At exactly 4.20pm, the lights fell on London's spectacular
Hippodrome night-club. 1000 spectators gazed intently on the stage as smoke
oozed through the darkness on stage. There was anticipation and tension in
the air. It was almost as if people knew they were about to witness. . . something.
Thunder rolled and suddenly a strange alienesque voice broke the silence,
as images and maps began appearing on the large projection screen above the
stage.
"On the first day, we built Lemuria," and the tension built.
"On the second day we built Atlantis". Through the days, slowly the alien
voice traced it's own week of creation, "On the Forth day, we drew the Nazgal
lines. . . on the sixth day we created humankind. . . And on the seventh day.
. ." The pause was intense. ". . . we created . . . VAMPIRES!"
Suddenly the audience knew they were in the right venue!
Before they had time to settle, melancholy music filled the air. Slowly a
coffin rose from the smoke on the elevating stage, lit only by a single red
light and a candle at each end, and still the audience waited. The tension
was becoming incredible, people were muttering to each other, expecting the
lid to fly back at any time, but as strange, demonic, guttural intonements
(actually righteous Tibetan chanting) began to boom from the Hippodrome sound
system, the coffin slowly disappeared. The voice returned. "We are the resurrection
and the light. . . and whosoever should drink from me shall have eternal life.
. . HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! The Vampires have awoken!"
Suddenly the noise was incredible. Carmina Burana screamed
from the speakers in the roof. Lights flashed, pyrotechnics went off! Smoke
poured down, and up through the floor rose a 12' cross bearing the crucified
body of one of the three brides of Dracula. The other two stood motionless
either side, while a dark figure, robed in a PVC Batwing cape stood in mock
crucifixion pose, his back to the audience. This was our host for the evening,
Louis, our Dark Angel. He eventually turned, walked slowly to the front of
the stage - his eyes never leaving the audience. Finally, his head rocked
back, his mouth opened, and scarlet blood gushed down his chin and frilly
white shirt. "Greetings Mortal Children!" he growled, and Vampyria had started.
There were a multitude of important people at Vampyria, but the event had
three very special VIP's in the form of beautiful Hammer Heroine's, Ingrid
Pitt, Veronica Carlson, and Caroline Munro. All played an active part with
speaches and signings. Ingrid returned to the stage to introduce her adopted
son, Vlad and The Dark Theater, while Veronica came out with the quote of
the day during one of the prize draws, "What's scarification?" Caroline also
took to the stage to perform a jaunty pop number with her band Wilson/Munro,
and all three had a wonderful time. Ingrid said she felt Vampyria was possibly
even better than the Chiller Convention in America - high praise indeed!
Vampyria had the pleasure of presenting three worldclass acts. America's,
The Dark Theater, fresh from their V&T's show in Whitby took the stage first
and quickly gained a raport with the crowd. Vlad is a great showman, and subsequently
a great front man. Backed by the able and gorgeous Kimm and Jeremy (VTGK),
they not only sound great but look fantastic too. Obvious highlights were
"At Love with the God's", "Vampire's Dance", and "The Virgin Speaks". "Gypsy Girl" saw Vlad as ever in the audience, dancing with up to four girls,
and they even managed a Garbage cover too. Despite having to cut their set
short by two songs, TDT still managed to use it to their advantage, Uncle
Vlad goading the audience into baying for more at one point. A sensational
set as ever from the multi-talented genius and his Torture Garden children.
Astonishingly, only six weeks before, Candia had given birth to her and
Tony's first Child, Leon. It is to their eternal credit that they were even
at Vampyria at all, but to play so well and look so good was astounding! From
day one, Inkubus Sukkubus had been the obvious choice to play, and they let
no one down. They stole our hearts and sent us home happy!
Vampyria - The Movies Circle Grave
Vampyria played host to the first screening of clips from two soon-to-be-released
British vampire films. First up was Crimson's very own Phill White. Looking
totally unprepared in mutated Tim Burtonesque attire, and still sporting a
radio and technical script from his production duties, he breezed onto the
stage to introduce a trailer for "Circle Grave", Thee Vampire Guild's short
futuristic vampire film. Darkness gave way to exploding gravestones, teleporting
vampire killers, spacecraft, drug induced laser advertising, pulsing brains,
and artificial computer intellegence. By the end, still no one knew who the
pestilance was, but they certainly wanted to know!
Are you fed up of boring British films? So is Jake West! While "Circle Grave"
warmed up the audience, Jake's trailer for the feature length "Razor Blade
Smile" blew them away. Starring Redemption girl Eileen Daly as a PVC clad
vampire hit(wo)man, "Razor Blade Smile" promised to be a rollercoaster of
babes and blood. "Reservoir Dogs" with fangs, Jake had assembled the ultimate
trailer. As an on-screen Eileen, fangs bared, raised a gun to eye level before
unloading it with a deafening blast at the audience, 1000 people simultaneous
vowed to go and see "Razor Blade Smile".
As well as the VIP signings, Vampyria was honoured to have some of the top
novelists in the country in attendance as well. Freda Warrington (Taste of
Blood Wine), Kim Newman (Anno Dracula), and Brian Stableford signed throughtout
the day, and were kept pretty busy by eager fans. One thing which cannot pass
without mention is the petite, demure, and beautiful Freda Warrington walking
around all day wearing a SECURITY pass because all the CAST ones had been
allocated. At an event this size, something has to go wrong. . . sorry, Freda!
Vampyria - The Rest
They weren't kidding when they said there was something for everyone. There
were a multitude of other things going on at Vampyria: Snake dances, cyber
vamps, stalls, art exhibitions, competitions (the winner of the best dressed
vampire competition actually came wearing a coffin!). To promote the Spice
Vamps Merchandise, several specially edited vampire clips were played to Spice
Girls songs (if you were the person complaining, we still have your sense
of humour in lost property!). More than anything, it was the little extras
that made Vampyria so monumental - I shall never forget the view from behind
the stage of Louis, the Dark Angel, getting the entire audience to click there
fingers to the Addam's Family Theme. Like some maniac Vampire Pied Piper he
lead the crowd into a wonderful piece of audience participation at an event
where everyone was the star of the show.
Vampyria was organised by one man, Louis Ravensfield, amply supported by
fellow conspirators, Louisanax, Jenny Crisp, and Phill White. They would all
just like to take this opportunity to thank the multitude of people who helped
beyond the call of duty during the day, and a wonderful audience who helped
make Vampyria legendary.
It promised to be the largest, darkest, and most spectacular gathering of it's
kind ever. To coin the phase, it was an event - a massive multimedia event.
This was no gig, no mere concert; it sailed in on bat wings somewhere between
a horror convention and a West End show! One notable attendee said it broke
the mold, and as far as Europe was concerned, that was certainly true.
Three Beautiful VIP's
Vampyria - The bands
Deinonychus was always going to be the most extreme act on the bill, and when
he (literally!) launched into his first vocal, the whole audience took notice!
Keeping their attention was always going to be the key. To aid in this one
man performance, Deinonychus was joined on stage by the three brides of Dracula
who enacted a specially choreographed vampiric theatre reflecting the undead
melancholy and angst of the lyrics. It all ended in a spectacular sacrifice
as the brides selected a victim from the audience and returned to the stage
for a bloody finale. This Dutch black metal master was never going to be to
everyone's taste, but the number of uninitiated who picked up on the tortured
passion was encouraging, and therefore the performance must be considered
a success.
The final band of the day were crowd favourites, Inkubus Sukkubus. Promoting
their startling new album, "Vampyre Erotica", which was released that day,
the band were obviously brim full of confidence. They played a rousing set
comprising of all the old favourites, and new classics such as "Heart of Lilith"
and "Woman to Hare".
Razorblade Smile
Vampyria
- The Authors
Vampyria - The Conspirators
