~about WGT 2014~

Okay, finally here we are talking about Wave Gotik Treffen 2014. (I'll do an extra one with my outfits later ;) )

Press access

Press bracelet

Since last year I get press access to be able to report for the BCM and the Gatehouse Gazette. You can find my reviews at the Gatehouse here and the BCM here (it's #19).














This year I went again with Kitty and Luching and we three also had a flat together. (If you ever want to go to WGT, make sure to book as early as possible! We three are in the same private flat since three years now and we always book our next year, when we leave ;) ) The festival itself is from Friday to monday over Pentecost, but we always stretch our stay from Thursday to Tuesday if possible so it's less stressful driving the 5-6 hours.

When we arrived on Thursday, we had a lot of fun putting all our stuff together taking photos and asking our facebook friends how many girls we would be at WGT.
The answers differed A LOT!

For example when we did a photo of our luggages one of my friends said “That's for six men for a three month polar expedition, or one woman for three days festival”

Well, anyway, we had a lot of fun taking those pictures and reading the comments. Looking at them makes me realize how much I love my big car!







The Friday started with the almost traditional Victorian Picnic organized by Viona. This year I decided together with a group of Coppeliusfans that we would dress up as Victorian servants. Because there are so many Lords and Ladies at the picnic, they can't be without maids and butlers. Although we didn't served much and pretended it was our solemn free day, singing “Diener 5er Herren” (=servant of five Sirs)  from Coppelius a lot.

Later on we decided to do something with our outfits and started photobombing pictures with the help of Jesko from dark-pictures.org. He asked good looking folk for a picture and after two normal photos we invaded the scene serving cookies, dusting and so on. The reactions of the people were priceless!

More of those pictures can be found here

I know that Jesko also took some videos so there might be some video evidence later this month.

On Saturday then the third Steampunk Picnic took place. This year it was organized by Oleander Lindenzweig and me and we changed the location from the rather busy park at the Moritz Bastei to the Park near the Parkschlösschen where we were not invaded by photographers.

Around 150 Steampunks showed up and I really enjoyed the time talking to new and old friends. It was really hot that day (as it was the whole weekend) and so I ditched the shoes at some point and so did others. We tried to stay in the shadow of the solemn trees available.

 

Our Sunday started with a relaxed breakfast at the Absintherie and Soup-Bar. Afterwards we to the city, first visiting one of the many exhibitions and then we went to the lecture of Christian von Aster.

Exhibition of fashion Label Lucaris Feist

Unfortunately there were some problems with the press access at the cinema where the lecture took place. They said that paying visitors should be let in first, but at the lectures of Aster there are always too many visitors, so if you are late you won't get a seat, so saying paying visitors first means that you won't get a place...

Luckily von Aster himself gave us his spare tickets so me and some other press attendants could get in.
Sadly this wasn't the only time we had problems with the press tickets this year. For example you couldn't use the public transport with the press bracelet. (With the normal WGT bracelet you can.) There should have been an information e-mail stating that which me and some of my friends didn't got. So in the end you had to pay around 25€ extra to be able to do your work! Which I find kind of ridiculous, that's a fourth of the regular price!

People waiting to see Christian von Aster

Plus there were events during WGT like the open air cinema where you had to pay extra entrance fee as press because they wouldn't let you in with the press pass!

I'm sorry but this is not how you treat the people who make your advertisement!

The black line 31, especially for WGT

But well... I enjoyed WGT nonetheless, but those are difficulties that could have been avoided!

On Monday there was another lecture of Christian von Aster and I had the opportunity to interview him (in case you don't know: he's one of my favourite authors so I really enjoyed doing so especially as talking to him is a lot of fun :) ) You can find the German version of the interview at the Clockworker.

Of course we also went to see some concerts but due to the heat (around 36°C and more) we didn't wanted to go to the crowded halls to often. I ended up seeing only 2 and a half music acts.
The fist one was Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) the other one was Kitty in a Casket which I wanted to see, because I was sure my friends from Austria would be there.  Well, and the half was the band before Kitty, which I mainly heard as we stayed outside or at the sofas upstairs waiting for Kitty.

A thing you have to do when at WGT is visiting the agra where is the main shopping hall! Of course we did, mainly in the evenings wearing more comfortable clothes strolling around the Gothic shops. I really liked that there were much more little and individual sellers like my friend Diana-Bianca from Atelier Tausendschön. 

Headgear from Atelier Tausendschön

Unfortunately there too was the mass of cheap “just-glue-some-gears-on-it”-Steampunk stuff you see everywhere.

The agra shopping hall

But still I met some awesome Steampunks as well as lolitas. You can see all of my photos from WGT here on FlickR  (picnics and the rest) and here on facebook (picnics and the rest).

All in all I liked WGT this year. The program was good, I met a lot of nice folk. The only problem was the heat! I ended up wearing only half of what I planned because I couldn't bare more then one or two layers of fabric. (Others couldn't, too which ended up with nearly-no-clothes. Unfortunately mostly on people I didn't wanted to see that many skin of >_< but also I have so much respect for those who were still wearing historical gowns and the like!)

We already booked our flat for next year so I hope to see some of you there next time if not earlier.

Rock on!

~about WGT reviews~

It's been a bit quiet here, as I am quite busy with university and different events.
But I just wanted to let you know, that I'm still there that there will be a post about this years Wave Gotik Treffen soon. If you are interested you can have a look at my "official" review at the Gatehouse, which will soon be followed by the review I did for BCM and which will be published ithe next edition in July.

I already posted some outfit photos on my Tumblr and my deviantArt so it's worth checking ;)

~about KiKA @ Aethercircus~

Last weekend was the Aethercircus Steampunk Festival in Stade. Germany's first and (so far) biggest Steampunk event.

As I announced in my preview post about 2014 we set up camp there with the Steampunk Expeditions Gesellschaft. On saturday the German children's TV KiKA came to our camp to make a short show for KiKA live! (which is the show for 14-18 year olds). Nici and I talked with the moderator Ben about steampunk and together with the camp we made a short movie.

Ben also rode the steam tractor and visited Horatius Steam and Teleman von Phones exhibition of steampunked objects. The band Drachenflug (who also organises the event) made an appearance as well as Daniel Malheur. Even my all time favourite band Coppelius showed up with their new video "Spieldose" in the 9min smash up of steampunk.

But now enough, here's the video:
(it's in German only, but the pictures show a lot of the festival athmosphere ;) )

(Whoever has more information and/or links to the appearing persons, feel free to drop me a comment ;) )

~about some news~

I know it's been a bit quiet around here, mainly because there was a Coppelius concert tour the last weekends.
Including a Steampunk crime buffet and a Steampunk Party.
I will write a review about it, but first of all I'll be going to Elfia in Haarzuilens next weekend together with the Steampunk Expeditions Gesellschaft.

Please drop me a line, if you'll be there! It would be my pleasure to meet you! See you there ;)

~About a steampunk meet-up~

Last Sunday was another meet-up of my local steampunk community Dampfkraft Gesellschaft Rheinprovinz (DaKraG). This time we went to the pancake house in Hattingen.

Andrea

My outfit fit the pancake house^^

The pancake house (or Pfannekuchenhaus in German) is a small half-timbered house in the historical centre of Hattingen. As we were quite many we had the whole upper storey for us alone. As the name suggests they serve pancakes in all ways you can think of: sweet ones with chocolate or salty ones with cheese and bacon for example. But you can also have steak on you pancake o.O (as one of the girls mentioned: for those husbands that had preferred the steakhouse^^)

The "hat desk"

After we ate we started changing places so everybody could talk not only to the ones at your own table but also to the rest.

Before the first wanted to leave we went outside to take the obligatory group photo (I'm usually the one that starts asking if we want to do one so there's kind of the ongoing joke of me wanting to take a group picture^^)

After the group shot my friend Andrea from Stoff im Gehirn and I did some outfit shots of each other as it's not that common within the DaKraG. It must be the lolita in us that wants decent photos...
I managed to get a snap of my friend Thomas as well: we had met some weeks before to work on his outfit and in the meantime he could finish his leather top hat.

After that we went inside again and chatted a little longer (making plans for the expedition camp at Elfia Haarzuilens and the like).

As more and more people left, a part of us decided to take a little stroll through the historical city centre. One of the group members had told us that there is a “steampunk letterbox” so we had a look.
Hattingen is really a beautiful little city, we once had a lolita meet-up there as well, because it's so picturesque.

As we walked it started to rain so we decided to leave as well.

Steampunks in their natural habitat, you can see their hunting habits

I really enjoyed the meet-up and I was glad to see all the steampunks again, especially not being the only steampunk lolita there thanks to Andrea, plus it was the first meet-up for my friend Thomas.

As you might have seen in my entry about the planned events for 2014 the Elfia is up next, so stay curious for what to come ;)

~About Airkraken Day~

Happy Airkraken Day, a photo by AyraLeona on Flickr.

I wish you all a Happy Airkraken Day! (And of course happy St. Patrick's day as well!)

If you don't know what Airkraken Day is, you can find an explanation in my entry from last year. 

~about planned Steampunk events 2014~

A preview

 

As I promised in my review of 2013 I want to give you an outlook of my Steampunk year 2014.

~About a world wide Steampunk month~

Steampunk Hands around the World

As I posted earlier this morning at the Clockworker, there's a great project going on in the internatioal Steampunk community right now!

It's called "Steampunk Hands around the World" and that's basically what it really is ^^

I know, sounds a bit akward, so here's the press release for you to understand, what it's all about: 

Just as current day expressions of steampunk are not limited to the literature where it began, the people in the steampunk community are not bound to any one geographical region. Steampunk appears in many forms, and with its popularity, the community has grown to encompass the world.

The celebration and sharing of that global association is at the heart of a new project, Steampunk Hands Around the World, by Kevin Steil, the creator and editor of steampunk news and information resource website, Airship Ambassador. With more than three dozen steampunk creators - bloggers, authors, event organizers, and others - also participating, the month long project is a multi format media presentation about the international connections and communications in the community, for steampunks and non-steampunks alike.

Beginning Sunday, February 2nd, and continuing until Friday, February 28th, the group will show and share that steampunks everywhere are linked together and that new friends are waiting in every conversation.

Steampunk, in its many forms, brings people together in an inclusive and helpful network of similar mind. From sharing book and music review opinions, to playing the newest games and sharing DIY information on fashion and props, the steampunk community easily and comfortably brings together people ages eight to eighty in ways not often seen in other communities.

The full and updated-daily list of participating websites, blogs and events will be posted in the kick-off blog on the Airship Ambassador blog site:

• http://airshipambassador.wordpress.com

For more information, please contact Kevin Steil at Kevin@AirshipAmbassador.com

 Allright, that's the idea. At the moment there's a facebook group, where people talk about the organization, get in touch and get prepared for february, the Steampunk Month. So if you want to join in, too (which I highly recommend) just drop Kevin a line.

There are also several German blogs/websites besides the Clockworker joining in such as Daily Steampunk (who also writes in English), PhantaNews and Wohnbu.de (which will post stuff about steampunk living, I'm really looking forward to that!)

Stefan from PhantaNews also designed a greyscale logo, which I like pretty much, too (but I prefer some colour^^):

Well then, what will I do for the Steampunk Month...
I want to start with a review about my Steampunk Year 2013, because as you might have noticed, I haven't blogged a lot last year so I want to take the chance to, well, make up leeway.
In addition to that I want to release some stuff together with Hildekitten (website) from Belgium, especially about our experiences working together for several online magazines (her own J-culture magazine BCM, which also includes a lot of Steampunk, the Clockworker and of course the Steampunk Gazette)
We also have some other plans in the making so stay tuned and be curious what will come ;)
(And think about joining in of course!)

~about Steampunk at German TV~

Today I spent the day at the South-West German TV studios: I was invited to be a guest at the show in.puncto which will be aired in a few minutes at 22.15 (UTC+1:00) at EinsPlus.

 

The Teaser Picture^^

It’s obviously in German, but maybe you want to have a look at the pictures. Nicole, the moderator, asked me several things about steampunk in general, the German scene, the DIY aspects of steampunk, steampunk events, music and much more. I got to talk a lot about the stuff I like *yay* Besides me at the studio there are short sequences of a longer documentation about steampunk which will be aired next Sunday, 24^th November at 22.15, also on EinsPlus. The show is called “Leben!”)

You’ll see some pictures of Violet’s Steampunk Music Video “Prometheus”, this year’s Elfia in Arcen and you also get a glimpse of my flat (for the curious ones).

Here's a teaser: Nicole and me having fun with the bubble gun^^

I hope you have to time to watch it, if you have, please tell me what you think! (And don’t miss the documentation next Sunday! It will be about 20 minutes all about Steampunk which René Habitzl made together with Sven Möller better known as Admiral Aaron Ravensdale from Steampunk-Design.de and me.)

And as I’m writing this EinsPlus already made it available here: 

I really, really like how many friends and fellows are in there, too. Wether by name, or appearance or in the case of bands by background music.
To name but a few:

• Abney Park
• Aeronautica  
•  My favourite band Coppelius (if you watch carefully, you can spot their logo at least two times *cough* product placement* xD)
• Steam Powered Giraffe
• Violet (it's their music video I'm talking about, and parts are also shown)

• Flint's Buccaneer (the pirates at Elfia) 
• The Steampunk Objective (my fellow Dutch Steampunks with their awesome props!) 
• The Steampunk Expeditions Gesellschaft 
• The Coppelius Fan Club GCSG (Geheime Coppelianische StraßenbauGesellschaft, most of the buttons you see are from them^^) 
• My "lolita family" de Loryva
• ...etc. 

...and of course lots and lots of personal friends, fellow steampunks etc., I can't all name. 
At this point I really want to thank all the awesome people I met during the past three years! I cannot say how much you all encourage me to do all that Steampunk Stuff!

This entry would not be complete if I would thank all the ones that made that interview/video possible today! René, who did an awesome job on the filming at Elfia, Erfindertreffen and my home (and for respecting all those, that didn’t wanted to show up at TV!), Nicole, for letting me shot her with my Bubble Gun, Niko for NOT using that particular still of me for the internet advertisement (seriously, I think it was hilarious >_<’) and of course the whole SWR and the crew I met, for being that nice and making me really enjoy that day! (Maybe I can come again some when…?) 

I hope that all you, my readers, enjoyed that video even if you may not be able to understand German and that you will watch the documentation with even MORE awesome pictures next sunday!
(If that video goes online I'll share it, too of course!)

~About an interview with Aurelio Voltaire~

(A quick life sign from my hiatus...)

Last Wednesday I had the chance to finally see the artist Aurelio Voltaire live on stage here in Germany. Precisely at the MTC Club in Cologne.

Further even: I got the chance to interview him together with Aleksandr (who took part of the photos) for the Clockworker. As the CW is a German online Magazine, I translated the whole interview, you can find it here, in case you prefer reading it in German.

Right after the interview, taken with my Fujiroid
I really like the Vogelfrey poster in the background, I like their music^^

Well but I thought it's a waste if the original English version just lies on my hard drive, unused, so here it comes for you my dear readers.

Voltaire introduces himself:

My name’s Aurelio Voltaire, and… I am an evil clown. (laughs)
Actually I really don’t know how to introduce myself. I do lots of different things; but most of them involve things that are dark and at the same time humorous. Sometimes it’s songs, sometimes it’s books, sometimes it’s films, sometimes it’s toys.

It’s your first time on the European mainland, I guess?

Well, technically I played a show in Oslo, Norway a couple of years ago but this is truly my first European Tour. And certainly my first time ever in Cologne.

The set list

What’s been the main factor to come over here, and especially to Germany?

Well, I tour the United States and Canada and Mexico. And I certainly get lots and lots of emails from Europe and my web store gets lots of orders from Europe, so it was a natural progression that I should come and visit the people who are listening to my music.

Did you do any special preparations for your German show? 

Eeh, No. (laughs) I can’t say that I did. Because I think that it should be what people are expecting from me. I think the people who are coming, already know who I am. Do you know what I mean?

So they should get the same show that I do in America. What I do think about is my choice of songs. I have to think a little bit more about what works sonicly for an audience that may not speak English versus lyrically because a lot of my songs are puns and wordplay and that may be difficult for some people who’ve English as a second language. So I have to think about which songs are going to be easier to understand.

I saw on your tour dates that you’re going to have a day of between the concerts. Do you have special plan? Do you want to visit anything special?

I don’t love days off. I’m a workaholic and love performing. So I don’t love days off.
Tomorrow’s not a day off. I play in Hamburg tomorrow. Yesterday was a day off.  I had a day off in Vienna. And it was nice but now I’m kicking myself because I realized how close Prague was. And I think I should have gone to Prague.

But Vienna is a beautiful city. [Actually I was there the week before^^] 

It is a beautiful city.

Now we come to your new album “Raised by bats” which has been crowd-funded. 

Yes… well, to be more honest, I’ve spend thirty-five thousand dollars on that and now I’m crowd-funding the last ten. That’s technically what’s really happening.

Well, how did you come up with the name?

The title track “Raised by bats”, is a song about when I ran away from home when I was seventeen. And you know when dress a little strangely or if you dress in gothic style there’s lots of people out there who want to make fun of you and who want to call you gay Dracula, killer, all sorts of awful names. Although I rather like being called gay Dracula, that sounds very fashionable tome. But anyway I just realized at some point that a snarky reply would be just to tell people that I was raised by bats, that’s why I looked this way.

You know, I’m wearing what looks like a dark pirate costume in my show. And inside the club people really appreciate it. But whenever I walk outside I instantly become Jack Sparrow, to the stupid normal people.

You know there are worse things than being compared to Johnny Depp, for sure. It’s unfortunately just a sign of ignorance when people have to instantly make some kind of cultural reference connection, so that they can feel comfortable about what they are looking at. I think it’s a sign of stupidity, or insecurity.

Your latest album “Bitrektual” deals with several well-known science fiction series, like Star Wars, Star Trek and even Doctor Who (which I am a big fan of… I got my screwdriver with me.)

Actually… In Case my Tardis brakes down I know who to look for. 

Aside from those, which other Science Fiction Series would you recommend?

Ehm… God I don’t know. You know the album “Bitrektual” is a pornographic collection of Star Trek and Star Wars songs. There’s only a Doctor Who Song because Doctor Who fans are such pushy cunts. And they made me do it.

But you know I like Battlestar Galactica. And growing up I watched Lost in Space and the Twilight Zone. If it has a space ship in it, chances are that I will watch it.

Do you know Firefly?

I do know Firefly but I have never watched Firefly. A very good friend of mine, who’s also a singer writes songs about Firefly, his name is Mark Gunn. And Marc gave me the entire series.

But… I don’t watch TV. I haven’t had a TV in twenty years. And if I watched TV I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now, I’d be at home watching TV. It’s because I don’t watch TV that I get so much done.

I had to have an operation and not be able to leave the house to watch the new Battlestar Galactica.

I got my ears pointy and basically wasn’t able to leave the house for a few days so I watched all of Battlestar Galactica.

So the next time I injure myself I promise I will see Firefly.

Well I asked that because Firefly is often referred to as kind of Steampunk or Dieselpunk series, and when talking about Steampunk music, your music is often named, so where would you see the connection to the genre?

I think it’s a really organic connection. Because to me Steampunk is Science Fiction from the perspective of Victorian England. And there are very, very few bands, that use instruments that existed during the Victorian era. So when you look at bands that say we are Steampunk bands but they are playing keyboards and electric guitars and then they have to come up with some crazy philosophy like “we travel time and collect keyboards from the 90s”.

But for ME the most organic thing that can happen when the Steampunk world started developing, was when people said: “what kind of music do we listen to”, the most natural answer for me would have been: music that could have been made in the Victorian Era.

And for me the first two bands that come to mind are Rasputina and Tom Waits. They are two heroes of mine and they are bands that inspired me to make music that also could have been made two hundred years ago. So I think it’s a very natural evolution.

I may lose my Steampunk Membership card, because my new album is a Goth Rock album and it’s the first time I’m using electronic instruments. Electric guitar, electric bass, keyboards and things like that. I hope I will always be at least be an honorary member of the Steampunk world. 

Which song of yours would you suggest to be your most Steampunk-y song?

The Mechanical Girl.

When I made that album “Riding a Black Unicorn Down the Side of an Erupting Volcano While Drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children” I actually asked my constituency what kind of album do you want to hear me make and people said folk, and people said cabaret, and somebody said Gypsy punk, and somebody said Steampunk and someone even said acoustic heavy metal. And I said: Okay.

And I did them all. So that album, not only was it named by a fan, but it was kind of dictated and suggested by fans. So “The Mechanical Girl” was really very conscious attempt on my behalf to create the Steampunk song on that album. So if I do a Steampunk convention it’s guaranteed that I’ll play “The Mechanical Girl”.

You often play at Conventions like Dragon Con…

15 years in a row

… but too far for us…

I may be fixing that. There’s talk about me performing at a Steampunk Convention in England next year.

Back to the question: I just wanted to ask: At those conventions you also see Steampunks, so what is your main reaction to them?

I mean Steampunk is something that is very natural to me. You have to understand something: I’m ooold. But even I am not older than Steampunk. People think Steampunk is new. But when I was a small child, my favourite film was “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, which is a purely Steampunk movie, and then there was the series “Wild Wild West” which was a purely Steampunk show. This philosophy of creating Jules Verne inspired science fiction from the Victorian era is not new only the cultural phenomenon of people gathering, doing cosplay and listening to bands, that part is new.

When I was small child we had a very baroque brass lamp and it broke. Well I should say it baroke. And I asked my mother: can I have it? And she said: sure, why would want this piece of junk? And I took it apart and I built a space ship and it was the most ornate brass space ship you’ve ever seen. So it brings together things that I already very much love: Science fiction and things that are antiquated. So… I forgot the question… Oh yeah: What do I think when I see Steampunks? I see people that are into the same things that I’m into. My brothers and sisters.

Voltaire with Aleksandr

 Some last words for your German fans?

It’s really really exciting after many many years of wanting to tour in Germany it’s really really exciting to finally be here and really look forward to meeting people who’ve been listening to my music for years and I’ve never gotten to meet in person and I hope this will be just the first of many many meetings to come.

We hope that, too. Thank you for that interview!

My pleasure! Thank you very much.

I hope you enjoyed reading that ;)
Man, I was so damn nervous doing this! (Sometimes even so concentrated on my questions I didn't got the jokes Voltaire made >_< (If you read this: I'm still sorry!) )

If you ever get the chance to see one of his shows: Go see it! It's totally worth it!
Although he himself only describes them as "Watch an old pirate getting drunk"

And to be honest: I never met an artist that was so close to his fans and took that much time to answer questions, take photos, sign CDs etc.
(During the show, we even got on stage to sing with him.)

And another Polaroid picture
Yep, that man is tall! (Okay, and Yes I am small...)

So to come to a conlusion, you might notice, that I'm still totally amazed, so well: Go see him, listen to his music, buy the CDs and really try to see him live on stage!

Links:
Voltaire's Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube