Voltaires riding a Black unicorn across NZ tour
Voltaire is a one man enigma. His comedic performances combine European folk, Cabaret, a touch of Goth, Victorian & Steampunk stylings and even the odd Country number... The closest moniker yet has been Goth cabaret but it still misses the mark by a mile. All we know is that this New yorker effortlessly blends all these influences into a hysterical and unique one-man show that has packed out tours across the US, Europe and upon his last tour Downunder. Voltaire describes his music as Music for a parallel universe where electricity was never invented and Morrissey is the queen of England, with his inspiration drawn from artists such as Rasputina, Morrissey, Tom Waits, Cab Calloway and Danny Elfman.
Voltaire is often described as a modern day renaissance man. He is a singer/performer, creator of comic books, animation and toys.
As a musician, he is a songwriter whose music can best be described as a collection of murder ballads, tongue-in-cheek exercises in the macabre, with just enough bawdy songs about Star Trek and Star Wars to keep a Con audience rolling in the aisles. Many know him for his song Brains! from the Cartoon Network show The Grim Adventures of Billy And Mandy.
Voltaires live shows, whether solo or with his skeletal orchestra, are highly theatrical -full of stories and games. The theatrical quality of his performances is not surprising; Voltaire has been directing commercials and animating short films for the last twenty years.
Inspired by the films of Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad), Voltaire began animating at the age of ten on a super8 camera. At that time, he says, no three dimensional object was safe. My brothers action figures, my sisters dolls, silverware, etc . . . If it was missing, chances were that it was in the basement in front of my camera. Voltaire has created dozens of animated spots for MTV, The Sci-Fi Channel, and many more (including most recently Fangoria TV).
Eventually commercials proved to be too short for his storytelling desires and so Voltaire embarked on a new career as a comic book creator. His first comic book series, Chi-Chian (a dark Cinderella story for the 31st century) was picked up as an animated web series by the Sci Fi Channels website. It won The Flash Forwards Peoples Choice Award and greatly widened Voltaires audience.
Other notable comics and books by Voltaire include Oh My Goth, What is Goth Paint it Black-a guide to Gothic homemaking and most recently, DEADY. The latter includes collaborations with Clive Barker, James OBarr, Neil Gaiman, Billy Tucci, David Mack and many other luminaries of the spooky comics realm.
In 2004 Hong Kongs Toy2R introduced Voltaire to the world of urban vinyl by making a toy of his comic book character, DEADY. It was an instant hit and lead to a string of other Voltaire toys including a line of Pocket Goth plush toys for Toy Network that can be found at all major amusement parks and crane machines at Walmart, Toys R Us, etc..
Thursday 9th February, Medusa - Wellington
w/ Keller Kinder + DJs
Friday 10th February, Basement - Auckland
w/ Plum Green + DJs
