Witchburn LIVE Show Shots-Opening for Prong at Cobra Lounge

ChiIL Live Shows original live shots-Witchburn at Cobra Lounge opening for Prong, Chicago 4-20-12


Check 'em out!   Great for your METAL HEALTH...





Band Bio from their main site:

Heavy, down tuned, southern fried, whiskey soaked sabbra cadabra. Their live show pulsates with seething and sultry, sweaty energy. Bringing as much groove as brutal thunder, the music is like a hammer straight to your soul, crashing down through the sky... only you welcome its impact the moment they tear into their first song. 

Spilling their guts on every stage they play, they've opened for Slipknot, Helmet, Crowbar, Saint Vitus, Blue Cheer, Mudvayne, Fu Manchu, 3 Inches of Blood, Trouble, Zeke, Pentagram and Valient Thorr, to name a few. 


 


 

Featuring the soaring, soulful vocal power and prowess of Jamie Nova and the monster riff-crafting of Mischa Kianne on guitar and occasionally violin, 

 
 
along with the unmatched low-end heaviness of Jacy Peckham on bass coupled with the bone-crushing, rock solid anchor provided by Dana Sims on drums, 



Witchburn is the sound of rebellion in the voice of a hate-child conceived during a mythical orgy between Black Sabbath, Janis Joplin, Ronnie James Dio and Heart.




 
Witchburn delivers passionate, moody southern metal, made even more potent by the band's fierce energy and considerable musical chops. The smoky grooves are deep and heavy, tapping into a classic rock vein with gritty guitar lines, seamlessly blending vintage rock influence with that of modern metal. Their ready-for-battle anthems, apocalyptic overtones and dirty, doom-laden riffs keep your ears glued while confirming that these are dedicated musicians with genuine love for all that is heavy. 

 

Singer Jamie Nova is also well known for her former role as lead vocalist in the all female AC/DC tribute band Hell's Belles, in which she portrayed Bon Scott and Brian Johnson with her surprisingly expressive vocal range. 
 













Seeing what else this band is capable of becomes even more attractive when the black-dreadlocked guitarist trades her Les Paul for a violin on a song or two. 



Their mighty riffing, powerful vocals and kick ass, shout-along choruses completely galvanize even the most skeptical listeners, sending them promptly into blissful abandon as they surrender to pumping their fists in the air.

In the summer of 2010, the band independently released their first full-length album, This Is How We Slay Our Demons... which features 13 original tracks and was produced by Seattle's legendary Jack Endino (Nirvana, High on Fire, Zeke, Valient Thorr, 3 Inches of Blood to name but a few). They followed the release with aggressive touring throughout the western half of the US that summer, the following winter, and into the spring. 







They were also featured in the line up of Northwest summer festival concerts PDX Rockfest and the KISW Pain in the Grass 2011 alongside Korn, Queensryche, Chevelle, Hinder, Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains and more, as well as Bumbershoot 2011 in Seattle with Pentagram, Valient Thorr, Red Fang and more. The band completed a European tour of in the fall of 2011 and are about to head to Hawaii for just a couple of dates before they hit the road to tour the states again in both March and April.





Witchburn has also garnered strong support from radio, including KISW in their native Seattle. The opening track on their debut offering, "Bleed the Stone", was featured in the KISW 9 O’clock Cockfight with Jolene, where it went on to win the maximum 7 times in a row before the song was placed in the Cockfight's "Hall of Fame". The station has also featured Witchburn as BJ Shea's Loud and Local Band of the Week on two separate occasions. 

 

Plans to record the follow up to their debut album are quickly coming together for the band to enter the studio with Jack Endino once again. Both the band and Endino are excited to work together again and the record’s completion is expected sometime in late spring or early summer, 2012. 


 
Pouring their whole hearts into their own bluesy brand of sultry Sabbath sludge, Witchburn commands you to throw your metal horns up high!

  
www.witchburnrocks.com
www.facebook.com/witchburn
www.reverbnation.com/witchburn
www.myspace.com/witchburn
Email: witchburn@hotmail.com  

 

En Masse Live Show Shots-Opening for Prong at Cobra Lounge

ChiIL Live Shows original show shots


En Masse opened for Prong at Cobra Lounge, 4-20-12. 

Here's their deal, according to their FB Page:

Hometown: Batavia, IL

Genres: Metal / Metal / Metal

Label: N/A

Members: Don/Vocals, Parrot/Drums, Tony/Bass, Mike/Gutiar

A metal band. From the Chicago land area. They formed in 2010 to create a mixture of traditional Thrash/Death Metal with old school Hardcore and made a new mix. If you are a fan of Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, DRI, Slayer, Deicide, Pantera, Pestilence, Lamb of God, Possessed and Death, then you will like the fast hard hitting beats, riffs and vocals that they produce. They are an In Your Face band that will be sure to melt your face in the pit.

Prong Video Interview With ChiIL Live Shows & Live Show Shots From Cobra Lounge, Chicago #Album Review

ChiIL Live Shows caught up with front man, Tommy Victor and drummer, Alexei Rodriguez, before their 4/20 set at Cobra Lounge, Chicago, for an exclusive video interview.   We talked about everything from their new album, to that crazy chaos that's parenting and touring as a musician.   Tommy and Alexei both have daughters on either end of the age spectrum-about to graduate from high school and 20 months old.   They had some insights for our continuing series on How Creatives Parent and How Parents  Create.   Check it out here.

 

Prong is back with a vengeance.  Their 8th studio album, Carved Into Stone is just released and their recent 4/20 Chi-Town show at Cobra Lounge sold out!  Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we've been giving Carved Into Stone a listen repeatedly, and can't get enough.   Hopefully Tommy's serious when he says they're writing new material and want to put out back to back albums, and ride the momentum of this sonic boom, Carved in Stone, instead of slipping back into oblivion, and releasing another album in 5 years.    This album, the first all new material in 5 years, indeed, is an amalgam of the best of Prong's past and fresh new fury.   

These 11 tracks of rage will bring joy to metal fans world wide.  There's not a weak link in the bunch, but Revenge_Served Cold will warm hearts.   This album comes out swinging with Eternal Heat, and doesn't ease up.   Ammunition, State of Rebellion, and List of Grievances (likely our favorite) provide plenty of rebellion ragers.   We also really dig Keep on Living in Pain and Eternal Heat.  Even the slower title track, Path of Least Resistance and Reinvestigate which close out the album, are strong and full of sweet riffs.  Carved into Stone is a metal must have. 
  

On 4/20, we caught a little of En Masse and Witchburn's whole set and were super impressed with Witchburn in particular.   We'll have live show shots from both bands up in the very near future.  We'd seen some past Witchburn clips online that were interesting enough, but they just don't do their live show justice.   Check 'em out when you can!

During Prong, the pit was so frenetic and outta control they had to send in the bouncers and toss a few bodies out of the club.   I got smashed into the side of the stage a half dozen times and eventually had to duck behind the merch table fast.  I spent a few days limping, but my camera gear all survived.   Despite the near brawl, it was a welcome reunion and the band sounded great!   They've still got that legendary power to stir things up. 

*Tony Campos is presently touring with Soulfly.   Phil Zeller (Toxic Holocaust) is on bass

Tommy Victor began as a sound guy for CBGBs, and formed the first incarnation of the band with bassist Mike Kirkland who was CBGB’s doorman.   In the past 20+ years, Prong has been through many incarnations and weathered the death of their bass player, ex-Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven, at age 46.   They've been on tour with many of the big boys like
Sepultura, Pantera, Soulfly and Fear Factory, among others.   Tommy took a hiatus from Prong around 2000 and played with Danzig and Ministry.   He'll be back out again in May with Danzig Legacy.   Check Prong's site for dates/cities.

They were signed by Epic in 89 and unceremoniously dropped in 96 after the album Rude Awakening turned eerily prophetic, and proved a rude awakening for the band, indeed, when it didn't sell as well as anticipated.   In our interview, Tommy conceded that for a while after that he wanted nothing to do with Prong, but eventually ran out of money and decided to give it another go.   We hate to sound all schadenfreude (happy about the misfortunes of others), but the metal world was not finished with Prong, and we welcome you back with bursting ear drums and head banging mosh pits.    Your cash flow problems = our gain.   And failure, struggle and loss make for great material.

With fresh material in mind, Prong tapped producer, Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Suicide
Silence), who worked them relentlessly to make Carved Into Stone as good as it gets.   Tommy and Alexei spoke humorously, heatedly, and at length about the whole brutal recording process.  As so often happens, we had our best conversations off camera, once the lens wasn't pointed at the band.   Suffice it to say, all the hard work paid off and they're pleased with the final result.

Evetts was a great fit for polishing up Carved Into Stone, so all the raw power, energy and emotion come through, combined with technical prowess.    They may have hated the tedious retakes, but with high production values and a perfectionist streak, plus a healthy ear toward not overproducing, Evetts earned his excellent reputation and did right by the band.

 

Here's Prong's take on Carved Into Stone off their home site:

What becomes an iconoclast the most? Carved Into Stone sums up what
Prong stands for. This is an album slaked in hostility, personal
detachment and seething with the urban paranoia that's long been the
mark of this sonic triad. It's eleven tracks that don't merely settle
into the New York City-born band's cannon of material that has yielded
post-metal classics including Beg To Differ and Cleansing. It exceeds
it.

"I hate nostalgia," says mainstay, vocalist and guitarist Tommy Victor
whose musical and personal outlook belies his current Los Angeles
environs. "But this record literally has every strand of Prong's DNA
spliced together in a way that feels more exciting than it has in some
time."

Produced and mixed by Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Suicide
Silence), Carved Into Stone picks up where Prong's classic albums left
off. Opener "Eternal Heat" sets things off at a blistering pace fueled
by drummer Alexei Rodriguez and bassist Tony Campos' formidable rhythm
section. Meanwhile, the likes of "Revenge…Best Served Cold" is absolute,
classic Prong: a huge riff slaked with bitter sentiments.

Tommy Victor admits that Carved Into Stone is the first time Prong has
taken direction from a producer in the studio. "It's also the hardest
I've ever worked on a record," he says of working with Evetts. "I'm
happier with the way it came out more than almost anything I've ever
done but there were points during it I wanted to kill myself and
everyone around me."

Prong emerged from the New York City underground of the late 80's,
quickly setting themselves apart from the conformist culture of the
city's hardcore and metal scenes. They were recognized internationally
for their first two independent releases: Primitive Origins and Force
Fed. When Prong's dalliance with the outer limits of the mainstream
acceptance came via Epic Records, it proved more successful than the
underground-bred trio ever expected. The band's "Snap Your Fingers Snap
Your Neck" from Cleansing became Prong's calling card.

"It felt like the world had finally caught up with us," says Tommy.
Prong's influence was being felt in the scene around them. Bands from
the likes of Pantera to White Zombie to Korn were taking notice of
Prong's purposeful, creative riffing and making that the template for
platinum selling success. "I wasn't jealous," Tommy recalls. "But I
could take a royalty check or two."

At the beginning of the 2000's, Tommy put Prong aside for a time to
play with Danzig and Ministry. It was a much-needed time for Victor to
refocus his energies. When Prong finally twisted itself back into form,
they toured exhaustively both headlining and supporting the likes of
Soulfly and Fear Factory. Slowly but surely, the songs and ideas that
would become Carved Into Stone began to take form. "The songs I was
writing felt more like Prong than anything I had written since Raven was
in the band," says Tommy, recalling the era when the recently deceased
ex-Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven was one of his co-conspirators.

Prong's Long Branch Records/SPV debut Carved Into Stone isn't merely
another chapter in the band's many-storied career or the much clichéd
"return to form". It's the sound of Tommy Victor and Company stating
exactly who Prong is. Like it or not, they aren't about to go away any
time soon.  

Like Tommy said in our interview, they're busy gorging on Beg To Differ on those long stretches in the van, so they'll be ready to bust it out in May for their European Tour.


Check out Prong's main site here.

Revocation Original Pit Photos Ultra Lounge 4/23/12

4-23-12 Revocation Headlines Ultra Lounge, Cannabis Corpse opens

Revocation...kickin' ass and makin' faces at Ultra Lounge, Chicago

We caught up with Revocation at tiny but mighty Ultra Lounge in Chicago in April of 2012.    They bring it on stage with a vengeance, and leave the fans loudly chanting "One more song!"    These boys are ones to watch.  We saw them open for Eluveitie at Bottom Lounge a couple months before that, in February, and it was great to catch them playing a longer set as headliners.   Cannabis Corpse provided support.

After the show, ChiIL Live Shows got an exclusive video interview with the guys.  They're unpretentious, friendly, and quick with the come backs.    If metal doesn't pan out, these guys are a shoe in for the comedy circuit.   It's one of the most amusing interviews we've done recently.  I seriously wanna throw these guys on a tour bus with Red Fang and shoot a reality show! 

For the time being, they're traveling the country in a van that keeps trying to kill them.  So far this year, when they've come through Chi-Town, they've rocked Bottom Lounge, Ultra Lounge, Reggie's Rock Club, and Cobra Lounge so who knows where they might show up next!  

Come on back to ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often, and you'll be one of the first to know where they're heading.   If metal's your medicine, check 'em out.  Highly recommended!

Circus in Progress An Evening of Daring New Work

Following sold-out performances of Lost & Found: A Recycled Circus, the next production at The Actors Gymnasium focuses on the development of new acts.  Circus in Progress - An Evening of Daring New Work features professionals from the Chicagoland circus community as well as advanced students from The Actors Gymnasium's own classes.  Get a sneak peek at some of Chicago's most exciting new works of circus art.    
 
Performers include Evanston Children's Choir, Evanston Dance Ensemble, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, Jill Heyser, Lauren Hirte, Will McGowan, Shaw Nigro, Matt Roben, and Meredith 'Tommy' Tomlins.
 
Two Shows Only - Saturday May 19, 2012 - 4:30 and 7:30pm
 Tickets available online at www.actorsgymnasium.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006.  
 
The Actors Gymnasium is located at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston, IL - just off of the Noyes purple line 'L' stop. For additional information on The Actors Gymnasium's innovative programming, please visit www.actorsgymnasium.com or call 847-328-2795.



Check out ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows photo filled feature and review of Lost & Found right here.
 
About The Actors Gymnasium
The Actors Gymnasium is dedicated to bringing a new physicality to the American Theatre. Encouraging ground-breaking theatrical exploration, The Actors Gymnasium teaches circus arts, physical theatre and multi-disciplinary performance to children and adults; produces original, daring works of circus-theatre; and serves as a talent resource, providing performance opportunities to our students and innovative professional event entertainment for a wider audience. At The Actors Gymnasium, people Learn To Fly - physically, emotionally, intellectually and creatively.

The Actors Gymnasium
at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes Street ~ Evanston, Illinois 60201~ (p) 847-328-2795 ~ (f) 847-328-3495
©1995 - 2011 The Actors Gymnasium. All Rights Reserved

Talk Like Shakespeare Day TODAY-Great Contests And More #Theatre Review

Happy 448th Birthday to the bard! 

Today (Monday, April 23rd) is annual talk like Shakespeare day.

Talk Like Shakespeare Day,
an occasion for citizens from Chicago and across the globe to celebrate
Shakespeare's 448th birthday by bringing the spoken words of
Shakespeare into their daily lives. The holiday, which originated in
Chicago in 2009, became a worldwide sensation garnering extensive
national and international media coverage and more than one million hits
to TalkLikeShakespeare.org.

Celebrate by seeing Being Shakespeare:

  

ChiIL Live Shows had a chance to catch opening night of Simon Callow's show, and we recommend it.  Callow's strong stage presence among minimalist sets enhances the infamous words of the bard, interspersed with his life history.   Although much of the historical data he includes on Shakespeare's life is speculation, it's fascinating nonetheless to put the plays within a time frame of his life and outside influences.   

Tales of child deaths that plagued his birth family, and later
the death of his own son, Hamnet, at age 11, lend a human air and compelling back story.   As the parent of an 11 year old son, that particularly struck a chord with me.   Since we've been doing a long form exploration on how theatre people, musicians and other creatives balance their work and parenting, and how the two worlds collide and influence each other, this was an interesting angle.   Simon Callow is a talented tale teller and a joy to spend an evening with.   The British film and stage actor is know for his roles in Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Postcards from the Edge, A Room With a View and Amadeus.

*Tonight only, celebrated British actor Simon Callow's one-man show, Being Shakespeare will play a special Monday performance at the Broadway Playhouse, preceded by a birthday party for the Bard in the theater's lobby beginning at 5:30 p.m. 

ChiIL Mama's favorite words invented by Shakespeare: 

arouse amazement
barefaced bandit besmirch bloodstained blanket bump buzzer
cold blooded critic
dauntless dawn deafening discontent dishearten drugged dwindle
equivocal elbow exposure excitement  
epileptic eyeball
flawed frugal fixture
gnarled grovel gloomy gossip
hurried hobnob
impede impartial invulnerable
jaded
laughable lonely luggage label lackluster
madcap marketable metamorphize mimic monumental moonbeam mountaineer
noiseless
obscene obsequious ode Olympian outbreak
panders premeditated puking
remorseless radiance rant
savagery scuffle swagger
tranquil torture 
unreal undress
varied
worthless
zany

Sure, some kids today (and adults, too, for that matter) think of Shakespearean language as stuffy, high brow and inaccessible, but nothing can be further from the truth.   It's not all thees and thous and M'Lord.  He wrote for the masses and in addition to his timeless archetypal characters, loads of word he made up are in common use today, like PUKING.   There's nothing snooty about puking.  

  
According to Shakespeare-Online.com, The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original.  

Below is a list of a few of the words Shakespeare coined, hyperlinked to the play and scene from which it comes. When the word appears in multiple plays, the link will take you to the play in which it first appears.  

Incorporate these down to earth words for Talk Like Shakespeare Day, then click the links to see the source:

academe	accused	addiction	advertising	amazement
arouse	assassination	backing	bandit	bedroom
beached	besmirch	birthplace	blanket	bloodstained
barefaced	blushing	bet	bump	buzzer
caked	cater	champion	circumstantial	cold-blooded
compromise	courtship	countless	critic	dauntless
dawn	deafening	discontent	dishearten	drugged
dwindle	epileptic	equivocal	elbow	excitement
exposure	eyeball	fashionable	fixture	flawed
frugal	generous	gloomy	gossip	green-eyed
gust	hint	hobnob	hurried	impede
impartial	invulnerable	jaded	label	lackluster
laughable	lonely	lower	luggage	lustrous
madcap	majestic	marketable	metamorphize	mimic
monumental	moonbeam	mountaineer	negotiate	noiseless
obscene	obsequiously	ode	olympian	outbreak
panders	pedant	premeditated	puking	radiance
rant	remorseless	savagery	scuffle	secure
skim milk	submerge	summit	swagger	torture
tranquil	undress	unreal	varied	vaulting
worthless	zany	gnarled	grovel

 This graph can be found at http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html

Other Chi-Town Talk Like Shakespeare Contests and specials: 

Shakespeare is being celebrated around the world this week, from Chicago
to London to Armenia, in recognition of the man who engineered more
than 154 sonnets, 37 plays, 1,700 original words and innumerable
phrases. On April 23 Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London will launch
its Globe to Globe Festival, part of London's Cultural Olympiad,
beginning a two month international event presenting all 37 plays from
Shakespeare's canon in 37 different languages (including Chicago
Shakespeare's Othello: The Remix, The Q Brothers' hip-hop adaptation of Othello, opening in London May 5).  

Talk Like Shakespeare Day has even sparked a
movement, originating in Armenia, lobbying for the inclusion of
"Shakespearean" alongside "Pirate" and "Upside Down" as an official
language option on Facebook. 

Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2008 recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, will be talking like Shakespeare throughout the upcoming birthday week. On the morning of April 23, Chicago Shakespeare's production of The Taming of the Shrew will be performed for Chicago Public School students at Sawyer Elementary School on the City's south side. 

At Chicago Shakespeare's home on Navy Pier, Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Tony-award winning actor Ian McDiarmid begin preview performances of Timon of Athens, while the cast of Othello: The Remix prepares for the world premiere of its new work in London the following week.    ChiIL Live Shows will be there to review opening night of Timon of Athens as well.

Photo courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theater. "William
Shakespeare" (portrayed by David Wilhelm) celebrates his 448th Birthday
on Monday, April 23, 2012 in Chicago, as part of "Talk Like Shakespeare
Day" by taking in some of Chicago's best-known landmarks including the
Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier.

Among the many visitors to Navy Pier, the Midwest's most visited
tourist destination, on April 23 will be William Shakespeare himself.
Those who talk like Shakespeare to "the Bard" will receive free rides on
Navy Pier's iconic Ferris Wheel from 10 a.m. to noon. Shakespeare will
dine at Harry Caray's Tavern on Navy Pier, where a special
Shakespeare-inspired menu will be available from noon to 2:00 p.m.
Diners who talk like Shakespeare at Harry Caray's Tavern will be entered
into a raffle to win a $100 Harry Caray's Gift Certificate, four Pier
Park Passes, free Navy Pier parking and four Tickets to Chicago
Shakespeare Theater's summer musical Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

TalkLikeShakespeare.org
is the virtual home base for revelers. The site features activities for
celebrating Talk Like Shakespeare Day at school, at the office and at
home as well as videos of famous Chicagoans talking like Shakespeare. It
also contains information about a video contest for internet comedians
inspired by the Bard's words (deadline for submissions is Thursday,
April 19 at noon) and tips on how to talk like Shakespeare such as:

• Instead of you, say thou. Instead of y'all, say thee.
• Rhymed couplets are all the rage.
• Men are Sirrah, ladies are Mistress, and your friends are all called Cousin.
• Instead of cursing, try calling your tormenters jackanapes or canker-blossoms or poisonous bunch-back'd toads.
• When in doubt, add the letters "eth" to the end of verbs (he runneth, he trippeth, he falleth).
• To add weight to your opinions, try starting them with methinks, mayhaps, in sooth or wherefore.
• When wooing a lady: try comparing her to a summer's day. If that fails, say "Get thee to a nunnery!"

For more information visit TalkLikeShakespeare.org. 

"William Shakespeare" (portrayed by David Wilhelm) celebrates his 448th
Birthday on Monday, April 23, 2012 in Chicago, as part of "Talk Like
Shakespeare Day" by taking in some of Chicago's best-known landmarks
including Cloud Gate in Millennium Park and the bull statue at the Chicago Cultural Center.