************BREAKING NEWS!!!**************

Since our interview, The Extraordinary Contraptions both met and exceeded their Kickstarter.com goal! A most hearty thanks goes out to everyone for their support!

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The Extraordinary Contraptions are nearing completition on their third album, The Time Traveler's Constant. To support and promote their forthcoming album, the Contraptions have reached out to the Steampunk community by launching a fundraising initiative on Kickstarter.com. Editrix de Mode, Wilhelmina Frame, spoke with band members Aelus Kristoff von Stadberg, Dmitri von Stadberg and Sephora Bostwick about the upcoming release and working with Kickstarter. 

Wilhelmina Frame: So tell me about the record. Where do you want to start?

Dmitri von Stadberg: Well the new album has been a long time coming. Basically since our second album Scratch the Aether came out we’ve been working on songs for this new album and it’s going to be awesome. We’re really excited. We’ve really taken the time to craft all the material into something extra special. It’s very detailed, very intricate. Lots of fun tunes. We really proud about these songs and…it’s gonna kick butt!

Aelus Kristoff von Stadberg: These songs, it’s probably the most well matched collection of tunes we’ve put together for anything. I think just listening to it, and man, I get to listen to it a lot because I’m in there editing it every single day, it’s probably the most adult or grown up collection of songs we’ve made.

Sephora Bostwick: I don’t like the connotations of grown up!

WF: Could we say sophisticated?

DS: Since this is album number three we’ve definitely learned some lessons from the recording process and this is probably the most mature recording effort we have made to date.

AS: I guess it’s definitely the most “mature” to date but I don’t like that moniker.

SB: Yeah, I don’t like mature either. I’m not down with that! It’s danceable. It’s fun. It’s epic.

AS: There’s more about our back story in it. There’s more polyphonically going on throughout the entire album. The rhythms are more complex. There’s a greater dynamic of type of music and there’s definitely some songs that are straight danceable as well. But there’s still stuff that will have people scratching their eyes. A few times we’ve heard the “steam-prog” label thrown out there. Sometimes we like it and sometimes we don’t.

WF: Well isn’t Rush kind of Steampunk anyway?

DS: Yeah, they stole it from us.

WF: (Laughing) Ok Sephora, what’s your overview of the new record?

SB: I think we’ve all been pushing ourselves to the absolute limit with our musicianship and it really shows but without being stuffy about it. This is not a stuffy album. This is not chamber music. This is get up out of your seats and clank your gears together and be moved, literally, by the music.

WF: Does the record have a title yet?

DS: The working title is The Time Traveler’s Constant.

AS: Yeah, there is a specific tune that is going to kick all of our butts really, really hard that is supposed to be the title track and we’re gearing up for that.

WF: Gearing up, you say?

(Collective groans)

WF: It sounds like a lot of new things are in the record. Are you pulling from some different influences? Taking it in a different direction? Where do you think this record is going versus where you’ve been in the past?

AS: From a writing perspective this is a little more focused on what The Extraordinary Contraptions are. The first album we were more like we need someone to define Steampunk for us. The second one we were trying to make our mark. And this one is like, “This is what we think.” We have a good idea of what we think it is and we’re a lot more solid in our opinions. They (Dmitri and Sephora) used the word epic before. There are pieces on here and there’s not really another word to try to describe it. They’re the Wheel of Time of our music to date. In fact there’s a song in there dedicated to that series.

DS: The Contraptions, for the first year of our life as a band, were really casting about for a direction. We went into the studio still wondering what kind of thing we were going to do to unify our sound. We’re a bunch of nerds and we like nerdy things and we like music and we want to be nerdy rock stars and how do we do this because nerds don’t go to dive bars where rock bands play.

WF: That’s totally not true!

DS: OK, nerds are there when we play dive bars.

AS: They’re out there but not in the mass that we get from that wonderful, beautiful thing that is the convention scene.

DS: Having really steeped ourselves in the scene (of Steampunk), musically that’s really starting to show between the intricacies of the arrangements, some of the harmonies. We’re focusing on the classical music of the Romantic period that dates from the 19th century and we’re taking that complexity and depth of emotion and fusing that with a modern sensibility and a timeless ensemble texture.

WF: In this last round of conversation there was a lot of talk about your development as a band and also your development as Steampunks, in a Steampunk band. So now that you’ve gone on this journey what did you reach and what is Steampunk for the band, both in terms of individual ideas, your upcoming record and where you are musically?

AS: I think overall, we’ve really adapted a lot of it. Sephora's regular glasses now are kind of steampunky. The house has acquired a Steampunk look. Most of the time when I go shopping now, I’m like “Can I wear that for both?” For me, it’s this state of mind of the people we hang out with. I think a lot of the people who are in the know, and we know a lot of these people and a lot of them are our friends and a lot of them are acquaintances who we accept until they start talking about their definitions of Steampunk. (Laughs)

WF: It can be a loaded question but since you’ve touched on it previously I think it’s an interesting thing to discuss as it relates to the band and the record.

AS: There’s that renaissance feel of that new industrial age of discovery that’s caught people. It’s caught people of this time because it’s a very DIY culture. It’s a communal thing. We had a Steampunk choir. We had people come over and you’re going to hear them on the album and it’s all people from the community. We go to things now and we see people in The Steampunk Bible and we’re like I know that guy and that guy, and we played with those people. I don’t think it’s just the clothes or the gears. It’s comraderie, a sense of hope and potential sci-fi dreaming utopia that we can maybe drag into our daily lives to make it a little more beautiful or eccentric.

DS: I like the idea of repurposing, recycling. I don’t like having to throw something away when it breaks. I like being able to repair something. This was something that was part of my life before I immersed myself into the Steampunk culture. We are pro-world saving and we’ve all latched on to that spirit of optimism that perhaps was a little bit misguided in the 19th century that I’ve seen steampunks reimage and redefine into something more genuine.

WF: You’ve reached out to your fellow steampunks and anyone else who’s interested, by launching an initiative on Kickstarter.com. Tell me what your Kickstarter project is, how it relates to the new record and why you decided to go that route.

SB: Kickstarter is the epitome of do it yourself in terms of getting actual money to do the things we can’t do ourselves like press the record and make music videos. We’re not visual artists so we need help to make it look good as it sounds. To a certain extent this money will go back into the community to artists and producers. It’s a channel for the community to support us in doing our thing and we can then put money back into the community. It’s kind of a do it yourself economy.

WF: How are doing in your goals?

DS: We’re doing awesome actually. We’re really excited but we still really would appreciate any and everyone assistance. This is going to be one of the best ways to get an advance copy of the album. So if you’re thinking about purchasing the album at all pledging to Kickstarter is a great way to get some more bang for your buck.

SB: The other thing about Kickstarter is it’s not just a donate button or a tip jar. It’s a way to support something before it’s done and for being there for us we’ll give you some extra cool stuff.

WF: So if you’re a Contraptions fan and you want to get the record in advance what kind of a donation do you need to make?

DS: If you toss us $10.00 you get a digital copy. And if you want a physical copy it’s $20.00. And you get free bonus tracks. And there’s lots of other crazy cool stuff if you want to donate more.

WF: How long do the people have to log on to Kickstarter to support The Time Traveler’s Constant (working title)?

DS: The last day is January 2, 2012.

WF: I’m going to assume that you not only make your goal on Kickstarter, but exceed it, so when can we expect this new record to be in our ears?

AS: Tentatively slated around the March time.

DS: However, some of the incentives will go out earlier.

WF: But physical copies breaking later, because you need the money from Kickstarter to do the pressing, I believe?

DS: Exactly.

WF: In the meantime though, I bet you might be gigging soonish.

DS: We’ve got an acoustic set coming up on January 5th, 2012 at the Five Spot in Atlanta. I think we’re on early at 8:30, something like that.

WF: Then we will see you then and look for exciting updates in 2012.

To pledge and assist The Extraordinary Contraptions be sure to visit their page on Kickstarter!

Editrix de Mode, Wilhelmina Frame travels the globe in pursuit of adventure and style. When not in the circus ring with Rajah, her tiger and the rest of her kitten kabal (seven lions, three cheetahs and a rather droll panther), Ms. Frame can be seen at the most fabulous parties, in the latest fashions, sparkling with wit in conversation. Ms. Frame's alter-ego, Gretchen Jacobsen, is a freelance producer, self taught costumer and prolific crafter. You can follow her @ptliontamer on Twitter. She sings quite well also.