Feature
The Clockwork Dolls @ the Sultan’s Ball/Anime USA
Posted by Elizabeth V. Bouras on Thursday, November 18th, 2010
The Clockwork Dolls @ the Sultan’s Ball/Anime USA ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras
By Paula O’Keefe. Photos ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras
So, my esteemed colleague Elizabeth V and I attend this splendid event as the guests of the abovementioned artistes, gods love them, who (a) love Liz’s wonderful pix of them and (b) take pity when their friends are broke. =) The con (Anime USA is a Japanese animation-fan convention, con for short) has a formal dance every year: last year’s con theme was Steampunk, and the dance was called the Gearmaster’s Ball; it was the first time I heard this band. This year’s con theme is “Arabian Nights” so the dance is called the Sultan’s Ball, and it’ll be my third adventure with them.
The crowd is in high spirits, dressed to the nines in a glorious array of everything from Hollywood middle-Eastern regalia to prom-style formalwear to anime character cosplay. The ballroom is decked out (three cheers for decorating committee) in paper lanterns with minaret silhouettes, mirrored Indian scarves and a scatter of gold coins on every table. It’s a setting of fantasy and adventure: perfect for the Clockwork Dolls.
They march onstage and Helene sweeps to the front with her usual grandeur to welcome the audience. She’s in persona as Helene De Fer, airship pirate captain, but dressed for the occasion in glittering scarves and full scarlet skirt. Her second-in-command—known onstage as Allison Curval, “third-generation automaton” –-is likewise in Eastern style tonight with a headscarf, veil and long vest, long sleeves sweeping her keyboard. –Our purpose is simple, the Captain says: to tell a tale with our music: and she asks everyone to rise to their feet and come forward.
The Clockwork Dolls @ the Sultan’s Ball/Anime USA ©2010 Elizabeth V. Bouras
Just like that, they all do: tuxedos and ball gowns, cloaks and armor, masks and tails and horns, gazing up at the stage. These are fans, they love a story and they’re willing to suspend disbelief to enter it. And a story they get: a tale “of people who took a chance…who left behind the safe and the known. People who fly.” The Dame De Fer is an experimental airship, stolen from the government; its Captain is the rebellious daughter of a Duke, her first officer an android who “dreamed of being more than a maid” (the automaton’s glasses gleam over her veil at the line); her crew a ragtag bunch of brave outlaws…and here are the stories of her adventures.
So, not an ordinary rock group here? Got that right. The music is symphonic and dramatic, using strings, keyboards and guitar plus Helene’s clear and powerful voice to build a full, operatic sound. The stories are wonderful—epic airship battles, romances gone wrong, down-and-dirty barroom brawls—filled with colorful characters: brave women, scurvy villains and gallant comrades. And my gosh, the band is so great. As I said, this is the third time I’ve seen them, and they’ve gotten stronger and more focused every time: the sound is rich and gorgeous, their set mere balanced, their delivery more intense, Helene’s dramatic presentation more confident and expressive. She acts the songs as much as she sings them: pacing and gazing into the sky in defiant resolve as Captain De Fer; wringing her hands in despair and snarling for revenge as the owner of the demolished bar. –
The crowd loves it; I’ve never seen such spirited dancing at this ball, some couples elegantly waltzing, some just grabbing hands and dancing in circles as if it’s May Day, some forming Vegas-style kick lines. They are whooping it up, and the band takes the energy and rocks out with it, through “No Guns in My Bar” and “Black Jack Jezebel” and their crowd-pleasing cover of Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface.”
They finish with their favorite set-closer, a downright inspirational cover of Journey’s classic ”Don’t Stop Believing”, which has everyone, I mean everyone, on their feet singing along—sultans and steampunks, Victorian damsels, girls in kimonos and elegant demons. A message of courage and hope, the past and the future in one place, in this wonderful ballroom made from everybody’s dreams.
Hold onto that feeling, indeed.
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