
February 17, 2011
1812 CD FUND RAISING
For those who haven’t heard, we’ve jumped on the Kickstarter
bandwagon and are trying to raise funds to complete our
recording of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and release a CD
with it and three other tunes – John Philip Sousa’s Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine, Ravel’s Sleeping Beauty and ex-drummer
Louie Landry’s A Cry For Peace. It’s going to be awesome and
all contributions will be rewarded. For a mere $10 we’ll
provide you with a free download of the album a week before
the official release. There are plenty other fun packages of
nifty stuff that we’ll provide/do for various contribution
amounts. Some of you might just be deep pocketed and crazy
enough to go for the $1000 reward!
The deadline for this campaign is March 13. No money changes
hands unless we reach our goal on time. Contributing is
super easy - if you already have an Amazon account, you're
practically done!
Go
HERE to contribute to our effort, learn more about the
project, and follow our progress to acheiving our goal!
Here’s the video we made. It's goofy but everyone’s been
telling us how much they like it. See for yourself!
February 6, 2011
For a band that’s not playing shows,
we’ve sure been busy!
GOSPEL OF THE BEAST SINGLES - In keeping with our
Gospel of the Beast schedule (releasing a new single
from Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast in or own image each
month on the 6th), the 80’s goth-techno version
of Children of the Damned has been posted on our download
page.And
since we missed January, the latin version of Total Eclipse
will follow shortly.We had a blast recording these tracks!
The last week of
January was spent at
Ohm
finishing all the tracks.We had a bunch of guests.Tommy Holton gave a very memorable lead vocal
performance on Children of the Damned sounding like a mix of
Nick Cave and Johnny Cash.Tommy’s wife Gina (Sweetmeat)
sang backups with Leila on both tracks and
translated/performed the words of Total Eclipse into
Spanish.Adam
came in to sing The Prisoner.Shane Pitsch
added trumpet to a few tunes and Sam Arnold (Opposite
Day), Michelle Born (Mostly Dead) and Jessica Irish
joined us to create a small “choir” for a few of the tunes
(see video below).
SXSW - We
were also accepted to SxSW!We’ve decided that with all the focus on Gospel of
the Beast lately, that we’d bring it back one more time –
especially for those who missed it last Halloween.We’ll have more info on our official venue soon.Don’t forget our annual performance at the CARP
Bizarre-B-Q with
Opposite Day, Bee vs.
Moth and a newly reformed
Muppletone at the
Carousel Lounge.
NEW SILENT
FILM - It’s time to let the cat out of the bag about our
next silent film project – we’ll debut our score for the
1920 film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” starring John Barrymore
(yes, Drew’s grandpappy) at Houston’s
Discovery Green
in conjunction with KUHF FM
this June!So
far, we don’t have anything lined up for Austin, though.GAH!If
you’re in Austin and would like to see us do Jekyll & Hyde,
let our pals at the
Alamo Drafthouse know how youfeel!Or
just send us some ideas for other locations to
invincibleczars at gmail.
1812 OVERTURE
- Finally, we’re heading back to Goliath studio to finish up
our recording of 1812 Overture.There’s been talk of starting a
Kickstarter
campaign to help raise funds to expedite the process of
releasing this before ex-drummer Louie Landry leaves town.Louie has been instrumental in making the 1812
recording happen and we’d like to release it before he
leaves this summer.With Kickstarter, you, or beloved fans, will be able
help by donating to the project and then reaping the
benefits of it.
Stay tuned!
January 26, 2011
This month has been full of rehearsals and planning sessions. We
moved all our ‘quipments into the Ohm Recording Facility early this
week with the goal of finishing all the instrument and vocal
tracking for our “Gospel of the Beast” project. Though we might
still need a couple of short sessions to finish up, we’re
practically there. We knew this would be our most vocal oriented
release to date but I don’t think any of us envisioned it being this
rich in different characters and voices. Today we recorded lead
vocals by Tommy Holton (drummer 2004-2008), Adam Kahan (bass player
2003-2010), Josh and then lots of backup vocals and Spanish
narration by Gina Holton (Sweetmeat) and Leila. Tomorrow we have
more guest singers coming in to sing choir style on “Hallowed Be Thy
Name”.
At Ohm Recording Studio
Speaking of the Beast… we were accepted to SxSW Music 2011 and have
decided to perform “Gospel of the Beast” for our official showcase.
Those of you attending the conference/festival will have a chance to
hear us perform our “Beast” set live before we retire it for a
while.
In other news, there’s talk of a Cinco de Mayo release date for our
“1812 Overture” CD. We’ve also considered jumping on the
crowd-funding bandwagon (Kickstarter, etc.) in order to fund the
completion of that project.
January 6, 2011
Well, it’s the 6th of the month and we don’t have a new Iron Maiden
single for you guys. Our holiday season got a little out of hand
with tons of shows and we weren’t able to book studio time needed to
finish “Children of the Damned”. Rather than break our “6th of the
Month” release schedule, we’ve decided to skip January 6 and release
“Children of the Damned” and “Total Eclipse” both on Feb 6th!
Meanwhile, the holiday melee also eclipsed the fact that we released
“Gangland” on DEC 6 and very few have noticed it up there. If you
haven’t already downloaded it for free, go to our "The Gospel of the
Beast" web page. Shane Pitcsch (from about:blank) joined us on
trumpet!
We'll be back at Ohm at the end of January to finish the remaining
tracks for these Gospel of the Beast singles. Then we'll be in and
out of Goliath in February completing our 1812 Overture recording.
We're tying up those loose ends!
January 4, 2011
Happy New Year! We had a lot of success and growth in
2010 and hope to build it in the New Year. We’re
getting a lot of inquiries as to when our next shows will
be. We actually do have some performances on the horizon:
we’ll bring our live score of Tod Browning’s 1927 silent
film
The Unknown to San
Antonio’s
Luminaria (3/12), our
annual Bizarre-B-Q in conjunction with
Opposite Day and
Bee vs. Moth during SxSW
at the
Carousel Lounge (3/19),
a new silent film score for late spring and we even have
some stuff brewing for the 2011 holiday season.Meanwhile, we are using the winter months to tie up loose
ends and determine the best course of action moving forward.
We’ve got so many options and been so busy lately, it’s
nice to have a minute to stop and think!We’ll be heavily focused on recording in the first part of
2011. It’s past time we closed the book on our long
overdue recording of Tchaikovsky’s
1812 Overture, our
interpretation of Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast (Gospel
of the Beast) for the
on-going monthly
digital
singles series, and several
other tracks that have been on our back burner for the last
year and a half. Not to mention that we’ve been working with Bee
vs. Moth to arrange/perform Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
as a combined 11-piece ensemble sometime in the near future.
We had excellent shows in 2010 and it was our busiest year to date.
We learned how quietly we could rock when necessary at venues like
Central Market Austin and Revolution in Bryan. In June, we played 5
different sets of music with 4 different drummers. In 2010, we also
started playing super quietly in the Invincible Czars Trio
performing at OKMozart!, Austin Bergstrom Int’l Airport and even a
wedding on the first of year!
2011 is already shaping up to be a big one. We’re resting while we
can!
