Sapphire Rebellion

This is a list of dark wave bands, in no particular order, that have in one way or another shaped or influenced the sound of Sapphire Rebellion. Of most of them I am a “fan by periphery” meaning that I like them, or some of their songs, but have never been “fanatical” or had to buy their latest release. Some of them I’m only familiar with their “biggest hits” but that’s how music is I guess. The notable exception is Sisters of Mercy, and I own(ed) Floodland and Vision Thing and listened to them many times on “repeat.”

First in my list of influential dark wave bands…
The Cure:
I call myself a “heretic in the church of the Cure.” I’ve never been a huge Cure fan. It also seems that I like the songs that I’ve heard the band themselves hate, i.e. I love, “Love Cats” because it’s awesome to dance to, and I like “Friday I’m in Love” just because it’s fun. However, every single release that I have heard has had great production, and I noticed this when I started studying music production on my own. So you can bet that their songs started getting some serious “critical listening” from me when I started studying their mixes, arrangements, and production.

Second on my list of influential dark wave bands…
The Cruxshadows (Original line-up):
Note: [It was while in the original line up of Cruxshadows that I first heard the term "dark wave." I didn't really know what it meant nor that it actually applied to the type of music we were making. Of course, years later, now that I know what it means, I believe the term "dark wave" is quite applicable to what we were doing. ]

Now this might seem like I’m trying to pat myself on the back because I was in the original line up. But, frankly, there are a lot of good songs that could have been great if we’d known what we were doing. I feel that these songs should be vamped up to “live” in their fullest potential. Many of the lyrics are very well done and I think they deserve to be heard by a larger audience. There are also a few songs that were really good in my opinion, and never got played live or released. If I can convince Rogue to let me get those, I might be able to realease them as SR “remakes” as well.

Third up in my dark wave list…
Depeche Mode:
This band has had a big influence on me because of a couple of “non musical” reasons. One is that they have a unique sound. Even when they change things up a bit, they still always sound like Depeche Mode. Two, they have had an enviable career and probably the “ideal” career that any independent underground band could dream of having.

That is, with each successive release comes increasing success. Each step in their musical “career ladder” is ascended in order, and they have been able to appeal to the masses without alienating the core crowd that embraced them at their start. This is an amazing achievement!

Much more often we see bands that have to choose between appealing to their original crowd and staying limited, or choosing to grow by appealing to the masses. It would be an extremely tough choice and one I’m trying to avoid ever having to make. I’m purposefully trying to grow as Depeche Mode did in a very natural and organic way.

Fourth on my list of influential dark wave bands…
Nitzer Ebb:
I didn’t really like industrial at all when it was coming to prominence in the US. I guess that doesn’t count “Art of Noise,” which in retrospect, is technically industrial music, and was what I thought industrial music should be; musical. It was fellow Cruxshadow, Sean Flanagan, and the fact that the music was being spun at the club we attended, that got me to listen a little more, eventually finding things I could like about it. I found Nitzer Ebb probably the most musical and appealing of the genre at the time. Later, after hearing bands like Gravity Kills’ natural fusion of industrial rhythm with crunchy guitars, it was obvious that THAT was a sound I could get into!

Fifth on my dark wave band list…
Peter Murphy:
I like Peter Murphy because he is one of the few solo artist “in the genre,” even though I hear he does not consider himself as such. He is able to stand on his own simply by being a talented and dedicated artist in his own right, and not part of an “act.” (Although you will hear me refer to both bands and solo artists as “acts.”) His voice is both unique and riveting. When he starts singing about something you feel compelled to listen to what he is going to say next. I’m only really familiar with “Cuts You Up” and “Strange Kind of Love,” but the lyrics are meaningful and uplifting to listen to. People have suggested that I cover “Strange Kind of Love” and I may do it just for fun.

And last but certainly not the least on my list of influential dark wave bands…
The Sisters of Mercy:
This last one is kind of obvious with me. I loved Floodland and listened to it over and over. The music sounded to me what “gothic” rock should sound like; as serious as if I were in church, but a really awesome church. It had elements both profound and exciting: a singer whose delivery was both dramatic and dynamic, entire backing choirs, serious strings, and a killer driving beat to boot. Even if you weren’t exactly sure what the song was about because of Andrew Eldritch’s oblique lyrical style, you had a sense it was something important, an observation about society, a justifiable criticism, or perhaps a reflection on an historic event. The mystery combined with the dark, driving, nature of the music made for a compelling combination.

So this summarizes the main dark wave bands who influence the Sapphire Rebellion sound. There are many other influences to be sure, and many of them are not “dark wave” but I’ll probably post about that another time.

Here is a short video of me, the original Crüxshadows guitarist, sharing some Crüxshadows history with our old Alesis Quadraverb

Technorati Tags: Alesis Quadraverb, Crüxshadows history, Original Crüxshadows, The Crüxshadows

Well, I’ve been back from my excursion for about two weeks now. Trying to keep things moving. I’d love to recap the whole trip, but frankly, I should have been doing weekly entries but, to my chagrin, being on the road was way too hectic to allow for that. I would like to say special thanks to Beelzabitch of Necrodawn Productions. She really rescued the “Pocketful of X-Rays” release by completing the graphic work. The CD itself is going to be proofed by me in a couple of days and I’ll move to the manufacturing stage next. If you want to have first crack at this limited run of CD’s the best bet is to get on my mailing list; just enter your name and email into the box on the right hand side of any of the pages on this site and you will be informed when the CD is released. ‘Til next time!

Here is a clip of me performing “Radio Commander” live.
People tell me that it sounds like David Bowie, catchier Bauhaus, or
Jesus and Mary Chain.

It is the first track off of the soon to be released “Pocketful of X-Rays.”
If you aren’t on my mailing list already, I will be using it to
announce when the limited run CD’s are available for purchase.
So you might want to get on it by clicking the link in the video
descripton. You get the “Radio Commander” mp3 for free if you do!

Spent the week of 8/13 to 8/20 practicing for the gig in Connecticut. It was a pretty nice gig, made a good contact. Five days later, on the 25th, Played a gig at Mojo 13 in Wilmington, my second time playing there. There hasn’t been much action lately. We’ve been working on booking gigs for both the trip back down and for the Gulf Coast. So far, the Gulf Coast hasn’t offered me any dates.

Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat Fan Club used some
chamber music that I composed in the background for a video promoting the 2011 Theatre of the Vampires Ball. This annual event, will be held in New Orleans on the evening of Oct 28th, 2011. This is very exciting for me personally, because I’ve finally gotten a piece “placed” in a video, and it’s being put in front of people who will probably like Sapphire Rebellion!

In addition, local New Orleans Literature Examiner and renaissance fair queen, Dionne Charlet, has published a piece detailing Ms. Rice’s posting of the video, and a summary of the event and the promotional video: Read Dionne’s article. I am also mentioned in the article, so I “made the news” so to speak!

Been playing as many open mic nights as possible here up in PA. Have met some great people and great performers! Met with Steve Rodgers and his band The Prisoners. If you like old school punk, punkabilly etc. these guys have the sound for you!
Steve also runs a site: Jam Room Manifesto
where he instructs members how to start a band which will stay together. If you are thinking of starting a band you might want to join his site and skip all the “mythical” steps of magically finding the right people, because I can tell you from experience, they ARE a myth!

I’ve also met a really neat rap act called, “Untold Chaptaz.” They are three brothers DIY’ing it to get their music heard. What I like about them is that they are professional, polite, have a positive message and good hooks. If you like rap at all, these guys are cool

I’m still busily trying to book anything in the PA are while we are here.

I’m finding that getting work done on the road is very difficult because during the daytime is when I usually take care of all of the electronic/online media that needs to be taken care of. It could be e-mail, Facebook, trying to score a gig, or watching tutorials on something that I need to know how to do etc. However, the people that I stay with want to be engaged with me socially, so it makes it harder to get my work done. The evening time is usually when I have reserved my social time. I’m definitely a work first, then play type person.

This is the 3rd week of my tour northward. Wherever I don’t have actual scheduled gigs, I’ve been trying to fill in those days with open mike nights. This was easier in theory because I also need to spend time with my hosts and also every city doesn’t have an open mike night on every night so it hasn’t been as easy as I had hoped. Gas has been a killer on the budget, thankfully, everyone I’ve been staying with has fed me

I hope that I can fill lots of days playing while up in PA, so that this trip pays off.

Many people do not know that I have clinical depression. I was on Buproprion for many years, and it worked well, but I decided that there must be a better way than taking a pill everyday to feel normal. I knew that serotonin played a key part in mood, so I decided to try and find ways to combat my depression naturally.