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| Love this guy. |
Rusty: Dave, thanks for taking the time to do the interview. You've done these with me before, so lets get to the meat and potatoes of this thing.
Electronic Saviors 2. It looks like there is a hell of a line up again for Chicago. Who do we all have and who are you looking forward to seeing the most?
David: First off Rusty, I wanted to thank you for starting up these interviews again much like you did for the WTII Records Minifest 2 back in June of 2011. I had a fantastic time reading your blog and I thought it gave some interesting insight to some of the bands and helped to create a true “family” feeling between all of the bands who performed at the Minifest. Several different factors went into assembling this amazing line-up this year, part of it was that we weren't going to do another WTII Minifest in 2012, but wanted to have some type of show with a “festival” feel to it, I wanted to try to top (or at least equal) the first ES show that we did back in 2010 that had a lineup of Acumen Nation, Gothsicles, Cyanotic, the (short) return of Christ Analogue, Xuberx, the live debut of Aimonia and more, plus this is the final ES 2 benefit show so I wanted to go a little overboard to make it special and a fitting end to the 2012 round of benefit shows.
Anyway I am excited that we have Patricia Wake from Pittsburgh, opening the evening up as her voice is one that stays with you and her brand of Gothic song writing/story telling is unforgettable. We then quickly lead to Chicago's Short to Ground who are quickly becoming one of the hottest rising Chicago bands around. Nashville's Cryogen Second will be making their Chicago debut at this show and are one of the bands that I am most interested in seeing. The newly revamped lineup of Madison's Sensuous Enemy will be bringing some eroticism to the stage, followed by fellow Wisconsinite's Am.Psych. The man of the hour, Jim Semonik, will be leading his project (and WTII Records artists) Rein[forced] to the stage and you can expect to hear many songs off of his upcoming WTII release debuted at this show. Chicago's very own, Gothsicles, need no introduction (no seriously they don't need an introduction) and rounding out the evening are Baltimore's Ego Likeness and a very special late set by Ohio's AimOniA. You asked me who I am most excited to see and it may very well be AimOniA on the strength of their jaw dropping Minifest set. Oh and I am also excited to have Dj Pathogen (Pandemic), Wade Alin (Christ Analogue, The Atomica Project, and producer extrodinaire) along with Don Anderson (Terror Firma Sky) working the decks all night!
Rusty: I don't think a lot of people really appreciate the kind of time and dedication it takes to get something like this going. You have done the Sunday showcase for almost 5 years now, and a couple larger events as well. Now you're pulling this off. You have a full time job, a wife, a kid, you help run WTII with Bart. Where do you find the time to get all this festival/promotion stuff done?
David: Thank you for the kind words Rusty and I want to be truthful with you and tell you it's not easy at all. During the 5+ year run of the monthly WTII Records showcases that we did things kind of fell into place and I was able to get into a 3 month groove where I kept a schedule of "by this time I need to book a band, by here the artwork needs to be done, by here I need to post info to websites/physical media" etc etc and it was pretty easy to do as these things take on a momentum of their own. Now you are correct I have a new full time job, a beautiful, supportive and understanding wife, an amazing 18 month old son and still have many responsibilities with the record label. Being organized with my time and laying out a schedule has always been an important part of promoting methods. I obviously had to take a break during the birth of my son as well as I wanted to take a break after putting on the 4 day WTII Records Minifest 2 as it was emotionally, physically and financially draining but I have started to pick up my shows again and have done or are doing shows every month from March-July AND increasing the territory of shows that I book to include Milwaukee as well. As much as I would love to stop booking/promoting shows I always harken back to some advice that Gray Kaze from Club ? in Milwaukee gave me and that is "you can't ever truly get out of it, you can try to leave, but the bands/fans/clubs will drag you back into it". It's in my dna makeup now and even though it takes more energy to put on a show it's still something I take a lot of pride and pleasure from.
Rusty: Yeah, when you said you were "retiring" from promoting, we all said you would be back. It's like a WWE wrestler saying he's retiring... you're never really done and you can always take one more bump off the ladder.
Also, you're freaking me out being so professional with your responses. Knock it off.
So, we're doing this show over at LiveWire this time. Why the change in venue? Things were running pretty smooth at Darkroom for such a long time. (I know some of the story, but not all of it... fill us in here)
David: Well Darkroom has been and always will be where we call home, they were one of the first people and venues to really get behind the idea of monthly live "industrial" shows and the nights and club grew exponentially because of it. Darkroom played host to some of the most amazing independent shows that Chicago has seen over the past ten years or so. Now unfortunately Darkroom like many other venues in the city (and country) suffered during the recent economic recessions and they have been trying to sell the building now. The are still open and are still booking shows at Darkroom but unfortunately they are doing it on a month to month basis which doesn't really work when I normally book shows 3+ months out at a time. If Darkroom's future improves I would love to work with them again as word has gotten around the country about the professional staff there as well as the sound and ambiance of the venue. The memories that Darkroom has provided not only to my wife Jean and I such as our wedding, baby shower, several bday shows, holiday events, simply pale in comparison to the relationships that were forged there over the years, shows, and the many bottles of Jameson's. But speaking of professionals I am pleased to have started up a new relationship with Dave Hornyak and Live Wire Lounge. I've worked with Dave in the past for a few shows at Underground Lounge and was excited at the idea of working with him again especially in this new venue. Live Wire has been kind enough to let me book my April, June and July shows there and we hope to do more in the future. While it may appear as if it won't hold the as many as the 235 people that Darkroom holds some changes and concessions are being made to improve the spacing in the venue to accommodate the 150-200+ crowds that we are anticipating to see for both this event and the upcoming July iVardensphere show there
Rusty: That's great that you still have a place to get all the bands seen. We're getting a bit wordy today and I want to give our readers what they come for... the lightning round... you know the drill. 5 questions, 5 answers. This time we're going to do it a little different. I'm going to name off five bands that are playing the show and you rattle off what comes to mind first.
1) Ego Likeness
2) The Gothsicles
3) Rein[Forced]
4) ummm... Am.Psych
5) Sensuous Enemy
BONUS!!!! Fuck it, lets get them all out there.
i ) Cryogen Second, Short to Ground, Patricia Wake (and if you feel like it AimOnia... they've been picking on me online lately... something about goats and being called something with a trombone...)
David: Yes I realized that we were a tad wordy so I apologize if I bored anyone to death, guess we'll go to the other extreme and use the minimal amount of words now
(1) Ego Likeness---Ultra Talented and worthy headliners
(2)The Gothsicles--Soon-to-be scene Superstars (if they aren't already there, Jesus who would have ever thought that!!)
(3)Rein[forced]---My Hero, My Friend, My Brother (nuff said)
(4)Am.Psych--Proud (watching them grow up over the years as a band)
(5)Sensuous Enemy-- Underrated (more people show know about them, Jai is an amazing Frontwoman)
(6)Cryogen Second---Wildcard (never played Chicago so their set is highly anticipated)
(7) Short to Ground--Up and Comers (taken the chicago scene by storm in a very short time)
(8)Patricia Wake--Beautiful Voice (get out early to check out her set as you won't be disappointed)
(9)AimOniA---Bar is Raised (after their jaw dropping set at the WTII Minifest a lot is expected out of this band now!!)
Rusty: Dave, thanks for getting back to me on these questions and taking the time out of your crazy busy day. I think we've got a hell of a show lined up for the end of the month.
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