Overbury Ink

Veronique Chevalier is AKA The “Weird VAL” of Dark Cabaret. Being gonged off the premiere season of America’s Got Talent was irrefutable proof that the mainstream were not yet ready for her gifts.





Veronique is a journalist; social activist; record producer, lyricist; parodist; visual artist; model, former ballet dancer. She is reputed to be the long-lost great-granddaughter of a certain famous Frenchman who was a star of stage and screen… (Maurice Chevalier)





Veronique is a unparalleled Parodist; a Steampunk Chanteuse, and Spooky Polkanista, who has been described as a campy incarnation of Edith Piaf from a parallel universe – the one in which her parents are Jim Morrison, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and her godparents are Lucille Ball and Weird Al.





As a self-proclaimed “Mad Sonictist,” she takes maniacal pleasure in combining previously unrelated musical forms into new, unholy combinations. She vows to leave no genre unadulterated in her quest to create the ultimate Sonic Frankenstein…





“I especially appreciate under-the-radar and/or quirky talents…I am very proud of my benefit project, a recording and live show Cabaret4Choice which highlights the complexity of reproductive freedom…I conceptualized and produced ‘Polka Haunt Us: A Spook-tacular Compilation’ which was an Official Selection on The 51st Annual Grammy Ballot, & is sure to become a perennial Halloween classic, and am currently writing an original Steampunk Opera..(See links to ‘The Many Websites Of Veronique’ in the right-hand sidebar of my blog).”

Album Lyrics


Veronique is proud to be part of Gilded Age Records, the world’s only artist collective focused on musician’s combining old world aesthetics and sounds with current genres of music.
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Steampunk/Cabaret/Swing/Ragtime/Gypsy-Punk/Neo-Classical/Martial-Industrial/Darkwave/Post-Punk/etc.


Chevalier will be appearing July 11th, 2010 at:

* * The Steampunk Bizarre, Hartford, CT,

The “Internet Date” video will premiere on Sunday, July 11th, 2010, at The Second Annual Steampunk Bizarre, at ArtSpace in Hartford, Connecticut, and will be available on YouTube one week after the live premiere. The Steampunk Bizarre, curated by Joey Marsocci, and presented by DrGrymmLaboratories.net, is a week-long exhibition, running July 9th – 16th, exploring various aspects of Steampunk, which is a term that has been coined for “The Scholar’s Science Fiction.”


The Steampunk Bizarre Exhibit will be alive with sights and sounds of ingenious and strange contraptions set in a themed atmosphere. Dr. Grymm’s EXPERIMENT is to bring together 23 international artists, some from the Steampunk community, some professional artists trying their hand at Steampunk for the first time.

Chevalier, is the only performance artist who has been invited to participate in The Steampunk Bizarre, and in addition to screening the “Internet Date” video, she has written two song new parodies and a spoken word piece entitled “I Am Steampunk” that she will perform live.

Highlights of the exhibition will be filmed for a documentary by Neurotic Films, tentatively entitled “I Am Steampunk: The Making Of A Bizarre World,” which will premiere in the Fall of 2010.


More Appearances:
* * The League Of Temporal Adventurers First Society Gala, San Diego, July 24th, 2010
* * Seattle Steamcon II, November 19th-21st, 2010
* * Wild Wild West Con, Tucson, AZ, March 2011 (Opening for Abney Park)
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Find Veronique:
http://WeirdVal.com
http://MySpace.com/VeroniqueChevalier
http://twitter.com/VeroniqueCheVAL
http://www.gildedagerecords.com
http://www.somedaylounge.com/performers/Veronique_Chevalier
http://PolkaHaunt.Us
http://MySpace.com/PolkaHauntUs
http://twitter.com/PolkaHauntUs
http://www.youtube.com/user/VeroniqueChevalier
http://steampunk.ning.com/profile/VeroniqueChevalier

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This week’s Steampunk Blog tour:

O.M.Grey’s Caught in the Cogs Steampunk Spotlight: Lovechild Boudoir
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Join Mike Perschon for his Steampunk discussions on The Steampunk Scholar
July is Canuk Steampunk month – Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
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On Steamed: The Steampunk Novel Diary: Why Steampunk?? by Author Marie-Claude Bourque

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Matthew Delman at Free The Princess.com -Your resource on Steampunk background — history, science, culture, and more:
Locomotives in Steampunk Society

Interzone Inc is an ongoing process whose aim is to explore different sonic and harmonic landscapes, their attributes and the energies within. Interzone has existed in different shapes and formations since 1980. Its output is a combination of experiences drawn from the past years of sonic experimentation and collaboration, and the ambition to explore completely new areas.


[click to listen]

Interzone Inc is the compositions of Göran Kinnander, a music creator from Sweden, who has been exploring “…sonic and harmonic landscapes…” since 1980. It is both experimentation and, sometimes, collaboration with other artists who understand the essential philosophy behind Interzone Inc.


[click to listen]



Göran was intrigued from a young age with music which defied conventional rules of melodies, rhythms, and structures. In fact, “sonic and harmonic landscapes” is an interesting description to use because, listening to the music, I do tend to go on a journey through imagined places; even through the vast land inside my own mind.


The output ranges from soft and minimal ambient, to noise and experimental. Sometimes dark, disturbing and devouring, sometimes soft, warm and soothing. Close your eyes, listen and experience the journey through different landscapes, atmospheres and moods.





Ambient music is just one of the fields Göran is exploring. It has been a part of the Interzone output from the very beginning. He has also done some exploring into the Steampunk genre:
“I believe my music relates to steampunk in two ways. Since most of the Steampunk material is visual or written/drawn, I asked myself the question – How does Steampunk really sound? In the Flesh from Desires is a good example of how I interpret Steampunk into sound/music.


[click to listen]

For me also, Steampunk is the fantastic result of the merger of two very different styles, almost opposing, and that merge can be found in many of my tracks. Sometimes in Rain from n3Xt is a good example.


[click to listen]

The combination of two or more things into something brand new is also a significant part of my creative process, and even though I do admit that some of my work is not so much related to Steampunk, the major part is.”


Other fields that Interzone is exploring is how noisy darkness sounds. Göran doesn’t typically say that “I make this-and-that style music”. Rather, he responds to whatever ignited the creative spark, the final output is – of course – related to that. For Göran “ it‟s just as natural for me to make warm and lush ambient soundscapes as it is to make brutal and disturbing noises or focusing on arrangements.”


[click to listen]

Göran developed a lust to explore and experiment with sound back when he was about the age of seven at the Stockholm library, flipping through their vinyl collection. (Yes, in those days – late 1960‟s – you could go and borrow a vinyl record.) He saw an album named “A Rainbow in Curved Air” and thought –”Wow, an album with such a cool name must sound just great!” He brought it home, listened to it a love affair with experimental music began. Since then that kind of music have always been a part of what he listened to. It was a natural evolution to eventually begin making his own versions of it.


Göran has provided us with a previously unreleased track called Divinity, a pleasure to be among the first to hear it: Divinity

Visit Interzone Inc’s website: www.interzones.se to learn more about this music and how it all got started; then fasten on your headphones and take a journey!



Find Interzone Inc’s Music at the website:

Follow him on Twitter

LIKE him on FACEBOOK

Join us on our SteamTuesday blog tour:

O.M. Grey’s blog and SteamTuesday spotlight: Caught in the Cogs on Rowan of the Wood @christinerose tells us about mending broken hearts.

French Steampunk with Vapeur Brouillon

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I’ve been a Steampunk fan for a long time without realising it. My first encounter was via the Myst computer games. They’re kinda dated now, but the Myst games were wonderfully inventive point-and-click adventures full of cogworks and weird machinery. Those games, plus an obsession with the steam train time machine from the last Back to the Future film got me hooked and I’ve loved the aesthetic every since.

There’s always been a sci-fi fantasy focus to my music, particularly with my duo Comrade Robot and our album Songs for the End of the World. Things went all steampunk musically in October 2009 when the muse decided to hand me a set of songs and ideas with a distinctly steamy theme. So in January this year I finished my first solo album, Spinning the Compass – nine self produced songs about love, flying machines, nightmares involving cable cars and steam engine related body horror. If I had to put a genre to the music I’d use words like steampunk, acoustic, progressive, indie. My favourite quote about the album is:


Mr. Slatterís music evokes images of ill-lit workshops, dark libraries in mansions where spirits are contacted, cabaret in run-down theaters and the taste of absinthe. (article)


Lots of steampunk music comes from a goth rock/metal perspective. That’s something I’m a big fan of, but that isn’t what my music sounds like. Neither is it a historical exercise, trying to meld victorian music with modern sounds. Instead I’ve gone more for feel and theme. It’s crackly and contains barely functioning electronics and feels like I think steampunk should sound.


The album had a long gestation. It includes songs that began their life ten years ago or more, as well as some that were written in the studio, almost captured improvisations rather than compositions.


The opening track ‘Mechanism‘ is one of my favourites [listen here] – the groove has a music hall feel and the lyrics share a theme with much of the album. They’re about real lives hampered by the introduction of dehumanizing machinery. The goggles that are so ubiquitous in steampunk are attractive, but I’ve always thought there was a slightly creepy element to them too. Steampunk characters are often shown with mechanical replacements and enchancements – steam-powered false limbs, goggles and eyeglasses, jetpacks and wings – and I’ve tried to explore that aspect of the genre with these songs.


Lines Overheard at a Seance is another favourite. This one came to me all in one go, I literally sat down at the piano and there it was, fully formed. I’m not entirely sure what the lyrics are about, but later in the year I’ll hopefully be filming a video for it that will show the seance the lyrics refer to.





I’ll make that video with the help of my brother Joe Slatter, who by pure coincidence produced this short steampunk horror film at the same time I was finishing the album. It uses several songs from the album and is called ‘Oldroid’. Joe’s a model maker, sculptor and special effects enthusiast and we’ve collaborated a couple of times before but this is the first thing we’ve done together that could be called steampunk.





Future plans include a 9 minute steamprog epic entitled ‘The Trial of Seven-Bells John’ and an even longer musical tale of conspiracy, imprisonment and vengeful mechanical men called ‘Ironbark’, as well as numerous non-steampunk musical endeavours. I’m also planning on creating handmade, steampunk cd cases later in the year so that a physical version of Spinning the Compass can be produced, but right now it exists only as a free download which can be found at the download page:


Album download (free but I do ask for an Email)



Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @tomslatter
Website: http://www.tomslatter.co.uk
Comrade Robot: http://www.comraderobot.com
Joe Slatter:

On this week’s SteamTuesday blog tour:
O.M. Grey’s Caught in the Cogs Steampunk Spotlight: Silver Leaf Costumes

Steampunk aesthetic encompasses a diverse range of artistic expression through fashion, home decor, film as culture and lifestyle. The movement of music is even less defined, and the debate continues as to what elements contribute to the sound. SteamTuesday features Ben Steed as one such musician giving credence to the philosophy.

In reality I have only been familiar with the term ‘steampunk’ since September 2009 or so. Where I have always had an interest in Victorian aesthetics and post-apocalyptic fiction, only recently have I been able to put a title on it. I suddenly found myself captivated by and immersed within this huge world. This huge community and life.

It was around this time that I proposed to my fellow band-member Rob Gilbank (just before the band started to get going with writing etc) that we push the direction of this project along a more steampunk path. We both agreed it would be a fantastic idea, and as a result our steampunk selves were born (myself as Captain Caspar Byron and Rob as Dr. Aegis Mutton) and a huge story around it, based in a dystopian world after a world nuclear war. Each song we write is about a particular aspect of this story, be it in the ‘past’ or the ‘present’ (as the present in the story is 2022 after an alternative past). Our collective name was to be The Wet-Glass RO.

Outside the band project, we both had our own solo work. I had been working on my debut album, Distorted Skies, since near the beginning of the year (2009). With my newfound love for steampunk, I knew I wanted to include aspects of it within this release. I even started to incorporate my airship pirate goggles (a part of my attire that would usually be used within my band only) into my regular wear, and it is slowly becoming something I am known for wearing.

I started to work on the song ‘The Conspirator’ – a song with a waltz feel to it and a steampunk atmosphere all the way through – which lyrics are my exploration into the story of the Guy Fawkes’ conspiracies against Parliament which took place on 5^th November 1605. It was this song that caught the attention of the Texas based steampunk production company Airship Isabella, and as a result this song will be featuring on their upcoming steampunk compilation album entitled ‘Full Steam Ahead’ which will include the likes of Abney Park, The Shanklin Freak Show and Vernian Process.

I intended for the album to appeal to numerous audiences, including electronica fans as well as rock fans. And steampunks! In fact it is ‘The Conspirator’, the most steampunk styled song on the album, that seems to be receiving the best feedback.

On top of this, the band work was progressing speedily. As well as my solo song ‘The Conspirator’ appearing on the Airship Isabella compilation, two songs by The Wet-Glass RO will also be featuring on it. As well as this, the group called Sepiachord announced the song ‘The Propellers Meet The Clouds’ as their Song Of The Day last month.

I have many plans for the future of my music, a handful to include more steampunk orientated projects (outside of the band of course, which is purely steampunk). How these will turn out though remains to be seen. At the moment I am considering hitting the local and national music scenes and begin gigging once more.

Solo Links:

Album download (name-your-price): bensteed.bandcamp

Facebook Fan Page: Ben-Steed

MySpace: bensteedmusic

Twitter: @BenSteedMusic

YouTube: bensteedofficial

Brass Goggles: brassgoggles.co.uk

Band Links:

Facebook Fan Page: The Wet Glass RO

MySpace: thewetglassro


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