Marquis of Vaudeville is set to release The Tragic Valentine tomorrow (10/31). Read on for an album breakdown and an interview.
“Our upcoming album titled The Tragic Valentine is essentially a tragic love story told through 13 songs - somewhat our own ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with elements of mystery, magic, intrigue, & revolution. (With a comic/graphic novel and potentially a musical to follow) Although each song has an underlying theme that fits within the story, they also stand alone and have their own individual meaning. The story is where the hourglass symbol that we’ve put together for the album ties in - It represents love/loss, life/death, light/dark.”
Album Stream and Breakdown:
The Dreaming – A song depicting the human desire to find the love of one‘s life veiled behind a telling of The Sandman. Picture two people, thousands of miles apart, staring up at the stars in the night sky and dreaming of finding one other, but never having met. Each knows the other is out there, but how to find them? This song is also a nod to the work of author, Neil Gaiman, and his series The Sandman which deals with bright-eyed Morpheus, creator & keeper of dreams and his realm, The Dreaming, where all dreams dwell.
My Tragic Valentine – A song about star-crossed lovers and their budding romance. Nothing can go wrong in the short moments they have with one another, but nothing seems to go right in order to make their life together a reality – love in the face of overwhelming odds, defiant of all obstacles
Marionettes – A rebellious anthem about oppression, inequality, ostracization, and revolution. The establishment keeps the protagonists down and have strung them up like marionettes in order to control them and force them to do their will. Be the antagonist snobby cliques, the government, upper class 1%, bullies, or terrorists, this song is about fighting back in defiance of injustice.
Elude the End – This song is about the intense longing two lovers feel for one another when they are apart. Both have been through a great deal of pain in life and they feel completely torn apart inside and lost when they are not together. They are each other’s lifeline.
The Show – The end of the world as we know it. Time is slipping away. The song is about living one’s life & carrying on even in the face of social decline & possible utter destruction. It is also about standing one’s ground against the evils of the world within a war between light and dark. The idea is that the world is in such an awfully unfortunate state that we must to do something to make it better regardless of how much time we have left. We must keep trying. We must not give in to allow darkness to prevail. The show (life) must go on.
Silence the Serenade –The idea is that when death comes for us all, we hear the song of our lives played back to us - a serenade that only the individual can hear, hence Silence the Serenade, as in, not being ready to die. Death comes for a young man on Halloween, but he fights and claws and screams to stay alive as he feels he has too much to live for - so he cheats death.
The Enigma Men – A story about a group of extraordinary humans who face down all the paranormal horrors of the world, yet no one knows who they are. E.N.I.G.M.A. stands for Everyworld Nullification and Investigative Group for Malignant Anomalies, and the organization’s agents are called Apparitions -
Mystère Sir – A song of vengeance. The story of a sensational stage magician, Mystère, who becomes vindictive when his adoring fans & loyal aristocratic audience turn on him due to rumors & lies spread by jealous rivals. The secret is, Mystère’s magic isn’t just made up of tricks. Now that he is ruined, and his name smeared, with his special powers, he gives one last astounding encore performance, free for all who attend, in which he alters the realities of every attendee by taking away the things they hold most dear and turning them into the things that they revile.
Within You – David Bowie cover from the film Labyrinth. Both Bowie and the film have had an immense influence on what Marquis of Vaudeville creates. We play this song at every show, and it fits within the album’s story as song of emotional turmoil and, ultimately, rejection.
The Vaudevillain – A play on the spelling of “vaudevillian”. A song of downfall about losing everything and becoming a wicked wretch. The story of a fallen vaudevillian star who has lost his way. Now a bitter, dastardly scoundrel, he gambles, lies, and cheats his way about the theaters and concert halls of the vaudevillian circuit. Grasping desperately to his waning stardom, he connivingly plots against anyone who might steal the spotlight and get in his way.
We’re All Mad Here – An Alice in Wonderland themed song on the surface about spiraling downward & out of control. The song presents an underlying glimpse of mental illness and losing one’s mind while touching on being lost, but not alone, as everyone is a little crazy in their own way.
Nature Boy – Cover written by Eden Ahbez and first recorded by Nat King Cole and released in 1948. Within our story, a lost soul is enlightened by a seemingly enchanted little boy who tells him “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.”
Bliss Chemical – A song about the sad state of the world and the idea that we all need more love. The song speaks of love from a biological sense as a chemical reaction and although love has many ups and downs, it’s a bizarre, wonderful, and beautiful thing.
Interview:
Your music has a unique, and sometimes even creepy, sound. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
We find influence in all sorts of intriguing sources: dreams, art, literature, film, theatre; typically, indie, cult, fantasy/sci-fi, classic works, the fantastical, the out-of-the-ordinary, as well as the cosmos, love, liberty, mythology, mysticism, mystery, & magic. A great many of our influences can be dark, yet playful because that’s a bit of who we are.
We like to tell stories, and music affords us a way to tell them. We want to give people something to daydream about, give them hope, open their eyes, hearts, & minds, and we’ve found that messages can be more profound and persuasive when woven secretly within the melodies of music.
That’s why our songs are quite often wrapped up within, & somewhat veiled behind, an imagined story dealing with some sort of fantastical idea such as discovering other worlds & alternate universes, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, vampire lovers, vengeful stage magicians, mysterious whimsical circuses, plundering gentleman highwaymen, intriguing labyrinthine understreets, mad scientist toymakers, or the anthropomorphic personification of death. As we said: dark, yet playful.
Are there any songs on The Tragic Valentine that you'd like to do a video for? Or are there any songs that you have plans for?
One of the stand-out tracks for us at the moment and the first video off the album was for the single We’re All Mad Here - an Alice in Wonderland-themed song on the surface about spiraling downward & out of control. The song presents a glimpse of mental illness and losing one’s mind while touching on being lost, but not alone - as everyone is a little crazy in their own way.
The next video we’re planning is for our track The Dreaming - a song depicting the human desire to find the love of one‘s life veiled behind a telling of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Picture two people, thousands of miles apart, staring up at the stars in the night sky and dreaming of finding one another, yet never having met. Each knows the other is out there... but how to find them?
Off of The Tragic Valentine, which song do you think best embodies Marquis of Vaudeville?
We love them all, and put just as much energy, emotion, and imagination into each. We’d say the album as a complete work embodies our sound and who we are as artists. An alternative rock opera full of anthems, ballads, and waltzes containing messages such as “You are not alone. You have a voice. You matter. Don’t let anything hold you back or anyone keep you down. Be who and what you want to be. Don’t give up/Don’t give in.” - the album touches on themes revolving around dreams, rebellion, love, loss, hope, understanding, oppression, outcasts, isolation, mental illness, the internal struggle, perseverance, self-destruction, death, loneliness, and self-acceptance. We feel each is equally important and can be relevant to anyone’s life if some way.
Is there any significance in releasing The Tragic Valentine on Halloween?
All Hallows’ Eve is our favorite time of the year, and our musical mischief has somewhat of a Burton-esque/Danny Elfman quality that lends itself immensely well to the Halloween vibe. This all lands on the “unique, and sometimes even creepy, sound” mentioned previously. People always tell us that our music is perfect for their October escapades and we quite agree.
What would be your dream tour?
Touring through Europe with bands that have a similar theatrical sound/vibe. Examples (alive or dead) would be: The Cure, Pink Floyd, Muse, Placebo, Queens of The Stone Age, Bowie, Beatles, Queen. Any tour comes with its ups and downs, so we’ll gladly ride that whimsical roller-coaster through whatever twists and turns may come.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Remember, dark hearts won’t stop what we’ve begun. Look for us to come to your world. Keep an eye out for our latest exploits - as nothing that we do could make you bored. Check us out and follow on our social media and on our website for tour dates and other announcements. We’re out there, we’re after you, and our music will find you.