She was 15-years-old, and it was the first time she’d ever been really sick, so to say her death blind-sided us is an understatement. She did die peacefully and our veterinarians are wonderful, wonderful people. She slipped away in both of our arms as she bid farewell to life as a living creature on planet earth. She will always be so special to me because she was the first cat I’d ever lived with on my own, in the adult world… she and I went through thick and thin together. G9 and I both already miss her dearly.

Fortunately, we recently adopted two new Studio Kittehs [Batty and Wylee], both sisters and both the cutest, most ornery little black cats. They’ve helped fill the hole in many ways, so there has been some sweet mixed in with the bitterness of loss. Still, Sprite was a kind, gentle soul to have with us at The Crow’s Nest, so the space she’s left will always be felt.

Time heals, this much we can count on, and life goes on, but never without her.

I can barely keep up with the guy, so you really should just save the FEARnet music page to your blogroll or in your RSS news reader for all the latest and greatest in the world of dark music. You may notice that unlike many large-scale music blogs out there, G9 likes to devote a lot of time and space to indie musicians.

[ G9 on MySpace ]

I’m not going to mention the amazing looking red velvet cake until I completely give in to lust and devour the entire give it a tiny taste test someday in the very near future. Instead, I’d like to fixate on a more politically correct temptation, the charming “Great American Pie Race.” What a breath of fresh air [*sniffff*... mmm... blueberry!] to see a fun and delicious way to raise funds for your chosen candidate. Basically, buy blueberry, Obama gets a buck for each pie sold. Buy cherry and McCain gets a buck a pie.

Now then, candidates and pie aside, here’s what I have to say about the election…

Vote Responsibly.

1. Ask yourself, why am I voting for [insert candidate]? Is it because he has an “R” after his name? Is it because he has a “D” after his name? Is it because my family has been republican or democrat my whole life, therefore, I must vote along that party line? Is it because he’s “just like one of us,” or because his last name is more familiar? Wrong answers… keep asking why.

2. Ask yourself, what is it about this person that scares me or makes me feel like he’s not qualified to lead this country? If the answers can only be found through chain emails, hearsay, or TV and Internet ads, wrong reasons… keep asking what.

Voting is a lot like sex. If we don’t do it responsibly, we open ourselves — and worse, everyone around us — up to communicable diseases.

Make sure before you vote that you’ve at least done your research, and by research, I mean by observing how the candidates are perceived both globally and domestically, in all types of news media, not just the mainstream-manipulating-machine. Watch factcheck.org like a mo-fo, and don’t listen to people or advertisements that cannot back their claims with concrete sources. Look up each candidate’s political records… we have the Internet now, so there’s no excuse. Look up their life stories. If you’ve missed the debates, watch them online… we have YouTube now, so there’s no excuse. The future President of The United States is applying for one of the most important jobs in the world… and we are the ones doing the hiring! Vote like you’re hiring this person for your own business, your own investments, your own bodyguard and financial adviser all rolled up into one person. There is no excuse for not doing homework — serious homework — on one of the most important hires of your life.

Do not vote out of fear. Do not vote out of loyalty or obligation. Vote your conscience, not somebody else’s. The voting booth is a sacred place, and none of us need worry about our Republican uncle learning that we voted Democrat, or vice versa!

So… join me in my campaign: think for yourself, question what you read, see and hear, and vote responsibly. And have some pie too! I’m thinking it’s a good recipe for making the American Dream thrive once again.

[Project Vote Smart] [OpenSecrets.org] [FiveThirtyEight.com Electoral Projections][FactCheck.org Wire]

[FactChecks - Obama ] [FactChecks - McCain] [FactChecks - Biden] [FactChecks - Palin]

SOULSNATCHER MIX Comments…

KEYVO says: I think my brain just exploded, i love it.

MADDSKEELZ says: I really don’t care that this has limited vocal samples. This is completely amazing. It reminds me of one of the Closer remixes. Singlehandedly the best industrial mix on here. Absolutely gut wrenchingly scary. Well freakin done.

GHOSTLIGHT MIX Comments…

PD17 says: so beautiful it sends chills down my spine

MALOK THE MULE says: I love this sound…the name pretty much directly describes it too, ghostly as it is. Its beauty all over. Great stuff.

JANUX says: Now THIS is what im talking about. Something unique! I love it. It doesn’t sound like everyone else. -Travis of Janux

We did not “win” the Celldweller SWITCHBACK remix contest as far as prizes or placement in the top three. We also did not make it onto the remix CD, at least not yet… I’m not even sure that a remix CD will be made, honestly… it seems that Klayton prefers widgets these days [as do most indie musicians, ourselves included!], so maybe at some point, we could wind up being featured on the Celldweller widget. That would be a dream come true, but if it doesn’t happen, that’s fine by us, because the contest benefited us above and beyond widget-stardom or CD placement in ways we could not have predicted when we first created the remixes.

It’s an honor that we were welcomed as a featured remix artist, which thrilled us about as much as [if not, more than] getting on a CD. We also received some great compliments from the Celldweller community, a few favorites are posted in this entry. But most importantly, the one outcome we could not have predicted was that it showed us what we’re really, truly capable of as musicians. We took a few risks, mixed together some genres that typically aren’t “supposed” to work together [what did we have to lose?] and made them work… I mean, really, really work. In essence, dissecting SWITCHBACK helped us further evolve our signature sound: beauty and beast [GHOSTLIGHT=Beauty, SOULSNATCHER=Beast], a mix of symphonies, choirs, crunchy guitars, fucked-up drum kits and frightening electronics… and we continue to explore that crazy Corvo concoction with each track as our debut full-length TELLTALE unfolds.

So thank you, Klayton, for letting us dive into a song you’ve written that we’ve always loved… you continue to inspire us as indie musicians, and through your work and embrace of independent musicians, we… well… know it sounds hokey, but… we sort of found ourselves. -NiNi + G9

Listen to Song and Add Comments at Celldweller.com

Listen to Song and Add Comments at Celldweller.com

We started this new format a few weeks ago, and those of you on our older e-newsletter list have probably noticed that updated emails have been coming your way a little more often since then. We used to send maybe a newsletter every few months, but since The Chamber Door launched, it’s been more like once a week, sometimes even, twice a week. So let me explain: We’ve decided that band pimping is, in the infamous words of Metalocalypse’s Skwisgaar Skwigelf, “dildos.”

There is so much more to our creative process than writing, recording and promoting our music… so much more than that, so we’ve decided to extend an invitation to you to enter our studio any time by sharing all of that “so much more” with us here. That’s where the phrase “madness, murder and music mania” comes in.

Madness: Deranged humor, cult and genre TV, pop culture, weird hobbies and gear/fashion obsessions.

Murder: Horror and macabre topics of all varieties [especially art, literature, entertainment, music and film], as well as “The Murder,” being you, the Corvo community [y'know, a murder of crows?].

Music Mania: Hey, just because we’re musicians paving our own niche in a huge music world doesn’t mean we’re not crazy about music and totally geeked-out about other bands ourselves! We go to concerts, create fan art and rabidly collect CDs and DVDs too, so why not share music mania of all varieties, not just related to Corvo, but related to our love of music with you?

We will still post updates here on the recording process and on other big “Corvo news,” but in between that news, there’s a huge, dark, twisted world out there inspiring us, pissing us off and challenging us every moment, so… why not write about all of that creative fuel? Well… that’s The Chamber Door.

So, if you do not want to receive email updates from us once or twice a week, we’re sending out a new email subscription confirmation this week. When you receive it, just don’t click the link, and you won’t be re-subscribed. You can keep in touch with us via the RSS Feed, without getting email updates if you prefer that. If you do not get a new invitation, it’s because you are already subscribed to the new e-newsletter feed.

If you want to unsubscribe from the e-newsletter right now, there should be an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the current subscription emails you’ve been receiving.

We do hope you’ll stay/join us and share your own madness, murder and music mania here! The door is open…

Magic, mystery, love. It’s a book and now it’s a music video. Hear the original song for the summer’s blockbuster novel TURBULENT SEA by Christine Feehan. Find out more at
christinefeehan.com.
~COS Productions

I knew from the very beginning as we wrote Turbulent Sea that my voice would be synced up to a different person, and I’ll admit, at first, I felt a little apprehensive about it. However, it really didn’t take long for me to say, “NiNi get over it, this is done constantly in movies and on TV… Hello, Jonathan Davis and Lestat?!” When the video came out, I loved it immediately. After watching everything come together so perfectly for the book and the character “Joley,” I wouldn’t have wanted to marry the song and the video together in any other way.

I really love the unique look to this video, and am very proud to share it here as a follow-up to the posting of the song. It’s so amazing to say that we wrote the music to the video to the new novel by Christine Feehan. It’s never been done before, and truly, the most satisfying art for myself and for G9 is the work that we take on because it’s never been done before… that’s really what Corvo is all about. -NiNi

[TURBULENT SEA Video - Podcast Link]

[ Newsletter Subscribers Click Here to Watch the Video on YouTube ]

Special thanks to all of you that have downloaded the song and sent us such lovely compliments on mySpace! To the wonderful Christine Feehan fans that have found your way to us:

A WARM WELCOME TO YOU ALL!

darkness lives inside me
a secret that I hide
the light from all the rest is
lost upon the tide…

a touch of lightning, magick
leaves me marked and cold
I want, I crave, love that sells my soul

LIKE A TURBULENT SEA
PULLING AT ME
IN PASSION AND IN FEAR
I’M DROWNING…

the wave crashes in my heart
darkness follows, light departs…

LIKE A TURBULENT SEA
PULLING AT ME
IN PASSION AND IN FEAR
I’M DROWNING…

New Song by Corvo: TURBULENT SEA
[ Right Click to Download the MP3 ]

The Music: It’s not every day a band gets to talk about being commissioned by a #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author to write a theme song for an upcoming book release, but with Christine Feehan and Corvo, that’s exactly what transpired. Turbulent Sea is the 6th novel in Feehan’s popular Drake Sisters series, and the song is the official theme written for the character Joley, who is a rock star and… a witch!

The band wrote the song to be Joley’s fictional “hit single” for her “music video,” in which Christine’s daughter is the face of the heroine, and NiNi is [literally] the voice. Since the book series is considered supernatural romance, G9 wrote the song in a more romantic, Gothic pop style, completely departing from Corvo’s signature romantic horror rock sound. This is not the permanent direction the band has taken while recording debut album Telltale, rather, a unique work tailor-made specifically to fit the story and the main character.

From NiNi: Turbulent Sea has been one of those projects that as a musician, is a dream come true. It was like writing for a movie, but even better, because it’s so unique to write a song for a book , and to connect with the main character through singing! G9 and I both feel that Christine is doing something really special by crossing from literature into music and also into video for her readers, and we are honored to be part of that. I hope I’ve represented Joley’s voice in a way that will connect this beloved character even deeper to Christine’s readers. I bought the first book in the Drake Sisters series, because now I’m so personally attached to them, I’ve got to read their stories!

About The Novel: Number one New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan returns to the “erotic, exotic, and suspenseful” world of the paranormally gifted Drake sisters with the wildest sister of them all: impulsive, celebrated, worshiped… and in danger.

About The Star: Joley Drake was born with a legacy of unexpected magical gifts, but it was the gift of singing that made her an overnight sensation—a rock and roll goddess trapped by fame, fortune, and ambition. Heated by the flush of success, Joley could have any man she wanted. But there’s only man who can give her what she really needs… [ more about the novel... ]

Turbulent Sea:
Book 6 of Christine Feehan’s Drake Sisters Series Coming This Summer
Official Theme Song Written and Performed by Corvo
Original Lyrics © 2008 Sheila Clover, Circle of Seven Productions
Lyrics Adapted For Music by NiNi of Corvo
Reprinted With Permission