Detroit's own Kaleido have been staying busy releasing a number of new singles as well as their first comic book The Dark Hertz.
Last week, the band dropped the video for "The Dark Hertz" single, which is inspired by the comic.
Next up is a short run of shows, which kicked off on Saturday with a set in Battle Creek at The Music Factory with Elsie Binx and Plush.
Tomorrow night, Kaleido will be back in Wyandotte at District 142 to co-headline the first of four shows with long-time friends Alien Ant Farm, who are out promoting their new album Mantras.
Today, Rock Life caught up with Kaleido vocalist Christina Chriss.
Rock Life: How was the Battle Creek show?
Christina Chriss: It was awesome! It was sold out and there were lots of Kaleido shirts in the crowd so that made me really happy. It was really good to play that venue because it's been a couple of years and I really like everyone there; they're really cool.
RL: It's been awhile since Kaleido had a show.
CC: Yeah and it's actually been a hot minute since we've done a string of shows. For the past couple of years we've done a one-off here and there, but not any real touring. I'm really looking forward to these shows with Alien Ant Farm. Just getting back out there and into some regions that we haven't visited in awhile.
RL: And you get to do it with old friends!
CC: Yeah, it's going to be nostalgic for sure. We did our very first national tour with them and then a tour in the UK. We've done a lot of stuff with them. You know, Dryden [Mitchell, AAF vocalist] has a feature on one of our songs and we've worked on a lot of new music with Mike Cosgrove, their drummer. We're very close with them. We say they're kind of like our big brother band. It's been awhile since we've seen them so it's going to be fun.
RL: You played a show at District 142 last year when it first opened, but with a shorter set this time out, what can people expect?
CC: Actually, we're going to be playing an hour, which will be longer than our set last year. They just posted that we're co-headlining! It's news to me, but yeah, ok! We'll both be playing an hour and there is an opener that was just announced. Our set is going to be all new stuff. There's a couple of songs from the No Really...I'm Fine EP, but besides that it's all new music that we've been releasing as singles.
RL: It seems like releasing new singles every couple of months with accompanying videos has been going well?
CC: Yeah, it's been working out really well for us.
RL: And you have the first part of your Dark Hertz comic out. I know you've done some signings. How was that?
CC: It's been really awesome! We did our first in-store signing at the State of Comics in Plymouth and then we also did the Astronomicon and performed there as well. It's been a lot of fun.
It's cool to start branching off into another form of media, but it's still Kaleido-related, still for the band. We're working on the second book now and it's almost finished and it's going to be a four part series. We're just going to keep on trucking with it. It's been a blast so far. I can't wait to start incorporating more of it in our live show.
RL: Without revealing too much, can you tell us about the series?
CC: It's an adventure with the band that is strangely familiar with some things that are going on in the world right now. I think people will definitely pick up on it. It's all a fictional origin story, but it has a lot of truth to it as well.
We just combined all of the things that we love, which is horror, action and a high level of energy. There's black magic in there and malevolent science. We packed it all into this epic adventure.
RL: And for "The Dark Hertz" single, did you know what you wanted the video to look like right away?
CC: Yeah, we ultimately hope that this one thing can turn into even another form of media. So coming off the pages and becoming either an animated series or even a live action thing. This was just the first step towards that next goal for us.
With the music video, Cody [Morales, Kaleido bassist] did all of the animation. He just took all of the illustrations from the actual comic book and put motion to it . It was a lot of fun to see that take shape and come to life.
RL: The current success of the X-Men '97 series proves there is definitely a wide audience out there.
CC: Yeah and this is exposing us to that whole new demographic of fans. We spent the last 2 1/2 years doing the field research and building the team that we created this with just by going to Comic-Cons. We've always been fans of that world, but we got to dive deeper with this creation. It's been really interesting, but I really feel that the Kaleido music fans with the comic world is a good fit. It blends well.
RL: Did you speak to other bands who have done things like this?
CC: No, I haven't actually. We did all of this completely independently. Just going to those cons and meeting people. That's how we found the writer and the Illustrator and everything. We didn't have any input from other musicians and bands. We just kind of went at it on our own. It's been a labor of love and a passion project and really a learning curve because we hadn't done anything like this before. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to complete the series and see where it goes from there.
RL: And what's next?
CC: We are making new music and shooting music videos and just getting ready to keep releasing music. We'll also be working on the comic , but it's cool to be able to fit a few live shows in here thus Summer. We also have a festival coming up in August in Wisconsin called Northwoods Rock Rally. That's going to be a big one for us.
RL: And you've continued to pull double duty singing with Sunset Blvd, a Detroit 80's hair metal tribute. Is it nice to be able to just have some fun playing those classics!
CC: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I grew up singing cover songs and I performed in numerous groups over the years doing that kind of thing so it's a great fit. I love those guys and we have a blast together. I am happiest when I'm on stage so anytime I can get out there and sing I'm in my element.
RL: And where can The Dark Hertz comic be purchased?
CC: It's exclusively available on our website at kaleidoband.com for now and there are copies at State of Comics in Plymouth as well. As the series continues to grow and the other books start coming out it will be available in more places.
Tomorrow's Kaleido/Alien Ant Farm show at District 142 is 21+ and advance tickets are $20. Doors for the show open at 7pm.
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