I am a mere week or so away from finishing this CD and then it's going to go to the plant to get printed and pressed.... and you are either going to get one or not. Of that I'm not sure... but what I AM sure about is that there is only one way to get this CD and that (since there is no longer a record label) is through ME!!!!
So... if you want one, PRE-ORDER ONE NOW!!! ...because there's no guarantee that they will ever be made again.
This CD is quite literally the culmination, both professionally and artistically, of everything I've worked towards for the 10 years that I've been a recording artist. I am really really proud of it and extremely happy with the final product. So I really hope you will join me in making a little bit of history and join me in making my first official self-release a reality. This is a very exciting ( and kind of scary time) for me and I'm glad you are a part of it!!! Thanks for sticking around to see this day!
Here's some information about the CD:
Voltaire- "To The Bottom Of The Sea" 6th full length release
(cover may change slightly)
Track Listing:
1) The Industrial Revolution (and how it ruined my life) 2) Robber Baron 3) Uprising of the Peasants 4) Happy Birthday (My Olde Friend) 5) Coin Operated Goi 6) ***** TBA ******* 7) This Sea 8) The Beast of Pirate's Bay 9) Tempest (a gothic belly dancing track) 10) This Ship's Going Down 11) To the Bottom of the Sea 12) Death Death (Devil Devil Devil Devil Evil Evil Evil Evil Song)
Running time: approx- 50 min.
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HOW TO ORDER ONE (or 10! or 100! heh heh )
1) Go to www.paypal.com
2) hit SEND MONEY
3) type in my email address which is voltaire@voltaire.net
4) enter the correct amount:
$20 per disc (Includes shipping anywhere in the US) or $25 (for international orders)
5) And in the note section, please tell me what you are ordering. "NEW CD" is fine.
And that's that! Once the CDs return from the plant, I will immediately mail your order to you. I will do my best to sign the CDs, but unfortunately personalization will not be possible on this one.
* There is no limit to how many you can order. I will press as many as I get orders for. After that, I will sell of the remainders, if any. So don't miss out!
Again, thank you for listening to my music! Thank you for your generous support throughout the years that has allowed me to continue doing this! And most of all, thank you for joining me in this exciting new chapter of my career.
As our story begins, our narrator tells us that the reason things are so homogenized in our world is directly related to the industrial revolution.
This leads to a flash back to the country of Vorutania in the mid-19 century where a group of peasants struggle against their tyrannical leader, the robber baron. One humble tinker stands up and calls his brothers and sisters to arms.
The peasants revolt! The robber baron is beheaded!
This leads to a time of merriment.
As in any state of anarchy, it's just a matter of time before the merriment eventually leads to debauchery and dare I say it.... cabaret!
Well debauchery is all fine and good (believe me!) but the power void in an anarchist society leads to the inevitable war.
Faced with the economic strife in his war-torn country, our humble tinker leaves his pregnant wife and sets out to find fortune at sea.
In his travels he meets extraordinary people... and beasts!
His ship is struck by a mighty tempest made up of 3 elemental sirens, the ocean, the wind and the rain. These three ladies really lay into the ship.
.. which leads to the it's unavoidable sinking....
... to the bottom of the sea.
Back in the present day, our narrator explains why ALL of his stories must end in such a morose way.
THE END
In case you are wondering what the hell you just read.... I've just described my new album to you. I hope you will like it. More info coming soon!!!!
I have been working on the new CD for a while now. In fact, I'm probably just a couple of weeks away from finishing it. The plan was to get it into the hands of Dancing Ferret (which you may remember I signed with last year after releasing Ooky Spooky). As long as I was able to hand in a finished CD by August 29th, I could have it come out on Halloween, which was my goal for this CD. I really didn't want it to be 2 years before I released a new CD (the length between most of my releases).
Well, a few days ago, I got the sad news that Dancing Ferret has closed it's doors for personal reasons. I'd like to point out though that the store in Philly, Nocturne and Dracula's Ball events will continue.
However, I do now find myself in the odd position of having a nearly finished CD and no record label to release it. I've given it much thought, talked to several people about it and have reached the decision to put it out myself. You and I have a dialogue. We talk. We're talking right now.... sort of. heh heh So maybe the time has come for you to come directly to me to get my next CD.
Now let me tell you what this is going to mean. I'm going to start taking pre-orders at some point in the next week or so. I will post an album cover, a title, a track listing and some information about the CD. And then of course there will be a price set for the disc and you'll be able to pre-order it. I think it will take a little over a month from the time I start taking pre-orders to the time when the CD is released. I am probably only going to make 1 or 2 thousand discs! And pretty much the only way you can get one is directly from me! Kind of scary.. but kind of exciting.
Well, here we are again... another month... another opportunity for you to submit your questions and for me to answer them. I've been working my arse off on the new CD (which with any luck it will be out around Halloween!) and 4, yes, 4 lines of toys!!!! 3 of them are plush one is vinyl.... but they are top secret!!! There's the short film TRANSREXIA that I've been submitting to film festivals everywhere... that's been eating up a lot of my time as well as several other projects liquifying my brain ...
so... needless to say, I never got around to answering the last couple of pages of the JUNE QUESTIONS blog, so please, by all means, if your question was not answered, feel free to post it here and I will be sure to get to it.
A while back... possibly a year ago, I received an email from an artist is Spain named Ritxi Ostariz. He expressed his desire to create an animated video for the song Day Of The Dead from my 5th Cd, Ooky Spooky. Naturally, I was delighted and gave my full blessings as I tend to do with anyone interested in my music enough to want to use it in a film or create a fan-vid, etc...
Months later when he sent me a clip of what he was working on, I was completely blown away! It was really truly amazing and beautiful! I couldn't wait to see the finished piece. Well, as it happens, Ritxi recently completed the project. It made it's debut at a design conference in April or May and now it's all over the internet and receiving wonderful reviews.
If you haven't seen it yet, it's with great pleasure that I present to you....
Viva Calaca: An animated video for Day Of the Dead by Ritxi Ostariz!
UPDATE: July 2nd, 2008: I just booked a show in Saskatoon on August 20th! See my UPCOMING SHOWS board for details. So now there are two Canadian shows. I'm also working on a show in Toronto for the 21st. No word yet though if it's happening. I could really use a show in Edmonton and Calgary on the 18th and 19th to bridge the Vancouver and Saskatoon shows so if any of you have any leads, please send them to me. Thanks! Voltaire
(who is obviously VERY determined to perform in Canada! ; )
ORIGINAL MESSAGE: Earlier this year I tried to book a Canadian tour for this August. The idea was to hit as many Canadian cities as possible, maybe starting in Vancouver and heading east to Toronto... possibly Montreal. But sadly the tour fell though. Well, as it happens, the Vancouver date stuck and it is now offical. I will be performing in Vancouver on August 17th. More info on that as soon as it comes in.
I just know that if we work together and get the word out, we can add at least a couple more Canadian cities! So I'm asking you Canadians out there to talk to your local promoters, have them contact me. Let's make this happen!
I'm excited to offer a new band shirt. It sports my new logo, the Jolly Roger like was on the Maiden Voyage Tour shirt but naturally doesn't have any of the tour info from the exclusive tour shirt (which is now completely sold out of course).
The "Voltaire Jolly Roger" shirts are $20 each and come in Small, Medium, Large, Ex Large and 2XL (otherwise known as "Trekkie Small" heh heh)
Show you're a proud member of the skeleton crew! How do you get one? See the instructions below!
ALSO: I've stumbled upon a box of the Chi-chian Hot Wheels cars so I'm cracking it open and putting them up for sale.
The Chi-Chian cars are $40 (you MUST tell me if you want yours signed or not)
1) Go to www.paypal.com
2) Hit SEND MONEY
3) type in my account which is voltaire@voltaire.net
4) Enter the correct amount (PLEASE INCLUDE $5 FOR POSTAGE- $3 for each additional item. $10 FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS/ $5 for each additional item)
5) Please tell me what you are ordering! Don't forget to tell me the size and quantities.
UPDATE: JUNE 8th, 2008: This blog is now CLOSED! Please do not post any more questions. I will spend the rest of the month answering all of the ones below and you are most welcomed to reply or comment on any of the existing questions indefinitely. But any new questions should be saved for next month's blog! heh heh..
thanks! Voltaire
Last month's first-time experiment to create a question and answer forum out of my blog seems to have been pretty successful. I say that mostly because of the 500-plus posts to the blog! (half of them by me, of course, as I answer people's questions) and also due to the unbelievable amount of time I spent on Myspace last month!!! I spent so much time here in fact, that I didn't do a lot of the work that you are supposed to be sending me questions about!!!! lol! Once I figured that out, I really had to tear myself away and get to work. Because of that, a lot of questions toward the end did not get answered. It was obvious that some sort of structure had to be put in place.... so here goes:
From now on, or for as long as you guys think it's a good idea, I will post a "QUESTIONS" blog at the beginning of the month, most likely on the first of the month. I will accept questions for one week. I will answer them as they come in as best I can. At the end of the first week of the month, the blog will be closed. I will take the rest of the month to answer any unanswered questions from the first week and of course to WORK!!!! ; )
We'll do this every month until you guys get sick of it or run out of questions! heh heh..
Note: IF YOUR QUESTION FROM LAST MONTH'S BLOG DID NOT GET ANSWERED, PLEASE POST IT AGAIN IN THIS MONTH'S BLOG AND I PROMISE TO GET TO IT.
UPDATE: 5/31/08. Unfortunately, due to factory delays in getting my toys made, I will NOT be appearing at the Taipei Toy Festival 2008. It's possible that the toy in question will still be made and will be for sale at a show in Hong Kong I may be attending in August. Thanks so much to those of you who posted on this blog and either made plans to be there or helped to spread the word. I'm really sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and I hope to visit Taipei another time.
BACK TO ORIGINAL MESSAGE: I will be performing at the Taipei Toy Festival in July (around the 8th)
I will also be signing a toy that I will be designing exclusively for the festival. It will be a Toy2R "Qee" figure, similar to the ones I've made of Deady in the past. Those will be available at the Toy2R booth. They will most likely be a Qee figure (it's a 2.5 inch tall figure with 5 points of articulation) of Yumiko, Deady's crazy Gothic lolita girlfriend from the "Deady: Big In Japan" graphic novel.
Is there anyone here on Myspace who might be at that show??? I'm not really sure that anyone there knows who I am! heh heh.. I want to know so I can plan how long my set should be what I should play.
I had just finished typing out a rather lengthy answer to a question someone sent me about one of my CDs and suddenly I thought.... I bet there are other people who might have had the same question in their minds.. and when THEY get around to sending me a message about it, well, then I guess I will type out that wordy reply all over again.
And then it hit me!!!! I should start a blog called "QUESTIONS" every month. And in it, people can send me questions and that way, when I answer them, EVERYONE can read them. It will save me the time of replying to the same questions multiple times and hey, it might even make for interesting reading. (maybe!)
So... without further ado... here it is. QUESTIONS: May 2008.
So if you have a specific question for me, please fire away. (I reserve the right to copy and paste answers from previously published interviews if you ask something like "what are your influences" or something of that sort that I've already publically answered a million times!" heh heh)
