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Can you feel it?
The autumn is on it's way. The crops are ripening in the fields (and in our garden) and the wind blows freely on the flatlands of Holland (I've had to strengthen my plants with sticks and ropes and stuff to stop them blowing over!) .There are so many positive and amazing reactions to "WOLF LOVE" flooding in to the PAGANSCUM headquarters here, and Chloé and Moniq have their hands full manning (or should that be womanning?) the Omnia webshop to get all the new orders for WOLFLOVE out. We're getting ready for our release-gig in Belgium on the Deerlycke folk festival (the 21st of August). It's great that we get to play there again because this festival has always had the policy to invite any band for one gig only. We played there 3 years ago already so we weren't planning on coming back. But now for the first time in 13 years Deerycke breaks their tradition by allowing OMNIA on their beautiful stage for a second time!. So thank you Deerlijcke for this great honour! We're gonna rock extra hard for you...PaganFolk style! I hope to see you there and we'll play some old and new songs for you all (I won't say which new ones ...but, bring your Cornwall flag if you have one) Greenthingz and a big cyber hug Steve Sic PS: don't get too depressed when the weather turns grey and the sky spits rain. It can seem daunting and oppressive I know, but it's all part of the cycle of life and although it may be annoying it is totally neccessary for the earth. So if you get down, just act like the rest of the (non monkey) planet and just slow down...have a cup of tea and a spliff, think of summerdays gone by and smile...what goes around, comes around...
So..that was fun! Thank you all soooo much!Castlefest has been and gone, another weekend of delicious, bohemian weirdness sheltered in the arms of the most beautiful festival I know. It marks the passing of the years for us each time when we come home to Castlefest and see and feel the changes that life has wrought upon us all. The band, me, you...
so you wanna know something about the new album?
this is a very detailed press-promotion text about the new album that I thought might be nice to share with you:
Castlefest here we come!
We've been busy practicing with the band all weekend for the European "WOLF LOVE" release parties, starting with our old friend CASTLEFEST next weekend!We've got a whole load of new songs to play live and during the last two (holy) days we've been perfecting playing them, so we don't fuck up on stage (because as you know we are a 100% "unplugged" band so we have no electronic beats and pre recorded stuff to hide behind) You'll be hearing some very different new OMNIA songs on our new CD "WOLF LOVE" so we want to play a load of them on CF for you and I'm very very curious to see what you think about our new babies (some are quite shocking...). After a lovely weekend at dreamharps.nl we all feel well up to a weekend of fun and laughter on the great freakfestival main-stage of CASTLEFEST (sadly this year we couldn't help to organise it because we ran out of time due to a lot of OMNIA work...ah well.. but of course we're still playing there all three days!) Here you see the band hard at work this weekend in a different modus operandi (he he he!). We have decided that it was time for an instrument line-up change. Jenny was sick of playing harp, piano, dulcimer, bodhran etc. and said she would like to try playing just one instrument on stage just like Philip, Luka and Joe. Joe actually hates his guitar and loves bellydancing (as a hobby) and persian drumming so he ot the darabukka. Luka always wanted to be a drummer on a proper kit because he likes hitting things with sticks, Tom thought it was time to show his more feminine side and be more "refined" on a cultural instrument like the tall celtic harp in the hope that it wil get him laid (he's still single girls!). Philip always has a cigarette or a joint in his face so he decided that the didge is "just another tube" and is now focusing more on that and I've played so much "guitar hero" on games consoles that I thought it was time to play one for real like my great hero Angus Young... So guys, girls and other space aliens: We hope to see you all real soon somewhere somewhen (and we hope you're wearing something sexy when we do). Greenthingz Stenny photo by: Maralalalalaah
I feel...
I feel slightly older today (It was my birthday this weekend)I feel kinda mellow (we celebrated with lots of good organic plantlife) I feel slightly fuzzy (I had two beers but I've got the constitution of a 4 year old girl) I feel very rich ( I have love and I was spoiled with jummy presents) I feel very clean (one of my presents was a long day at a posh sauna) I feel very happy (because It's good to have such sweet friends) I feel very expectant (tomorrow Wolf Love get's delivered to our storage) I feel a little apprehensive (will the new cd be ok?, is it printed properly?) I feel Alive! because sometimes my life makes sense how about you? Greenthingz and a big cyberhug to you Steve Sic less than two weeks till our Castlefest release party!... photo by: mr.Harp-Goblin
what can you do with an OMNIA shirt on?
well , as you may or may not know, OMNIA shirts give you enhanced super powers if worn correctly.To prove this here you see our friend and fellow "extreme sports fanatic" Norbert Wallentin from Austria, demonstrating his amazing upside down spiderclimb capabilities without safety ropes in Mallorca! (yeah zoom in and look at this picture properly to spot Norbert) Greenz and fucking fit bodies! Steve Sic photo by: God? (I can actually fly when I wear my OMNIA shirt...or would that be all the drugs?...erm...so get into the OMNIA-webshop and buy the stuff of superheroes today!)
the intrepid Norbert!
Merch items are available again!
- Longsleeves M + XL- Raven's XL - Regular shirts M + XL - Lacy tops S, M + L - Linen bags Take a look in our webshop! :-) Model: Thomas
Boar, Deer, Birdz, Bootz, Bicycles, Big Bugz, little horses and lotsa Treez...
Just a quick line to let you know we are still alive and very much enjoying a spot of rest in the calming soothing arms of nature...The walks are great, we cycle a lot as well, the weather is beautiful (ranging from sunny and hot to impressive thunder and lightning), the animals that live in this area are not so shy of happy treehugging pagans, so we get to see a lot of wild boar, deer, bunnies and other fauna, as well as the beautiful indiginous flora of Europe ... and... this is my view for most of the day ;-) So life is good. Love and greenz! Steve Sic and Jenny ps: I switched on my computer because there was another print-crisis for the new CD and I got an urgent message on my mobile to tell me so...sigh...there is just no getting away from OMNIA is there? anyway, crisis is dealt with, again (it always boils down to giving someone more money, doesn't it?) and now I've done something useful with my time as well by writing this....
wanna hear about life?
goshdarnit and such like..I'm sooo fecking empty of any kind of natural thought at the moment, my mind is buzzing with that modern disease "over-input"You will not believe how many thingz went wrong this week with uploading the files and stuff, all very drastic last-minute panic situation to which I react much like a lemming with a dicky heart on amphetamines...(ie: I explode in a cloud of despair) There are so many things to arrange and check and write and make for the upcoming release as well as arranging of gigs and haggling over money and hotels and such with organisers ...all of which Jenny and me had to get "out of the way" this week because , you see, we are gonna take a short break from work for a while. (we had originally planned to disappear for a month , but life has it's interesting little ways of nibbling off a day or two here and there untill you're suddenly left with just 10days...but still...10 days no computer...10 days no phone...sounds like paradise to us! just as we were thinking..."hey I think finally everything is on track and going well".... disaster struck! from the printing plant in germany (plant as in cd-factory, not large green leafy thing) came the voice of doom: "es gibt eines problem" the artfiles for the cover had some quite drastic format thingies of an "oh no! we're fucked!" nature. Our team of intrepid designers (Fieke and Miez) leapt into the fray and are solving the riddles and correcting the files right now actually.. so I've been assured by my good friend Miez (who can be quite the wise and friendly uncle when you need him) that all will be well and the print deadline (so we have the cd's on time for Castlefest) will still be good. then today, just mere hours before Jenny and me and a bunch of instruments set out for some nature and musical oblivion we get the message: "the DVD masterfile has not arrived yet" WHAT!? it hasn't arrived at the plant yet? (again, not green leafy thing but...) But I sent it by special delivery for a lot of money last week, the dutch postal system is owned by the fecking queen for feck's sake! surely she wouldn't take all my money and not render the prper service for it? (you hope) but where is it then? hours of phonecalls and internet browsing by Jenny of "userfriendly" (hahaha) postal sites later we find out that the DVD master is on its way to the factory, and very close indeed...probably...they think....erm...(obviously , panic ensued and we had lemming-steve bouncing all round the house of Evans van der Harten until finally at 1600 hours we received the manically prayed for e-mail from Angela (our contact who works for the "not a green thing" plant) that the DVD is also safe and sound and all is well... (getting a little paranoid here folks...) Not everything was a complete brain whomper today because I was also looking over and checking many new omnia-website thingies (yes folks it's finally gonna happen, he OMNIA website will soon be upgraded!...should I be writing this down here?, maybe I'm jinxing the project by doing this....or maybe I'm jinxing it by saying that I'm jinxing it!..or maybe...ah fer feck's sake...I'm tired, did I mention that?. Possibly I'm whining aswell, which I shouldn't do because I have a pretty sweet life and an amazing wife as well as mr.Fluffy our own personal live-in therapist and crisis manager who helps me a lot to overcome life's little bumps as well as the screaming pits of infernal internal hell...) but anyway... website upgrade, fecking amazing!, looks cool!...check it out ...soon! (I won't say when, because it has been statistically proven that a bit of excitement and a modicum of uncertainty is beneficial to the overall mental state of people who read too many long and pointless blogs written by humble treehugging pagan-musicians...really!) I would like to leave you now with this quote sent to me today by Richard (our new webguru) "grab life by the throat and force it into submission". that usually works, if not, try "throw a banana at the stupid apes and run for the hills". But then again, when you least expect it, life bludgeons you in the back of the head. Shouldn't have let go of its throat to throw the banana... Stupid apes..." so now I crash out gently and stenny takes a short break...talk to you all later... there was some point to this narrative, but it has momentarily slipped the chronicler's mind...(thanx mr. Adams) I know...I wrote this so I would feel better sharing it all with you...and you know? it works, thanx! Greenz and freedom! Stenny photo of Stenny and mr.Fluffy McMeris by: Quoth the Raven
Some People...
...have to sit behind a screen watching 22 men run behind a ball to be able to feel happy...Other People only need a little fire and a little harp to celebrate life... I'll go for the last option! Enjoy life Be free And eat lots of salad Greenthings xx Jenny
almost there...
we are sending and confirming all the files to the printing plant in Germany this week!! wehey!!That means we get these enormous gigantic trillibitywhatsits of datainfo of artwork photoshop magic, cd-audio master files and DVD video master files and we shove them into the wobbly lanes of inter-computer worldweb communicationlines and then with any luck all the 0's and 1's will magically re-assemble as a complete work of art in the mega computers in the factory halls of the printing plant... so with any luck this artclipping you see here will appear in all it's carefully designed glory within the pages of our new baby "WOLF LOVE" (one more month till D'day), so that you can feed your head some more with OMNIA weirdness... Have a good day...still tired, but hopefull...I long for a vacation (as well as a grapefruit) Greenthingz Sic drawing of cuddly bear by Yves photoshop by Miez photos by the Shaman of Aaaargh text by Urghl the very smelly though possibly enlightened...
Jammin in da Park
we had a great time in a park this weekend with a whole bunch of friends, juggling clubs, poi, instruments and herbs... there was sun there was rain (hot like...wet like...)and there was a really nice guy from Congo whom we joined for some percussive international communication! photo by: knut the rock gnome
summerdays in the park
what are these humans on about?this is Greta, being wise and old...while Jenny Maral and Kaat play around and practice with Poi and firestaff photo by the park-fairy
breathe in...breathe out...
So Today was a day for PAIN!, yeah baby! ;-)I had the "touch-ups" done on my head-tattoo today, so it looks nice and sharp! and here you can see the amazing artist Renate fixing my skin with the evil little pen of needles... as they say in dutch: "wie mooi wil zijn moet pijn lijden" (" if ya wanna be pretty, it's gotta hurt"...yeah dutch are a bit weird in that respect...) so if you're looking to have your head done with swirlies or if you decide you really want to have that Stenny signature on your boobs permanent, go to Bianca's place in Hilversum where Renate the ever-cool works , check it out at: WWW.TATTOOSOLUTIONS.NL !!!
and Jenny's skin-pics got some touch-ups too!
also by Renate of www.tattoosolution.com!
paganz in da water!
luka demonstrating Olympic class stick diving...
last day of practice (last chances for the pool)
here's the happy gang (minus Joe, plus merch-babe Chloé) doing some more funstuff ... greenz Steve Sic (I'm gonna lose some clothes and gain some pool)
Frog in the swimming pool...
today we had a special guest at the OMNIA practice sessions at dreamharps...this frog. Seen here in the hands of Jenny (she kissed it and it turned into a handsome prince, whom we then had to kick out of the house , because we are obviously against royalty and besides...Jenny is already married.today Jenny , Philip and me are being joined for some jamming by our Omnia-powerhouse of rythm: Tommy! we swim, we jam,we smoke (too much) we relax...life is good Greenz and amphibians! Steve Sic
mighty Tom the whale rider
Philipp Cobain Rockmountain
Jammin' wid da drumz and gitarr
Flower of the desert
this is Maral , who is making all these photos of us practicing...(but she didn't actually make this one, which was made by Ab'd al Hazred...again...cthulu be praised...ahem....)
Mid-Summer days...
So what did we do the last days?We played a really fecking cool gig last saturday in what must be the most amazingly beautifull setting of Holland! We played on an open place with enormous rockformations and trees all around us! The audience was sitting in a kind of half-amphitheatre and it was so cosy and freaky and ..wow! Our own stage-sound was heavenly, the people of the open-air theatre were very friendly and the audience was full of our friends! Yep that was a good (extra) midsummernight festival for us, and a great way to end the last tour. We played some songs for the very last time (which was sad...) apart from Castlefest where we will have three whole sets to fill , so one or two will get a last chance to live there (which will be happy!) The PaganClan was cool, the delicious samosa's after the show saved my life , for I would certainly have starved to death without them (thanx again sweety!) and now we are jamming and practicing our new awesome material for the upcoming festival cd-release tour starting in august.(love in the forest! Today in the dreamharps sessionhall we had Joe, Philip, Luka and Maral (as mental support and trauma team) and let me tell you kids it sounds sweet! the sun is shining and hot (check the shorts dude),the smokes are sweet and the strings are in tune, what more can a pagan musician want? Sadly Joe had to go back to Brussels just now... tomorrow Tommy arrives for some drum mayhem... ...and now I'm still typing ...and the rest of the gang is outside smoking another recreational fatty while I'm still inside writing this blog.. It's taking so long because I just wrote one and then wiped it by accident because I'm an idiot...ahem...it was really good! probably the best blog I've ever written actually, but now it's gone...forever....ah well! such is life. Live it to he full and enjoy every moment and take every chance to LIVE that you are offered (because who knows when it will be gone again... Greenthingz and Love Steve Sic photo by: radiant flower of the desert
The time of the wolf is nigh...
Stenny's back from the far east-end of germany (close to the polish border) Where we had the honour to receive a lot of really cool people of the german press for a pre-listening session of "WOLF LOVE" our new cd!As a location our german distibutor and friend Sir Jan and us had chosen this forest because it is one of the few in europe where the wolves are actually coming back! You see a few years ago some wolves crossed over from Poland and actually stayed..so now there are wild wolves living free in parts of germany! Isn't that cool (of course there are many prejudice and misinformed idiots around who would want them shot as a "dangerous animal") but with luck and cunning the wolves will stay alive and free! These wolves remind us of ourselves because many people view us in exactly the same way , because the wolf is probably the most misunderstood creature of the wild... That's why we named our new baby "Wolf Love" because if you can really love the wolf and all she stands for , then you begin to understand nature! We were very tired indeed when we were speaking to the ladies and gentlemen of the press, but they were so kind to us and treated us gently (they had heard of our little uniformed bullyboy trauma the day before) , so thanx guys!, old friends and new aquaintances alike! And what did they think of our album?...well...I know, but I'll let you find out by reading their magazine articles when they come out! (these are all german language area mags as far as I know though). So we checked the DVD files today and they are fantastic! the live material of castlefest 2009 is awe-inspiring (and funny to see so many good friends from all over europe in the gigantic CastleFest saturdaynight audience! (even Philip!) Next week this baby arrives in the printing factory and then we wait for the release parties! one in holland (Castlefest), one in belgium (Deerlycke), one in germany (Festival Mediaval) and one in france (Cidre et dragon) untill then, stay Free guys and don't let the fascists get you down* Greenthingz Steve Sic ps: for those paranoid people out there who like to misunderstand what I write and who were upset about my last one, "jew gassing fascists" is a metaphore for me , like "colonial slave-drivers" and "tree killing monkeys" they are actual extremes of humanity and 'humane' behaviour. I don't mean any particular nationality with this like Germans or English. Blind stupidity and sadism is a worldwide passtime not restricted to just one country... Like for instance during the last totalitarian fascist period of europe ('39 to '45) about 25% of the total population of occupied Europe was fine with being a "Nazi" and a lot more remained absolutely passive...(or did you think that germany could have held on to the whole of mainland europe and parts of Africa and asia for so long on it's own?), that's a little fact most european people would prefer to forget. It doesn't take much for the loss of your civil liberties to evolve into a totalitarian state control of your whole life so no worries kids! I hate every government and every uniformed army just as much! (except you of course! thanx for reading this message again , and thanx for all the support!) ...keep an open mind...think out of the box... photo by: lil' bad wolf
To protect and serve...
Jenny is a criminal...Yep, I don't know if you realise this but she's a lawbreaker and so am I...You see, we were trundeling along safely and merrily over the German motorway in our trusty old OMNIA-van amid speedfreaks in expensive sportscars and trucks from hell...when we were suddenly pulled over at a traffic control post by a veritable army of nasty looking German police for a "drug control"... Of course we were not worried about this, because Jenny is a really safe driver and would never get behind the wheel under the influence of anything except coffee. BUT according to German law it is illegal to drive a car up to three days AFTER you have smoked one cigarrete containing grass!!! (did you know this? We certainly didn't) Anyhow, as you know, we smoke legally at home, so our car contains micro traces of grass and that's enough reason for the cops to take the driver (my sweet Jenny) to be checked, body searched, urine-sampled and blood-checked at a fecking hospital (all under the surveillance of Germany's finest "criminal polizei") They actually wanted to take her on her own without me! But I soon put a stop to that idea..hah! Nobody takes my soulmate anywhere without me to guard her! And whadda ya know, they found micro traces of the happy-plant in her blood (yeah..duh..those traces stay for up to 6 weeks as anybody who has ever looked at internet can tell you). So now Jenny is a criminal and a danger to society because she's driving a van on the motorway and she smoked a happy cigarette yesterday... Now she's not allowed to drive anymore for at least another 24 hours, she lost her driver's licence for one month in Germany and the bundes-boys took €520,- from us to pay our debt to the people of Germany for being so insanely dangerous and evil. (The same fine you get for driving blind-drunk or under the influence of heroïn!!) And why? Because it's "THE LAW", not because it's reasonable or because it makes sense. NO it's because some overpaid idiot who has never smoked a joint in his life and who has no idea what he is talking about decided to write it down in a book... A law book...(which is kind of like a bible for capitalist rulers to keep the peasants in line and which has about the same amount of sense and colourfull bullshit in it). The weird thing is, the chief policeman who "processed" us seemed really OK as an individual, a little paranoïd maybe but certainly no sadist... but sadly warped in his mental capacity and totally indoctrinated by the concept of "LAW" (ie: if it is written down by his masters, it doesn't matter what he thinks or feels, in a uniform you just follow the rules, no more, no less. When the law tells them to gas Jews again, they'll gas 'em again baby, they'll gas 'em with a clear conscience because they will "just be doing their job"). So now we are stranded on a dirty truck-parking place in the middle of germany still 4.5 hours away from our press-meeting location and poor Jan (our good friend and German distributor of Banshee/Kom4medien) who drove 6 hours to Berlin this morning now has to take a train and a taxi (another 5.30 hours) to pick us and our stranded Omnia-van up. And then he has to drive our van 4.30 hours back again to the forest of Berlin (where he just came from). We should arrive there around 03.00 hours at night if we're lucky... Jan is going to be sooooooooo tired, I really hope we don't crash. BUT this is legal (it's better than letting the evil drug-fiend Jenny drive anymore today)! Long live the German and European Law!! We feel so safe and well protected now, I'm really glad we pay so much fucking tax to these nice people, so they can tell us what we can and cannot do...... don't you? So anyway, in writing this Blog I am now simply "doing my Job" (I'm a poët, an intellectual artist and a shaman) I hope I can get it online today, so my wish for you today would be: Stay Green!, Be Free!! and remember kids: The Law has been made to keep you enslaved and it serves only the rulers who make them... Love and peace Steve Sic and (a very traumatised) Jenny ps: hi "fellow criminal" and hip-hop fan Jens! (we hope you enjoy the Omnia-cd ) and to you mr.nice-policeman, did you like our music-cd? Can you see a small part of the world that WE are fighting to "protect and serve" now? So tell me, do you still feel proud of yourself and your uniform? PS from Jenny (time 9:45 PM): They have a TMobile Hotspot here at the gas station so for only 8 Euros I could put this blog online...(seems a small price now...). there you go!
A Midsummernight's Art-work
so...back to the artwork, with cuddly brother Miez and today we're also joined by sister Fieke (of Orchus.nl) because...We're finishing up the artwork of cd for "Wolf Love"! our new baby is almost ready to go to the printing plant! The mastering is now complete, the booklet and digipac almost done... The artwork is now finished! The dvd finishing is being done now by Angelique and Mirko of D'Images... just a few more things to arrange and we're done...( and not a bit to soon) Jenny and me are totally knackered...tomorrow morning we drive to a secret location in the forest somewhere near Berlin for a pressmeeting with the german press... weird days... Greeniez and enjoy the artclipping! Sic ,Jenny, Miez and Fieke photo by Miestenny the mad
Feuertanz Festival, Abenberg
Hi all! It took me a while, but I'm back with some great shots :-) (Well,……..I hope you like them as well) of the last gig OMNIA had in Abenberg, Germany. The crowd (10000 eyes) loved it and enjoyed every minute of it.
can I go to sleep now?
dude! that was one fucking freaky gig! We're hanging out in the hotel now with Luka(just the three of us like old times, because sadly we were put in seperate hotels due to…something…so the rest of the omniagang is hanging out somewhere else…erm…I'm really tired actually this was one bloody long day…but a good one! rainy night…grey morning…early at the castle to bring our gear…still muddy but drying out…freaky day talking to cool people…lots of loud bands on the stage playing electric guitars…then a fat gig of omnia weirdness (saw many questionmarks floating in sky above the audience that hadn't seen us before…the view from the stage was amazing !…slow start for me…but then the sun started shining and I felt the surge of energy coming from the great Omnia crowd there (thanx PaganClan!) and I woke up…we played I talked too much german…we cleared the stage…spent over an hour doing the "signing session" (you guys were all real sweet thanx!)…did a couple of interviews …loaded up the van (dragging our equipment through the ancient castle grounds through the crowds of "black people" (great setting)…dragged our carcasses back to the hotel…and now I'm writing gibberish again on my laptop because…I don't know…I just wanted to tell you that I'm very tired but happy…today was a good day… tomorrow morning we hit the road back to cloggyland. and now I'll just relax and talk some more crap with Luka (says hi) and Jenny (says hi too) and we won't smoke any grass because it's obviously bad and very illegal in this part of germany… Good night! Sic photo by: Joe "King" Hennon from stage , during the show...(joe put some pictures on the omnia facebook)
Bavaria!
this is Jenny…she's kinda tired after guiding our van over 7 hourd of german motorway down to the south…(and half a bavarian beer)We've been trundeling along all day with Luka and Chantal (merchbabe/tourmanager/second driver/sweet psycho) to beautifull Bavaria where we arrived at the amazing Castle where the FeuerTanz festival is being held. I can hear the heavy soundz of In Extremo coming in through our open window . They're pleasing the crowd from the festival mainstage where we will be frying some souls tomorrow evening ..I'm looking forward to it! it's a great atmosphere here. but tonight we relax a bit first…last night we were still making cd-art with Miez in Holland and now we are in the impressive countryside of southern germany where the wild boar and even wilder goths roam free! I'm a little pooped myself (as you can tell by my random gibberish) so I will simply sign off by wishing you a very good night (or day depending on where on the planet you are as you're reading this) and I hope the fairies give you an extra smile on your face by providing you with some happy thoughts… tomorrow we rock Sweetdreams ! Steve Sic so…now I'm going to cuddle my sweet wife ;-) photo by: Hatter (Mad)
So fecking Arty!
We were listening to mastered versions of songs untill the small hours yesterdaynight and today we were up again bright and early (it's a beautifull sunny day here in the Neverlands, and I'm sitting naked in the backgarden writing this...) Today we are working on promo-material, the final mastering should be finished today aswell (keep your fingers crossed) and this evening I'll be working on more new CD-artwork with Miez...maybe later I'l sleep again aswell... hmmm?..... we still have to pack the instruments, fill our rechargable batteries (yes we are actually the only band I know who doesn't pollute the world more than we have to with evil-batteries for stage toys) and we'll make the playlists for the Feuertanz gig in Nürnberg, because we leave tomorrow morning early for the 6 hour drive ,not including the inevitable "peristaltic polonaise" (traffic jams). I love this weird chaotic life , but sometimes when I'm forced to tap these dinky little white keys I really wonder why... (although I always enjoy writing this stuff to you, because I know you can actually listen) anyway enjoy this art-cd-booklet-clipping of Jenny and Kaat which will ofcourse grace the pages of our new cd Greenerwarmersexierthingz Steve Sic photo: Eline Spek (lnde.nl)
Mid Summer in Fairytale setting....
Okay, guys, really, trust me.You don't want to miss this! Imagine us on this beautiful stage, with actual real plants and trees as our stage decoration, in an almost 100-year old Open Air Theatre in one of the most gorgeous parts of Holland: Valkenburg, not far from the German ánd Belgian border! We are playing there on the 26th of June, just after Mid Summer, and just before our summer break. The next concert will be Castlefest, and we'll be playing all kinds of new stuff there, which means kicking out golden oldies, so...that means, the 26th of June is your last chance to hear some of your favourite songs that we've been playing for years, and it will be in the most Omnia-esque setting you can possibly imagine. I really can't see any reason why all the cool people from our great fanbase from Belgium, Germany and Holland, wouldn't want to come and share this Magical Midsummer night with us...so go on, have a look in our agenda and check out the link. See you all there! Greenthings Lonely Jenny (Steve Sic is doing artwork with Master Miez tonight...)
so, what about the merchandise, is that a lot of work?
Let's see... this morning we went along with Omnia's "super merch-babe" Chloé to scout out some new merchandise stuff. Yeah, you might not realise this but band-shirts also don't fall out of the sky ready made, ya know...... We are now designing some new merchandise (how about a cool new shirt!) to go with the upcoming CD release and it all has to be checked and thought out before the printing work starts.And that is also one of the many things that has to be done by our hard working pagan babe! Yeah it's a lot of work providing you guys with enough goodies to keep you happy. Then there are also things like getting all the cd's, shirts,stickers ,dvd's and suchlike ready and packed before going to a gig . And because we have the excellent (sold-out) "Feuertanz festival" in Germany coming up you can now see dear Chloé here lugging the heavy boxes of OMNIA goodies around with her ever present beautifull smile in place. (I myself sadly could not help her with this arduous task, because I had to take this very important picture to share with you, so that you can appreciate her hard work even more!) this afternoon Stenny was back in the Stustustudio to listen in on the mastering-process... it's nearly done.......oooh! isn't this exiting!? and now Stenny is going to spark up a fatty boombatty and chill out with some really old episodes of Xena... ;-) Sic
Moving Pictures!
This afternoon we spent working for the DVD that will come with the new CD. We were editing some really groovy 'behind the scenes' material and designing the DVD menu's with Angelique and Mirko of D'iMages...and it's starting to look like this will become a must-have (even I want it)! Among other things, imagine Valravn, Irfan, Kelvin and many other friends playing like children on the beach after CF 2009, Steve & Jenny playing Old Man Tree just after writing it in the Ardennes and a hilarious studio report... And that's just the Extras! Anyway, it's way past sitting-behind-your-laptop-working-time, so I'm gonna have a nice cup of tea and a sit down. Good night to all you faeries and freaks out there! Lots of love and happy thoughts, Jenny photo by: the grand procrastinator
Paganwalkabout...
We went on a groovy hike in one of the most beautifull open-nature reserves in holland with our lovable friendly guitarplayer Philip and his sweet lady Maral. It's so good to get out of the city and it's madness to have your mind soothed by the wonderous balm which is nature in it's free form... We walked, we smoked, we talked, we dreamed ,we smoked some more and at night we flew...what a good Life!...ans.....drumroll......today the last track that had to be end-mixed for the new CD was successfully finished! (Shamaniac) the story of sound draws to its end...tomorrow the mastering starts! My thoughts at the moment are: "Life is for living and each day is a present...(pun) Go out and enjoy what nature has to offer while you still have the heart and mind to enjoy the gift" Greenthingz! Stenny ps: I originally had a blog-thing about politics and dangerous monarchy here...but I wiped it, because we don't actually vote and we have stopped paying attention to that entity of commerce and slavery which is wrongly referred to as "government". (ha ha ha ) photo by: Mighty Maral
Heya Heya!
we just got out of bed an hour ago (around 19.00 pm.) Stenny is kinda tired but very very happy...To break the chain of work (so we can focus better on the last and most crucial parts of making the new CD/DVD) we did something completely different this weekend. We helped one of our dearest friends who was a little sad and hurt with a "healing" ritual which was very intense indeed... Gone were the daily thinking of recording and art, only to be replaced with the energy of the universe, love and freedom. Stenny loves being weird in a ritual sense and we really did our best for our sweet friend, who looked and felt a lot "brighter and lighter" after we had finished... And now stenny is still a little shagged-out with "shamanic after-ritual-energy dip" but we feel really fine... as a little surprise we got the final mix of "Love in the forest" today (which is absolutely fabulous) and I don't think we have ever written such a happy, funny and horny song as this... Greenthingz on dreamwingz Stenny picture: just a little tiny preview of CD booklet artwork for the pretty girl who asked us to put some on the web again (during the very cool and intimate "stenny-gig" at dreamharps)
The last bits....
As the sun finally shines and warms up the body of mother nature, we are, as usual, stuck in the studio. But...the end is nearing! Today we are recording the last bits for the last songs, and as I write this, Steve is happily singing his heart out on our feel-good song "Love in the Forest". To get into the mood, he took off some clothing...it is for you to imagine how much of it!Sunny greenthings, happy cows and roses Jenny
I just wanted to share this picture with you...
So today we actually took a couple of hours off to go to town to score some pretty little things for our pretty little house(black marroccan and turkish earthenware eating-bowls with metal finishing if you're at all interested) and now we're working...which means that I'm practicing lead vocals for a last bit of re-recording tomorrow on a really laid back and groovy track called "love in the forest". And Jenny is sitting in our garden doing "office work in the sun" (which could also be considered a good song title, though happily not on our new cd...ahem...) Well anyway , I just wanted to share that with you... (doesn't Jenny look sweet there in the sun? she doesn't know that I'm writing this because all she can hear coming from the house is "love in the forest" blasting loud on the speakers and she thinks I'm hard at work instead of faffing around with this keyboard...) so i'll get back to the pretty singing now so you guys can get a good new song to listen to soon(it's about making love in nature) Greenthingz and freedom! Steve Sic
DVD editing
Today we were in the editing homebase of the D'images team (www.dimages.eu) to look at the work being done on the video material for our new album...(it's going to be a two disc "multimedia pack"...one CD and one DVD...cool huh?) There are some awesome videos we shot at Castlefest 2009, and they look great!...I got goosebumps when I saw the crowd shot of thousands of weirdlooking maniacs yelling "MORRIGAN!!!!!" (shudders) and the "making of the CD" documentary is really really.......well I'm not going to tell you everything now, am I? You'll see it all when it's released! anyway, back home , working the keyboard from hell so that OMNIA stays alive and functioning...the beat goes on, the works not done yet...just a few more weeks to go and the new cd will be finished for printing and then we can rest a while...(we're starting to get more and more edgy and confused and weirded out with all the information that goes through our heads each day...)we're not really born to be accountants and managers but sadly that's what you get if you wanna be a free independant working band... Steve get's one of those "what am I doing here?" moments and listens to the blackbird outside for a while... You know what? I'm gonna go outside and get some fresh air and possibly something to smoke aswell ;-) Greenthingz Stenny
hmmm? could this be the new OMNIA stage look?
well, no actually...but it could be in the new cd artwork though!...you see, Stenny (and our friend Kaat) were in the wonderfull world of FASHIONMODELS!, yes kids it's true...we could've hopped straight onto the catwalk and booted those skinny-assed bimbos of Versace and Prada into oblivion! For today we have been pampered and make-upped and dressed and posed and photographed for the webshop gallery of our sweet friends Femke,Roos and Nienke of www.hatsndreads.com and we had a great time modelling their weird-art and freaky wool-dreadz ,what a cool way to spend a spring sunday. I'll let you know when the ladies of Hatsndreads will put these weird arty pics of us online on their website... Greeniez and laughter Steve and Jenny photo by: Thomas
run forest run!
we've been making new band-pictures in the forest with a really sweet photographer called Eline (www.lnde.nl), and I can assure you it was a hilariously funny and artistic day!(you'll see the results soon enough, in the meantime enjoy this picture of "serious art in progress" taken by the handsome yet irritating allround artsupport 1st-reflection screen-assistent, runner and cigarette roller (as well as photomodel on this site's webshop gallery) Thomas ;-)
Omnia Lottery
Is ClosedCongrats to all the winning numbers from our ‘World of Omnia’ lottery. We had some of you lucky people to hang out with us, and we had a great time. I'm sorry to say but now it’s time to close the curtain Love and stay green P.S. This, of course, does not count for the already known winners
cooler than the blues brothers!
.."It's 30 miles to the studio,we got half a tank of gas, no cigarettes, it's morning and we're wearing sunglasses...let's go"... dumdum-dada-dada-daadaaah dumdum-dada-dada-daadaaah If you've never ever seen the classic movie "The blues brothers" then the very funny parody-statement with accompanying soundtrack which I just placed here will make no sense whatsoever to you... anyway, in the stustustudio again with Sanderman doing more end-mixing (just three more songs to go!) the next three weeks are the last weeks of the project we're starting to get tired now though,and Stenny is fraying around the edges...in the words of master Yoda "hard to keep-up, the energy is.." and tomorrow it's an intimate acoustic gig to play, the day after it's gonna be fotoshoots. dr.Sic's advice to the world today is :stay relaxed, enjoy it and get it done even when the work level get's above your head, but only if it's for the sake of Art or Nature! Greeniez Stenny
ACOUSTIC STENNY
What do you call a real concert where the musicians simply play instruments and sing without the use of microphones or amplification in these modern days of word mis-use and advertising bullshit? It seems like every band I know is doing "unplugged" gigs nowadays, but when I see them play they are all "plugged" and amplified anyway.(they just leave their electric guitar, drumkit and/or laptop at home) Anyway...Jenny and myself are playing a "real" UNPLUGGED GIG this coming saturday the 29th of may in Mijdrecht(NL), where we won't have any microphones or anything, just instruments, muscle, bone and breath...because it's just the two of us, we will be able to play new songs from the upcoming cd just as they were written... So come join us for another timeless bardic experience between the audience and the artists in the private harp-chamber of www.Dreamharps.nl (also on stage that same evening is the amazing American travelling Harp-player/therapist Christina Tourin) Greeniez Steve and Jenny photo: the last gig Stenny did at dreamharps by Marcel Bakker for more info check out www.dreamharps.nl
POLITICS
Sic's incomprehensible blog stardate 5473I suck at politics,I always make remarks that are politically "impolite" or "incorrect", because I always say what I mean... If some little dictator ,some security gorilla or some other ignorant dickhead is bugging me I say so, and that's wrong, because it isn't political... you see, in politics you never say what you mean, but only what can be interpreted in as much positive ways as possible. even if that means saying something which you know is not actually the "truth" (also known as "Lying") So I suck at politics because I suck at Lying...tja...that's no political leadership or commercial success for me. :-( But NO WORRIES kids! For it seems that there are more than enough people around with the neccessary qualifications so there will always be POLITICIANS and other ENTERTAINERS to amuse the masses! ;-) Have a nice day! I'm lovin' it! Yes we can! Dare to chose! especially now! because you deserve it! Be different! just do it! eat bullshit! Greenthingz Steve "healthy and polite" Evans van der Harten photo by: a socially-underdeveloped indigenous native boy OMNIA...Dare to think!
Summertime ...time to get naked...
Sic's incomprehensible blog no. -33What a lovely day! I got up at 7.00 and went to the dentist. (not the best start of a day, when you stop working as late as Jenny and me) BUT the sun was shining, the birds were singing... (meister-singer Blackbird wakes us every day now with new and exiting concertos of such skill ....pityfully inept human composers can merely dream about this level of musical accomplishment) ... lots of monkeypeople were actually looking a little cheerfull, so some of them almost looked good. I was in and out of the mouth-butchery-chamber within 5 minutes without any serious damage or pain! And on the way back I cycled for 15 whole minutes without seeing anybody cutting down a tree, maiming a bush or destroying flowers with mowers (which is very rare in the land of the treekillers!) I was just now in the garden soaking up a few sunbeams into my very pale skin. (Stenny really needs to get some all over body sun, because we're starting to look like Elric of Melnibone and his Sister with all this lack of solar radiation due to being inside too much!) and now we are trundeling along on the concrete Colon, doing the peristaltic polonaise amid legions of monkeys experiencing the holy prayer to commerce also known as the "traffic jam" . Yep, off to the stustustudio again in the OMNIA-van for some extra recording and the end-mixing of Cornwall. Maybe later in the afternoon a bit of ray-catching aswell, while Sol Superbus is still handing them out... I wish you Sun and happy thoughts, My happy thought for today is the knowledge that one day this ugly tarmac and concrete desert of officeblocks and garbage will be a beautifull octopusses garden under the sea... ;-) Greeniez and less grumpy people! Stenny ps: we're doing a short intimate unplugged "Stenny" concert together with Christina Tourin from the USA next week...at Dreamharps, Mijdrecht...info:see agenda and www.dreamharps.nl photo by: Leni Riefenstahl
Taranis Iupiter has landed!
Just finished listening to the Taranis endmix and it was definately worth all the work...wow! (Sander is a kick ass studio dude!) It sounds absolutely awesome. it rocks!and it's sort of different as well...It's not like Bran at all, if you get my drift. Now Jenny and me are sitting outside in the garden of Stennyhome with a campfire, getting our heartbeats back to normal (and trying not to think about playing "Brütal Legend") relax, lay back and contemplate the weirdness of being... Green and Flamey thingz! Steve Sic and Jenny
working on Taranis Iupiter...
the tension mounts as the end-mixing of Taranis goes into it's second day...it's apparently hard to play with thunder on a sunny day...
artwork...
and another evening of building artwork with my "mad-genius" friend and fellow chaos-monk Miez get's on to it's somethingst' hour we delve into the deeper layers of lovecraftian* horror with the designs for a song about insanity... (cue Miez on cackling mad laughter)Greenthingz (the tentacles... the tentacles...) Steve sic "High Inquisitor of the Temple of Chaos" * Lovecraftian is an archaic form of eldritch in an unspeakably cyclopean manner This picture which we will here entitle :"detail of Jenny's naked foot" is taken from a fantastic charcoal and pencil drawing by Yves. This is a tiny piece of a "work in progress" page destined to end up within the covers ofthe new cd-booklet... (I don't want to give away too much , now do I? ;-)
perception...
Things are not always as they seem... What looks like one thing, may actually be the opposite. You never know, because the last judgement to any reality always lies in your own mind.It has come to my attention that the state of my hair is a "hot topic" amongst some fans. A lot find it a shame to see my freaky tattood head instead of...instead of..what!? What are you actually missing? is my countenance really so different now?,does my music sound differently? am I so different to let's say..januari?, februari?, march?.. Did I look weird to you then?, did you lament my "lovely long curls" then? You see, Jenny actually shaved my head like this on the eve of the last midwinter in 2009. No one could see this because I always wear a bandana aswell, but this weird looking head was "lurking there" beneath a thin layer of cloth al this time. Did you find me scary then?, did you miss my "lovely long curls? No you didn't did you!, because you simply did not know, and ALL humans tend to project their own fantasies and (mis) conceptions on others as a rule. So now , look at me again, what do you miss?, what has changed? Is it me , am I any different to what I have always been? or is it you? Are you starting to understand yet? nothing is as it seems... Time to wake up Neo... Greeniez Sic
the very LAST theatre gig...
Yep dudes and dudettes...the last theatre gig of this season will be on 14th of may in Stadsschouwburg de Maagd, Bergen op Zoom, NL, start concert: 20:00.We will play some of our old favourite songs for the VERY LAST TIME there,as our new setlists for NEXT season's tour will change again (so we can use more of our new material from the upcoming CD.) And because of recent developments we'll have an extra-long cd/poster/booby signing session to mark the occasion. So guys and girls, please be there to celebrate the end of the theatre season in style! Greenthingz! Stenny photo: Maxime Lenglet
what the fuck did you do to your head!?
Sic's incomprehensible blog no: 595I get to see a lot of shocked faces during the course of my regular day. "Normal" civilians...obese unhealthy feckers...Mouths hanging open, glazed bovine look of incomprehension and fear etched upon their stupid ugly faces...hihihi, "created in the image of God" indeed! mr. Allah ,Jehova ,Almighty must be one ignorant and hideous motherfucker to have created such children! (I don't like basic square humans as you may have guessed) Don't forget I've grown up in many different countries on 2 different continents, so by the time I left home when I was 15 I already knew more about life and human-behaviour than most people do when they're 65...(and it stinks) I was sleeping in the streets and dodging and diving for survival when I was 16, by the time I was 17 I had probably ignored and broken more laws than a politician (on second thoughts...no, no-one can break more laws than a politician except the members of the royal family ofcourse) I have never really cared much for what society in general thinks of me...And I'm used to being stared at by "conformist society".From the day I cut my first mohawk and dyed my eyebrows green and purple till the day that I die, I'm proud of being able to express myself physically aswel as intellectually. And I enjoy the feel of all those looks of total incomprehension I get where-ever I go. Now I gathered that some of you have questions about my latest hairstyle and tattoos, so I'll try to explain for the ones among you who have a functioning brain: Q:"why did you cut your hair like that?" A: this hairstyle is based upon a few different religious and native hairstyles put together. I wear it as a part of my shamanic path and my further initiation into the only religion which means anything to me...our own. (you can compare this with the wearing of a christian monks tonsure, or an orthadox Jews' cute ear curls or the various different religious ritual hairstyles around the world) It is to highten my own religious experience and so to further distance myself from mundane society (this lost human beaurocracy of hypocracy and its' downward spiral) Q:"What do your tattoos mean?" A: the tattoos on my head are similar to the other body-tattoos that my Love Jenny and Myself already have. the meanings in the symbolism are very varied and diverse , but just think of them as antennae which connect us to living nature and each other. The tattoos on my head just make my connection much stronger, making it easier for me to connect with the (for instance) the mind of a tree or the spirit of a bird or the soul of a river etc. Q;" did the tattooing hurt?" A: Fuck yeah! I can honestly say that 8 hours of "needlestab" on your skull is the most painfull experience I've had up untill now (and as an ex-swordfighter I can assure you i know what pain is...) But the torture experience was very mentally-cleansing and held a great spiritual message for me , which fit in well with the other rituals we did on that fatefull full moon. Q: "will you let your hair grow back over the tattoos?" A: No,this is a permanent form, it will stay... so if you only liked me because of the pretty dreadz and curls on the top of my head, then you are now sadly disappointed (as well as fecking shallow!) Because I'm not just a "pretty boy"...I'm a native european "crazy man"! Greenthingz and individuality! Steve Sic ps: in the picture you see Jenny and me looking at a beautifull charcoal drawing of Jenny as a wonderfull Fairy .Given to us here by our friend ,the Belgian artist Yves. the other girl in the picture is our sweet french-translator Celie from the south of France .. photo : marcel Bakker (backstage Anthinoises festival)
Happy Jenny on the Harmonium
So, there was still some recording left to be done on this track! (wake up)And Jenny is now using the nifty little Indian harmonium which our great friend Jasen (of the most excellent and amazing Bulgarian band Irfan) has "arranged" for her. ("washappenin'pitsch?) ;-) and in the meantime she is also making a beautifull present for her Mum whose birthday is on this coming Mothersday. (but I'm not saying what Ans, because it will spoil the surprise!) anyway as the work progresses on the album we'll keep you updated... ...because you are apparently still reading this, should I maybe write something shocking or humorous aswell now? you know , to make it more worth your while to read all this drivvel written by a stoned crazyperson who still has to type using only his index-fingers (although sometimes I write using only my middlefingers, but those are different messages...) anyway: Have a good temporal segment (whichever you may be in as you read this) Greenz, cyberhug and good luck with your civilisation! Stenny photo by: Zosimos of Panopolis Stenny
and another one down...
The mixing is progressing into it's somethingst week (time is getting a little blurry for me) We just finished another song and have started up the next bunch of recordings, so we can bash them into shape for the cd...This is Sander in front of the wholly holy mixing screen where all the tracks are lined up one above the other like a gigantic musical spongecake. anyway...I'm gonna get back to concentrating and then you can go and do something more usefull with your time than reading my pointless blogs ;-) Greenthingz and ....wake up... Sic
we remember...
sic's incomprehensible blog no. 594today (may 4th) in Holland we remember the war-dead,all those brave men and women who died at the hands of those cruel and vicious roman invaders who massacred and raped the Celts who lived here...or...no..that doesn't matter anymore...it's too long ago, and romans are worshipped as "bringers of civilisation" here now...so.. we remember the evil-medieval Papal thugs and other frustrated Christians who raped and slaughtered the pagans by the million..oh no that's not it either,no one gives a fuck about them... we remember those fecking spanish bastards who abused and killed those brave dutch freedom fighters and...no that's not right...oh yes! that motherfucking frenchman Napoleon came here and killed lots of peasants..we remember that!...don't we?..no?...erm ah yes! the first worldwar where millions got slaughtered because of that german piece of Royal shit Wilhelm, what do you say? Holland was on his side and declared themselves neutral while their neighbours burned? really!? they gave Kaiser Wilhelm amnesty and a place to live after that war because he's part of the dutch royal family?..really!?..oh...so we only remember the deaths during WW2 caused by the evil nazi party?, like the bombing of 1000's of civilians in Nijmegen..oh? that was done by the allies?...really!?. But surely we all fought the evil nazis together?...well,yes... except for all the nazis married into the dutch royal family ofcourse who are perfectly OK ..ahem..so we remember the war dead of WW2 whoever they were... Or do we remember all those Indonesian people that got killed, enslaved, raped etc by the dutch army (right after WW2)...Or do we remember the native-population of Tasmania who are now extinct, do we remember the Native americans last stand? I mean does anyone of those stupid fecking human monkeys out there actually remember anything at all? Or does everybody just swallow what the state and the media want you to see? I think we remember and honour the dead,every day of our lives and not for a couple of bloody minutes during some mass media charade. We honour the ones that simply fought and died anonymously for their families and for their freedom to be who they are...and not for some bloody parade ground generals ..because I believe this world is still being run by the same greedy, peasant slaughtering so called "Noble" bastards that have run the place for the last 10 centuries...isn't it about time we wake up and stop being sheep? Sorry for being so hard today on this day of peace, but I can't stand the smell of Hypocrisy. Sic
mixing mixing mixing
in da studio, just finished another one! Yeah!Oh teachers is my mixing done?, I cannot do another one! but we will! ;-) Greenz with lambs in the field outside Stenny photo by: Abramelin the obscure
New Dates Theater Tour 2010-2011
Check our agenda.....Greens from the studio xx Jenny
Thank you...
sic's incomprehensible blog no. 593.3sunday 2nd of may 13.00 hours What can I say?...I'm lying in bed now, with a laptop on my.. er.. well, lap actually. I'm soooooo tired and I my body feels kind of broken. But my spirit is at peace, I'm happy, we're alive ,the blackbird is singing outside my window, eventhough the rain tumbles endlessly from the sky. Jenny is in the bathroom fixing a hot bath for us both and I had this urge to write a little bit of what I'm thinking down on this page. I can't speak because I've lost my voice in a pretty bad way, which is kind of frustrating (as I'm sure you can understand), but what the fuck, we don't have a gig for more than a week and as Philip pointed out in the van when we were driving back from our last gig: "hey it's really peacefull now that Steve can't talk, isn't it?)...which I suppose is true. I kinda got a serious cold after the Anthinoises festival (breaking down a stage and packing a van at -1celcius while being extremely wet with sweat and halfnaked is apparently an unwise thing to do) and so I had to rest my voice and mind as much as possible before doing the next show. this went well all through the studio work etc. last week, untill we wen't on our "road trip to HELL"/"weekend of DOOM"/"mittelalter markt of HORROR" (and assorted other B-movie-titles that would fit the occasion) Sadly on our last gig got a little "upset" with the organisers of a Mittlealter fair being held in some sort of desert of gravel and dust somewhere hidden within the Olympic park of München and so I fucked my voicebox completely while trying to explain to them that their stage and electricity set-up were dangerous for us and our instruments and that in the event of rain or storm somebody could get seriously hurt, or our instruments could get badly damaged. and...oh!...Jenny just called to say that my bath is ready so I'll finish this story later... ...pause.... Stenny goes splishy splashy in hot tub... drip drip drip...Stenny run outside naked and laughing in the rain , smiling up at the grey clouds...brrrrrr! drip drip drip ...Splash!...back in the hot tub...aaaah! 14.15 hours There! I'm back again, that was great...I feel all mellow and my sore muscles feel much better now!, so where was I? Oh yes now I remember, we almost died (really) on stage because some very ignorant people were to pigheaded and stupid to listen to our advice... You see , we should have cancelled this show, the minute we saw what kind of amateurs we were dealing with here, but we just couldn't...because of you!, yes you! our fans... we knew that many of you would try to find this impossible location buried deep in anonimity to see us, because it was the only gig we had in this area of germany. We said yes to this bad gig for you guys... We had already had so much shit to get our van there (11 hour drive), our crew-van got stopped and stripped for drugs Twice! but the nice bavarian policemen and their drug-puppy didn't find anything because the lads had already sold all the heroin to some german primary school kids at a gas-station . We couldn't walk away from the brave fans that would find this awfull location... we just couldn't live with ourselves then! And oh boy did you guys find it! When it was finally showtime for us the crowd that welcomed us was huge! I really hadn't expected that many in such a badly-advertised and out of the way place. Some of you even came all the way from Austria and Switzerland to meet us in Bavaria! (yo Asl and friends ! yo Vera and gang !) there were members of 4 german tribes aswell as a whole load of the alternative scene (even though the mighty and excellent "Subway to Sally" were playing in Munich on the same night) the silly little soundsystem looked like it was going to hold out and we started playing and we were just warming up to the gig when disaster struck. As we predicted the rain came turning the dustbowl to mud...and it started to rain on leaky half open stage where our whole livelyhood consisting of our beloved handcrafted custom-built instruments and sound equiptment started to get wet, Tom was already covered in a mist of rain drops on the second song...but we played on for you. Then the wind hit the back of the stage causing the crappy "wall" to bend inward knocking over a stand, which fell on Jenny's priceless Triplett harp, which crashed down off it's high riser onto the stage. I could just about break its fall by holding my bouzouki out in my right hand and half-catching it with my left-hand and letting myself fall backwards on the stage... the harp is now badly damaged and will need repairs , but thank the gods it did not break in two (due to a combination of my finely honed lightning reflexes and the fact that Triplett just build the sturdiest , strongest most beautifull motherfuckers in the entire Harp world). BUT we played on for you, jenny didn't even stop singing (though I could see the shock on her face) as her harp crashed down behind her...Then the rain intensified and the lightning came and suddenly it became apparent why we have safety regulations, and why we should never ever play on this kind of amateur sset-up ever again. The electrics got wet in a big way, and the stupid dickwads that built the stage had not earthed it properly, this means that in a bad weather situation like this the entire stage can get electrified. So during the 5th song in increasing rain our chief engineer Wim, got a shock off've the system , saw that the situation was too dangerous to continue, he got another shock and made "the decision". He killed the sound, stopping the show and ordered us off stage. All the crew and band and backup raced to get the soaking remains of our instruments of' this stage of death and into the cruel storm. Then Wim got a huge blast of electricity off the stage itself!! (while some of us were still on it!!!...including me!!!!) I wasn't going to leave any of my babies on there so people were screaming at me to get the fuck away from there while I was only thinking "sorry Luna-Isis, sorry Flutes, sorry Darbuky" for my poor instruments) Then all the lights blew out , leaving us in total darkness apart from occasional blast of lightning.and well the rest of the story is all about mud, about the front-of-house sound desk getting fried to death, about explaining to our loyal fans that "no we really can't play anymore today", it's about seeing Wim being taken away by the ambulance drivers because he could still die of system-shock ,it's about seeing the pain on Jenny's face as she is examining her broken harp, it's about sitting in an empty freight container (which in the minds of some people can serve as an artist-backstage) and smoking homegrown and drinking beer and laughing , laughing , laughing about the stupidity of self-rightious people and about life and all it's funny ways. This story is about a lot of those things....but mainly this story is about surviving every fucking thing the world can throw at us because we are strong...It's about the honour and deepest respect Jenny and I feel by being surrounded by such an amazing group of people who can pull together and and keep the spirit alive! It's about the ever energetic and optimistic Tom, it's about the cool-dude Philip and the very sharp "part-time-roady" Maral, it's about Luka, steady as a rock, It's about elegant Chloé who is one of the most "together" women I know, It's about caring Moniq and strong Marcel who are like our "Mother and father on the road" it's about Chantal who is turning out to be an amazing tour-manager, It's about our crazy new crew the three psychotic musketeers of sound and light : Wim (f.o.h), Sasha (monitors) and Rik (Lights) who have proved to us beyond a doubt that they are now a fixed part of the growing "OMNIA-family". It's about our friends like our personal health-wytch Maja (far too intelligent for this world), our therapist and personal confident Kaat (with her pinball smile), our dear Kelvin Kalvus who was there but couldn't get on stage with us because , well , the stage was fucked...and his manager our friend Zetha who tried to help with these organisers but sadly couldn't... And it's about you!... if you were there, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, you are why we play, you give us a reason to exist for without your ears, your eyes your minds and your love we would not exist... you made us happy that day, when I shouted from stage "who is here on this crummy market just to see us?!" and I heard the roar of your voices I knew that whatever would happen that night (I had NO idea) would be for the best... After this night of horror we all went back to the impersonal concrete hotel (built above a McDonalds and a gas station, next to a factory somewhere in the armpit of the city) and drank and talke and smoked and drank some more... Jenny and me crept into our skinny little bed , we held each other tight and cried for a while... Thank you all, thank the Gods for keeping us alive, thank our band and crew for being the best there is, thank our fans for being there, wherever we go. Thankyou... Steve sic ps: I don't want to dis the organiser here because they already are (spot the pun)... but feel free to spam their email and phone-lines with insults and general chaos and misrule...the feckers... photo by; Sogh-Yoggoth
back in da stustustudio!
Well, that was an interesting weekend! We played a theatre in Holland on friday then drove down into Belgium at night to arrive at a beautifull old farmhouse in the woods for the night...wow, holy-smokes under the starlit ardennes sky.(very chill and groovy) Next day OMNIA played a fecking 'hard n'heavy' (and very very hot) gig at the most excellent Anthinoises festival. I've had a ritual tattoo put all over my head as part of the shamanic path I'm following, and I've shaved quite a lot of my dreads and hair off to make room for them so I look kinda different to what people might expect of me now... some people were shocked it seems...but then you should always expect the unexpected from OMNIA, we're like the spanish inquisition with less christians (don't you just love monty python?)Jenny got given a beautifull, giant framed drawing of a Jenny fairy..NAKED! made by the amazing Yves. (so I was very happy...I just love art...sigh..) ...anyway to finish off this great weekend filled with Frenzy, friends and fans from all over the place we raced back to Utrecht with part of the band on sunday in time to see our other dear friends of Irfan ,who had finished playing at the €lf-fair in Lisse that day,So Jenny ,Philip and me got to play a great jam session with our favourite Bulgarian virtuoso's in our home that evening!... And now, we're working on end-mixing the album with Sander in the studio again. we've finished "Dance untill we die" this morning (AWESOME!!!) everytime I hear it I feel like dancing and killing something/someone at the same time! it's a really fecking gnarly piece of Rap-Folk with a bodaciousness factor out in the upper cowabunga-spheres... Now, Jenny and me are "hitting the office work" while Sander is doing nitty-gritty cleaning on the seperate recorded tracks of "Wheel of Time", later today we will end-mix it together. On this pic, you see Jenny doing her best to fight through the ever growing piles of sh.., erm I mean mails , while I write total drivvel on this page, which you are reading now. enjoy your day and ignore a stupid law or two for freedom! Greenthingz! Pope Steve Sic (the 1st and last) photo by: sir Francis Bacon ps: check out Sanders' gold records and cd's hanging behind Jenny on the wall!...cool eh?
keep on rocking in the un-free world ;-)
this week we started the end-mix of songs for the new album. On Kandor's holy day we finished the "Wolfsong", which is fecking pagan and spot-on as far as we can see (what? you don't know who "Kandor" the wolfgod of bloodlust, egocentricity and hunting is? ah well...never mind...)Anyway, we've been so busy this week with studio, crew changes, instrument checks and artwork that I couldn't really write much,hence the quick update... Today we are gonna go to play a theatre in Oosterhout (and some more prizewinners of the "OMNIA lottery" will come to meet us in the backstage for a chat and a drink, which is fun) Oh Yeah, if you're not a winner you didn't know that the prize for the OMNIA lottery is: Meeting us and the Band for a drink and a chat as our guests in the backstage before a concert, a bag of OMNIA goodies, the new upcoming (signed)CD and ofcourse sex and drugs with the whole band after the show...ahem... Sadly we won't be able to do our normal "signing session" after the gig today because straight after the show we must pack and drive down to Belgium at night, because tomorrow we will play at "Anthinoises" one of our favourite Belgian festivals! The organisers there are so sweet and well prepared they even give us a big holidayhome in the forest for the band and crew to sleep in, instead of the usual boring impersonal hotelrooms . They understand our pagan spirit. And the audience at this festival is CRAZY! (like us) with the really extreme PaganClan tribes like "Chaos seeds" run by my "soulbrother" Seb (they will also be providing our bodyguards there, so don't fuck around during the signing session there or you'll end up with an axe in your head!...hehehe!) I'll also have a little surprise there because I'll play without my bandana so you can see what happened to my head during the last "full moon" ritual. All dutch people will have to wait untill the last Theatre gig of this season in Bergen op Zoom for that shocking experience...we will also play some of our old favourite songs for the very last time there(because we will have to change our live-set when the new Album is out) anyway be green, fuck the queen! :-) be free, just like me! ;-) Stevil Sic foto by: Zaphod Beeblebrox the 9th
today is a "dreadfull" day! ;-)
Yep, today is dreadfull...ie: the day is filled with many dreadlocks (dreadz) because our friend and "personal hair -therapist" Femke is here at the Stennyhouse to fix and clean my skanky old dreads, and now she is making a whole bunch of fresh new dreadiez for my sweet love Jenny.(you may recognise her as the sexy fotomodel in the OMNIA webshop aswell) It's a groovy day, relaxed, not much work, some pampering and vanity, some sun...mmmm!...not bad at all. We're just doing a little bit of "light" office work today, to keep the OMNIA engine ticking over, in between dread sessions...and now I'm off to do some shopping, tomorrow it's back to the studio! Greenz by Steve Sic Dreadz by Femke (www.hatsndreads.com) photo by Alistair Crowley jr.
Roses are red...Like the blood in my heart...this man is Miez...making "Wolfsong"ART
it's a lovely sunny day, Stenny had a very relaxed breakfast in the sun this morning as guests in the house of our parents (@Dreamharps). Now, fully rested we're back at work with our great friend and fellow Artist Miez. Here you see him hard at work behind his "evil box" working on the Artwork of the new OMNIA album.Jenny is doing very boring and uninspiring "officework" right now. And I'm in the middle of writing texts and drawing arty stuff. The sun is shining,spring is happening,the birds and the bugs are doing the dance of life, the plants reach out to kiss the sky...so...ignore the destructive ignorant monkeys around you and just revel in the glory of it all! Greenthingz! Steve Sic and Jenny
artwork and photos in da sun
today we're working together with miez on Artwork for new CD.(yesterday was another long but fruitfull day in the studio where we started on the mixing/arranging part of the title track) But that was then, and this is now...today we spend our time partly behind computers like now: -Miez is cleaning up a selection of foto's in photoshop for a new promotion picture of Jenny and me which we just shot.He is seated behind a huge black evil-looking computer with two screens surrounded lots of little doodahs ,papers, artsyfartsy stuff and a rather small though tastefully rendered statuette of Tackx the pagan-God of technology... -Jenny is hard at work on her laptop arranging all sorts of business and technical matters with veritable legions of nice people as well as gaggles of complete idiots . Sadly this is a large part of her "normal" day.,(if you're mailing with Jenny yourself at the moment I leave it to yourself to decide into which catagory you fall.... - and I'm sitting here with my trusty little laptop writing complete nonsense on this news page for reasons quite unknown even to myself... erm.. here's a picture taken during a break in our fotoshoot today enjoy your weekend, enjoy your life, and enjoy the plants! (speaking of which...where did I leave my tobacco pouch?...) Greenz Steve Sic
I love the spring...
Sic's incomprehensible blog no. 563AWhat a lovely day!,I'm sitting and relaxing a bit in the backyard of "Dreamharps", enjoying the sun. We just had a very good meeting about the coming theatre tour with our Theatre booking-agents (Mojo and Proacts) and things are looking good for the coming year! (we're planning the next theatre and also the german tour around our new Album. It'll be great ;-) And about the studio...wow! what a long day! Yesterday we did sooooo much work! (but I finally got to do a lot of silly stuff and violence on "Dance untill we Die" which was...FUN!) and we finished the day at night in a half dark studio with me being hardly able to stand anymore because of the hard work and the many, many recreational plant cigarettes (to get into the right vibe), Because yesterday we recorded "Shamaniac", a completely tribal, intuitive shamanic-ritual piece which sounds exactly like a really good mushroom trip looks like...if you follow my meaning, which you undoubtedly do...or don't...I don't know actually...but you're reading this so I presume your at least interested...or do you work for the tax-service and are you only checking this blog out to see how I spend my time , so you can figure out how much money I have to give to the government and the royal family to fuck up the country with?...ahem...as always, I digress. But all of that shit don't mean a fecking thing, cause I'm just relaxing in the sun , in a beautifull garden with the sound of water tinkling in the background...I just heard that some organic tosties are ready for me to consume, I have nice joint for desert and everything's cool and I feel fine...enjoy the picture of a flower that Jenny took. Greenthingz and peace! Stevil Sic
Pictures of The Gathering of the Tribes
Yet another beautiful picture album made by a Belgium photographer Lindsay Vanhove. She made a great pictures of Omnia's VK*, Brussels gig. Enjoy. Thanks for sharing ;-) © Lindsay Vanhove
And yet another amazing performance...
You know how much we love handmade instruments, especially reconstructions of ancient ones. Here you can see Steve playing a reconstruction of a 1st Century Celtic Sword (handmade by Steve) and a 9th Century Viking sword (handmade by Paul Binns). You may guess yourselves what song you will be able to hear this on...Little lambs & daffodils Jenny
hey mrs. Tambourine girl play a song for me...
Jenny in da house doing percussive thingz with a tambourine...the temple bells, fingerbells, india bells etc. will be next...what song are we working on do you think?Greenz and tinkerbellz Stenny
Let's get percussive!
OK, so today we are back in the studio, so I can play around some more with some of my louder babies...I love my Drums!!Stenny had a nice long break between gigs and recordings for various rituals last week. The fires were lit, the recreational plants were taken, I got tortured for 8 hours involving a lot of blood, needles and ink. (But that will become apparent soon enough) and we are now on the next stage of our spiritual/psychotic development and ready for more music, religion and life stuff. Spring is in the air, the heat is on and change is all around! We love it!!! Jenny and me are trying to arrange a lot of freaky stuff for this year (how about a small tour in Germany for our German fans? And such like). So that was enough small talk from me on this box, now I'm gonna go into the sound booth and hit the fuck out of a bunch of innocent goatskins... Lined up here you can see: "Megatymp" "Darabuka" "Hammer and anvil" "Dombak" and "Davul". You can figure out yourself which songs they are for...ok ? Greeniez Stenny photo: Sic
New!! OMNIA logo sticker
And other items are back in stock:- Zipped Hoody, sizes: M, L, XXL - Longsleeve, sizes: M, L XL Check it out in the shop!
burn that virus!!!
So after sweating a lot on stage at our really fun gig last saturday we feel a lot better. (the fantastic food given to us by our sweet "northern" PaganClan tribe was amazing by the way , I was stuffing myself with veggie-samosas and whatnots on the way home in the van at night! and also Thanx for the Art!The same can be said to our german friends because after the groovy relaxed Faun "unplugged" gig yesterday here in our hometown, Steve is less sick (though always "Sic") and Jenny feels a lot better. Sadly she has lost her voice though...so we are currently looking under furniture and in the garden etc. to see if we can find it, but no luck so far. Greenthingz! Stenny ps: tomorrow on the full moon something drastic will change forever...time to let go, don't try to hold on... photo by: Steve Sic
Sic is Sick...urgh...and Jenny too...so OMNIA grinds to a halt untill we are well again...
the warm voice of Luka soothes our haggard minds
the working days are starting to get to us a bit...Jenny and me are "fraying around the edges" a little, we're working too much , too fast and without enough rest I think. We had a great though exhausting gig in Brussels last weekend ,although judging from the surrounding area it seemed more like a ghetto in North Africa... (I sincerely hope that none of our fans were hassled outside the venue after the gig...I was really worried about you guys out there, you know) But anyway...the studio... I have a feeling Jenny and me are going to collapse soon, so Luka is doing the honours now, singing some more backing vocals into the magic recording machine, and when he's finished and we've selected and cleaned his tracks We are going to go home and crash out for a couple o' days (so we're cancelling the rest of the studio days for this week...) The spring is underway, the Green is sprouting,Our minds are hopefull but I'm fucked and Jenny's wrecked...Luka is finished and we iz going home now... hasda la proxima Esteban Sic
I love the sound of uilleann pipes in the evening...
It smells like victory...yum!Tonight Jenny and me have been joined by Joe who has brought us a member of his "old" band Shantalla to record the Uillean pipes for us on our new cd! Yippee!! none other than Michael Horgan is in the studio with us as I write, on the picture here you can see Jenny going through some of the finer parts of the arrangement with Michael... (...He's playing on "Cornwall" by the way....) signing off now to focus on the recordingz, I hope it doesn't get too late , because we have a gig in Brussels tomorrow! Greeniez Steve Sic
are my lessons done?
working hard still on vocals...I've just had a couple of hours of fun singing my guts out to the mic.And now Jenny is letting her vocal chords work their magic... what a day!. I'm getting kinda tired now, but Jenny still has energy to finish this really cool song we're working on at the moment,it's our first ever real "cover" of a classic song which I won't tell you anything more about...hehehe! we've just finished it and we're making a "rough mix" to take home with us , so we can listen to it in detail to see how we wann do the real mix for this song... So I'm gonna log out again now to finish up here with Sander and Jenny and we'll be able to go home for some rest again in about an hour or so... Good-Green-night and don't let the musical bed bugs bite Steve and Jenny
this is Kristoffer
he has done a fantastic job and we're very happy indeed...as you can see by his face he's also very happy because he's finished with recording now and he can go home...so he has now received "salvation from his pain" (spot the bad pun ;-) you'll get to hear what he did for us when the CD is released Green springthingz Steve and jenny
d'images cameras in da house!
this is Bianca of the D'images video-crew filming Kristoffer doing his bass"thing" in front of the trusty "Neumann" here in the stustustudio.Oh yeah, maybe I hadn't mentioned this before but we have asked D'Images (who did our last DVD and who have also filmed live material of OMNIA at Castlefest 2009) to film parts of the studio process, and they have been joining us in our studio recordings off and on over the last weeks...So... we can "do" a kind of "making of the CD" video/DVD thing as well as a new CD!! yeah! anyway..I have to get back to concentrating on the recording so I will sign off again now...but I shall return today to post a picture of Kristoffer so that you can actually see his face aswell ok? but seriously boyz and girlz...this guy really knows his way around a Bass instrument...absolutely beautifull! Grnz Sic
This is a Double Bass...
...and it sounds like bowed Heaven blended with dark chocolate poured into a heavy wooden bowl...jum!Today we have been joined by the very cool and relaxed Kristoffer Gildenlöw (all you prog-metal fans out there should know this virtuose Swedish bassplaying guy) He will be adding his deep sonic darkness to our new album... maybe I'll put another picture on later where you can see his face aswell ;-) Greenz and Blackz Stenny
another day, another instrument...
Hmmm? a rather handsome Swedish gentleman has come into the studio today with one enormous and one gigantic violin and some bags containing various guitar shaped tools.(see picture) We'll let you know later on who he is and what he's doing here with Stenny and Sander in the studio today. Greenz of Spring Stenny ps: yesterday was a bitching long day, but wow! we did a recording of "dance untill we die" that can kill politicians and aristocracy at 50 yards by sound alone! rock on!
meet the audience!
I'm a Neumann M149 tube-microphone, I'll be your translator for the coming OMNIA experience. You see OMNIA talks, sings and plays to me, and I help the recording machines to remember what they did, so that later it can be burned onto a mass of cds which you can listen to...it looks like another long day of listening for me again....I do hope Steve doesn't shout to loud at me...again... nice to meet you! Neumannii
And now for some artwork.....
At this moment we are having our first artwork meeting for the new album, with Miez & Fieke. We are going to make this a very pretty booklet indeed....Greenthings from our living room Steve & Jenny
and another take finished...
here you see Sander and Jenny evaluating what's just been recorded and looking serious...
and now for some extra keyboards
I love the sound of keyboards in the evening...'sounds like victory...it's dark outside now and the first joints have been consumed to mellow the atmosphere.. Jenny is playing and recording right, now 2 metres in front of me so I have to type really softly not to distract her... ah ...she's finished...back to work ... Greeneveningz Sic
Guess what song this is!
cool eveningz in the studio
this is Jenny singing on "Toys in the attic", with Sander working the recording-controls .We're still going strong , although I must say I'm getting tired. Oh well... when you're a rockstar your working day tends to be slightly longer than with most other professions...but it's fecking great though! Greenthingz in the eveningz Sic
Steve Sic in da house!
Look, this is my sweet husband. He's really good at making great pictures of other people, and also at making them look all antique and tasty and then writing something witty and intelligent on this newspage... I'm not good at that kind of stuff, but still I try. It seems unfair to not include a picture of Omnia's drive and creative mastermind in our studio report, don't you think?So here, for your pleasure, a picture of Steve Sic on his guitarbouzouki "MonsterMash" (he's recording Taranis at the moment I write this). Love and Greenthingz! Jenny xxx
Oli sang
Kaat sang...
the NyckelHarpa is done! ;-)
Jabberwocky get's some seriously frumious nyckely!
On this frosty though sunny spring morning Stenny has been joined in the studio by our dear friend Kaat,who is now playing the NyckelHarpa for the recording of Jabberwocky as I write this...As you can see in this picture we can expect the finest quality in sound on this difficult instrument because NyckelHarpa-expert Oliver S. Tyr of "Faun" is here aswell to help with the fine tuning! this day with our soulsister Kaat and our musical soulbrother Oli is turning out great already, Yeah! Maybe we can convince them to do a bit more before the day is through !! Greenz and Pagan's in the sunny studio! Love Stenny
this is a picture by a Cornishman of a Dutchman taking a picture of an Irishman
time for some neccessary foto-work done by a professional this time! Joe's playing some sweet stuff in the booth.photographer Marcel, tribe-mum Moniq and Merch-babe Chloé are in the studio with us aswell now ,keeping us company. Who knows, they might even end up on the cd recordingz aswell today! ;-) greenz ,sundrops and I believe it's now time for some happy plants! Stenny
this is an Irishman tuning his custom-dadgad guitar...
So today it's Joe's turn in the studio! we're listening to him doing a fecking power version of Saltatio on his trusty "lightning Takamine" at this very moment...Rock on!!greenz in the snow! Steve, Jenny and Joe ;-)
Pictures Fairyball III Bibelot, Dordrecht
Go see the Picture Page for some fecking nice pictures taken by our expanding group of Omnia Photographers. This time the pictures are taken by (and check there websites for even more beautiful Fairyball III pictures):Diana Bloemendal (http://www.imadia.nl/) Rosanne de Lange (http://s808.photobucket.com/albums/zz3/Rosanne86/Omnia%20FairyBall%20III%20-%2014-02-10%20Dordrecht/) Martijn van Dijk (http://www.xs4all.nl/~vdijk1/Site_van_martijn/Evenementen/Evenementen.html) Thanks for sharing this with us, I love your work
this is my love...
look... this is the woman I love....She's singing...Isn't she sweet?, she's talented too you know! and I love her sooo much...sigh!...I'm such a lucky guy! Ah!...did you notice that spring is starting by the way? the Robins and the Blackbirds are gracing us with their songs again and the sun is getting brighter day by day. It fills me with hope for the re-awakening year. anyway the studio recordings are still going very very well, Jenny is singing like an angel and I'm very happy indeed. Greenthingz and Happyfacez! Steve Sic
I also got a giant lolly !
yep Jenny and me are also doing some vocals today...so Luka doesn't get lonely in the studio.greenthingz and pop filters! Stenny
and the beat goes on...here we go again!
So we iz back in the stu stu studio,Luka is in front of the mics doing the didge-thing in the studioroom on "Love in the Forest" and many other groovy trackz...It's all sounding great sitting here in the control Booth...I think with a bit of Luck we'll have Luka starting to put in his unique Bass vocals aswell today! The sun is shining, spring is in the air and we're recording a song about having sex in nature... I love this life! Greenthingz! Steve and Jenny (en de groetjes van Sander)
Didge from the deep...
Yeah baby! we're rocking out with Luka on didge, on this beautifull dark and dreary night...but here in the studio the atmosphere is hot and groovy..Luka is giving his all playing a slideridoo from Hell, this is gonna rock!!! Yeah and Greenthingz! Stenny
he he he!
and now...electric guitar?!
This picture seems similar to the last shot of philip...but look closely.....Do you see the Marshall stack with the peavey amp on top?... it's evil little glaring eye blinking red like a balefull sun descending upon a dying world...Kill-meister Phil is holding his trusty axe of metal-death to fill our new cd with the "songs of Angels and screams of Demons" so we can turn the new CD into a real brütal legend!....ahem...well OK maybe the heavy effect is dampened a little by the fact that Philip is wearing his slippers and sitting comfortably on a chair... (he's still tuning on this picture)....but we can hear what it sounds like here...and seriously folks, I think my earwax just melted... Oh my gods! He just stood up and put his boots on...argh now it's getting serious! We must get back to what's happenin'.. love Stenny
and now...guitar!
So...Stenny is in the studio with one of our guitar players now, for the next installments on our new CD production.Today it is Philip's turn to make some noise and pick those strings in front of the high-tech mics of Sander van der Herk's studio... so on we go, with stringz and thingz Greenthingz Steve
New item in webshop!
Check the webshop for the new limited edition sleeveless hoody!
Record untill we die!!
and he we are in the studio again, today jenny and me have been joined by Tommy! Here he is doing the violent stuff with his black custom-sticks of Doom on the recording of "Dance untill we Die"...The snow still lies thick on the ground, our hangovers from the fairyball have reached less epic proportions. Tom is doing all the hard work today, so Stenny is fine...all we have to do is double check the arrangements, make "producer like" artistic comments and look as if we know what we are doing....ahem..........and the beat goes on......... oh...he's starting on "Love in the Forest" now, so I have to concentrate and look intelligent...I'd better put this laptop away now.. Greenthingz! Steve and Jenny
Fecking Fantastic FairyBall III !!!
Wow, we had the most amazing time in Dordrecht in a completely fully-packed Bibelot. (check out the picture taken by Diana when she was standing in line to get in)I always soooo enjoy the gigs we've arranged ourselves There were fans and freaks who came from all over Europe to this gathering of the PaganClan and the "free peoples of Fairyland". There were Italian, French, Belgian, German, Dutch Austrian,Swiss and even Greek fans massed in front of the stage which we shared with our sweet friends Kelvin Kalvus, Kaat, Aisha, "Kelten XL" and "Las Fuegas". The signing session (75min.!!!) was slightly longer than we expected...soo many fans, so many questions, so many cd's, posters and boobs to sign! So sadly we had no time to do a foto session at the end (sorry) But no worries! we'll just have to catch up on photo taking at the next FairyBall we'll do! Thanx to all who were there and who contributed to this wonderfull night of magic! Greenthingz and Love Stevil the Horny and OMNIA foto copyright : dear Diana Bloemendal www.Imadia.nl
wolfsong in the snowwe started recording "wolfsong" today and it started snowing again! (check the view from our studio window)This is good for atmospherics in a song about blood and death in a winterforest blanketed in freezing snow!... happyface so I just wanted to show you, now I get back to the studiowork because this laptop is distracting me terribly... greeniez! Stevil
recording the grand piano in the stustustudio ;-)
so...back to work on our Opus Magnus...Today Jenny and me have moved to a different studio to record the grand piano for the new OMNIA cd. Jenny is doing "her thing" on the keys of this beautifull, more than 100year old Pleyel grand piano. This ancient babe has a very distinctive deep and wide sound with a kind of un-nerving "horror" quality to it. everything is going fine, Jenny plays like a goddess and Sander the studio technician is very relaxed to work with. (he's is a great musician himself as he used to be the guitar player in one of my favourite dutch bands!) and the work goes on... Greenthingz! Stenny
RECORDING the NEW CD of OMNIA started TODAY
Merry Imbolc everyone, the snow lies all around and the sun is shining, and we are in the new studio we chose for "day 1" of the recording process of our new cd! (the CD-Title is as yet still top secret). We have a really sweet recording technician helping us, called Silvia (her name means "from the forest" for all you non-etymologists out there)Jenny will start everything today with her Harp... Love , Hope and Greenthingz! (covered in white) Steve and Jenny
Pictures Old School concert PJT, Maarssen
I know, I know, It took me some time. To busy with my Holiday :-). But here they are; the Pictures of the Old School concert @ Pim Jacobs Theater. This time by: Alex van der Werf, Martijn van Dijk and me.
GLASS WALLS
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.18Do you still like the Beatles? I've always loved the Beatles because their music was so non-conventional,non-genre, diverse and refreshing.(like the music that OMNIA makes nowadays actually). Well Sir Paul McCartney (the most famous still living "Beatle") has just proved to me that he is still a prime-mover in non-conventional thought by helping to make the documentary "Glass Walls" about the absolutely shocking and vicious evils of the MeatIndustry. I hope that by watching this movie more people will realise how downright disgusting and sickening this violent genocide of our fellow living creatures is. go to this webpage: http://meat.org/ to see the movie that I'm talking about. if you are already a vegetarian or a "Eco-meat" eater: don't watch this! it's just so shocking and sick it will make you upset for a long time to see how far "Homo sapiens sapiens" can go to make a few dollars and your frustration about this cruelty will get so bad you will really wanna start a war to stop it... (like me) BUT If you are a (non Eco) meat eater: WATCH THIS FILM!!,from start to finish...watch it twice or more. Earn the right to eat cheap meat if you dare... Realise that all this is happening for YOU! yes YOU! If you feel you can't handle what you see, or if you feel like crying or vomiting because of it THEN don't stop watching this movie but STOP EATING THIS FECKING INDUSTRIALISED MEAT!!! just stop it and never ever do it again! If you really want to eat meat, don't eat it everyday and buy it from a certified "Green" butchershop. (this will actually improve your own health aswell!) Or better still if you feel you can get rid of the "habit" of eating meat become a vegetarian! there that was my "verbal" two cents about the senseless torture of animals... the physical two cents would involve either a recording studio or a "molotov coctail-party" somewhere ,I'm not really sure yet...hmmmm? Greenthingz and a Love of ALL LIVING THINGZ! Steve Sic
Real Celtic Old School gig in Maarssen was amazing!
Wahaa! we had so much fun at our "Old School" OMNIA gig in Maarssen last Sunday. It was stunning (and a little scary for us) to play so many of our really really old compositions including the kind of mucking around and making a complete arse out of performing...just like we always used to do! We had the sweetest audience imaginable in the completely sold out Pim Jacobs theatre where more than half the audience had brought their own pillows and sheepskins etc to sit on (we thought it would be nice to have the floorsitting thing like we used to in our old "Pagan Attic" for sentimental reasons) We wore our old Celtic tribal-costumes, we had our original banner,one of our chopped off head's "onna stick" and loads of Celtic and Gladiatorial weaponry lying around on stage. Luka was cracking jokes like a stand up comedian and being really silly, Jenny was lost in fits of giggles and I was lost for words half the time (really!) Apart from the music we were also able to give our fans there some "behind the scenes" stories about the past of OMNIA (including the truth behind the song "Priapus"!) Which was an education not only for our fans but also to our newer bandmembers Tom and Philip who were actually still in primary school when we started the band back in '96!! But that didn't stop them (and Kaat) joining us on the stage during the second act. A fecking great evening all round, so many friends, so many memories, sooooo many gifts! (thanx again all of you that give us so much, especially mega-artist Yves! merci!) Let's do this again some time! but first we're gonnan focus on some "new School"projects , cause there's a new album waiting to be recorded and there's a very special Fairyball on feb. 14th Valentines day coming up! (read all about it in the new RavenTimes coming in januari!) Stay Green, Stay free! Yulethingz! Steve Sic
Photo's Theatre Tour, Emmeloord
I have done a lot in B&W this time. Because I like it so much!Check them out in the gallery! Pictures by: Me
the Master of MythagoWood has gone
We’re lost for words and deeply moved and saddened by our friend Robert Holdstock’s sudden departure from this world…we’ve just received the bad tidings that the great writer passed away on Sunday and ...I was re-reading his last mail which he sent to Jenny and me and it’s just so hard to comprehend that this is merely an echo of him still living inside our computer.This funny charming creative poëtic man has departed these realms forever...Those who are left behind have the hardest part to play,we wish Sarah, his wife and family and friends the strength and courage to survive the cold of the coming winter. As for us..so much remains unsaid…so much remains unanswered… His world has become a part of our lives and we have become a part of his world… May his soul forever dwell in the primal forest he described so well… we’ll carve runes of remembrance in the sacred place for you, Rob,and we'll honour you in song... journey on. Jenny and me grieve for you…Omnia grieves for you
Photo's Theatre Tour, Bodegraven
I received, out of the blue, photos.Admire, with me, these beautiful pictures taken by Rosanne de Lange, during the Omnia gig at CC Evertshuis, Bodegraven November 21, 2009. Follow her example and surprise me :-) P.S. The picture Steve used (see below) is also by Rosanne de Lange.
we survived the mexican/pig flu!
Wow, what a tough weekend! Jenny and myself both had a heavy dose of influenza in our system which totally destroyed our health and voice BUT we still had to do a whole bunch of theatre gigs in a row (...I wanted to phone the boss to tell him we were sick and wouldn't come to work...but I realised that it was me...and I'm always sic...so, no help there)Sometimes it's kinda hard if you wanna live from "Rock'nRoll" but hey! we did it! and we still got our kicks out of it as did the audience! Though I must say we had a lot of help from our friends to see us through it all! Major kudos to our new crew (Bart,Justin and Ard!) Tribe-mother Maja made usgood healthy organic food for every gig and the lovely dancer Aisha joined us on stage in bodegraven to compensate for my extra snotty face and to give us more energy (Jenny actually fell asleep on the stage during that soundcheck because she was soooo wasted!) Philip and trainee-roadie Tim made our sunday gig more bearable and ofcourse our fans the "PaganClan tribes" helped us get the energy to "Feel alive!" (a special thanx goes to the Fangorn Tribe from Germany for giving us a basket full of eco-food for on the road, it was lovely!) I must say we feel a lot better now and we're looking forward to the gig coming weekend in Emmeloord (NL) Greenthingz! Steve Sic (a little less sick) and Jenny (still coughing but hopefull!)
who's that guy!?
During the last OMNIA gig the audience was witness to a strange occurrence.Before entering the stage Joe morphed his appearance into a different looking longhaired person and he played the whole gig as such.(well it's either that or Joe was exercising his busy pan-european schedule by being in Spain to see a bunch of Germans at the time of the OMNIA gig and somebody else was playing instead of him!) A member of the audience has captured the mystery-guitar-dude on camera, so here is the proof! (although the picture is rather fuzzy it's definately not Joe is it?) Who is he? His name is Philip will he join OMNIA? you'll find out soon enough... can he play? ah! that's an easy one to answer... YES! He can play brilliantly and he is a pleasure to jam with!! keep an eye out for Philip on our coming gigs, he might just come on stage again some time in the near future... Greenthingz! Steve Sic photo by Cervidaexx
Pictures Gothic & Fantasy fair
Finally the pictures of the Gothic & Fantasy fair are online. 3 fantastic pages of Omnia fun. Thanks for your help on this one. Special thanks goes to: Mrs. Jolanda, Harold Doppenburg, Jacques Näring and Marcel van Beek. Photo by: Jacques Näring
OMNIA MerchBabes on Tour...SOLO!
Our dear sweet Merchandise-Babes Chantal and Chloë are so enthousiastic and charged up with energy, that they couldn't wait for an actual OMNIA gig to get the shop set up and running. So they've decided to go out and represent OMNIA even before the Band actually shows up to play!This means that their happy smiles will be gracing the OMNIA merchandise stand at the Gothic and Fantasy Beurs in Rijswijk (NL) all weekend , so you can already buy a nice warm hoody or one of the VERY lAST "limited edition" CD's on SATURDAY! even though OMNIA is only playing a show there on the Sunday! photo: "babes packing the merch" by Sic
Sacred Samhain!
Today is a holy day, the old life has passed, the time of rest in nature approaches. Tonight the living and the dead stand on the same plane of existence. Meditate on what you have achieved and done these past seasons ,remember and respect those that have gone before and sacrifice something in honour of the dead... then we will do this together in spirit! and now to quote "the Kurgan" (one of our favourite movie characters)... "Happy Halloween Ladies!" (and gentleman aswell ofcourse) Goldenred and and Brown mixed with greenthingz to you all! Stenny and OMNIA
PAGANCLAN,so do we need a flag now?
Greenthingz to you all on this lovely autumn day in 2009!This is a quick update from me to let you know how things are going in the PaganClan and in OMNIA. First of all I'd like to say thankyou to all the people who have pledged their support up to now, it is heartwarming to realise that we are not alone in our way of thinking... "the Tribes are gathering!" Because there are now already PaganClan Tribes popping up all over the place,although most don't even have names yet , I thought it might be wise to let you all know where they are and who the Tribe-messenger are that we have up to now. Ofcourse any one from the PaganClan can still form other tribes so we can get as many people as possible involved in the "active" PaganClan to do weird quests and stuff (as we suggested in the last RavenTimes Magazine). here is the list so far as it stands on Samhain 2009: the three coordinating tribe mothers are: Maja for the English and German language Tribes - maja@worldofomnia.com Ju for the french language Tribes - ju@worldofomnia.com Moniq for the Dutch language Tribes - moniq@worldofomnia.com they can be contacted directly via email if you want to start your own Tribe or if you have other questions regarding OMNIA or the PaganClan. if you wish to join one of the already existing tribes here is a list of the tribes and the cities they are based in ,the Tribe mothers have the e-mail adresses of the tribe messengers so simply ask Maja, Ju or Moniq to connect you up! Belgium (francophone): - Tournai : "Chaos Seeds tribe" messenger is Seb - Liège : ------------ messenger is Elodie - Namur : "Cernunnos' Child" messenger is Bacchus - Mons : ------------ messenger is Greg - Bruxelles: ----------- messenger is Corentin Belgium (Vlaams): - Gent e.o. " Galadhrim" messenger: Dallan France : - Paris and Angers: ----------messenger is Mariel - Bouches-du-Rhône : -----------messenger is Célie - North of France:---------- messenger is Sebastien - Alsace et Vosges:--------- messenger is Hélène - Amiens: --------- messenger is Philippe - Brittany : "Breizh tribu" messenger is Mathilde And there is also a french language site run by Tribal web messenger Cédric for the PaganClan ! http://paganclan.be United Kingdom: - under construction: messenger is Kerry Germany: - Geldern/Wermelskirchen : "Fangorn" messenger is Alex - München : --------- messenger is Heike If you’d like to get in touch with other German fans in your region in order to found a new Tribe with them please write a short mail including your name and postal code to Maja@worldofomnia.com Switzerland: - under construction: messenger is Andreas - under construction : messenger is Asl Denmark - under construction: messenger is Christian Brazil: - Sao Paulo: "Hednir Clan": messenger is Stephany Netherlands : -Zuid-Holland: "Yggdrasil" messenger: Faldor -Flevoland/Noordholland: "Lifthrasir" messenger: Maeveen -Utrecht: "Clan Mc Kentrall" messenger: Jali -West-Brabant: "Danann" messenger: Laura -Overijssel: ------------ messenger: Vivian -Nijmegen: ------------ messenger: Mairin -Drechtsteden:(dordrecht e.o) ---------- messenger: Flierefluiter -Tilburg: --------- messenger Cyane Moon -Bollenstreek ---------- messenger: Wus -Het Noorden --------- messenger Drakinnetje -Zuid-Holland --------- messenger Charlotte So if you fancy joining the Active side of Paganfolk philosophy then contact us and join up with people who think just like you! Greenthingz on Autumnwingz! Steve Sic and OMNIA ps: all material relating to the RavenTimes (ie: tattoo pictures, "omnia shirt on tour", "questions for the band" etc. can now be mailed directly to our own RT-editor Femke at: femke@worldofomnia.com pps: the winners of the OMNIA lottery will be publicised in the next Raventimes due in the first week of januari 2010! photo: Steve with cornish flag by Marcel Bakker
New live pics!
Check them out in the gallery! If you have pictures of this gig send them to: photos@worldofomnia.com. Cheers, Marcel (on behalf of Stenny)
OMNIA and Human POLITICS!?
Sic's incomprehensible blog.no.17Well.. as you all know OMNIA is not a "normal" band in the accepted sense of the word.We have a very rare ingredient in our basic build up called "principles",(something which was quite common in the alternative scene of the 80's but which is sadly in decline nowaday).This means we don't merely play in a band to make money,to get our ego's aired on stage and to abuse groupies...ahem... (although we do enjoy a good time and the sound of a happy audience as much as the next artist of course) It's just that we are not a bunch of brainless "entertainment prostitutes" like most bands that you'll find cluttering up the airwaves on your compo, tv or radio, spewing endless boy/girl songs ,covers and other drivvel.while promoting the sales of alcohol and useless consumer garbage. Because of our handicap (and believe me guys, in this business having principles is definately a handicap!) we say NO to "bad" employers and suchlike plus we feel the need to spread a bit of awareness around in our audience. This is one of those awareness moments: Joe who doesn't just play guitar with OMNIA but also works (very high-up) in the EC in Brussels wants to bring your attention to the fact that the new European president will be a rightwing dickhead who will be CHOSEN (not elected) for us...unless we try to do something about it by signing a petition (and getting others to do the same) You see there is a much better alternative for the post of president in the person of Mary Robinson (this is Joe's personal recommendation guys!and he knows his stuff!) So I want to invite you to check out the whole story on our facebook: http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=38210428857 and exercise your rights as a citizen of Europe to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! there that was just my two cents and don't forget to enjoy this wonderfull autumn day aswell! Love (for Nature) Respect (for Creativity) Greenthingz (for Everyone) Sic XXX
the Tribes are Gathering!!
So this is what a "PaganClan-Tribe" looks like!Meet the Hednir Clan from Sao Paulo!(our first official Brazilian PaganClan Tribe). Since we asked our fans to gather in PaganClan tribes the response has been (and is) astonishing. Altough I must say I haven't seen a European group (yet) that looks so fucking fierce and Nordic/Celtic as our brothers and sisters from across the ocean! "Etrezomp ni Kelted" the Celtic tribes are Gathering! Green and Brown Autumn thingz! Steve Sic
GUESS WHO'S BACK!?
YEAH!!, The Raven Times is back online!!After long months of absence our PaganClan fanzine has hit the web again,and now with 10.000 readers worldwide! Jenny and me could never have got this issue out without a lot of help, so major thanx should go to the amazing hard work of our sweet friends: Marius (all the computer lay-out and building work) Kaat and Femke (pre-editing) Maja and Célie (translations) Miez and uncle Alan (extra artwork) so go and download your copy of RAVENTIMES 7 right now! "SMILE!" at the pictures of Luka as a small child! "GASP!" at how new songs are born! "SHUDDER!" at the good news and the bad news! "CHEER!" at the new special gigs! and above all...enjoy! Greenthingz! Steve Sic and Jenny what?! you're not a member of the PaganClan Yet and you don't know how to get hold of our free magazine?! just click the button marked fanclub on the side of this screen and you will find out ;-)
work in progress on website
there is some serious repair-work going on in our website.Marius (our new cyber-doctor) is doing some serious shit behind the scenes in the "bones" of our site. So it could be possible that strange things happen during the next week. (the website could go offline suddenly, the forum could change into chinese language, little demons could come crawling out of your screen...this is the 3rd millenium, anything is possible...) so don't worry, be happy and if the site acts funny, be patient ,cause the doctor is working. (oh! what a great pun, I'm so proud!) Greenthingz] Steve Sic
Let's keep it all in the family!
New photos by Marcel Bakker in the gallery!!OK people, it's official now! After years of drooling over his fantastic live photos and hoping that he will make more of his art at every gig we do, we have finally had the courage to ask Marcel Bakker to be our "official" photographer...and...he said "yes"! He is now an integral part of the OMNIA-family and runs and edits the photo pages of our photo gallery (click on "pictures" on the left hand side of this page to see them). And our wonderful Merch-babe Chloë (who also happens to be Marcel's daughter) writes the accompanying texts you see below the pictures. And Monique (who happens to be married to Marcel) will get a very special place indeed in the OMNIA family, but you will read more about that in the upcoming RavenTimes...Coming soon...! In the meantime, enjoy the wonderful photographic Art as captured on the OMNIA gigs on Festival Mediaval in Selb, Germany (the best new festival of the last years) and the Pim Jacobs theatre (our own little "home from home") taken by our dear sweet friend Marcel Bakker (cheers mate!). Greenthingz! Steve Sic
First gig "World of OMNIA-theatre tour" sold out succes!
Well the sold-out Pim Jacobs theatre gig was again such an amazing experience for us! We have truly never experienced such an enthousiastic crowd at a theatre-gig before! (and we've seen many crazy ones up to now!) It was like a full blown festival crowd!It felt really good to be surrounded by all you great people who had flocked to listen to our humble offerings on the stage. The new songs went well, and I'm happy to say that everybody accepts all our songs as being 100% OMNIA no matter what style we choose to play in (be it Rap, Murder Ballad, Metal or Cornish modern-folklore) The wonderfull cook at the theatre even made us a delicious completely Ecological meal (which nobody except a small festival in Austria has ever done for us before!)... This was a great start to the season for us and we look forward to putting on the rest of the gigs and introducing even more new songs as we go along. Check out this picture (by Marcel Bakker ofcourse) where Jenny plays her Hammered Dulcimer on one of our new compositions called "Moon"... Greenthingz Steve Sic ps: My one regret of the evening was not talking to the young kid with the all the heavy spikey wristbands after the show.I don't know his name but he asked me for an autograph during the interval-break (when I had no pen and no time) and I never got to see him later...shame..he reminded me of me when I was that age...
Pix Castlefest 2009!
....oh happy days, there are FOUR folders with lovely pictures, taken by lots of fans and Marcel Bakker...thanx guys & girls, great work!Greenthingz Jenny
The Epiphany on the Crossroad
Steve's incomprehensible blog no.16While I was standing on the big stage at Castlefest and playing "Dance until we Die" I had an epiphany (ie: A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something): I realised that there is a special kind of energy. An energy mixed with the group feeling we share together at moments such as these: as the music is pumping and the wickerbeast is burning with all of you guys rocking out, shouting, chanting and getting into the vibe of Life! Those moments are actually the main reason why I want to be a part of OMNIA, and why OMNIA is a part of me. It's this reason that I feel inspires us with need and strength neccessary to keep on writing and preforming the music we make and the message we want to spread: "Love Life, Respect Nature, Live with Honour and Be Free". Together we have been walking a road which has brought us to the point where we stand today...On that particular day of which I speak (the Castlefest Pagan Night, Aug.1st 2009) I was standing on a crossroad. You might not have noticed it to look at me, it may have looked as if I was just standing on the stage as usual, but still I stood on a crossroad. And in my mind's eye there were three paths leading from it. The first path was the path I had taken to get there, a long and wandering road leading through forests and festivals, Music and Art ,Tears and Laughter but mainly leading past thousands of people who have given us so much love and respect, so much trust and belief, so much inspiration and positive life-force. A road I love dearly... The second path was one which had been painstakingly laid out and paved by businessmen over the coarse of 7 long months, a path which supposedly had been primed to lead us to the higher reaches of international fame, TV studios, millions of viewers and listeners, Radio time, record deals etc., something any band would kill for to get, you know, a fast "road to success". The third path was a path quite similar to the one I came on, just the gently meandering road going ever on...Just us and you and the music and the feeling that binds us. A road leading into a forest of unknown pleasures and dangers, where no path is straight or clear but where the flowers grow and birds sing and where the madness of mass-media does not enter at will. On that crossroad it became clear to me that we had been "living in a lie" if we thought that we could try to spread our musical message through the machinations of the mass media and still keep this message intact. I sincerely believed that we had found a way to get our music heard by millions so that we could speed up the process of awareness in all the monkey people. I thought we could change the music business without it changing us. I was wrong. It wasn't possible. We were slowly being forced to change ourselves to fit into a certain hole, but round pegs don't go into square holes, it wasn't working. Our dream of OMNIA was in severe danger because of the stress created by the rough machinations of the business-world. Time and again we had severe doubts as to if we should go on with letting other people take our precious Living "OMNIA" and trying to exploit it on the open market. Time and again we doubted but we tried to go on, for the sake of the music, for the sake of our families who need to be fed, for the sake of the promises we felt obliged to keep with our business managers. We kept hoping that it would work out..basically ...that we would play more gigs , that we would finally get some songs out onto the radio (something every composer/performer has wet dreams about). But the feeling didn't go away, something was wrong...We still wanted the media to carry our songs out into the ether and into the heads of loads of people just like YOU; people who don't know us yet, but who might be happy to hear what we have to say and sing. But we knew in our hearts that the fast-track coarse laid out by our well-meaning managers was going to kill our music and our faith if we kept to the present course. Straight after Castlefest our managers had arranged for us to go on television on a major "A" program (Steve interviewed in front of 1.5 million viewers!). It was all set up but I would have had to make some "concessions" and obey "the media way of working" if I wanted it to happen. Well, I never have and still don't make concessions when it comes to OMNIA. Omnia is my life, it's not a project, I am a real person. Our music is 100% personal emotion, our songs are not covers, they come directly from the heart. When we live and work, we do it as the only true expression of our lives. It's what we were born for. Like bunnies do bunny things, Omnia does Omnia things (and sometimes also bunny things..but I digress). To make a long story slightly shorter, I said "No,I won't do it..." because I would rather go out and play in the street again with a hat on the floor for coins than lose my dignity. I was being forced by convention to "not be myself" but that's the only thing I can be! (That's just the way I am). And things came to a head. After a long and for all parties emotional talk our managers (Theo and Yigal) Jenny and myself came to the mutual conclusion that they would be better off with a band that can obey the restricting rules of commerce, and we would be better off with a manager who is just as weird as us and who understands us and our Fans. What we and the Clan have together is too precious to risk destroying it. I'm glad that most of you understood that we would NEVER let anything serious happen to the dream we hold dear, and that I do mean every word I say on and off Stage. We really enjoyed trying to make a poppy "radio version" of the song "Alive!" because it's fun to muck around with different styles. And it was great fun to work with a professional studio drummer. It doesn't mean our music would become mainstream-music ....for fuck's sake ;-) I mean, we play "Dance until we Die" but it doesn't mean that we are a Rap band now. We're OMNIA, that's "everything" we ever want to be... So "Goodbye" to Cash and World Fame and "Hello" to Freedom! Together with our great band and crew, all our cool and sweet friends, and YOU our loyal fans, we will stay true to the Omnia dream and spread our message as the oak tree grows: Slowly, but beautiful and sustainable with strong roots. Possibly with squirrels in it! :o) See you at the next gig somewhere somewhen (or possibly on a streetcorner), Greenthingz and Stay Free! Steve Sic Evans van der Harten PS: And if any of you ever doubt my intentions my religion or my honour again then you may put your lips together and sweetly kiss my Pagan Arse, OK? :-P
CASTLEFEST ROCKED!!! NEW CD has been RELEASED!
(for the fifth time)We've just arrived back home after all the packing-loading-unloading circus which follows every gig...we've slept just a few hours total all weekend, and we're kind of trippy with exhaustion.Jenny ,Luka and me (Sic) are here in the Stenny-house (the rest of the crew and band are away having their own personal hang-overs at home. Our thoughts at the moment are: Luka sez: "you guys totally blew my mind!, such energy!...I'm happily knackered..." Sic and Jenny say: Massive thanx to all the Fans, volunteers, bands, entertainers and all the people that worked, played and dreamed this magical weekend at Castlefest. You're Love dedication and enthousiasm keeps on reminding why I love playing with OMNIA and why it's important to always be wild and free! together we'll change the world! We had such a fantastic time with all our friends (like Kelvin Kalvus pictured here on the OMNIA stage) and Valravn,Irfan,Lebocha,Orfeo,Rabenshrey,Solstix,las Fuegas,Aisha,and and and so many people and groups I can't write em all down,we love you all! Now you've all met our new Fiddler Yoast and our super drummer Tom this weekend and your reactions made it quite clear that you have accepted these guys as "part of the gang". Those of you who weren't at Castlefest will just have to get to one of our gigs soon to check 'em out. From now on you'll see 'em rocking out on stage with Luka, Joe, Jenny and me wherever we go. THE NEW CD "WORLD OF OMNIA" The limited numbered edition of the New CD "World of Omnia" sold like crazy at Castlefest.You guys really wore-out our Merch-babes Simone, Chloë and Kaat this weekend. If they keep selling at this rate we will be able to do the "OMNIA-LOTTERY" sooner than expected! (do you feel lucky?) You might be wondering what the prizes that you can win with your unique CD number are...well, that's still a secret, because I don't want you to buy an OMNIA cd just to win something with, as if it was merely a lottery ticket. You should buy it for the music and the art it contains, and then we'll draw 33 numbers from the total 3000. The owners of those fortunate 33 cd's will get a prize,from us..to you..Just because we want to give something back to you guys,and this way we can give some personal attention to a few of you because it's become impossible to give personal attention to ALL of you (you are soooooo many nowadays!) Oh yeah,one more thing, I've arranged and made the prizes personally (together with the band) so rest assured they're gonna be cool thingz! there, now I'm gonna collapse with a J... Greenthingz Love and Treez! SteveSic more news later... foto wim (wvphotography)
Holy Fire!!
So we've been real busy building a new set-up and show for Castlefest 2009 the 5th anniversary edition...yeah! (31-7,1&2-8 2009)***addendum***the new cd is finished!and will be available at Castlefest**** Luka, Jenny and Myself were on site in Lisse yesterday building the "Wickerbeast" to sacrifice during the saturday Pagan-night show.Together with a whole team of Castlefest volunteers we had a ball of a time in the sun sweating and working the wicker under the supervising eye of Tjerk who started at 8 in the morning! I didn't have enough time to coordenate the whole building-project this year, so I designed the beast (a giant Stag) together with Tjerk (also known as one of the more weird garbage goblins of "greenthingz")And he led the team...(you did a great job dude!, respect!) I did get to make the head together with Luka though, and Jenny fashioned it's..erm..."thingy"...you know... reproductive organ...(I'm not sure if I should write "Dick" here because Penis sounds soooo fucking sad, anyway, I digress). Jenny and me together will work on making some bollocks today!Big ones!(We're good at that!) The art of Wicker-man/woman/beast building is growing more and more refined and I think we'll have a great ritual on Castlefest this year. Mark and Natas of the organisation will light the beast themselves ,while I proclaim the shamanic ritual from the stage... Ofcourse we hope that you will all place a little sacrifice within the beast when you're at Castlefest so we can send all the offerings together honouring nature's spirits and the Gods in a blaze of sacred fire! The Castlefest-stages (both of them) have been seriously upgraded by the CF-team together with the OMNIA-crew (Arvid,Chris and ofcourse Pieter!) to accommodate the line up of all our friend's bands (old and new) who will be there to play their best for the audience and for each other. So let's get back to the basics!, let's go happy-trippy-hippy wild!, let's get naked under the sun among the trees and enjoy Life to the full! I'm looking forward to a weekend of Castlemadness, the bands are looking forward to it, the entire Castlefest family-crew is looking forward to it, now all we need is YOU! See you there or are you square? Greenthingz! Steve Sic
IMPORTANT NEWS! (really)
Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, Flora and Fauna! I have some Very Important Messages for you (cue the sound of drum rolls and trumpets)...First of all it’s a great honour and a pleasure to introduce Yoast VanEs as a new member of Omnia!! Yoast will add the special sounds of the violin, guitar, mandolin and banjo on the green stage of OMNIA.His first live appearance will (obviously) be on the upcoming Castlefest 2009 festival. YEAH!! Secondly, due to the tremendous increase in work (promotion-work and gigs) for the whole Omnia-gang it will not be possible for Joe to be at each and every event because, as you know, he is a busy (and important) guy in European politics. However, Joe will continue to play with Omnia at as many concerts as possible, and he will always remain our own personal"Ambassador of Omnia" to the world! Thirdly: We have a new drummer!! He's a cool dude, he drums like a demon on steroids and his name is Tom Spaan!! Some of you have already met him during the last show we did at Archeon....and yesterday he officially joined the band. (Rock on Tommy!) OK...and now here's some sad news: After a very successful period together we have really emotional feelings regarding the decision of drummer Mich and merchandising icon Lies to choose a different path. This lovely couple did so much work behind the scenes as well and were in direct contact with the die-hard Omnia fans. From performing on and off stage, coordinating the Raven Times and Omnia’s social network sites, guarding the Omnia way of life, we will never forget your input and energy. Mich brought Omnia rhythm, humor, and was more than a true Omnia family member.The way Lies handled the merchandising in theatres and festivals was one of a kind. Mich and Lies thank you so much for all your love and good luck with your new adventures, wherever they may lead you! Furtermore: The recording, mixing and mastering and artwork of the new album “World of Omnia” is close to finish and we are extremely proud of it!! I'm sooooo curious to hear what all your reactions are going to be on this newest baby in the OMNIA library... So dudes and dudettes, that's what's happenin' in the world of Omnia,right here ,right now. At Castlefest 2009 Omnia will present a new sound, a new album and the new band members, and we're gonna party like crazy!! Come and join the dance of life, 'cause this is going to be a definite case of "be there or be square..." :-) Greenz, Love and positive vibes of Summer to you all Steve Sic and the entire extended OMNIA-family
Nothing new?
You might have been wondering why I don't seem to be writing much on this page lately...well there's a reason. Jenny and me are kinda busy working on the new OMNIA-album. And believe me it's a lot of work! every time we start on a new production we think "ah come on! it can't be that bad! We've done this so many times before it'll be real easy..."But you know there are always upgrades,any time we do something it has to be "better" than the last time. One example of this is the fact that we are now doing the recordings in more than one studio to get that "perfect sound". On the last album "Alive!" Jenny played a very good yamaha piano which had a decent sound and was perfectly ok for the job we needed it to do. But this time there is a lot of piano on the new songs so we needed an instrument which was as good as Jenny is. Theo our manager-dude, found us such a piano in Wisseloord studios in Hilversum. In their studio 1 they have this classic beauty: a giant Steinway grand piano of delicate vintage and in perfect tune! (Jenny was so happy behind it, you should have seen her face as she was playing,she was completely in love!) anyway what I was going to write was: I'm sorry but I don't have any time to write a witty or informative blog-piece here because we're way too busy with recording,mixing,making artwork,etc. and so that's why there is nothing new here...erm... Greenthingz! Steve Sic and Jenny
New live pix!
Check them out in the gallery!
Raven Times 6 is out!
- A look behind the European Roots tour- Breaking news & gossips - OMNIA answers the questions of the fans - Mich's roots Read all about it in this new edition of the Raven Times. Have fun! Mich & Lies & OMNIA PS: Not a PaganClan member yet and so no access to the Raven Times? No problem, just go to "Fanclub", subscribe and download the Raven Times for free!
I bet you didn't expect this!
So what kinda music do I listen to when I'm relaxing? What is the everchanging soundtrack to the life of Stenny? You wanna hear something really SHOCKING?You might imagine us never listening to recorded music at all, but just sitting in the forest listening to the birds and playing and writing our own songs...(well, this is actually true, but only when Jenny and me go and live in nature for periods of meditation and songwriting, which we do every few months). But we also have a busy life in a "normal" house in busy, ugly, noisy Holland. And although we have NO television set, NO radio and NO newspapers, we do have a huge fecking hifi-stereo installation!! And the music we play the most, just for our own enjoyment, is not what you expect, I think. You see, Jenny and me have a gigantic collection of different sorts of music ranging from weird nature recordings, through obscure anthropological recordings of tribal music from different corners of the world, all the way up to modern music of the "here and now". And all those wonderful sounds flow around us every day. But Jenny and me also go through phases of music love for different extremes at different times. Like a year ago, we were listening almost exclusively to "Tenacious D"(especially brilliant songs like "Fuck her gently" ,"The government totally sucks, motherfucker" and "Tribute"). The OMNIA-van has been reverberating to the ultra oldschool metal genius of KG and JB on it's way to many a OMNIA gig (and you may have noticed the famous "pick of destiny" on the OMNIA-punk clip)! (read on below for another shock...)
....Lately I have been introduced into the work of an artist who's rhythm and poetry I play a lot at the moment. You'll never believe this but I'm talking about Eminem/Slim Shady (I'm actually playing it very loud in the background as I'm writing this). He's a big mainstream artist that I first heard about through my son Damien Raven, who likes this music a lot. At first I thought it must be shit, because it's too overproduced and non-acoustic to be real. And I didn't want to listen to it, but after I just recently saw his movie "8-mile" (lent to me by Joe) and heard the amazing title song "Lose yourself", I started looking up more of this modern poet's work, and you know....his words are fucking brilliant! (I'm referring to the amazing lyrical stuff like "97 Bonnie & Clyde", "The way I am" "The real Slim Shady" etc.). So if you ever see me racing by on my skeelers through the suburban mess which is Holland, don't talk to me, and don't try to get my attention at all, because I got a whole load of attitude blaring outta my Skullcandy headphones and with all those beautiful, funny, angry and mesmerising words in my head I might do anything!.... Keep it real Dawgs!....hihihi Sic ps: This was an article that didn't fit in the new RavenTimes which will be published at the end of this week..
Kiddie shirts have been added!!
Check out the cute kiddy shirt that has been added in our webshop today!Photo: Luka Model: Branwyn
Brown is da new Green!
The New Merchandise is NOW online in the webshop!!So I'm telling you like it is Dawg! if you wanna be lookin' just as phat as ma' Homy Luka and ma' main lady Jenny-F Pawn your Glock,Sell your wheels and give ya old clothes to da Homeless and get yourself all these new OMNIA-threads so you be cool, outta sight and totally fly!....y'all! Peace! MC Sic inda house fotos: marcel bakker (also in the shop) thanx to Femke and Thomas for being such amazingly attractive models (our webshop will never be the same again)
Yeah! the new shirts and hoodies have arrived!
Dear sweet Yigal (one of our new managers) spent all of yesterday braving monstrous traffic jams in a rental truck to pick up all our new shirts from the new printer in Germany. And ooh baby! they look real pretty!!We have new hoodies,special Girlie hoodies, hooded cuty shirts, longsleeves, regular shirts etc. and for the new season I have chosen to change the design colour to deep forest brown, so it will go well with black as well as with colours. (the green clashed a little for the Gothies who dig on blood red and intestinal purple etc. ;-) You can order the new stuff from the webshop starting next week. And we will start selling it through the merchandise stand at the next theatre-gig in Hengelo on friday april 3rd enjoy the spring! Steve Sic
I love ROCK and ROLL!
After what seems like years (although it was only a couple of months) we finally played a Rock-venue again.Well, we were in pop-stage "de Meester" last night and wow! that was fun!! ;-)I had almost forgotten the whole atmosphere of that kind of stage, because we seem to play so many luxurious theatres nowadays.Ah! the smell of the beer and sweat!, the incessant noise!, the worn-down sound systems! the veritable heaps of snacks and drinks in our backstage! and... as crowning glory upon our already over-nostalgically overloaded pleasure-centres we were even allowed to smoke inside there!!! (in the posh theatres we get sent outside to huddle like tramps and junkies over our sad and pityfull addiction in the cold and damp) We really really enjoyed this high energy gig, played in front of such a sweet and cool crowd that was really blazing with enthusiasm! We had a hilarious signing session in the foyer afterward in which our silly signatures ended up on all sorts of items and body parts! and everything was just as it should be. (How come theatre crowds never ask to have their boobs signed?) Well guys I can tell you, it's great to play in theatres, but I do sooooooooooooo LOVE ROCK'N ROLL! See ya around! Steve Sic photo by Marcel Bakker
More Theatre Pics!
And one more little update for the picture addicts! Two new albums are uploaded in the pictures gallery with some more impressions from our European Roots Theatre Tour. Our official paparazzi Marcel Bakker was present in Kampen, while Eric Pelgrom from the Dimages Team sent us his best shots from the gig in Capelle a/d Ijssel. Enjoy it! Greenthings, Mich & OMNIA (picture: Eric Pelgrom)
New pictures!
And suddenly there's news every day!Today's news is: New pix of the show we did in "Theater aan de Schie", Schiedam, NL on 10 February. They were made by Diana Bloemendaal and wow can she make nice photo's....Thanks Diana! Have a look for yourself by clicking on 'Pictures' in the menu. Enjoy :o) Greenthings Mich & Jenny & Steve Sic
Arvid the Artist
This picture was taken at our show in Kampen by Marcel Bakker, showing the mesmerizing effect created by Arvid (our lovable lightguy), whom I publicly insulted by calling him a "technician" (sorry Arvid), you see he is about as technically inclined as a dead pig (his words, not mine!).So... this is some higher resolution proof of the work of our new Light-engineer?..artist?...guru?...madman? Enjoy! Greenz and positive vibes to all! Stevil Sicula bi-fortunatus ;-)
Ah! The Theatre!
We just love doing these theatre gigs, they're so relaxed to do! Perfect for life-enjoying musicians like ourselves. Good long soundchecks, great lighting and atmospheric possibilities and good food. I always feel that often when we play a big festival we have to "survive" a show, and we are mostly playing with the massive group energy of a crowd. But when we play a theatre we actually get the chance to really play our MUSIC as we mean it to be heard...;-)I'm sorry we haven't had any new picture galleries added of our latest gigs, but some technical things have had to be changed on our site because of our new web address: "World of OMNIA!" (www.worldofomnia.com) We'll have this all fixed soon so you can admire the handywork of the new light engineer in our ever-growing technical team. Greenthingz and treehugz! Steve and Jenny photo by bowgirl
European Roots... the adventure continues!
4 gigs in a week... We just all got a Stenny breakfast and are ready to leave for the last gig of this omniesque week. For those we'll meet tonight: see you later, we're ready for the show.And for the people who won't be there, you still have the chance to be part of our theatre tour and enjoy the cosy, warm and intimate atmosphere of our European Roots Tour. Just check out our agenda. Greenies, OMNIA
Horror-Finger
Well, I had an interesting gig last weekend...you see last week I got into a serious discussion with Henk Bouwman (our former manager/booking agent). We talked about music and my career and stuff like that, when we got into a disagreement about what I should wear on stage.(he doesn't like black clothes at all) So I told him to bugger off, and that we would look for a new manager straight away.The situation escalated dramatically untill we ended up rolling around on the floor of my garden-house billiard room, punching and kicking like politicians at a fund-raiser event. I can tell you it was an ugly scene! At one point he got my finger into his mouth , and threatened (through clenched teeth) to bite it off and destroy my chances of ever playing the violin again! So I did the only decent thing I could do, ie: I shot him and buried him underneath one of our tennis courts by the pool. But this left me with the horrendous prospect of doing a complete OMNIA show with a busted finger the next day. Well to make a long incomprehensible story no shorter or more understandable at all, we did the gig...and my right-hand index finger hurt like F@#$%#%^$^&**^%$$CK !!!!! (especially while playing my darabuka-drum) but it worked out all right and my finger seems to be healing well (see picture of what it now looks like). And so I write this to you now while typing with my middlefinger (no offence intended) to tell you that life is great, Jenny and me feel fine because it was our wedding anniversary yesterday! So we celebrated Imbolc and each other in style ;-) oh...and we've also found not one but TWO new managers! lots a love and greenthingz to you all! Steve Sic, Jenny and OMNIA ps: Well maybe not all of the above story is true. but this makes better reading don't you think? :-)
Raven Times 5 OUT NOW!
Get your free copy on the "fanclub" page!<-- over there Read all about it! True Facts Behind The Fairy Ball! Steve Risks Life On Frozen Lake!! 1001 Horrendous Facts About Didgeridoo!!! Banana-Strawberry-Sundae Music Genre?! And Much Much More!!!!!!!!! .....enjoy :o)
Fairy Ball II rocked big time!
Well, that's it, it's done. Midwinter has been officially celebrated. The Midwinter horn was blown, the sacrifices were made, Sic was set on fire, the friends and the clan gathered and it was all done in it's proper order so we're happy to report that the Sun WILL actually return this year. OK, so how was it? If you were there, we don't need to tell you; you know. If you weren't there, well, what can we say? How to describe a night of Fairies, Spirits, Music, Magic, Fire and Life?* We enjoyed it so much, and it was such a runaway succes, that we will certainly let the Fairy creatures go crazy on Fairy Ball III in 2009 (check the Raven Times for updates). This Night of Freaky Art wouldn't have been possible without the help of our many good friends that worked on stage as well as off stage to make the night such a whopping bash. So a big THANK YOU goes to: On Stage: Peter & Kalin from one of our favourite bands "Irfan" who flew over all the way from Sofia, Bulgaria to give our rhythm section a huge boost and provide extra sonore vocal accompaniment to many of our pieces, Long-time guest musician and good friend Oli of Faun who sat 8 hours in a train carrying himself and his nyckelharpa all the way from Munich, Germany, and his beautiful lady and our long-time close friend Sister Kaat, who, believe it or not, performed for the first time in front of so many people on her nyckelharpa...Great stuff blondies! The amazing Kelvin Kalvus from Dresden, Germany, graced our stage with his mystical and magical presence...What this man does with Balls shouldn't be possible at all, but somehow he manages to make the impossible possible...Kelvin, we love you too! Bina & Ina of the German Fakir & Firedance Act "Las Fuegas", whom we have known for many years, you girls amazed all of us with your seemingly inhuman capabilities of lying on spikes or glass while you keep smiling, and looking like Seraphim with your extraordinary bewitching wings. And Bran has never been so exciting :-P ! Gorgeous Aisha, looking like a genuine Tribal Pagan Priestess, you gave Saltatio and Dil Gaya a whole new vibrant feel and look...So cool and uplifting! Backstage and off stage we had the honour of welcoming many great people along with our usual crew: Of course there was super roadie Pieter, who was 'on it' as always, 'sound dude' Chris who seems to become even happier when there's an impossible amount of instruments, musicians, monitors and channels involved, and sweet Lies, who's never grumpy and always has a nice word for everybody that wants to buy Omnia merchandise and does such a neat job every Omnia concert. Our extended Crew for this night consisted of "Light guy" Kilian from the far South of Germany who made us all look so pretty on stage and who plays the lights like a musician plays an instrument, this time helped by 'cool new guy' Mark; there was our happy cute long-time friend Chantal who did an amazing job on keeping everybody well-fed and managing the whole backstage, and Gal "Juju the Man" who helped Chris and Pieter making sense of the on-stage spaghetti and sound control. Well, I really hope I didn't forget anybody because this piece is actually way to long! We of Omnia and all our friends at the Fairy Ball wish you a fantasy-full Pagan New Year!! Check out the AMAZING pictures in our gallery, as usual made by Marcel Bakker who did a great job again (thanks to you, Marcel, as well!) Greenthings Steve Sic & Jenny OMNIA
FAIRY BALL SOLD OUT!So....Don't forget we will be organising this more often on a regular basis, so check the Raven Times and this website for the date of Fairy Ball III! Greenthings Jenny
FAIRYBALL II Line-up complete!!
Hello Fairies, Goblins, Trolls and Nymphs,We are very proud to announce to you the list of Pagan friends that will help us make a great musical and magical party of the "Fairy Ball 2" in the Pim Jacobs Theater, Maarssen, NL on December 21st (Midwinter/Yule). (Castlefest visitors might recognise all the following names) KELVIN KALVUS (Germany) will definitely know how to captivate you with his magical contact juggling and possibly show you what other kinds of juggling and magic he has mastered as well (www.kelvinkalvus.de), LAS FUEGAS (Germany) are three as we call it, "Fakir Babes" and will perform some cool (and hot) freaky stuff with maybe more than a little fire (www.lasfuegas.de), AISHA will perform some gorgeous Neo-Pagan Belly Dancing on stage with us, KALIN and PETER of IRFAN (Bulgaria) will join OMNIA on darabuka, def ,vocals and more, for that extra Balkan "ethnic" sound, and last but not least KAAT and OLIVER.S.TYR of FAUN have promised to bewitch the audience with the Scandinavian sounds of their enchanted Nyckelharpa's (www.faune.de and www.myspace.com/lavenderfolk). There will be a dancefloor for a lot of BallFolkdancing! (as well as some chairs for the sitting down and watching/listening of the non-dancers among you) And of course the dress code will be "Fantasy-LARP"... although tastefull BLACK with an OMNIA-shirt is always OK! ;-) Reservations and such: www.PIMJACOBSTHEATER.nl or by phone: 0031 (0)34 6571098. So let's get GREEN!, let's get WEIRD! Let's celebrate a REAL PAGAN MIDWINTER!! See you at the Fairy Ball! Greenthings Jenny,Steve Sic & OMNIA We forgot to mention one credit on the flyer: Picture Aisha by Claudia Crobatia, www.claudiacrobatia.com .
yippee! this is the back of a flyer!!
DVD Trailer has moved!
As you might have noticed, the DVD trailer doesn't start automatically on opening this site. If you want to see it (again), you can go to "Discography" where you will find two links to the trailer.Greenthings! Jenny & OMNIA
Nox Obscura photo's online now!
As promised, here they are, with a million thanks to Marcel Bakker!Greenthingz! Jenny
Three cheers for the newcomers!
Well, that was a fun weekend! Nox Obscura is a success! Well done there to the organisation, who built and presented this Gothic/Steampunk event in record time. And of course they passed the hardest test of all: "How to keep OMNIA happy so they don't slag off the festival on their homepage"! Well, we were very happy indeed. The DJ's who filled the time between the Gothic bands and play-back-theatre acts were very very good indeed as well; We've seldom heard such fantastic music mixes...Well done! "Nox obscura"(Amersfoort, Holland) and "Festival mediaval"(Selb, Germany) are to my mind the best organised newcomers in the festival scene of this year, and a welcome change to a scene which can certainly use some original thinking. You both get a big thumbs-up from OMNIA! Thanx for inviting us along on your path of discovery. And of course Thanx to all of you guys who flocked to fill the space before our stage as always. We had a good time eh? And I must say I love all the little presents we keep getting from some of you! The gift-list for NOX was, among other things, a baggy of very tasty eco-grass which we smoked before the show on Sunday (hence the very giggly and weird start to the set), a bottle of mead (from the cleaning-fairy), 5 cute little autumn-present bags (containing delicate seasonal chocolates, candles and whatnots), an enormous heart-shaped apple pie (which we devoured after the show on Saturday together with the chocolates) a "we love SCUM"-banner covered in signatures of psychos ;-) and lots and lots of hugs, cheers and love from all of you... for all this, as ever, you have our humble gratitude! Until we meet again in some Dutch theatre or on another festival somewhere in Europe.. Greenthingz! Steve Sic & OMNIA PS: There will be a new photogallery soon by our dear photographer and friend Marcel, because this weekend he was there, pointing his "assault-canon" around all over the place! PPS: This pic is our sexy friend Medusa who did groovy psychotic steam-punky thingz at the festival and she's actually pregnant...Wow! What a mum she'll be... *sighs* ;-)...Medusa, congratulations from all of us!
NOX OBSCURA for the first time!
Hey Guys did you know that we're playing on the NEW Vana (you know, those weirdos that organise Castlefest)festival NOX OBSCURA this weekend:http: //www.nox-obscura.nl/ We'll be playing together with our friends from QNTAL,yeah! ..hey , I'm getting a deja-vu...oh...no I'm not not ;-).. see you all there! Greenthingz! (even though it's autumn) Steve Sic and OMNIA
"Pagan FolkLore" DVD/Book
Well, our long awaited Book and DVD project is finally finished and available on-line in the webshop on this very website (it will be available in most specialized record stores starting September/October 2008).But, remember, guys and girls! This is not just another normal Band-DVD, because as you may or may not know we are not just a normal band......So it's actually a full colour illustrated 48-page hardcover spaced-out fairytale book about OMNIA. Inside this pretty little book is also the first ever official OMNIA-DVD all produced and made by our very own little production company "Paganscum Records"! On the DVD there's live-concert videos of our unique "Fairy Ball" show in April 2008 at thePim Jacobs Theatre in Maarssen (NL), there's also some OMNIA 'Live on Stage' with loads of our friends playing for a massive pagan crowd at Castlefest 2007, Lisse(NL) and there are special unplugged or just weird music videos of us that you will not really expect... We also put in "the only interview with OMNIA that you will ever have to see" to understand who we are and why we're like this...ahem...you know, like slightly insane and suchlike...yes...anyway...There's "Behind the Scenes" (which is total chaos, it's a fecking miracle that we ever get anything done) and "Bloopers and Outtakes" (oh the shame, the shame!), home video-recordings by Stenny (Steve and Jenny with a handycam!), a close-up look at our stage "Fuzzies" (erm...we're talking stuffed fuzzy toys here, don't get me wrong!), PLUS some "Easter Eggs" of doom...ah well, you get the picture, it's really a "wanna have" DVD for the OMNIA addict and also a rather handsome Fairy-book written by Steve Sic and illustrated by Steve Sic, Miez and Alan Lee. We've spent many long months recording, writing, drawing, editing, mastering etcetara, to bring you our newest brainchild. We hope you all enjoy the looking, listening and reading as much as we enjoyed making it! Enjoy! OMNIA PS: We have a trailer! But then, as you are reading this you probably know that already...sorry. PS2: The new OMNIA Live-CD "PaganFolk at the FairyBall" containing the sound-recordings of the DVD concert will be available as a "Pay whatever you think it's worth-downloadable-CD" from this website starting September 21st 2008.
Castlefest pictures online now!
Three galleries full of Omnia's highlights at Castlefest (1,2,3 August 2008 in Lisse, NL) are waiting for you in our 'Pictures' section.Thanks a million, as always, to our official papparazzi Marcel Bakker (www.photos-bakkert.com)! Greenthings and see you soon, Jenny & OMNIA
a note on Goddesses
WHO IS VANA?I get this question a lot from OMNIA fans and Castlefest (Vana-events) fans,so to avoid confusion and too much enthusiastic speculation...let me explain: Vana is a goddess,she is not new ,she is an "archetype" of all the goddesses of spring known to homo-sapiens sapiens. Like all gods and goddesses named by man she has many names and many versions .(ie: Jupiter is the same as Odin is the same as Zeus is the same as Ra etc.) We don't like dogma so we prefer archetypes of Gods,to avoid preconceived misconceptions from dogmatic religious institutions. (chuck aside those bibles and rulebooks kids!) Her name was first introduced about 100 years ago by one of the greatest storytellers of all time (JRR TOLKIEN)and is built from the roots of northern european language. Tolkien saw her as "Vana the everyoung" one of the Pantheon of the Valar. We see her like this: She stands for Spring,youth,dance,seduction,joy,sex etc... she signifies budding growth and is the opposite of autumnal decay. She loves flowers but dislikes mushrooms she is the young maiden in the female sacred trinity of "maiden/mother/grandmother". oh yeah, she likes lots of colours, she's a fantastic dancer and her favourite drink is freshly squeezed fruit juice! Greeniez Sic Steve photo by haleh bryan
Castlefest Rocked!!
Wow...so cool...thanx everyone...we love you all...now we rest... (four * exhausted pagans collapse in a heap on the bed and fall asleep...) ZZZZZZZZZ Steve, Jenny & Omnia (* Joe also wanted to collapse, but had to go to work at the EU again..)
Pagan Folk Lore Pre-thingie on MySpace!
Hey there Fairies & Goblins Aren't you curious about the recordings on our Fairy Ball we made for our DVD? Now at least, to last you those two long weeks before the release of our upcoming DVD "Pagan Folk Lore" you can listen to "Etrezomp-ni Kelted"...Enjoy! I'm not sure what to call a preview if it's a pre-hear...any suggestions welcome :o) ! Greenz Jenny PS: Our MySpace site can be found at http://profile.myspace.com/omnianeocelt Picture taken from OMNIA "Pagan Folk Lore" (release on Castlefest on the 1st of August), copyright 2008 Steve Sic Evans-van der Harten
RAVEN TIMES III is NOW available!
"Mr Happy's big adventure"!"Hotel room mysteries"! "Confessions of Eddie the sound guy"! "Shocking pictures of Joe"! "info about PaganFolkLore the new OMNIA Book/DVD"! and lots more Omnia-Pagan shizzle...read all about it! The 3rd edition of our very own "RavenTimes" magazine is now available for free downloading (in Deutsch, English, Francais and Nederlands)! go to "Fanclub" and join the PaganClan on this site to get your copy! Greenthingz and enjoy! OMNIA! !
PAGAN FOLK LORE
All the sound,film and artwork 100% done and they're now being printed in Celtic Europe, we're keeping our fingers crossed and we touch wood on an hourly basis for luck to ensure nothing goes wrong in these final stages of the process.Will they arrive intact and ontime for Castlefest?...hmmm? greeniez ,Peace,Love and trees Steve Sic & Jenny and the OMNIA Family ps:we were forced to reduced the number of Ostara-eggs by one, because the scene with Luka,the rubber chicken and the 200gallon vat of treacle was just too shocking...but the other three eggs we left in...
TIME...
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.17Time does strange things, she builds, she destroys, she warps and she weaves and sometimes she preserves... I say this because I just finished touring around the country that I grew up in (Cornwall aka Kernow) and I have been dealing with ghosts and memories that have been sleeping for the last 26 years...When we arrived there I was bracing myself for the shock of change, but you know what the real shock was? Cornwall hasn't changed at all. The land is still beautiful, the air is still pure, the cliffs and the ocean endure... Nature has only become stronger there and the people have become much "greener" and enviromentally aware. I was stunned. Even the "food-animals" have a pretty good life out in the wild fields there. If I compare this with Holland where nature has been raped to death, where millions of animals are tortured on a daily basis in concentration camps and mass murdered in gas-chambers (well what do you expect from a country that had the highest efficiency level of hunting, betraying and transporting Jews to their deaths in WW2). In this land of Construction company maffia, white-collar criminals and immigrant violence most people only care about earning money, lots of it. I fell in love with Holland 26 years ago when I arrived here, but sadly the love affair has started to go a bit sour (she just ain't as pretty and smart as she used to be, and her ass is starting to sag...). So time can heal all wounds, but time can turn a little harmless cut into a gangrenous amputation case as well...anyway, I can't go back to Cornwall as yet because my new life is still here on the continent, my Clan is here, most of you that read this are here ,my wife and my kids were born and raised here, so here I stay for a bit longer. It is kinda cool though because it seems that the warping effect of time between Cornwall and here has caused a wormhole to appear in space time!! You see on the actual eve of midsummernight (21st June) we were playing a concert in the real mists of Avalon on the edge of the Lake (of The sword-catching Lady...Arthur and such, you know?) in the middle of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. And now weirdly, enough this Saturday we are going to visit our talented friends of FAUN who are playing (together with the famous Dutch Kilted-coverband) at the, Yes, you guessed it: "Midsummer Festival" in Nieuweschans (Groningen)?? It's so weird I think I'll ask them If I can join them on stage for a tune, so I can say I played two Midsummers in one year!! Yeah! And the day after, on Sunday July 6 OMNIA shall be playing a FREE open-air concert in Wolfheze to celebrate CHRISTMAS. Yippee! Greenthingz! Steve Sic ps: BOOK/DVD OMNIA "Pagan Folk Lore" 99% done...(Castlefest here we come)
Pagans in Paganland
Just a quick note from me and Jenny to let you all know we are still alive and enjoying our stay in Cornwall and Devon.We're in Dartmoor now staying at Uncle Alan's place, the weather is great, the nature is stunning and we feel fine. I enclose a picture made by Lies (Mich's wife) from the Cornish coast Greenthingz! Stenny
OMNIA - Pagan Folk Lore 90% done...
Well...the Illustrated Storybook "PaganFolkLore" is off to the printer.The DVD disc containing the concerts and all the video material is nearing its final frantic editing stages in the film-studio of D'Images. The CD "PaganFolk at the FairyBall" is finished and will be made available exclusively for PaganClan members as a "pay whatever you think it is worth" download-CD. (after the DVD release on 1st of august 2008 at CASTLEFEST ofcourse) Phew! And now we're off to Cornwall to say "hello" to the pixies,goblins and elves at the "three wishes fairyfest" Life is busy, but very very good! Love and Greenz "Stiiv the Sick"
New Pictures in Photo Gallery!
I know, I know, it has taken us ages, but here they are: New pictures! Taken at the Fairy Ball, the special concert where we made the recordings for our upcoming DVD, and at the Berlaymont on the European Commission's Open Door Day. Weird setting, but fun nonetheless...Enjoy! Greenthingz Jenny PS: It still looks we will be able to get "Pagan Folk Lore" finished in time....
Pagan Folk Lore 50% done...
Gosh...making a DVD AND CD project is a lot more work than I expected!...Well it is if you if you are an artsy fartsy "hard to please" pagan like myself.I always want only the best, in anything we make with the name "OMNIA" on it.We are really making an extra effort in this new PaganScum production. "OMNIA-PAGAN FOLK LORE" will surpass the quality of the "Alive!"CD, in both the Artwork and the enormous amount of disc-content. I'm writing a fairytale book to accompany the film material. And Miez, Alan Lee and myself are illustrating the whole bloody book with drawings and paintings. The film material on the dvd disc will of course contain the live footage of our very special "Fairy Ball" gig, as well as a lot of über-weird interviews and masses of extras such as ancient OMNIA footage, old music clips from bands we played in BEFORE Omnia and lots more which will surely blow your mind... so start saving up to buy it at Castlefest, where we will release this little sucker! Oh yeah, we will also release a live CD at the same time which we shall make downloadable for all the members of the PAGANCLAN only!! So join up, if you haven't already! Greenthingz and inspiration on this fine spring morning to all of you! Steve Sic
Transit Poetry
Jenny and myself have joined our dear poetic vegan-goth friend Sascha and his band on their newest cd release "Transit poetry-Evocation of Gaia" as guest musicians.We helped them out with some hurdygurdy, various flutes,Harp and Piano. Those of you who keep up to date will know that Sascha worked on the "Omnia-CyberShaman-remix cd" and Transit Poetry played on Castlefest 2007.check out the groovy vegan-gothic sound of these nature-loving electronic pagans on http://www.myspace.com/transitpoetry Greenthingz! Steve Sic and Jenny
Koyaanis Qatsi...
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.15Phew...I'm kinda tired...what crazy days we live in, kinda "koyaanis quatsi" if you know what I mean. Theaters, theaters, theatres...And we're still very much hard at work preparing the first ever OMNIA- DVD production "Pagan Folk Lore" (which we'll be releasing on Castlefest, if the gods and the fairies wish us well). And while we're in the middle of this and all the filming, editing and artwork creation are going on I still have to get into the Omnia-Van with the rest of our little family to go forth and breathe life into our Pagan musical dream on the stages of Europe... here in short, are a few short impressions of how we felt about some of them. Anthinoises in Anthisnes, Belgium (week ago) WOW! By the 9 tined horns of Cernunnos , you guys have got your true Celtic spirit together! We felt humble and honoured to play for such a warm, loving crowd of maniacs. The whole place was one Energetic cauldron of brotherly "clan" feeling and free-spirit packed to the brim with all our dear friends and PaganClan members from Belgica. You made us feel really at home between such a great bunch of people, and our percussionist Mich was actually at home. This gig was an extremely hot sticky mess on stage and the sound was pretty bad..But this mattered f*ck all to all of us there, because we had a great time, we love Belgium (and Mich and Joe live there, so it's actually Home to almost half of us...to be honest Jenny and me would love to live there, because that old Celtic land is so beautifull, and Holland is turning into an ugly waste land of motorways, industry and office-blocks...if only we could get a house there...sigh...but, I digress. Ahem..) Anthinoises we love you, the organisation is fantastic, the stage/back stage and crew impeccable, thank you all so much. We'll see you all at the "sister" festival "Troll et Légendes" next spring! (and hopefully Brussels and many more places in the meantime). Pagan Bealtaine! (couple of days ago) Germanic Paganism with a healthy dose of Viking in the ShlossBurg in Solingen. We had a real gnarly PaganFolk feeling in the impressive surroundings of that grand medieval castle, on a hill with forests on every horizon.The crowd was happy and rowdy after an impressive power set by the PaganFolk rock band Rabenschrey of our brother pagan and friend Donar "Rabenvater", who also organised this cool castle festival. We were especially touched by all the gifts we got from our germanic PaganClan members that we met there, they even ritually bound us in a really long garland of fresh flowers so as to keep us together and "bound" to them...hi hi hi! cool touch guys!, but totally unneccessary because you see, we are allready bound to all of you, and we shall keep on making our music and sharing our thoughts and dreams, because we can't do otherwise, this is what we do and we do it gladly. But still we felt truly moved by your gesture, it shows us that you understand that we are not an "act", we are Omnia to the core. Thanx all of you! Donar! you put on a great festival and you honour us as a generous and noble host, we salute you! Siegfried spektakel Xanten (yesterday) Where did those germans get all those Castles? Bloody hell! The whole country seems to be covered in them! So we were in yet another medieval castle setting in Xanten, a place Luka and me know well from years and years ago when we were still captive Gallic slave who were forced to fight as Gadiators in the Roman amphitheatre there (it's a long story). This was a very quiet more "family day out " festival, so it was sort of relaxed for us after a lot of theatres and powerful festivals, to spend a peaceful day sitting in the sun smoking herbs and playing (much too) short sets on a small wood and canvas stage in the middle of a medieval market with the usual compliment of mead/ beer stands, bakeries, trinket sellers, people in tights squeezing the life out of reed instruments and the ever present jugglers with bells on...hum....cool but ...abstract. We were happy to see again so many familiar faces (it's always easy to spot the Omnia fans from the stage, they are the ones who smile and don't look so confused). We were only sorry that we didn't play as long as we were expected to, due to some organisational communication problems (ah well, I suppose we shouldn't expect every oganiser to be good at it ;-) ). Greenest springy thingz to all of you the energy of a new year is thundering into the planet make plenty of love and enjoy your day A bientot! Steve Sic and Jenny photo: marcel bakker
2nd edition RAVEN TIMES downloadable now!!
GROWING!!!: The PaganClan OMNIA Fanclub!EASY!!: Subscribe through this website (fanclub)! COOL!!: Receive "the Raven Times II"newspaper, NOW! WOW!!: it's FREE! The second edition contains: ->GASP!: who is this small english punkrocker? ->Exclusive: "OMNIA's new Bandmember revealed!" ->Holy Cow!:"Jenny and Sic talk about religion" ->Shocking: "what actually happens BACKSTAGE?" ->Unbelievable: "Joe's eurocrat-mafia job!" ->Tasty: "what Luka does to innocent Nachos" ->Horror: "Jenny and Sic stabbed by psycho!!" the RAVENTIMES...funnier than "Mein Kampf", shorter than "the Bible", more informative than "Noddy goes to toyland" so what are you waiting for? Join up now,right here and start downloading!
New stuff in the webshop!
...Check it out...:o) Jenny & Steve Sic Model: Nienke
Wisdom for times of change
Sic's really really short blog nr.14"change the world, start with changing yourself" artwork :selfportrait Steve Sic (1992)
Fairy Ball FULL!Nobody is allowed in anymore, doesn't matter how beautiful or freaky you are, it's really full now...We're looking forward to it! Greenz Jenny
The long good Friday...
Our next gig is on the 21st of March...It's going to be a full-moon, it's on Ostara ("spring-equinox and humping bunnies/ fertility and eggs festival")It's Stenny's wedding anniversary, OMNIA's new percussionist will play his first Omnia-theatre gig AND Wen and Emelie will do the Dance after-party thing...even for a Pagan that sounds like a "good friday"! ;-)
The road goes ever on...
Our happy "Paganfamily" keeps growing, life's paths take us along many winding roads and most of these roads lead to unforseen change. One pretty drastic change on our menu for this year is the following:OMNIA IS GOING TO BE JOINED BY A NEW BANDMEMBER!! I won't tell you too much because it's pretty weird and new for us as well. I'll reveal more about this "new OMNIA-bandmember" in the upcoming "Raven Times" fanzine (you can apply for the fanclub magazine on this homepage). BUT don't worry, this new freaky percussionist will NOT be REPLACING any one of us! As I said before, this happy pagan family just grows like the branches on a tree...we will be playing with 5 people on stage this year! You'll have your first chance to see this mystery pagan in action with OMNIA at our upcoming theatre gigs in Oosterhout and Nijmegen (see agenda) as well as on the mega-weird OMNIA-"FairyBall" (sold out). Greenthingz! Steve Sic, Jenny, Luka, Joe and...our new Serbo-Croatian/Ukranian percussionist. Picture: Alan Lee
Cornish Faeries! ;-)
We keep getting contacted by Fairies to join in their fun, and this time from Cornwall, my own personal "Tir nan og"! I'm really looking forward to being back among the standing stones and clean magical air in the land of my youth...A "proper job, my handsome" indeed! So, see you there on June 21st (Midsummer's Night) at The 3 Wishes Faeryfest 2008 in Bodmin Moor nature reserve, Cornwall, U.K
American Faeries?
Yes...Well...We know...It's true, we said we would never play in the USA, for obvious reasons. But...some very sweet and extremely beguiling American faeries have asked us to join them in their dark celebrations at the Bad Faeries Ball on FaerieCon 2008 in Philadelphia, USA. What could we do? We can't say "no" to faeries (for obvious reasons).So, we'll come to America, see you all there in October! For more info, check out www.faeriecon.com Greenthings Stenny
what does
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.13This planet is infested with naked (mostly feral) monkeys who are destroying it, because they are basically very stupid shortsighted and selfish monkeys. Some monkeys (like you and me) realise this and can help the eco-system in a small though ultimately very powerfull way by simply planting trees,bushes,flowers etc, randomly, anywhere and everywhere you can think of...like urban guerilla commando-fairies! And whenever you encounter one or more other naked-monkeys destroying trees/plants or harming/torturing animals, just point out to them that they are commiting a serious crime to life in doing this and try to prevent them from carrying on with their destructive behaviour. Our governments won't stop, the EU won't stop,the USA won't stop, its up to us to drown all of them in a sea of plants and trees, "where the seed falls, there it shall grow" ECO-ANARCHY! ;-) (many many) Greenthingz! Steve Sic
Black is the new Green
Hi Guys I've made a new design for the Omnia shirt-Logo to replace our older grey "horny tribal". In this new design our neo-celtic swirlies (based on La Téne Celtic art) are extended into fresh green leafy and plantlike shapes making them echo nature in an "art nouveau/Jugendstil" kinda way and of course the overall heart shape (originally a early pagan symbol of sexuality and lust) symbolises our deep connection to nature...ahem... It's slightly non-symmetrical to emulate natural growth. This design is called: "black is the new green" and is now available at gigs and in our webshop, printed on various different shirts such as: longsleeve, cuty, fairy, and sexy-lace-top!
The Raven Times First Edition OUT NOW!!!
*American mode on*NEW!!!: The PaganClan OMNIA Fanclub! EASY!!: Subscribe through this website! COOL!!: Receive "the Raven Times", our own newspaper, NOW! WOW!!: Take advantage of the special "fanfunpack" offer in the shop! The first edition contains: ->Members only: "OMNIA the Movie! Actors wanted!" ->Shock: "Luka's hobbies" ->Horror: "How to feed a Pagan Band?" ->Touching: "Jenny: a Pagan Life in 12 pictures" ->Informative: "Joe's one-pot, easy-to-make, easy-to-wash-up-afterwards, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Irish Stew" ->Exclusive: "....a set of PaganClan goodies which will only be available to you..." So what are you waiting for? Join up now for free! *American mode off* Greenthingz Jenny & OMNIA
Dance!!
Edit Jenny 15-01-2008:Paganbal & workshops are sold out! For everybody who would like to learn how to dance to Omnia music, meet new people while doing this, dance with Sic or Jenny or simply brighten up a dull weekend, "dancemaster" Wen and "Uberhippy" Emelie have organised Balfolk Danceclasses on Omnia music in January and February 2008! There will be 2 sets of 2 workshops, with as finishing party a "PaganBal". You can only get tickets for this if you are participating in one of the sets of workshops. This PaganBal is going to be a very special afternoon/night with not only an exclusive (danceable) concert of Omnia but also a performance of an extremely danceable, talented young band from Belgium, called LeBocha (earlier this year Sic and Jenny couldn't sit still hearing this band play at the Deerlycke Festival). So, if you are one of those people envying the dancers at festivals like Castlefest, thinking "this is going too fast, so many people, I'm afraid I will do it all wrong" or something along these lines....THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!! Practical information: All workshops are on Sunday afternoons from 13:00 uur 'til 16:00 hrs. Sunday 20 January 2008: part A Sunday 27 January 2008: part B Sunday 10 February 2008: part A Sunday 24 February 2008: part B Costs: One workshop (A or B): € 15,- Workshop A + B + PaganBal: € 40.- Location: Zaal Moira Wolvenstraat 10 3512 CH Utrecht PaganBal: Date: zondag 9 March 2008 Start Bal: 16:00 Open: 15:30 (it will end before 23:00) For more information and reservations (compulsory if you want to participate), see www.balfolk.nl/paganbal (in Dutch). Sic & Jenny will join you for at least 1 of the workshops, we are looking forward to dancing with you! Greenthings Jenny
BANG!!!Yes folks! KABOOM!!!it's almost new year!BANG BANG!!! Yippee!!Let's blow up a few billion tonnes of cheap explosives from china..all in a few days time...I mean..who needs an environment anyway? Let's fry the OZONE layer ,dump a million tonnes of chemical waste and scare the shit out of (the few remaining )wild animals to show what a bunch of fecking brainless naked monkeys we really are!...happy newyear...
ps:this is sarcasm...
so this is midwinter ....again
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.12(to the music of Saint John Lennon's "merry christmas, war is over") "So it's midwinter.. and what have we done? another Sun-cycle over, and a new one just begun. and so it's midwinter we hope you have fun, the near and the dear ones the old and the young A very merry Solstice! the return of the Sun the darkness is going 'cause the old year is done..." the best seasonal wishes to all of you out there, spread some peace, free some nature, don't eat any industrially tortured animals (stick to eco-free range if you wanna chew meat) have a good glass of merry booze and a smoke (while it's still legal) as you dance naked around your solstice fire... and above all: enjoy life! (that's what it's for!) (ever) Greenthingz SteveSic and Jenny and the whole OMNIA gang photo: Marcel Bakker
Join the PaganClan!
Lately Omnia’s following has been getting bigger. Because of more concerts, more festivals, we got more and more fans, even from other continents. We get so much support and energy from all of you that we’ve decided it’s about time to give this big swirlie family something back . So we asked some of our longest standing fans who have all become friends to create a medium, which would be the link between us, the band and you, the fans.A « Fanclub » as it were…. And so I am now proud to present to you the Birth of the PaganClan. Headed by Mich and Lies for the International and French part, by Squinty for the Dutch part and by Bienchen for the German section, it is meant to be the contact point for all fan exchanges, but also for the questions people have about the band and other related stuff. We are going to create some special fan-club « members only » merchandise, and we wanna do some special thingz for our hard core fans who have helped OMNIA through the years. The main source of information about what’s what in the PaganClan will be the three-monthly news letter « The Raven Times », the official Omnia fanzine which will keep you aware of the latest news about the band, but will also contain backstage reports (with pictures by the crew), exclusive interviews, articles about the background of the songs and the Omnia world, and a special part dedicated to the fans by the fans. This fanzine will be sent to the fans per e-mail every three months in a pdf document. So if you want to join the PaganClan, it can’t be more simple : just write « I wanna join the PaganClan ! » (and of course your surname and first name) to: - mich@omnia-neocelt.com to join the International PaganClan (fanzine in English) or the French speaking Pagan Clan; - squinty@omnia-neocelt.nl to join the Dutch speaking PaganClan; - bienchen@omnia-neocelt.de to join the German speaking PaganClan. The content of the fanzine will be the same in the four languages (English, Dutch, French or German), so it’s not necessary to subscribe to more than one Clan (but you can do it if you want to recieve the fanzine in more than one language). Any questions, requests,...? Just contact Mich & Lies (mich@omnia-neocelt.com) who are the big-cheese contact point for all fan questions. We hope you’ll join the PaganClan and help us make it a real neo-celtic tribal heya heya « black is the new green » family. Greenthingzzz !
moving right along...
Sorry for scaring the willies out of some people who believed that OMNIA would quit just because society sucks!HA! as if.....ofcourse we will carry on to make music and preach the will of the faeries! we are like a disease...you'll never get rid of us! Muhahaha!! We've even started an "official" business now. We have our own Anarchist record label "PAGANSCUM" in which we can run our own cd and music productions. And you know the beauty of it?, this was all financed 100% by you! We never borrow , we don't have "investors" we only spend the actual euros that you guys give to us by buying our cd's and merchandise... So don't worry OMNIA is here to stay!..for as long as you want us to be here... Greenthingz! Steve Sic
Samhain!
Yesterday night we celebrated the ancient Holy Day of Samhain (to most of you known as Halloween) with a wickerman construction (by Miez and Sic) and we burnt the little guy in our backgarden...Enjoy the pictures! Scarlet Autumn leaves, glowy candles and lotsa warmth Miez, Sic and Jenny
BAND FOR SALE!
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.11*warning! This following text is not completely true! Don't forget to switch on your Humour and Cynism before reading it!* Well guys, it had to happen, we're quitting the music business ... it's no fun anymore, I'm starting to feel cheap and useless because we are supposed to behave like "slaves to commerce" and say "Yes sir, No sir and Thank you Sir" to all sorts of fat-cats in suits or "positions of power" if we wanna survive as a band...so we will stop with OMNIA. The music and theatre business is such a beaurocratic bastard community full of penpushers and contract-thumpers that we don't wanna be in it any more, we're selling all our instruments, disbanding Omnia and forming a "let's live off air and meditation" treehugger-sect in a damp forest in the Polish wilderness instead.......goodbye........ Just kidding! ;-) Well, actually it's all true except for the disbanding Omnia and selling ALL our instruments. Yes, the world we have to live in is often a stupid world of contracts, corporate extortion, dishonesty and money, money, money.... but this will never stop us from doing "our own thing" as independant though constantly poor artists, I mean, come on... I've survived riot-police charges with clubs and shields, and on horseback and with armoured cars spewing cs-gas back in the days when I was still into (peacefully) demonstrating for what I believed to be right. I've survived living on the streets in west-Berlin, London, Antwerp and Paris as a teenager in the eighties growing up in a world that was constantly changing. I've survived raising two kiddies as a single punk-parent in the nineties getting really odd looks from the other parents at primary school! So what are we talking about here? I can survive this stupid arsehole system as well! And so can Omnia... 'Bring it on!'...we say. We live this life and do this Pagan music stuff firstly for ourselves and secondly for you! We do NOT do this for the fecking big money, we are free, we stay free, this is not an act... But as we are in need of a bit of cash to survive the winter, we've decided to sell off some of our old instruments which we don't use anymore, like: -the original OMNIA-drum rack (used from 1998 till this year) -some original Drums like "megatymp" (used on "Sine Missione" I & II , "Omnia-3"and "Crone of War") -The "Black Surdo Drum Set" with signature of Lawrence "Lurtz" Makoare (used on Pagan Folk) -"Boar" and "squeeky" the original BIG DunDun-drums (used on "Omnia-3" and "Crone of War". -And a load of my old double-flutes and whistles If you're at all interested in any of these Paganchaos soaked instruments check 'em out and ask for them in Jenny's Mum's Harpstore (www.dreamharps.nl). And OMNIA? We keep on doing what we bloody well like, and the way we like it, just like the "Nac MacFeegle" we except no king, no queen, no master... We listen not to the voice of sense or money....just the fairies... Stay weird and Greenthingz! Steve Sic
Pagan F**k day!
from the desk of our resident Druïde Miez, he who guards and keeps the sacred knowledge of the Gods of the Pantheon:It's mating season! The call of nature that you feel in your heart and loins. Today is a day for MEN! Strip bare, run around in the forest, celebrate life! For today is Herne Day. what more could I possibly add? Greenthingz and I'll be seeing some of you in yet another sold out theatre tonight! Steve Sic
the lake...
Boat...
Sic's sporadic and incomprehensible Blog no,10I was on a boat!...sailing!...yippee! See this picture?,that's roughly what it looked like (but then in colour ofcourse). It's called a "Schouw" and one just like it belongs to Pieter ,(Omnia-roadie and lightguy as well as great Stenny friend). Jenny and me was getting a bit stressed and run down because of all sorts of stupid music-business and book keeping stuff plus some argument with a brain-dead neighbour So we decided to take a mini break.... After the nieuwegein-gig we went straight to Friesland (one of the prettiest parts of "Netherland" by far!) to stay there with Pieter and his really sweet wife Margreet in a house boat on a lake (Pikmeer) for a couple of days....and wow! It was great! We did the sailing thing, we did the rowing thing, we did the arsing around trying to drag a kite into the air behind a motor-boat thing, we did the walking through the fields looking at birds and group-hugging the friesian horses thing,we even did the 3 hour game of Chaos Arena thing!(and I almost got beaten by Pieter!...almost...) Lovely..I wish all of life could be like this , just arsing around having fun and not having to worry about the state of the world and the taxman all the time.....but then I suppose that it's the rareness of these little holidays that makes them so enjoyable... We're all charged up again for a while, and I have visions of endless fields,lakes, waves,wind and horses to sustain me through the bullshit and to make sure I mean what I say when I ask you guys "Can you feel alive today?" on stage! Greenthingz and suikerbrood to all! Steve Sic and Jenny
Goodbye PaganAttic, Hello Theatre!
So it's a fact now...this week we will clear out our stuff from our own dear little Stage "the PaganAttic".We loved playing those sweet long and comfortable unplugged gigs there, and I would just like to thank all the people who were lucky enough to get in there for giving us an intimate warm playing experience quite unlike any festival or rock-club stage we ever played on/in. The Gigs in the PaganAttic were unique to us and we never got the same sort of atmosphere to play in ever since....untill we found out about playing in Theatres...... For me it's almost like the Attic (except bigger) but still intimate enough to play old fragile favourites of ours like "Odi et Amo" and other "non festival" stuff like that... So..... " the PaganAttic is Dead!...Long live the Theatre!!!" Greenz Steve Sic photo copyright: Lady Squinty of the PaganClan
The Theatre calls!...we can but answer.....
So here we are, a bunch of non conformist, over educated executive pagans , used to scaveging the festivals of europe playing for weirdo's of all ages and sizes and now......we are about to embark on a great adventure! For Lo! we are to climb upon the unforgiving oaken planks of the theatrical stage! to court the muse in her own domain! This way we get to actually play music...not just survive another set inbetween other bands building up and getting off stage, no wonky wiring and technical fuck ups due to last minute budget cuts etc...no now it's just us and you....just like in our dear departed "PAGAN-ATTICK" but then with more people! We play as long as we like, we have the whole atmosphere in our own hands...THE THEATRE!...oooooh, I'm looking forward to it! And to make sure that our very first gig of this theatre season is scary enough for us, the Management of SCC de Enck in Oirschot have gracefully allowed the tickets to be sold THREE for the price of TWO* (*only on this very first gig- check out our agenda for details) see you there! Greenz Sic
Miroquey road to Spijkenisse
Miroque neared as a welcome fix for the post-gig depression I mentioned in my previous blog entry. We had heard all kind of stories about the festival, but what could we really expect? Would it be any good?Why yes! After some minor organizational discrepancies were fixed, we played a seriously fine gig altogether, albeit the last one this year outside the Netherlands. So fans abroad are advised to see if they can attend one of out theater gigs in this autumn's "mini-tour". After our own gig we again got ourselves a treat by listening to some fine bands, the combination of Estampie and L'Ham de Foc being an amazing display of musical virtuosity, which is always a pleasing sight to see (and hear of course). Visitors of the Adventon park can soon see the terracotta tiles with the hand-imprints of all the artists that played there this weekend; if you see a huge hand flanked by a sunwheel and a skull; that's mine ;-P The drive back to Holland from Osterburken on the next day wasn't exactly what we were looking forward to, but Ed, our soundmaster, assured us that everything would work out just fine. There is something of a fatherly, trustworthy look about him, so we all believed him, or at least we wanted to. Onward to Spijkenisse we went, our weary eyes somewhat radiant with faith. However, just a few miles before we would arrive at the venue, our faith got literally shaken by a shaking noise that went through the van. Instantly superroadie Pieter pulled over, off the highway, and immediately called the ANWB/Roadwatch. After a quick assessment they could inform us that the bolts of the rear left wheel had come loose, even though the car had been checked and 'fixed' mere weeks before. The wheel might very well have come off by itself had we driven on about half a mile further. Had this happened on the German Autobahn at 150 km/h, Omnia would now possibly be synonymous with a new definition of "traffic jam" in the latest edition of any dictionary you'd care to open. For us, only the avoided intimate contact with concrete mattered. Taking action with quick determination, the ANWB towed us to the venue itself. We assured the organisation that arriving in convoy accompanied by two bright yellow trucks with flashing lights was not our standard way of making an entry. Whatever happened, we made it exactly in time to play the gig, and so we did. Not even a sloppy job done by some dilettante running a sorry excuse of a car workshop managed to stop us. So there. Life can sometimes take such strange turns in so short a time! And in the end Ed was right; everything worked out just fine. Signing off with best wishes, Peas and leaves, Luka Photos have been added to the picture gallery!
Downloads / Free music
Greenthings Omnia fans. We thought it was time to say a few words about how we feel about the new electronic age and our policy on downloads.Here's the deal: The music industry is in crisis because so many people have stopped buying CDs and are downloading music instead (or else copying their friends' CDs). In some cases people pay for downloads but in most cases they don't. Lots of big record companies are crying because they do not make the kind of money they used to from their artists. We at Omnia have a different view. We are an independent label and we produce our own CDs. We don't mind people copying our CDs or downloading our music. It would be pointless us getting upset about it because it will happen anyway and life is too short to get stressed about it. HOWEVER… be aware that musicians are real people and need to eat. If Omnia can not make enough money to pay the rent, eat, drink and put petrol in the van, then Omnia will cease to exist. If Omnia ceases to exist there will be no more Omnia music for you to listen to and no more Omnia gigs for you to go to. And then what will happen to you??!! Would you really want the overproduced mass-consumed MTV songs to be the only music to survive? We think that if enough people hear our music then enough people will buy our CDs and come to our gigs. We think real fans will want to have our CDs because of the art work and the sleeve notes and because they want to support the band. (Do you really want burned CDs or MP3s of Alive! or Pagan Folk without Alan Lee's, Sic's and Miez' fantastic art work?! Of course not!!) That is why we are happy to make available MP3s of songs such as Wytches' Brew, Alive!, Tine Bealtaine, The Well and so on via the Omnia site, MySpace etc. And this is how, in return, you can help us: Spread the Word! e hereby authorise you to post the MP3s that we have officially released on our website and MySpace page onto whatever other websites, discussion forums, radio stations etc. you like. As long as it is not for reselling purposes, as far as we are concerned; the more people who hear our music the better. End of Serious Announcement, thank you, over and out. Joe
Heerlijk in Deerlijk
As we were slowly getting out of the post-gig depression of Castlefest (fellow artists will know this; if you've had a smashing gig and multiple adrenalin kicks in a row, you can feel quite empty for several days after..) we were looking forward to the Deerlycke festival in Deerlijk, Flanders. We were to play only one day there, and were easy going about it. Steve told me not to stress too much; the location was close to the border, and we should be able to take our time and get back home the same day. After I pointed out to him that Flanders stretches out all the way to France and Deerlijk is actually situated quite close to the French border, we made a slight change of plan.Fortunately everything went just fine. We had ample time, people were nice, soundcheck went well (thanks Alex!) and all was set for a great gig. And so it was. At first the (mainly folky) audience seemed somewhat shy, but that had completely changed once we heard the roaring "we want more!" as soon as we left the stage. So we went back and gave them some more.. And then we had one of the greatest catering experiences on a festival that I can recall at this moment. The food was simply delicious, and the 'five stars' were well deserved. Thanks! After that we got to watch a concert ourselves, and we could dance to the energetic pulses of the Afrocelts. A fantastic show altogether, as one of their frontmen humbly remarked. A fine festival it was, and we sure got a kick out of it! And now, with Sic and Jenny being on a well earned holiday, I'm sitting here at my keyboard, slogging out the nearing post-gig depression until Miroque.. I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Peas & leaves Luka
CASTLEFEST!!!
Well I'm certain now, even after two weeks..... this was definitely the grooviest festival of the year up to now (that's why we spend so much time on it I suppose!).We couldn't have had a better cd release party than this... Castlefest Rules! We're already looking forward to next year, when we'll play there again! It was great to fill the stage with all our friends (from GOR, FAUN, TRANSIT POETRY, WEN & the GONNAGLES, Kelvin Kalvus, Florissimo, Johannes, Sexy Agnes, the Medieaval Baebes etc etc..) I especially enjoyed playing with 12 people at the same time from 4 different bands in the OMNIA show on the Saturday evening when we had the Wickerwoman burning during the gig....wow....that was a real example of modern/ancient "do it yourself" religion at work, sooooo many people in the audience of over 15000 weirdo's put in offerings for the spring-Goddess Vana (one of the patron Goddesses of Castlefest)...it was great! And it goes to show that this festival wasn't just another fantasy/Gothic/medieval rip-off fair, but a real new modern-hippie kinda thing that's hard to describe if you weren't there. I saw this festival mostly from the stage and backstage, because I had a lot of show-mastery stuff to do all weekend, and I can tell you that all the other bands and acts were very impressed, they had never experienced anything like this weird dutch festival (one rather big band even begged to be let back in again next year!) Obviously, we won't tell you here what's going to be on stage next year ...yet....(except OMNIA of course) But I guarantee that we'll build an even bigger wickerman (Lugh) for all. And the stage will be filled with the best we can find as always... Untill next year YEAH CASTLEFEST!! Greenz Steve Sic
Yavanna day
Today is the day to celebrate summer, harvest, fertility, nurturing and all things newly-born. For today is Yavanna Day! Possibly the oldest and best known of all Goddesses: Tiamat, Inanna, Danu, Cybele, Demeter, Magna Dea, Shakti - the list is endless...Today is the day to celebrate Mother. Mother Earth. Your Mother. Any Mother. Have a lovely one! Fr. Miez. miez sent me this, I thought I'd share it with you.... I'll write a blog about Castlefest next week Greenz Steve and Jenny
Castlefest pictures online!
Pictures by Marcel and Mich of the fantastic Castlefest festival are now online! (Feel the atmosphere again (well, at least a little..)
New items in webshop!
Did that last CD just get sold to the person in front of you at Castlefest? No worries; the new CD "Alive!" is now also available in the Omnia webshop! Check regularly for more new offers.
Castlefest!..Interesting Times
Phew! It's busy busy, here at the moment.We're getting everything ready for a weekend of Castlefest where we will have the release party for our new studio-album "ALIVE!" and for all the people who cannot make it to Castlefest we will start the online sales of "Alive!" on the same day , so at least you can order it via the mail...because you are going to want to have this cd...It's the most beautifull thing we have ever made, and we are very proud of our "new child".. It looks like it's going to be a great hippie/pagan weekend for us all there! Yesterday ,on lughnasadh we (Jenny ,Luka,roady-Pieter ,some Castlefest volunteers and myself) built a beautifull 4.5 metre tall WickerWoman in the shape of Vana, the goddess of youth and spring. We built her completely out of wicker- willow twigs and she can now be filled with all sorts of sacrifices and set on fire as an offering to the Gods of Nature during our evening gig on saturday night... Ah!...I love rituals involving fire ;-) Hope to see you all there ! (at least all of you who like a good festival,who would like to hear all our new songs played live and who would like to immediately own a very poetic PaganFolk cd with the most beautifully illustrated cover ever made and who live within a 1000 miles of Lisse in Holland) Furthermore, we will play together with the super musicians of GOR, FAUN ánd Transit Poetry, during our and their sets... We will see you there! Greeniez! Steve Sic and Jenny
'Seenacht- Trauma-Reise'
Not all gigs go as planned... last weekend in Wangenheim, Thüringen (D) was a prime example of this , the really nice organiser Michael booked us for a :"Medieval Festival on a beautifull Lake with an evening of dreamy music"....but didn't realise that a HUGE thunder and rain storm was also booked for that day and night...to make a long story short...by 12 o'clock at night we had been sitting piled-up in our merchandise stand for hours...getting wet and miserable...we still hadn't been able to play , nearly all the audience had fled to safety, the sound system was short-circuited, and the only "dry" piece of land within a 100 miles was the remnants of the stage itself...so we decided that for those brave few people that were still there after having waited all evening in the pouring rain just to see us, we should try something. So we emptied the stage of all electronics, invited everybody who would fit onto the stage itself, and we played an intimate un-pluggedset..in the middle of the night, with the thunderous sound of the rain and the storm as backing..... it wasn't the best gig we ever played, it wasn't the longest gig either...but it was certainly very very special...and we will certainly not forget this for a looooong time! on this picture you can see an impression of the atmosphere...the stage was too full for everyone so these are some of the unluckier ones who had to stand in the rain to try to catch a few tones of "Omnia in East_Germany" Greenthingz, peace and SUNSHINE! to you all! Steve Sic photo made by super roadie Pieter More photos can be seen in the 'pictures' section!
I just had to share this with you...
Last Saturday, OMNIA played in Leuk, in a beautiful valley in Switserland. This was our view from the stage... :o)Swiss pointy big things with white on top Jenny pic by Cat
New concert dates added to agenda!See you there!
New pictures added!
Take a look at our gallery to see some beautiful pics of the Labadoux Festival!
"Alive!" added to 'Discography'
Can't stand the waiting anymore? About to commit a serious crime for a 'fix'? Well, here we have some candy for you; a preview of the new OMNIA CD "Alive!" Go on.. have a look.. you know you want to..
Midsummer Night
It is done...After months and months of hard work, the moment has finally come to say: "It's finished!" The final mastering of the audio tracks of our newest CD "Alive!" were done in Brussels last week. Today, on Midsummer, we put the finishing touches to the artwork of Alan Lee, Miez and Sic Steve, filling the 36-page hardcover book. Now, at last, we can send it to the printer and wait... Next week, we'll put track 1 online, so you can get a sneak preview. But we want to reveal something right now, because today has special significance to us. So, here's a low-quality version of the cover and also the introduction story taken from the booklet of OMNIA "Alive!". Everyone dies....This is a fact of life... One we all have to learn sometime during our stay on this world. Part of the fatal attraction of shuffling along this mortal coil is the inevitability of meeting the Grim Reaper at journey's end... Plants, animals, people, all living creatures at some point fall down and return to the earth they were made of. Yet as long as we recollect the ones that have gone before, even as we continue to respect their words and the art they left behind, the echo of whom they once were lives on. You see, even though the artist may die, the art remains forever Alive! Steve Sic Evans van der Harten, midsummer 2007 Artwork copyright Alan Lee, Miez & Steve Sic 2007
Art!
Gallery of Luka and parts of an ancient "book of Daemons" made by Miez, Sic and Luka have been added in the 'Art' section.
CYBERSHAMAN NOW AVAILABLE IN "SHOP"
DO YOU WANNA DANCE?
Well it's time...a new CD...and it's a special one.. we have released our latest offering to the world in general:"CYBERSHAMAN" our EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONIC REMIX DANCE-CLUB CD" this is a bit scary for us because as you know, we NEVER play electronic electro music, we don't use computers/midi stuff to pump up our performance skills... what you SEE on stage is also what you HEAR coming out of the speakers...(unlike most other bands) BUT this doesn't mean we don't like to freak out and dance to groovy electronic music...so we decided a while back to let some really talented "computer musicians" play around with the origional recordings of "PAGANFOLK", and to create an experimental OMNIA Gothic sound enhanced by all sorts of beats, samples and electric mayhem, and I gotta say...I love it! The remixes were created by: Our bigcity-Paganpoët friend Sascha Blach of the excellent Vegan-GothRock band "TRANSIT POETRY" from Berlin...who will be joining us on the big stage at CASTLEFEST this august (edit Jenny: Sic was mentioning a day here, but I don't think that was the right day, to be honest we're not totally sure what we'll do exactly yet, so just come every day and you'll see what happens!!) check 'em out: www.transitpoetry.de and Our favourite stoned studioguys Gal "Juju" Aner and Yigal Roos from "FORTRESS MUSIC" in Amsterdam, who have also worked their sublime technical magic over our humble instruments... www.fortressmusic.com
DO YOU WANNA DANCE?
We will be releasing CYBERSHAMAN in GERMANY on:26-5-2007 at ARMATI-EQUITES Pfingstfestival 2007 Medieval Festival; Location: Waldreichenbach near Illertissen (Germany) and in HOLLAND on:2-6-2007 at Scotland Festival, Dordrecht, NL. We have made a LIMITED EDITION including a FREE SPECIAL OMNIA CYBERSHAMAN PATCH which will only be on sale at our merchandise stands (as long as stocks last) we will start the internet sales after the Scotland festival Greenthingz Steve Sic and Jenny ps: This is NOT our new full length Album "ALIVE" which were making together with Alan Lee (Lord of the Rings),Michael Popp (Qntal / Estampie),Oliver"S Tyr"Pade(Faun)and Michiel "Tapanar" (Izvor) and we will be releasing in august 2007
Wave Gothic Treffen
To answer the question that has been asked of us by soooo many people and to clear up the confusion in germany among our fans there, we would like to release the following statement:NO.... WE ARE NOT PLAYING AT THE WGT IN LEIPZIG THIS YEAR... we haven't heard anymore from the great and powerfull WGT organisation , they have been as quiet as really very quiet german people to us, because it is beneath them to actually communicate with a lowly independant band not connected to Mojo or Xtra-tours etc.....so for the first time in many years we are not going to play for all you sweet Gothies in the Heidnisches dorf during the gathering of the black family. Ah well kids, don't be sad, think of it this way!: We've allready played more than thirty gigs in all kinds of weather on that crappy stage while being treated like shit by the organisers (for no wages), while all of you had to pay up big shiny euros to sponsor somebody else's sportscar to be able to see us there.....but we did have some good times there eh?, the atmosphere...the trees...the good vibes...sharing 5 dixies with 3000 people...ah! well I suppose we must all just be gratefull for that eh!? anyway if you really miss us just pop over on the saturday 26-may to this gig where we will be presenting our NEW REMIX CD "CyberShaman"!!: ARMATI-EQUITES Pfingstfestival 2007 Medieval Festival; Location: Waldreichenbach near Illertissen (Germany) Concert starts: 21:00 Greenz! Steve Sic
WEBSITE/FORUM RECONSTRUCTION
This website and forum are currently being "upgraded" by a bunch of computergoblins and everything seems to have gone bananas.....mooncalender is buggered, messages appear and disappear,etc... So on behalf of all concerned I would just like to quote the famous last message from God to all of creation (from the HitchHikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams) "WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE" normal messages and blogs will follow when this site works properly again.... ps: a big pagan hello! to all you Euro-sceptics out there hoping to find something to slag off European commisioner Margot Wallström with, sorry she's not actually in the band (Joe her webmaster is though), and yes, we are actually just nice boring neo hippies (and not baby eating raving maniacs as you might have hoped)... so enjoy your stay on this site and we sincerely hope to see you at a concert somewhere , so you can see that Joe is not only a cutting edge civil servant, but also an AMAZING guitar player!
Daffodil
Sic's incomprehensible blog no:9....no:9....no:9..... (all hail St.Lennon!)When I was just a little lad in a school uniform, I was instructed to learn a load of stuff, most of it was total rubbish ofcourse, but in literature class the odd golden nugget of wisdom or beauty would float through my overheated teenaged brain for which I am still grateful today. One of those pearls was the poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud.." a.k.a. "The daffodils", by William Wordsworth (1770-1850), which I learned by heart, for it's invocative picture of the beauty of nature.....this is it: "I wandered lonely as a Cloud That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:- A poet could not but be gay In such a jocund company: I gazed-and gazed-but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the Daffodils." A few weeks ago as I was sitting in the Omnia van on our way to the studio in Amsterdam, I saw the daffodils of spring making their way out of the ground. Struggling through the discarded car tires, "disposable" Mc Donalds boxes, tin cans and similar city decorations of our spoiled and obese times... I fancied to myself "what would dear old William have written if he would have lived today and saw the state of those same daffodils's descendants...surviving in these most destructive apathetic days..?" and these words formed themselves in my mind: "I wandered lonely through the crowd Polluted sights my eyes did fill. When through the refuse, standing proud, I spied a golden daffodil; Beside the road, 'neath tortured trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, each year the spring calls forth her line to greet the never ending day: Ten thousand generations long, she danced and swayed to nature's song. The cars beside her, roaring mad, yet she remains both fair and free:- A poet could not but be sad to see mankind's stupidity: I gazed-and gazed-but little thought What insight she to me had brought: For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, She flashes on that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, And patient hope my heart does fill, And dances with the Daffodil....." Humans can be real ugly when it comes to chopping down trees and destroying our own natural habitat...but as long as those daffodils have the strength to show their faces year after year, I know I'll have the strength to keep convincing people to change their ways, slow down and enjoy life for what it really is...all of us: Plants, animals, bugs...the lot, sharing this ball of earth together..... Enjoy and share.... Greenthingz Steve Sic
Free downloadable PAGANFOLK remix sample
Hi guys we put a sample track of our new REMIX cd "CYBERSHAMAN" which will be released in MAY 2007 on our myspace (http://www.myspace.com/omnianeocelt)so you can have a preview listen to it... There will be 6 extended tracks in all on "CYBERSHAMAN" , all remixed from material taken from OMNIA "PAGANFOLK". For us this is a fun project, because as you know, OMNIA doesn't make electronic music, we always pride ourselves on being honest, natural musicians who can perform a kick-ass gig without having to resort to all sorts of artificial backing tracks etc.coming from a computer Omnia on stage = "what you see is what you hear" BUT this doesn't have to stop other talented artists like Sascha Blach from the German GothRock band "Transit Poetry" and the guys from "the Fortress" from taking our "pure and honest" music and throwing it into a sampling/remixing setup to see what happens. And we were very surprised and delighted on hearing the results! (veeeery dance club altogether!!!) so cruise on over to our myspace and check it out! "DilGaya-tribal remix" by OMNIA remixed by "the Fortress" Like it?...good!, because there's more to come! Greenz SicSteve ps: this is NOT the new OMNIA Studio Album, that one will be called "Alive" and shall be released in juli 2007...
HaHa
Ok I know it's very late...(we live in a deep dark studio dungeon at the moment and only come up for air at night...so I couldn't put this on during the right day.)but look what Miez (our resident Arch-Priest and grand Pedicator) made for the celebration day of HaHa (the goddess of laughter and humor) Greenz and smilez Sic the funny (with bells on)
Nudity/prudity
Sic's incomprehensible blog no;8Hi Guys ,it's sic and Jenny's blog actually....because we really felt like sharing this snippet of information with you. Jenny was hurt today by a very ignorant e-mail, that says a lot about the way people FAIL to see what FREEDOM is... this is the mail: Dear Omnia Group, you know, my daugther and me are great fans of you. But now we saw your new cover and we were shocked!!!! The cover is for us very cruel and feministic!!! I think, you are so a world open, celtic group, you don?t need this kind of shit, which is showned in TV, Video, CD and Internet. Please write back, say us your opinion, your great fans Chris and Lee this is Jenny's answer: Dear Chris and Lee Well, it is me. Ever heard of shamans? Know what they are about? Look it up on the internet. This is me, dancing on the music of our side project "Cybershaman Paganfok remixes', bodypainted with ecological sun-and wind -dried clay, hung with feathers. As far as I know, I didn't have any pain, and I was not abused, so I don't think it was really cruel. (you know what cruel is? Sterilising male pigs by slamming their balls with two stones, without any anaestethics, something that happens all the time today in the meat industry!!!) And feministic...Well, it must be your English, because feministic just means it's woman-like. But I will take it as a compliment, I'm glad I don't look like a man, thank you very much. We are NOT some nice Celtic shyte group playing covers of Irish traditionals. We are Pagans. Ex-Punks, freaks, anarchists, artists. And for your information: I am a nudist and love to swim NAKED I like to go to the sauna and walk around NAKED This is what we are: just animals. Clothing is just to keep warm, as far as I am concerned. I am very very sad that you talk about me like this. I am not even perfect, just 1.54 meters, I have cup A and NO MAKE UP only clay. I am danicng out of pure joy and you compare this to the MTV culture? Well, if you don't understand this and you're shocked, you don't understand us. Then you don't have our sense of humour, nor our sense for beauty, you deny the animal in all of us. You cannot seriously be such a great fan of us, I wonder how this is possible. Well here it is. How ignorant people can be. Very tactless!!!!(this means you hurt me) Green NAKED things Jenny (The shocking MTV naked big-boobed face-lifted bimbo) ............ Well......that says it all doesn't it? Oh yeah...and people, please if you really feel that you have to flaunt your ignorance and rather prude sense of morality, don't bother us with it, but start a blog group or something.....it hurts us. Greenthingz, peace and honest nudity! Sic and Jenny ps: Chris and Lee, sorry to drag you out as an example here, but you really have yourself to blame.....you can apologise to Jenny and we'll say no more about it..ok? foto: close-up of pretty plant genitalia
guess what this is.......
and it's getting printed real soon ;-)
Chaos Arena special offer
By the way for the games-freaks among you look in our shop and you'll see that Arena is now on sale in our own shop, at a special price!"Chaos Arena" This cool and awesome two player boardgame was made by Omnia frontman Sic and graphics designer Miez. Blast away your opponent in an epic battle of fantastic proportions that makes Helm's Deep look like a kiddie playground! "Arena , the only proper substitute for War!"...game on!
Besieged in the Fortress
We've just added a little fotogallery (click on "pictures") of us in the studio working on the recordings of our new full-length CD...So you can see a little of the Fortress recording "room", "the booth" and the "machine room" where we spend our loooooong days .Ofcourse it's not just us in there, we can only work so smoothly on our newest baby because we are in the competent hands of Yigal (the King of the Castle), Juju from Isra?l (the master of the mixing desk and the wizard of "Logic") and Dani?l from Columbia (a poor classical concert violinist fallen on hard times, who is now an apprenticed coffeemaker and studio dishwasher ;-) These last few weeks (outside the studio) have been an absolute mental nightmare for Jenny and me (I won't give you the details this time), but I must say that this contributed to a great, inspired atmosphere IN the studio... A lot of people like OMNIA's music because of the "emotional and spiritual content"......well...you want emotional?.......you're gonna get it! 9 tracks of pure po?try and passion ...life and death....the bitter and the sweet... are being created for your pleasure. This work is only a quarter finished now, and our road unto completion is yet long and arduous...but we'll get there in the end! Greenthingz! Sic et OMNIA
Death and LifeSic's incomprehensible blog no:7Yesterday afternoon my Mum was finally released from her prison of flesh , And I must say ,that after almost two months of hospital induced hell, I feel happy and relieved that her torture ,at last , has stopped and her spirit is now free. She has moved off this mortal coil and into another existence...the remaining pieces re-arrange themselves on the board and as ever.... the game of life goes on. Today is the first day of what will be more than a month of studio recordings for our new OMNIA album and I feel sad but hopefull... greenthingz Sic/Steve and the family ps: thanx for all you have done and tried to do for us in these last difficult months, we really appreciated it.
CD's are hard work...but fun!
I thought that it's about time to give you another update about our new cd .The regular practice sessions (again at "Dreamharps") are going well, and I think we'll be in time for our first studio dates (starting 26-2-2007) with all the new arrangements etc. The new OMNIA cd (title still secret) will have the song we built from Edgar Allen Poe's "the Raven" on it (ofcourse) as well as another piece written around an existing poem (this time from Shakespeare's "MacBeth") although I did have to rewrite a lot of it because frankly this Shakespeare guy really doesn't have a clue how to write song lyrics..... I don't want to give away too much about the contents , because we want it all to be a bit of a surprise. (normally we play a new composition for at least 6 months at live-gigs before recording, but this time we want to do it differently.) Oh yes for the terminally curious I can tell you that , Yes "Alive" will be on it, No it doesn't really sound like the version you may have heard live during some special gigs anymore, and Yes,.. "Scarborough Fair" will be on it BUT with it's ORIGINAL Title, completely rewritten lyrics more following the original atmosphere of the dark traditional piece and a "sound and feel" completely unlike all the "usual" sticky versions you are used to. (I can actually play the OMNIA version of this song happily and without feeling like I have to throw up!) The artwork is also getting underway now, and is being done by someone very special from our (Jenny and me) own family! so that's the update so far... No news about my Mum yet...waiting sux...so I keep plenty busy to stop myself from going mad. ? photo: A. Lee
SHARING
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.6Wow...I really don't know what to say...I've just spent a few hours reading all the mails,guest book entries and forum-posts wishing my Mum ,my family and myself so much love ,strength and sympathy that I am completely stunned...I read stories of hope, messages of peace, personal stories of similar tragedies in other peoples lives (past and present) I feel that you have all connected with us in such a strong way and with such an "open-ness" that I can hardly believe it all (but I do) I have had so many personal messages that it would take me days to reply them all, so I will thank the lot of you in this mesage, you dear ,sweet weird people.. And just in case any of you are wondering about this : "YES! it helps...A LOT!" Miez informed me about the idea which started up on our forum to light a candle collectively and to send positive energy for my mum at 22.00.which has been going on the last couple of days. So Jenny and me also lit an extra Altar at 10 o'clock and I felt such a sense of peace and togetherness as is normally unheard of in this impersonal world in which we live. I would love to say now that a miracle happened and that Mum suddenly got better, but alas that didn't come to pass (as yet). But I don't think that was the point of it all, you see life is full of "bad stuff" that happens, tragedy can strike at any time and to anybody, and that cannot be avoided....it's what we do with tragedy and the feelings it invokes in us that counts... and I can honestly say that what you guys have done for us is amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your positive attitude and the megawatts of energy I feel from all your thoughts. I still don't know what will happen, and I still feel powerless to do anything except wait.. (which will probably take weeks to be sure). I visited my mother in the intensive care again and asked the constantly present nurses etc. for a moment alone with her,She is completely drugged up and according to the doktors she doesn't experience or feel anything at the moment. But I never believe what "over-educated people" say, so I talked to her silent form , I told I love her and allways will and I explained that if she wants to she can "leave" without guilt and that her family will be fine ... I told her about the positive energy being sent to her to either heal her or ease her passage to an other existence... I sang to her by her bedside with only the beeps and clicks and whirrs of all the machinery around her as an accompanyment...I felt her react... and .when I left I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. Whatever happens...it is out of my hands now, I must only accept...whatever happens. whatever comes next I don't know , but I promise I will share it with you whatever the ultimate outcome. And now to all of you out there who are touched by this "little tragedy" in a large world, or who feel sympathetic hurt when hearing about my "tiny pain" in a world full of huge pains, I say again "Thank you" and I am humbled by your ability to share with me on an equal basis as I try to share with you. And now don't dwell on this anymore , but look to yourselves and your own, if you love someone,tell them every time you can... if you have a day in front of you grab it in both hands and live it to the full,.... if you see someone next to you in pain ,help them to ease it....and when you see the sun come out, look it straight in the face and smile... with deepest respect SicSteve , Jenny, Damien,Myrthe , Jacky (my Sister) and above all ...Mum
MUM
Sic's incomprehensible blog no. 5My mother is in the Hospital..in the intensive care..she has been for a week now.The doktors don't know what to do as she is suspended between life and death...AAARGH! It's so horribly frustrating and I am completely confused and it hurts like hell... My dear sweet mother who asks nothing of no one, and always loves to dig in her vegetable garden and read a book and spend time with her grandchildren is lying hooked up to all sorts of torture equiptment in some horrible big techno building, being kept alive by all sorts of machinery and "modern medicine" My strong wilfull mother who taught me to appreciate and respect nature and all living things is now reduced to a completely helpless state...all shrivelled up and so small with spikes and wires and stuff poking into her as if it's all some kind of sick horror movie. She might die...she might live...I don't know and there is nothing I can do for her,,,she cannot talk, she is being kept under heavy sedation and morphine so I really really hope she doesn't feel anything...My mind is tearing apart because on the one hand I want her to live, but even if she does the doktors think she will probably be paralysed and completely dependant on constant care for the remains of her life...(which such a proud nature loving woman as my Mum wouldn't want). and on the other hand I want her to die.....to cease this horrible suffering she must have. That's what get's me the most..that thought...I want her to be able to let go and stop her hurting... This impotent guilt/worry thing is blocking my mind completely right now and still I must perform...life goes on, everyday...the wheel keeps turning... I played a gig last Sunday in a sold out church, and ofcourse most of the audience were our dear sweet hardcore fans, but also there were an amazing amount of "new" old people in the venue...and my mother and her pain were in my head the whole time and I looked at all those people there and I thought about the fact that my mother has never seen OMNIA play live..and now she probably never will...It was the hardest gig I ever played up to now. BUT I was happy that I could play...that I can get the chance to play and (even though I feel numb and terrible) to make people happy and to share something with all of you.Also the hard moments... There was a moment when I was sitting backstage just before the show was about to start that I felt tears welling up inside me and I really needed something to help me "snap out of it" so I could walk on stage without bursting into tears...so, as we were in a church...I climbed into the preachers pulpit , connected to the backstage area, and looked out over the crowd... And I saw all those people sitting there ..they looked up at the sight of me, "the Pagan" standing over them like a preacher and of course this started them off laughing and clapping..and I felt the energy and expectation and respect flow from them all and immediately I felt gratefull that I could borrow strength and confidence from all those great people down there... So if you were at this gig and you may have thought that I was a bit quiet and sometimes a bit distracted...wel...now you know why..."the Raven" especially was REALLY hard to do this time... I'm not sure why I wrote this horrible blog, as it is really nobodies business or worry except our own, but still I feel better for writing this and sharing it with you... Maybe just so you know we are just people too, and not some "fake product" or a stage act...enjoy life to the full every minute that you can...cause you never know when and how it will end.... Greenz and love SicSteve
Writing a New CD....
As I might have mentioned before, OMNIA is NOT a cover-band. It's true that we play in the folk scene sometimes, and have some folksongs in our repertoire, but unlike normal "Folk" bands we actually like to write our own material instead of just energetically copying other people's hard work and calling it "traditional".Now, you may think that original new songs and fresh cd's come dropping out of thin air...and actually ....in OMNIA's case you'd be right!! Life's Inspiration hits us all the time to write new stuff...melodies bubble up from the beyond as we are making tea or having a shower or whatever...So all the songs, concepts and ideas get "given" to us at some time and all we have to do is interpret the feelings into composition, easy, right ?.....well, not quite, we still have to arrange it all together and practice all these new sounds. And that's what we have been doing in the "Dreamharps" harp-showroom during the new-year break. We have been working hard at writing/arranging all our new ideas for the New OMNIA cd, while we were lovingly looked after by Jenny's Mum and Dad Ans and Hans. And I must say that the Muse was very strong there, surrounded by the most beautiful harps, we were pampered with tons of yummy food, we played and played until our fingers hurt, and after each day of hard-practice sessions we relaxed in front of the fire place with a fine whiskey and a good smoke... And now we have a lot of new material almost ready to send out into the world. Of course the cd still has to be recorded. But the 'Fortress' studio has already been booked and our favourite studio-technicians Juju and Yigal will be digitalising our spirit in February and March of this year... And believe me, this CD will be very special! Greenthingz Sic et OMNIA
Luka makes Cover magazine!Check this out!http://www.mickmercer.com/themick.html Greenstuff Jenny
Happy New Year!!Just a short message to let all you fans and friends out there know we wish you a GREAT 2007 and hope to see you dancing, listening and laughing happily at our concerts this year!Greenthings from the whole OMNIA clan!
Midwinter solstice
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.4"So this is midwinter.. and what have we done? another Sun-cycle over, and a new one just begun. and so this is midwinter we hope you have fun, the near and the dear ones the old and the young A very merry Solstice! the return of the Sun the darkness is going 'cause the old year is done..." It's a shame the fecking wars are still not over..... ;-) Greenest yule stuff to you and yours and may the Gods drop something cool in your stocking! OMNIA
The Moon!According to Miez the moon works!!Pretty eh :o) Green leaves Jenny
home page under construction...High Pedicator Miez is currently working on this page, installing some new stuff. (Holy-days for the Gods etc.)But it's not all working yet ,hence the faulty moon calender. Yes we did notice it's running it a bit fast..... *edit* It seems to work better now :D Greenthingz! The OMNIA web-faeries
Pictures Pim Jacobs Theatre online!Click on 'Pictures' and you will see them!Greenthings Jenny
Buiksloterkerk en reserveringen!CHANGE OF PLAN!!!!Je kan vanaf nu WEL reserveren! Het is iets meer werk voor mij dus ik hoop dat het goed gaat. Schrijf jenny at omnia-neocelt.com een email met als onderwerp 'Reservering Buiksloterkerk 2007' Zet hierin alsjeblieft geen heel verhaal en stel geen vragen, maar alleen de volgende info: -Naam -Aantal plekken Je kan max. 4 plekken reserveren Je krijgt een standaard bevestigings-email terug die je moet uitprinten en meenemen naar de kassa (open vanaf 15:30) Je hoeft dus niet vantevoren te betalen maar we stellen het wel op prijs als je komt als je hebt gereserveerd (als je het niet zeker weet doe het dan niet). Er kunnen max. 120 mensen reserveren. De rest van de kaarten wordt op de dag zelf verkocht. Je kan geen zitplek reserveren, daarvoor moet je gewoon op tijd zijn (het is zowel zitten en staan als het vol is). Pfoe.... Daar gaat ie dan! Greens Jen & OMNIA
Pim Jacobs Theater ROCKED!So.............That was awesome! What an amazing concert! We had all afternoon to do our (monitor)soundcheck, you did probably notice the good sound in the venue and the fact we didn't have to talk to Pascale (our soundtechnician) during the concert... It's a breath of fresh air to play in such a beautiful theatre, where everything is relaxed, where people respect you, where no one hassles you and with such great food (compliments to the chef)! Performing is so much easier then, something you might have noticed :o) The dancing was great (thanks Wen!) and we loved the silence and attentiveness during our slower and quieter songs. You guys were a dream audience! I will put the pictures of this concert on this site soon, but meanwhile check them out on the website of Marcel Bakker: www.photos-bakkert.com Before I forget..... We will play the Pim Jacobs Theatre again! The new date is the 15th of September 2007. We will be opening the new Theatre Season 2007/2008 for them!! And there will be dancing, for sure... Well, this was our last amplified gig this year, but we expect to see you all in the 'Buiksloterkerk' in Amsterdam in January 2007, where we will start the New Year of concerts. Meanwhile, we will be busy working on....new material....for a new CD..... We will keep you updated! Greenthings and hugs to all the fans Jenny & OMNIA
POLITICS
sic's incomprehensible blog no.3POLITICIAN (theoretically)= a person who loves his/her country so much that he/she is willing to try and make everyone and everything in it work together so that they will all be as happy as possible... POLITICIAN (actually)= Somebody who needs to eat at least a 5 course ?1000,- dinner before he/she can start working... DEMOCRACY (theoretically)= The possibility for every citizen of a country to help choose the right leaders so that all may live happy, peacefull and meaningfull lives... DEMOCRACY (actually)= A rather confusing means of keeping the balance of power and money firmly within the hands of the descendants of ancient megalomaniacs, landowners, and modern corporate giants... MEDIA (theoretically)= A harmless form of light entertainment as well as a provider of easily processed information for the masses. MEDIA (actually)= A means of selling expensive garbage while at the same time scaring people into believing that we constantly live on the edge of destruction , and that we really need to be protected by our ever watchfull government (see politics/democracy). I have to go and vote again soon... (because the goverments in holland keep collapsing due to a bad case of "dickheads") I had actually given up completely on voting as it doesn't really change anything. Untill I saw a campaign poster hanging with a picture of one of those expensive dutch fat-arsed parlimentary chairs on it....ripped to shreds!... with a cute little kitten sitting in it! aha! thought I...these people have humour! I checked out their "program" and thought: "yes...this is something I can vote for"... You see I want to vote for nature because I don't choose to expire because of somebody else's greed... So now I am voting for the "Animal party" (partij van de dieren) ;-) at least they seem to know what is most important to an eccentric pagan tree-hugger like me... Greenthingz Sic
Rijswijk Gothic en Fantasy beurs
"It was a big and festive gothic hall, with a Happy Freaky crowdWe enjoyed ourselves immensely, until the noise got way too loud" It was fun! We loved the gigs and the "beurs" right up until the moment that the other band started playing ;-) Not that the music was so bad, that's a matter of taste, but because it was so extremely loud!! Tell me seriously, why do gothic/metal bands always have to turn up their bloody P.A. sound to 105 decibels or more? Is it because they feel inferior if people can actually hear what they play? Is it because they and their sound crews all wear ear-plugs? Is it because they enjoy seeing people's ears bleed? I don't get it, and I don't like it...as it damages our ears and leaves us with ringing tones for days afterwards... Big macho soundsystems to me are like big macho cars ......... ie: they're just dick replacements ;-) One thing is for sure: We are not the only ones that have a problem with it, as the standkeepers we spoke to about it all agreed it was extremely hard to explain anything about the goodies they were selling with 105 dB blasting around you... Our sound engineer Pascale always keeps our sound at a maximum of around 95 dB, which is loud enough to let the audience be 'enveloped' into the sound, but not so loud as to leave the entire building with a hearing damage. Are we of a dying race, or can we start a new wave of well-amplified acoustic music? I hope the latter :o) Happy Samhain & Pumpkin Soup! Greenz Sic & Jenny Picture by Marcel Bakker
BIRDY-Sic's incomprehensible blog no2
I love birds...I see birds as actual living breathing "faeries", fluttering and tweeting away, living their lives amongst us, and at the same time removed from us in a realm of air, wind, trees, water and land. They are the messengers of the Gods... For me the birds in a city are the last link to "wild nature" as they are the only really wild creatures still surviving close to us...did I say surviving?......hmmmmm?Do you know that when I came to live in my house 6 years ago there was a colony of about 18 sparrows always rummaging around in my back garden, also a loose group of around 9 great-tits, 4 blue tits, 5 seperate blackbirds would visit along with various other fine feathered friends. My house used to resound to the song of birds, which always makes me smile and feel alive. BUT all that has changed... The first to go were the sparrows, all the houses in our (very old) street were "renovated" in which the bastard humans responsible for this sort of thing, destroyed all the old guttering on the roofs (the sparrow's homes) and replaced them with "anti-sparrow gutters" (would you believe?...because these birds reputedly "smell" and "cheep noisily"!!!).So in a two month genocide the sparrows died (there are none left now). Most of the old human families that used to live in my street have left now (the houses are thought too small nowadays) and in their place have come loads of "single people aged around 30 with one or more cats" which is a popular new urban breed of "Homo Sapiens Sapiens" in these alieanated modern times. Cats are cool, cats are also deranged killers, which leaves the surviving, harrassed, persecuted birds to cope with a nightly onslaught of well-fed, very healthy and totally bored predators to deal with. They (the birds) are not handeling it very well, faced with all these sleek recreational killing machines they simply die....horribly. So the great-tits and the blue-tits have gone the same way as the sparrows. The visiting birds that come each year have dwindled down to practically nothing, as the human farm lands worldwide have gone from bad to worse... gone are the "clouds" of a million or more swirling starlings curling through the sky; the geese and swallows are reduced to tiny groups travelling from polluted continent to polluted continent. And now the sturdiest garden survivors of all, the master-singers, the blackbirds, have also been wiped out and our back garden is as quiet as a grave....although....no I lie, a new sound has replaced the song of birds in the city, it is the constant drone and blare of traffic, everyday, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, without rest. At night you can hear the amplified mess of electronic music drifting on the poisoned air, mixing with the howl of trains and industry.. That is the new sound of our "human-nature", and when I now look up at the sky I find no comfort in the movement of birds, but I must say that the combination of exhaust and factory fumes, mixed with building dust and stirred by high frequency electro-smog does give us a rather pretty sunset! And at least one of my favourite bird families is still around in the parks and the streets, the Crows and the Magpies....Birds are the messengers of the Gods , and the Gods are talking to us now... That's why the whole shit-eating crow family has stayed with us for it is they who will clean our bones when finally the human-race has run...........think about it.
OMNIA & QNTAL in Tivoli
Well....you know it's kinda weird to do a "rock concert" gig on a Sunday afternoon in the city where you live (the venue is about 10 min. from our house).Imagine it ,you wake up on sunday morning, you drink your coffee , have a buttered bun, slip on your coat, drive down the road get on a dark smoky stage and play a pagan folk concert, ......strange. It was fun,...but...you know, how can I explain?, it felt sort of..different. I mean, I was even wearing my slippers on stage for feck's sake! The audience didn't seem to mind that we were all a bit ,...you know... "Sunday morningy". We did have the advantage to relax a little and get to see the oher concerts properly (I love the thing Michael from QNTAL does with the glasses..you know it?...cool eh?) And we managed to plunder a load of QNTAL merchandise !... "I toured with QNTAL and all I got was this really pretty T-shirt ;-)" thanx again to all! (especially Andy the manager, you rock!) greenthingz on Brian Froud wingz Sic picture: Marcel Bakker (who else?)
OMNIA & QNTAL in BrusselsThanx everyone for a great party in Brussels! It was a groovy gig all together.The opening acts (Unto Ashes and our pagan buddies Faun) heated up the venue where a really happy crowd of freaks was gathered for a fun evening of bopping around to the varied line-up of outlandish tunes. By the time we got on the stage the temperature was high enough to fry eggs, but nonetheless we had a great (although rather sweaty) time playing. And the evening got a grand finish by our friends from QNTAL. What can I say? the bands , the fans, the organisation,..all perfect! There was some sadness as we heard that night that our old friend Leonce (who was a great Celtic "Clan-chief" in the "Archeosite de Aubechies" in Belgium) had passed away from this life. This man was to my mind (and Luka) one of the true living "real" Celts who had found a way to live in the present while honouring the past,he made many of our bronze pendants and he was an important example to us when we were only "little celts"... And there were many really cool things aswell ,especially one for me ;-) (Merci Sebas pour le merveilleux Torque! I will treasure it and may the Gods smile upon you allways...) all in all coolness, thanx to everyone who was there for keeping the smile on my face.. greenz! Sic
Sic's incomprehensible blog no.1As I was out skeelering yesterday, to keep my old bones and whatnots ship shape and tickedyboo ,something profoundly strange happened.I had only just covered a short distance , heading out for a big park to search for a bit of solace and birdsong in the filthy grotty town in which I live, when (for reasons unknown) I sailed straight past the path where I usually turn off into the trees and carried on following the Bicycle path alongside this wide ugly thoroughfare road which cuts straight into the heart of the overpopulated citysprawl to feed the evergreedy machinations of commerce and bureaucracy. I realisd that I would have to execute a sharpish 180 degree turn to head back and as my speed was a little on the high side for this particular manoeuvre I ended up coming to a standstill on the thin strip of grass that devides the road from the bikepath. These strips are traditionally used in Utrecht to store garbage that gets thrown out of passing cars ... I stood there for just a moment...at a dead stop..getting ready to power up the legs again for a sprint onto the path and into the green eaves of the waiting park when I glanced beside me on the ground , where I noticed a small dark piece of garbage that seemed to have grown dark brown luminous eyes which stared up at me in terror and amazement.... Sitting there right next to me on this random piece of grassy strip next to an evil asphalt killing field of cars was a tiny black fuzzy bunny rabbit! The poor little fecker looked to be about 8 weeks old. I didn't want this little fur ball to run out in a panic and get himself crushed under some bastards michelin's, so veeeeery slowly I lowered myself down to his level, softly crooning some meaningless lullaby song to let him see I was not going to kill him or whatever. Then , with one quick yet gentle grasp I picked him up and held him tight against me, getting ready for a struggle or scared nip of his little sharp teeth, but none came. What I felt more was (through his layers of fear and fatigue) a sense of relief...this poor little bugger was used to human contact.. Which suddely made it apparent to me how a tiny 8 week old fluffy bunny can be paralysed by fear along side a busy road next to a park at such an early hour in the morning.... Some bastard had evidently chucked him (and probably the rest of his brothers and sisters as well) out of a car " so they can live in the park". These idiots (like most humans) don't realise ofcourse that a city park is death for young creatures like Bunny and his family. If the viscious predator cats don't get 'em, the cars and the panic will. Well any way , to cut a long story short, I went and brought little Bunny to some people I know who have a "kiddie-farm" in the city, and they would take care of him untill he could possibly be adopted by someone more "permanent" And that leaves me hoping that the next human that get's this poor little fecker's trust will not chuck him out of a car to be left to die in this man-made enviroment.. People can be such ignorant and heartless bastards... So please,please guys, for the sake of Bunny and all his pals..... try to be different............... Greenthingz! Sic
Extra PaganAttic gig FULL!Yep, it's full!Too bad... Greenthings Jenny
Extra PaganAttic ConcertOn Sunday afternoon the 12th of November Omnia will give an extra PaganAttic concert!There is still some space left (approx. 10 places) for people that have never been there before!! Times: -Doors: 13:45 hrs -Concert stars: 14:00 hrs All the other info is the same as for the normal PaganAttic concerts, you can find them on our forum in Dutch. If you need translating, mail me about it.. Making your reservation: Email me at Jenny at omnia-neocelt.com with as subject 'PaganAttic 12 November' and state in your mail -Name -Amount of people you make the reservation for (max. 3!!!) See you there! Greenthings Jenny & OMNIA
Sic on Playboy late-night television...I keep hearing from all sorts of people that there was a really weird interview with me on air during "Playboy late-night televison" on the dutch channel "Veronica" last saturdaynight...It was about a performance I gave (together with Luka) during an all night Fetish-Kinky party a few years ago, they even had footage of the halfnaked fire-show we did there. Sadly I missed the whole program thing (Jenny and me do not have television) and as I was pretty wasted during that whole night I have absolutely no recollection of what I said there... So I'd like to ask if anybody regularly tapes this program ;-) and if so could you give me a copy? Greenz Sic..... no picture...sorry
Qntal & OMNIA
Our friends of Qntal (www.qntal.de) are releasing a new CD this fall....and they will be celebrating this with a European Tour...For OMNIA fans in Belgium and Holland, it will be worth it to go, even if you don't know them, because we will join them in Brussels and Utrecht! And in Brussels, our fellow Pagan friends of Faun will help us making it even cooler! Dates: 13/10/2006: Qntal/OMNIA/Faun/Unto Ashes in Brussels (B) 15/10/2006: Qntal/OMNIA/Unto Ashes in Utrecht (NL) Further details in our Agenda See you there..... Greenleaves Jenny & OMNIA
Pics part 2Check out the pictures for more Castlefest fun!Greenz Jenny
Pictures!!Our picture Gallery of recent Live Pics has been updated, so we can add stuff to it ourselves now and keep it nice and fresh! The coming weeks, more pictures will be added, but for now, check out Burgfolk, Anno Domini 1406 and Castlefest (more pics. of that one to come very soon)...Greenstuff and rainbows Jenny & OMNIA
Burgfolk 2006
So what's the story on Burgfolk you ask? Well, from our point of view it all went incredibly smooth.. It was close, so we only had a short drive. Organisation was spotless, and the stage crew were like fine Swiss clockwork (ahwell, so we had some sound monitor issues; did anyone notice? That'll teach us to get that in-ear-system soon!) The audience had a great time and showed its appreciation in both applause and coin at our merchstand. Thank you! An overall pleasant atmosphere at a beautiful location, although the name Burgfolk seems a bit of a misnomer with all the Metalalter/Mittelmetal rockbands, but none of the audience seemed to mind as everyone was having a great time. Certainly we enjoyed ourselves (well, at least I did).Greentz from Luka et OMNIA photo by: Petra Lindner
Summerdarkness 2006
And another Gothic-innercity event has been and gone...I heard that all the tickets were sold out so it must have been a succes for the organisers.We thoroughly enjoyed playing in Ekko again (it's like a little home from home for us...though decidedly darker...with a stronger beer and tobacco smell...and more latex....hmmmm, maybe more "familiar" than "home"....) Anyway, big surprise and delight for us was meeting Francesco Banchini and the two charming italian musicians who make up the band "Gor". It's always refreshing to hear an oasis of real music amongst the bland, synthetically clumsy noise I have come to expect at gothic festivals.After having been mentally bludgeoned to death by the slightly arrogant (and possibly incontinent) fallen greatgrandfathers of goth "Bauhaus" and similar noise overdrive stuff delivered at a 110 decibels and more, I was almost in tears to discover something fragile,virtuose and genuine like "Gor". Expect to see them performing somewhere in the future together with us....(possibly near a castle) and for all those Gothies now nursing a hangover after a weekend "well out of it" , We'll see you at the next meeting of the "BlackFamily"!!! "Black is the new Green" Sic foto van anna van kooi see review at www.3voor12lokaal.vpro.nl
CASTLEFEST!!! ;-)
AAAAOOooooow!!!!!! That's what I call a festival! We spent sooooo much time in preperation/organisation trying to make this weekend a "neo-pagan/hippie feast to remember" that I was actually shocked and surprised to find out that it was everything we had hoped and worked for... when I made the logo (quite some time ago) combining "the Tower" in the "Chaos wheel" in the "Sunwheel" I never could have known that it would hang so beautifully over this modern day "Lughnasadh". This weekend was no empty commercial promise filled with bullshit... This weekend was REAL! and all who were there know this and won't forget... We are greatfull to all of you for sharing this with us and Mark ,Natas and Rob, and all the volunteers who helped to make this "Festival for the new children of the revolution".... I hope that all the things you expected from us were there as well.Good music,Wyrd and/or wise words,stoned bandmembers , freaky co-operations with Faun, etc... I did actually strip naked on stage on sunday (behind the backdrop) but only the Faunies saw this when I put on a loosefitting loincloth which I kept on for the rest of the day. (so I was decent enough for the sad people who are shocked by nudity, and naked enough for the eager few at the front of the stage who would want to see "more")...ahem... Oh yes...I was kidding when I said we would blow up a squirrel ,we didn't actually detonate any small tree-rodents on stage...... and anybody who was dissappointed by this should be ashamed of themselves! ;-) Anyway This years castlefest is over, see you all there next year to celebrate life an enjoy yourself with us and the rest of the gang again! ! We are the new Hippies and "BLACK is the NEW GREEN"!! Love and leaves! Sic foto copyright : ijs 2006
Instrument pages onlineWe've added some pages to the website detailing all the instruments Omnia plays - just click the 'instruments' button to the left.
Anno Domini 1406!Here a little explanation about the time schedule for Anno Domini, because we keep getting requests for it.There is NO time schedule known until we make one in cooperation with the other bands, jugglers and storytellers. We will have it figured out on Saturday evening for sure, and hang up a sign with our playing times. We hope to be finished soundchecking around 12, so we can start playing early, but no-one knows exactly what's going to happen. But you know, this festival is so much fun, arriving early shouldn't be boring at all!! See you all there Greenstuff Jenny & OMNIA
what a nice picture!
Hi , I'm just checking to see if I can upload a picture onto this news-screen...This is just a Cool picture of Laurence (a.k.a. : "Lurtz","Sauron" etc. from "the Lord of the Rings"),...he's a really great guy!
free music downloads added to site!yep you can get some free downloads of our musical excreta from various OMNIA cd's on the "Downloads" button...go on...try it!
Foto's van La Samaritaine
Onze huisfotograaf Marcel Bakker heeft een prachtige serie foto's gemaakt van onze optredens afgelopen weekend in "La Samaritaine" in Brussel. Hier kan je er een aantal zien; als je ze allemaal wil zien, ga dan naar zijn website! Veel plezier ermee :o)Greenthingz Jenny & OMNIA
OMNIA in Brussels!!Hey there Pagans!Nothing to do next week? Did you know it's possibly going to rain on Monday or Tuesday? Well, if you don't mind travelling a tiny bit, check this out: There are still 20 or so places left for all three Omnia concerts at La Samaritaine, 16 Rue de la Samaritaine, 1000 Brussels, on 2nd, 3rd and 4th of July.?This is the wonderful old underground venue in the center of Brussels, where the bonus track of PaganFolk was recorded last winter! OMNIA will play 2 sets with a break inbetween; audience is seated at long tables, imagine a PaganAttic concert but with a little amplification!........ If you want to come and have not booked tickets you can still most likely get in by arriving early and paying at the door. The concert on Sunday 2nd starts at 15.00, so children friendly, the other two nights start at 20.00. Tickets are 15 euro. Oh, and if you want a whole weekend of fun, Apocalytica plays for free on Saturdaynight in Brussels, so why not combine the two gigs? :o) Greenthings Jenny, Joe & OMNIA
Joe's interview on Belgian national radiocheck it out on the Radio 1 website here:http://www.radio1.be/radio1_master/programmas/dgb/r1_dgb_home/index.html click on 'Beluister de jongste uitzending' and you can listen to it - we're first up
Pics!
Okay, here it is, the first picture on this newspage!It was taken by Marcel Durach in Munich on the 'Musica Antiqua Viva' in April this year. More pics will follow soon!
OMNIA in the SAUNAPhew! it was hot as hell in a packed Ekko last Sunday....but wow! , we really needed that.Finally a gig which lasted longer than 45. min!! (we should arrange more gigs ourselves!) we played a massive set and there was DANCING!! Thanx to the great work of Dance-Meister Wen and his friends a whole lot of people are now enlisted in the secret society of "BalFolk" weirdos. More dancing is good for the soul! And we tried out our "songfestival hit" and I think one or two of you actually liked it! (well...not counting the people who were cracking up hysterically because of the unusually high "corn" level of this new OMNIA piece...) Anyway thanx for joining us in a 40 degree plus hot house enviroment for this delicious sunday afternoon for Danu! Greenthingz! Sic & Jenny
OMNIA on MySpace!Hello there CyberPagans!Just wanted to let you know that Omnia has finally joined the new world- no, we already have a website of course, I mean we're on MySpace now as well! You can see for yourself at http://www.myspace.com/omnianeocelt And while you're there, leave us a nice comment, or if you have a MySpace yourself, add us to your friends list! Yoohoo, 21st Century, here we come With many many thanks to our sweet Sister Kaat!!
Wave Gotik Treffen!We had a mega weird and really cool time at the WGT!Although we are tired as Hell now....pfffhew! what an endurance race! Four straight days playing (in somewhat dreadfull conditions, due to the crummy , badly programmed stage). But who cares!? we loved it all anyway because YOU were there! And that always makes us happy!, We really felt so much support and warmth from the huge amounts of people who kept coming back and finding us in the "Heidnisches dorf"... (It was especially freaky when the crowd started chanting "OMNIA,OMNIA!" when Liv Kristine and her band was taking too long to clear their stuff off the stage...hi hi hi!). Thanx for the cheers,thanx for the love, thanx for the joints!,thanx for the booze,thanx for the dancing, thanx for buying our cd's and stuff (we sold over 450 cd's and a tonne of shirts!) We are simple and free independant anarchists , so without you we would not survive....you keep us alive! We love you guys , and we sincerely hope that we will play on the WGT in the "Heidnisches dorf" for you again next year. I bow humbly to you all who make up the great beast named: AUDIENCE! Greenthingz! Sic et OMNIA
WGT-Heidnisches Dorf INFO!Hello there Gothies, Pagans and other weirdo's that will be at this year's edition of the "Wave Gotik Treffen' in Leipzig, Germany!As you may know, OMNIA plays there... But it seems, nobody is exactly sure where or when.. So I will tell you everything I know, and hope you'll all be able to find us! OMNIA plays EVERY day, 3 times a day, in the place called 'Heidnisches Dorf'. It is an outside medieval market with excellent stalls (and good food), located near the enormous 'AGRA Halle' which is the main stage at the WGT and also the place whith the biggest Gothic Market I've ever seen. It used to be at the same place every year in the big Park near Torhaus Dolitz, but this year it has been moved a little. We are also not very sure what to expect, but if you're near the campsite and the AGRA Halle, you should be able to find it. Don't get confused with the other medieval market that is now at the old place of the Heidnisches Dorf! Yeah, we know, the organisation is kinda sucky. Anyway, we'll play somewhere between 12:00 and 22:00 every day, so if you come by you can just ask us when we play, or maybe even find a programme somewhere (we would be surprised though, if they have printed it on the first day this year...) And don't miss us! We won't be there next year!!! See you all there, bring a little sunshine if you can! Green *sunny* things Jenny & OMNIA
Poing's Saturdaynight OMNIA/FAUN cancelled....As you might have read on the Faun forum, Faun and us didn't play, last Saturday on the Medieval Festival in Poing...On Friday, we already struggled and started 1,5 hours too late. It was pouring and extremely windy, and on top of that we didn't have time for a good soundcheck, so our monitorsound was 'kinda sucky'. On Saturday aftrenoon, we arrived at the festival, and although it had been kinda sunny until then, it started raining as soon as we got out of our van (figures...). Kylian and D?si, the light & soundenigineers of Faun and for this festival also of Omnia, told us then, that they had discoverd that the stage was not built properly and was actually dangerous. The night before, the cover had been rocking from left to right during the Faun concert. To make things even worse, news came that there was going to be a really really bad storm that night (up to 90 km/h), and this stage could definitely not take that.The organiser, the stagecrew and us then had to make the decision to cancel the whole thing for the safety of the audience and us, and break down the stage. We were quite sad about it, also because we knew a lot of people would be there especially to see Faun and Omnia play. When the weather actually cleared up and no rain fell untill the next morning, we were even more depressed that we weren't playing....the fans definitely wouldn't understand why we weren't there. But it would have taken too much time to build up the whole soundsystem again, do all the soundchecks etcetera, so there was no way we could play. For everyone that was there to see us, we are SO sorry! This beautiful festival shouldn't have had to cope with this kind of weather. We hope to see you somewhere else, maybe at Castlefest (5/6 August), where Omnia and Faun will do their "PaganFolk-Special" again, or maybe at the WGT this weekend, where OMNIA will be playing up to 3 times a day, every day! Oh, and you wiccans, warlocks and wizards out there, could you please give us some nice weather, eh?......I think we deserve it (and we'll play Lughnasadh as often as we can!) :o) Big hugs to anyone that we had to dissapoint, and (dry) greenthings as well, Jenny & OMNIA
OMNIA at the Eurovision song contest?After the stunning succes of that weirdlooking finnish soft-metal band at the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend, probably a 100.000 bands thought "hmmm? why don't we enter?"Well seeing as we have four chances to compete (as an English , Irish , Belgian or Dutch group) we thought it might be fun to enter as well... So we've written a terribly sticky, ultra fluffy, tr?s commercial neo-hippie "pagan" pop-song especially for this purpose. We will be presenting this tacky sweet piece of musical candy to the stunned and horrified OMNIA-Fans at "DANUDAY 3" which will be on Sunday afternoon june the 11th in the cosy little pop-venue Ekko in Utrecht ( extra long gig, including dance instructions a l? "Bal Folk" , ticket info on the agenda). So you can judge for us if we should enter it in the competition or not...
Paganattic was cool, Food was great!!We had a really relaxed PAGANATTIC gig last weekend and the presents are just piling up!It seems like everytime we do these cute,pagan acoustic gigs, more and more people bring the most exquisite snacks! (all home made and/or Biological!) Brilliant! THANX! Everything that wasn't eaten during the evening we devoured as a midnight-snack after we got back home. I just wanted to say that we really appreciate all the gifts and goodwill we get from all of you, be it a cute daisychain on stage around mr.Happy, or the handmade monogrammed tour-towels, the embroidered handbags and pouches, the Raven statuettes,brooches,battle-emblems etc. etc. etc. Amazing!.....thankyou all very much!!
Omnia toerist!!Voor de mensen die de nieuwe Omnia merchandise (PaganFolk, Spaghetti Tops, Linnen tasjes en posters) nog niet in huis hebben maar dat wel graag zouden willen, is er goed nieuws! Aanstaand weekend is er weer het middeleeuwse 'jousting tournament' en middeleeuwse festival 'Ridders van de Haar' in Haarzuilens. En op de markt staat een stand van de 'Hippiestore' die wij bevoorraad hebben met al onze goodies. Om het nog leuker te maken, komen Sic en Jenny samen met wat andere VIP's :o) op zondag de toerist uithangen. Dus als je nog een krabbeltje op PaganFolk of waar dan ook op wilt, kom gewoon naar ons toe en het is geen probleem.Meer info: http://www.riddertoernooi.nl/ Tot daar! Greenthingz Jenny & OMNIA
OMNIA at the E.U in BrusselsWell, that was fun...There we were..in front of the HUGE!!!! E.U commission building in the center of Brussels on an open air stage playing for Fans and city people as well as Tourists, and loads of people in (uncomfortable looking) business suits...it was really weird!And because it was "EuropeDay" we did all the introductions of songs etc. alternatingly in 5 different languages! (including Irish!).... gosh! it was like playing in Luxemburg with it's multi lingual population again.... I thought the other bands we're a bit strange , because they were obviously good musicians, but sadly they could only play covers of AMERICAN hit songs....which to me was rather disappointing for something called "Europe day"... Anyway, we had a lot of fun on stage , I was a little cranky because I'd left my Grass at home ,as I had heard that the Belgian police woud be playing with their "sniffer dogs" there, so I had nothing to smoke....(twitch twitch) this must have been the first gig in a long time that I played without being stoned...I hope it didn't suck too hard. While we were there I had a good look around at the place and the people and I think "Europe and the European union" are pretty good concepts for cooperation between the european nations of people.... if only they could manage to dump the idea that it's all about money and subsidising agricultural/industrial animal torture . I think it should be about the people of Europe , sharing but at the same time conserving their own different and unique lands and cultures and their own personal freedom.... oh and something else !! : Legalising my sweet cannabis herbs all over Europe so that I never have to play "straight" again!! greenthingz! Sic
Les Anthinoises: Fantastique!!Last weekend we played a great gig at the Celtic Festival 'Les Anthinoises' in the neighbourhood of Luik, Belgium. Our cd's sold like crazy and the audience couldn't get enough of our music...(too bad we were the first band and couldn't play longer because of the tight programming).To make things even better, at night we were brought to our 'hotel' which turned out to be a holiday home in the beautiful countryside! There was an open fire, a full fridge (with Chocomel for Luka!), a dishwasher and fresh bread in the morning (on Monday night, it was even baked for us by the lady who owns the house). And of course lots of birds, singing in the morning...without the distorting highway-sound you seem to get everywhere in Holland! We were invited to stay 2 nights, so on the Sunday we wandered over the small but tasteful 'Celtic' market, met great artists in the VIP tent, did some siging sessions ourselves as well, and ended the day with a concert of some great Folkbands. We want to thank the organisation (Jean-Pierre!) for all the great care....we would love to come back next time....The people in Wallony are really guest free! Greenthingz Jenny & OMNIA
OMNIA top of the charts?I just heard something funny from Banshee our distributor in Germany :OMNIA "PAGANFOLK" has entered the German Medieval Music Charts by "Karfunkel" on number ONE !!! cool eh?
My daughter may keep her Skulls on!I would just like to let everybody know that my Daughter Myrthe can wear whatever she likes to school again!!and she's offered to have a talk with any kids and/or teachers who feel she might be "too agressive" or who are afraid that she will rip their heads off to eat their Brains or something because she wears GOTHIC fashion... As allways you have to be prepared to explain to your "fellow humans" that they should judge people by their actions and not by the clothes they wear. (although in Myrthe's case her clothes do proclaim her to have fecking good fashion-sense!) Thanx from Myrthe and us for all your letters and supportive comments!
Sic back to school?Hey I've just heard something really funny today!My sweet little daughter Myrthe Fortuna has been told today by her head mistress that she's not allowed to wear her cool black Gothic clothes with skulls and stuff to school because it's "not right" and "Aggressive looking"... and she'd just got those clothes today ,on her birthday! That's freaky eh?! I just had to laugh! It sounds so ....oldfashioned in a way. my daughter is already an unwanted element and social-dropout and she's still in primary school! ...I'm so proud of her... really! And this nice headmistress has just won herself a long conversation with me (looking as I do) about the freedom of expression and the rights of the individual and the freedom of my daughter's appearance and choice of subculture!! yippee! This is going to be fun! I've allways wanted to get even with those fecking mind-repressing schools and their "little dictator" heads and now I have a willing volunteer!...life is good! Well that was just a little gem I wanted to share with you. Greenthingz and I'll see a whole bunch of you these next couple of weeks in Belgium! Sic ;-)
The organisers of Castlefest have asked Jenny and me if we would like to join them on a stroll around the Elf-fair this saturday, and they've even offered to pay our tickets for us! (they're such sweet people). So now we WILL do a special cd-signing session (?14.00 h) at the "HIPPIESTORE" stand on the Elf-fair,..... but powered by Castlefest! ;-)
OMNIA at the Elf Fair?No, I think not; we had hoped to give a special release concert for our new cd "PAGANFOLK" there or at least hold some signing sessions for the fans, and we've tried to arrange this, but alas, it is not to be......BUT for the hordes of disappointed fans who will be wandering around on the lovely grounds of "de Haar" Castle listening to the skillfull sounds of our friends from Qntal but missing OMNIA, we have made sure that our new OMNIA CD "PAGANFOLK" and some of our new MERCHANDISE STUFF as well as the DEMONIC/FANTASY Board GAME "CHAOSARENA" (made by Sic and Miez) will be on sale all weekend at the stalls of some of our other friends who will be there, namely: 1: the freaky "HIPPIESTORE"..(also for OMNIA posters,bags,t-shirts etc.) 2: the impeccable artisans of "PYGMALION" 3: the finest mead sellers of "MEAD and MORE" have fun, love life and GREENTHINGZ ! (and we'll be seeing you at one of the many other festivals!) Sic et OMNIA
PAGANFOLK special in Munchen (D)I just remember that I didn't mention anything at all on the site about my feelings concerning our gigs together with Faun in Germany....well.....actually:THEY WERE GREAT!! For the first time we really made a total symbiose between the two bands FAUN and OMNIA and the effect was FANTASTIC! We built up a whole three hour show together blending the Faunies into OMNIA and the Omniacs into FAUN...giving us a mass of shared songs ...wow! what a gig! I would have loved to stand in the audience that night and see/hear the freakyness unfold...(actually at one point I did jump off the stage into the audience and freaked out on the dance floor while the rest of us were still playing!! This was PAGANFOLK at it's best and grooviest! I myself particularly enjoyed doing the Darabuka duet together with Rudiger on "Dil Gaya" and the extremely heya-heya scandinavian flute duet together with Fiona on "Wind und Geige" For all those sad and unlucky people who were not there at the completely sold-out Paganfolk special in Munchen , don't worry ,we will do this set-up again !! In Germany at the POING-Festival and in a really BIG and massively PAGAN way in holland at CASTLEFEST during the PAGAN-NIGHT!!(check our agenda for details) We were so spaced and rattled around after 2500km of autobahn in just a few days that Jenny and me made a detour through the Ardennes in Belgium to sit in the forest and stare at trees for a couple of days....from the psycho electric Acid trip of the popstage to the tranquility of the forest waking up to a new spring....what a complete experience,....so Even though I feel slightly f*ck*d-up about being back behind a keyboard , having to wade through loads of backed-up mail and questions about the condition and size of my penis and the mortgage rates on my house, I only have to think back on the last freaky stage and the beautifull Belgian forest to feel at peace again...... Greenthingz and Shanti! Sic (and Jenny)
NEW WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTIONAs you may have noticed this web-site is currently being re-done...this is an obvious message brought to you by the ministry of blindingly obvious matters......thank you for your co-operating by reading this totally pointless bit of text.
OMNIA-PAGANFOLK is ready!It's been printed! our 6th baby lives! YES!and it's 100% pure "PAGANFOLK" The "official" sales haven't started yet...(these things take a while) but it will be available online from our shop this weekend (hopefully) And for the totally desperate people who live near Utrecht (NL) , you can go to our friend Tijn in the "Subcultures" gamestore in Utrecht (see forum for details) and get it NOW! Live sales start this weekend at the PaganAttic-concert ,Utrecht (NL) on 25 march. And at our "TopAct" concert in Zapfendorf (D) on 31st march (details in "AGENDA"). life is cool!, I'm happy, and I hope you are too :-) Grreenthingz Sic
"PAGANFOLK" almost ready!Yes , after months of really hard work and creative "mindsqeezing" our latest baby is (almost) ready to be born....It's being printed as I write this and with some luck we should have a truckload of the little buggers very soon. Officially we'll be selling them for the first time at a gig on 31st of march in "Top-Act" in Zapfendorf (D) (see our agenda for details) But we just might have them a little sooner.....maybe ;-) maybe not :-( and ofcourse you can order it then via this site. This was just a little message to let you know....... and here we have another nice little OMNIA FACT for you to think about: Did you know that most of Omnia is heavily into weird Games and Fantasy rollplaying?... Luka,Jenny ,Miez and Sic are all avid rollplayers and boardgamers. (Sic has been a rollplayer for over 21 years now....and he still hasn't grown out of it.......sad isn't it?) but Joe (the sensible guy) gets his fun from playing games with international politics and managing Blog sites....
Extra PaganAttic concert!We have planned another, extra, PaganAttic concert on the 18th of March. For more info, see 'concerts' and click on the link..Greenthings Jenny
PAGANATTIC 18-2 GIG CANCELLEDSorry guys but due to a horribly vicious flu, Jenny has gotten so sick that she is unable to perform this weekend , so sadly we've had to cancel the gig....we will find a new date for this concert at and let you know... greenthingz Sic ps: the reason why Jenny got sick is that we are all pretty worn down and used up because of all the hard work on the cd, but now.... it's almost finished..........!
Prehistorische worshops 2006Jaja! Op veler verzoek hebben we nieuwe data gepland voor de prehistorische workshop.De workshops, extra lang en beide met dezelfde inhoud, zijn dit keer op een zondagmiddag: Workshop 1: zondag 26 maart 2006 Workshop 2: zondag 14 mei 2006 Tijd: beide van 13:00 tot ongeveer 16:00 uur. Let op! De workshops zijn grofweg hetzelfde. Als je al een keer hebt meegedaan met de workshops van vorig jaar, kan je je rustig nog eens inschrijven, maar er zullen dan wel een aantal dingen herhaald worden. Plaats is DE 'PAGANATTIC" op de Everard Meijsterlaan 3 Utrecht, bij velen wellicht reeds bekend van de voorgaande workshops en Pagan Concerten... De workshop zal bestaan uit een uitleg/lezing door Sic over de oorsprong van muziek en de verschillende instrumenten, gevolgd door uitleg en samenspel op verschillende muzikale juweeltjes uit de vroege geschiedenis van de mensheid door Luka, Jenny en Sic samen (snorrebot, hoorns, fluiten, percussie en nog veel meer). Benodigdheden: Jezelf en een open mind. De kosten bedragen ? 30,- per persoon per workshop. Er is een beperkt aantal plaatsen, dus wees op tijd. Het cursusgeld betaal je op de dag van de workshop in de PAGANATTIC bij binnenkomst. Je kunt je aanmelden door een mailtje te sturen naar: sic at omnia-neocelt.com Zie voor verdere details onze agenda en ons forum! Greenthings Jenny & OMNIA
Recordings for new CD are going well!During the last weeks we have spend our time by working almost non-stop in the studio....All recordings for our new CD have been done now, and it all sounds very promising :-) This doesn't mean you'll be able to buy the CD very soon: Firstly, every track needs to be mixed (a proces of 1 or 2 days per track!).....And then everything has to be printed and pressed....this will take another 3 weeks at least.... Meanwhile we are working on the artwork, to make sure you will want to buy this CD instead of downloading it! We think it will definitely be worth it. Furthermore, we have planned 3 CD release concerts, but sadly (at least for our Dutch fans), all of them are in the South of Germany (see agenda)....maybe we'll be able to organize something in Holland, but this could prove to be a bit difficult. Anyway, we'll keep you informed! Sunny wintergreenthings Jenny
have a great yule and new year thingie ..We just want to wish you all, plenty of love,feeding,warmth and other groovy stuff for this next year that lies ahead of us all...let's make it a good one! Cheers! and mucho Greenthingz..... Sic and Jenny ......et OMNIA
Great dancing in Maarssen,CD recordingz and ARENAWow! what a week!....ppppft...we've been real busy recording our new cd (and we still have many more studio days to go), but it's all definately worthwile.This cd is gonna rock! It's great to work in a different studio for a change, and our new technicians (Juju and Yigal) are absolute masters at the controls! Anyway , Even though we were very tired we had a great gig last saturday in Maarssen (NL) and we were extremely happy to see so many beautifull people dancing a "Tovercirkel" to our new dancing tune "Tine Bealtaine", Well done ! I can honestly say I was amazed that any of you new this french folk dance at all,....you know it gives us hope for the world to know that there are still loads of great looking long haired girls with gipsy-skirts and dresses who can have fun and have the guts to dance an ages-old trad folk dance to the tune of a bunch of acoustic musicians, (although the improvisations were really cool as well)....As you can imagine it was all pretty distracting for us allthough Joe, Luka and myself bravely did our best to ignore the giggling beauties in front of us and we concentrated on looking at the more serious members of the audience who ,were sitting in comfy chairs in the corners of the hall.... and Jenny ,Kaat and Joanna complained that they didn't see enough guys dancing out there though.. We were working with a new sound guy (Alex) who helped us out because our sound-woman (Pascal) couldn't make it to this gig.And he did a great job, the sound was sweet and we had a lot of fun on stage...Thanx Alex!,we'll see you again... Oh yeah , the organiser of the "Pim Jacobs Theatre" want's us to do another extra long gig there next year, to which we ofcourse agreed (details will follow later) Oh yes and there's a little message from me (Sic) and Miez (the guy who built this website and makes the OMNIA cd-covers) WE"VE FINISHED ARENA!!!! It's been printed and we'll be polluting the world with them very shortly! Miez should be updating the CHAOSARENA site real soon (toch Miez?) If you don't know what CHAOS ARENA is than go to this websiteand find out....... Greenthingz! Sic ps: I've got new dr.Martin Boots and their green and crinkly with zips....cool eh? (I'm so happy!)
There are still some tickets for the 10th of December!Saturday the 10th, OMNIA will give a very special concert in the Pim Jacobs theatre in Maarssen, NL. We will play 2 long sets, in which we will include lots of new songs!There are still tickets (?12,-) available. For more info, see our agenda ('concerts'). Winter greenthings Jenny & OMNIA
Paganattic with Oliver Sa Tyr,our Operatic-manager, an Isis priest and much massage oil....We had a lovely Paganattic-gig last weekend, Great atmosphere, and what made it really special was the fact that we had 3 guest appearances this time!Oliver Sa Tyr (FAUN) came along and played beautifully (as allways) Miez came out of the woodwork with his full Egytian priest stuff on to conduct an Isis-Prayer (during the song "Isis") and Joanna (our manager) joined us on a few songs with her brilliant operatic voice!..... We were all a bit cramped up with all the exitement though...so sister Kaat had to massage Jenny before the gig, Sic during the break and Joe after the gig......thanks Kaat (we're such a bunch of cripples...) anyway, it was fun! and now we are off to the studio (again) to do some more recording for our new cd!!! Greenthingz Sic
No hoodies size S left!Our hoodies will from now on only be available in the sizes M and XXL, cos we think anybody will fit into one of these sizes!Greens Jenny
Life....Life is good...the sun is shining,we're all healthy and the first RECORDING DAY IN THE STUDIO on Celtic new-years day went perfectly........Happy new year everybody!
And even more Rijswijk Pictures!Marcel Bakker also took some great pics on the weekend of the Gothic & Fantasy Market in Rijswijk(NL). Check out his website!Greenthingz And ofcourse Happy Celtic New year!! Jen
The first pictures of Rijwijk!Click on the following link to see a tasty series of pictures from last weekend at the Fantasy and Gothic Fair in Rijswijk (NL)! They were made by Erno from the Celtic Folk Fan Page; thanx Erno!There's more to come... Greenthingz Jenny
Jenny's view on the Gothic/Fantasy Market RijswijkHello fellow Pagan scum!Last weekend was a lot of fun....We especially enjoyed the Sunday, because the whole Pagan Family was complete with Joe, Joanna and Pascale there... Here's a sum-up of the good stuff: -The organisation was great (we had NO hassle at all! Amazing...) -The crowd was great-looking and very cool -My new HurdyGurdy has survived his first gig and I think he loved it :-P (I did) -The sound on Sunday was GREAT thanx to Pascale -Great fun playing together with the guys of Rapalje -Sold lotsa hoodies and other merch stuff -I had a great and well-needed massage on Saturdaynight from Sister Kaat (thanx...) so my neck felt a lot better on Sunday :-) See you all soon! Green and red Autumn Things! Jenny PS: Email us if you have good pictures from last weekend, also from the crowd!
Jenny less OUCH!Gosh, it's my first time behinnd the 'evil box' (computer) in a week! I've been lying on bed a lot, reading lots of books and sleeping like a baby. My neck and back feel a lot better now, and I can move around pretty well now. We will be playing Rijswijk this weekend, so don't worry!Thanks to all the people that sent me get better cards/emails! And I'm really really happy because I have my new Hurdy Gurdy! I'll try it out in Rijswijk, so keep your eyes open to see the evil-looking black thing with the sound from hell (yes, this one is louder). AND more news, as I promised, I would let you know when we had our hoodies again! We will be selling them in Rijswijk (sizes M and XXL). We also have new girlie longsleeves....they are tight fitting, size S/M and very soft and comfy... As for now, it's not possible to order them from the site yet. And of course, here is another fun fact!! 7-Our cool guitarplayer Joe is trying to save the world each day by working as a top-level operative for the European Union in their head office in Brussels See you all this weekend! Greenthingz Jenny
Jenny, OUCH!We Have some bad news...Due to a really nasty painfull "muscle-thing", Jenny is unable to play any music at the moment. The doctor thinks it should heal soon, but alas it is impossible for us to perform right now. We have been forced to cancel the (sold-out) PAGAN-gig of october the 8th. To all the fans : SORRY! we're not very happy about it either...especially Jenny. (we will think of something to make it up to you....) greenz Sic On a lighter note here is another installment of "fun-facts about OMNIA members" 5:Did you know that Luka used to be a member of a "Gun-club" and can shoot better than most "Gangstas", "Homies" and "Glock-poppin' Rappa's" you'd care to mention...... (although he is ofcourse completely reformed now and totally against any form of violence , especially involving guns. No, really.) 6: As a therapy Luka now plays a recently acquired genuine North Australian swamp bloodwood (eucalyptus ptychocarpa) yirdaki to practice the ancient oriental art of Dijuri-do.
some facts...1 we've started working on the new CD ,'just thought you might like to know, but it 'll take fecking ages to make though, so don't expect it untill spring 2006...2 Jenny's new Hurdy-Gurdy arrives next week! 3 Sic has got even yet MORE new drums (he is re-inventing the drum-kit). 4 Jenny and Sic are nature-loving, tree-hugging neo-hippies,they eat organic food,they go to nudist beaches, they're against cruelty to All animals (also those you like to put on your plate!), and they actually think life is great, and that it's a shame so many people disagree! oh yeah...and we have great tits in our backgarden... more facts about the other Omnia members will follow... Greenthingz Sic and Jenny (Stenny)
Omnia in HungaryWell, let us say that this gig was.. interesting.. Read that as; 'quite a long and complicated story'. So, after viewing the length of all I wrote, I decided to cut the corners a bit. You can also read more details of this gig in Joe's forum report here;http://www.omnia-neocelt.com/forum/index.php?topic=1122.0 or here; http://www.omnia-neocelt.com/forum/index.php?topic=1121.0 (...) After the usual crap that we often seem to get from uniformed guys just because we wear different clothes, we set for Szombathely (Which should be pronounced as 'Shombatey', as the customs officer snapped at us). There we met Fatima, our hostess for the weekend. At last a friendly face! Without her we would have been completely lost in a country where we couldn't understand a word of what people were saying. Thanks! At long last we arrived at our 'hotel', or, more correctly, student-quarters from the old communist days with equally dated facilities. Too tired to resist we crashed onto our beds. Picture the following scene in Stenny's room; 'Grr.. Zzz.. Grr.. Zzz.. -Oonk-oonk-oonk-oonk-oonk-..!!! What the.. Who the feck is playing this insanely loud house music?! Dammit, I'm going upstairs this instant and demand an explanation! But, what's this? This crummy door lock is jammed! We can't get out of our room! Aaaaaargh.. -Oonk-oonk-oonk-...' (...) BUT, we survived and played some excellent power-sets. The crowd was totally enthusiastic and we got many (often incomprehensible) compliments. Or they might have been saying 'this truly sucks the donkey's earlobes' in Hungarian, but that would be contrary to the contented smiles they gave us. In short; quite a rough ride, but all's well that ends well. Oh yeah, and Kiss a gnome! Omnia
Shop works again!As promised, here a little message: The shop works again! I would say, order now! Lots!..... ;-)Greenthingz Jenny
Super Pagan Concert in Brussels!Last weekend we played two memorable concerts.....We all agree about the follwing: We have never sounded this good! The small Medieval underground venue of 'La Samaritaine' in Brussels was packed with people of whom a lot had never seen OMNIA play live before. Well...they loved it and we loved it! The atmosphere was great and Pagan, our soundwoman Pascale played her instruments like a virtuoso, and we made REAL music, without stress, without problems. We wish it could always be this way!For the people who missed it, come in December to see us there! On the 18th and 19th of December (Su/Mo), just before Midwinter, we'll be back for two concerts in this beautiful yard cellar. The reservations are done by the Samaritaine itself; more info soon! Furthermore, we now have 4 definitive dates for our acoustic Pagan Concerts in our PAGANATTIC in our agenda. Make your reservations in time, because there are only 30 tickets available per concert! We also planned three different workshops in the PAGANATTIC this year: A Bodhr?n Workshop with Sic and Jenny in September, and in october a Didgeridoo Workshop with Sic and Luka, and a Prehistorical Music and Instruments Workshop with Sic, Luka and Jenny. More info about the PAGANATTIC dates in the menu under 'concerts'! Hope to see you soon! Greenthingz Jenny & OMNIA
CASTLEFEST!!!I still had to write what I thought about Castle fest so here it is!Castlefest according to Sic: biggest kicks: 1:Having Lawrence "lurtz" Makoare (from "Lord of theRings") joining us for "get the Halfling " on stage!! that was amazing!! (we're really big fans of his, and we got his signature on our chopped off Lurtz head!! and on my "Lurtz" drum!!!) 2: playing all weekend and especially "Isis" together with our dear friend Oliver Sa Tyr from "Faun". 3: seeing a huge crowd smiling, dancing and singing along to " Etrezomp ni Kelted", while the rain was pissing down on everyone.....wow! that's dedication! 4: doing the power-folk end-sets together with Rapalje and David Miles each day. Pretty on the eyes: 1: All the people that had genuine, creative,Neo-Celtic costumes and swirlies on......Beautifull! 2: The sight of Chantal, Kaat, Annebeth (and others) dancing along the cat-walk to a merry gigue 3: Medusa and Micha getting changed into their fire"Costumes" ;-) Biggest surprise: "Rosa Crux"....what a bloody impressive piece of theatre/music!, I couldn't see the whole show because I had to help out with the "Flames of Chaos" fire show, but what I saw moved me deeply..... Toughest person doing a rough job: 1:Pascal our sound-woman, who had to wrestle with the soundsystem from hell all weekend while being rained on constantly in a soggy corner of the field where we were playing....thanx luv! 2: all the volunteers who helped to make this festival a great new event in Europe. (did you know that OMNIA were working there as volunteers aswell?) Biggest bummer: 1,2 and 3 : the rain.......that's it..no more bad stuff. This is the start of something new.....The atmosphere we felt all through the Castlefest festival was AMAZING. Everybody (visitors, volunteers, organisation, shopkeepers, the artists) I mean everybody was happy, huggy and definitely neo-hippie! This festival was for us a UNIQUE experience.And we have allready exchanged solemn oaths with the organisers, Mark, Natasha and Rob (we love you) that as long as there is an "OMNIA" and a "CASTLEFEST" we will work together!!! message for everyone who was there: "It was an honour and a pleasure to work together with you all, we love you, and WOW wasn't it great!?...we'll see you all next year, and the year after, and the year after,and the year after ,etc...... message to everyone that missed CASTLEFEST: "We feel sorry for you,better luck next time!" in two words: "CASTLEFEST RULES!"
Reservations for La Samaritaine, Brussels!If you would like to make a reservation for one of our concerts in La Samaritaine in Brussels (19 and 20 august), mail to " omniainbrussels@yahoo.com ".Please let us know your name, the amount of tickets you would like, and if you want them for the 19th or 20th of August. have a great Summer! Greenthingz Jenny
Sic finds new Drum!I have a new Drum! (I'm so happy)
25 years Silver CircleWe had the pleasure and honour of playing at the Silver Circle 25th jubilee, where a right merry gathering of witches and pagans of various denominations listened to a very long and extremely hot unplugged set of our pagan tunes and songs.And it was great, the atmosphere for us when we could finally play to a crowd who "knows" what we are saying is so relaxed (and such a relief, you won't believe the kind of small minded christian-conservatives like the ever present "folk-police" that we have to play infront of sometimes!) Thanx to Merlin, Morgana and the Silver Circle for inviting us and ( more importantly) for bringing Paganism out of the cupboard, off the Christian burning-stake and into the sunlight and the hearts and minds of those who see the living nature of our planet! on to the next 25 years!! Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again! Greentingz Sic et OMNIA
the OMNIA FORUMIf you have any questions about OMNIA, try looking on our FORUM....where most will be answered...
Trolls in Belgium!!Great Fun! What a brilliant crowd and a wonderfull atmosphere in Mons at the first Belgian "Trolls et Legendes"Fantasy- Festival,We happily met some old friends, and made a lot of new friends! Thanx guys for making our life that much more enjoyable!! WE hope to see you all soon again in Belgium.
Ragnarock cancelled!Some will blame the bad Dutch railway connections, some will see it as a sign from God, whereas others will see a conspiracy from subversive extremists. Fact is that the Ragnarock festival has been cancelled at the last moment. No Omnia, no Faun, nothing. Like Ragnarok heralded the end of the world in the Edda, so ends this festival in darkness. Alas..Well, we're off to have a picknick in the park and enjoy the sunny day.. At least it's not the end of the world. Greetz, Omnia
WGT 2005 photo'sHave a look at the first pictures of the WGT festival in our photo gallery. They were taken during our concert at the Agra-Halle, so you can't see much of the 'Heidnisches Dorf' in that beautiful green park with the oak trees.. Still, the pictures are very nice (and mainly blue). Enjoy!Greetz, Omnia Edit update; Now with yet still even MORE pictures, including the 'Heidnisches Dorf'!
DidgeworkshopHere it is, the long awaitedDIDGEWORKSHOP The workshop is split over two thursday evenings, on june 16 and 30. Location will be the Wyrd sister workshop/cafe at the Everard Meijsterlaan 3 in Utrecht, which some of you may already know from the bodhran workshop and the Game cafe. You can join this workshop by mailing me at; luka at omnia-neocelt.com Costs will be 40 Euro p.p., once you have paid you have a confirmation of a place. There is a limited amount of places, so be quick about it! You can deposit the money on; giro 7439591 t.n.v. L.A.L. Aubri at Roelofarendsveen o.v.v. Didgeworkshop You will need; a didgeridoo! If you don't have one, go to Australia and buy one. Or you might try the description to make one yourself I posted on our forum at 'Aankondigingen'. It's in Dutch however, so you might want to bookmark an online Dutch-English dictionary. Or try Babelfish and have a barrel of laughs.
WGT 2005Well....it was really boring. We didn't like it at all. Nobody liked us either. No one bought a cd. Nobody took any pictures. We didn't meet any nice people. And the Pagan Village was not in a beautiful green park with oak trees and nice medieval stuff. Not at all. Really.*gheghe* WAHAHAHAHA it was great and we're going to do it again next year. But we hope more of our Dutch fans come over, cos we haven't seen any bloody pictures on our forum yet. Not enough anyway (thanx BertJan). And gosh, the AGRA halle is really fecking big! Greenthings Sic & Jenny
Omnia in Atak, EnschedeWhile we had certain expectations of our gig in Atak, they were only partially confirmed. True, Enschede apparently seems quite distant from the rest of the Netherlands, so before we got there, we had some phantom images in our head of playing in some backwater dump in front of a few beerquaffing local yokels. But then we saw the venue; a building that reminded us of the squatting days. And everyone there was just SO nice, and we also had a three-course dinner. They even had a backstage computer with internet and special papers to write setlists! In short, band-heaven. The gig itself had a small yet nice audience and even some trusted fans (thanx for the shoes Loes!), and the sound was great (thanks Timo!). So, if we play there next time, we can assure you all that even a small, distant venue can be worth visiting.Greetz, OMNIA
OMNIA in the Recordstores?Hi guys We have just made a deal with an international music-distributor to make it possible to order the OMNIA cd's from most record stores.....at least that is what we hope.. Now I am really curious to see if this is true , and if Omnia appears on the computerlists in record stores or not... So my question to you is: If you know of anyone who would like the OMNIA-cd's but doesn't have them , then that person could try to order them from his/her nearest record-store. And also if you allready have the cd's , you could try to just see if it is actually possible to order them... Please try and let us know what happens... ;D Greenthingz! OMNIA
Elf fair 2005We had a lovely time on the Elf fair on Sunday, our friends Oliver and the FAUNIES invited us to come over on their guest list, and Jenny did a guest appearance for them on Olivers little harp during their last set.I spoke to soooo many fans freaks and friends there , it was amazing!We sold masses of cd's through various shops , so I was signing cd's all the time.It was allmost as if we were playing there after all. "Ukko" gave us their last bottle of super-mead (thanx!)AND at last I got to meet one of my greatest Heroes, Jenny's uncle ALAN LEE , and suddenly I realised as I was talking to him that , because Jenny and me are married he is allso MY uncle!!! (that's so fecking cool!) What a groovy weekend!
website updateWe have been mucking around on the website and if you don't see a menu with 9 choices on the left side of this page , you should empty your "Cache" and reload the home page......tackx loves you!.....
OMNIA and CORVUS CORAXAnd we woz Rocking the Willem II "Medieval style"!!a Great sweaty (extremely hot) gig with the Kings of the "Bagpipe and Drum" genre...Gosh! it's not often you get to see so much testosterone in action on one stage....Brilliant! Our own contribution went smooth, it was groovy, but for my taste it was a little short....(I prefer it when it goes on for a really long time!) But I had a great time!, there were loads of fans there and allso those who had taken the time,trouble and expense to see us , even though they had been wandering around on the "Elf" festival all day....wow! that's dedication!!....thanx guys!
OMNIA WILL NOT PLAY AT THE ELF FANTASY FAIR THIS YEARBecause we weren't invited...sorry fans! But we can't do anything about it.So please stop asking us why.......(ask the Elf instead). But we WILL be playing with CORVUS CORAX on the same weekend in the Willem II in Den Bosch. And of course there are other big festivals like: "CASTLEFEST" in Kasteel 'de Keukenhof' in August "RAGNAROCK" in June in ' de Zeelandhallen' in Goes "TROLLES ET LEGENDES" in Belgium in June "WAVE GOTHIC TREFFEN" in Germany in May Plenty of chances to see us in a crowd.... Check out the Agenda!
FAUNOMNIA in MunchenWe had a really great time in Munchen last weekend during the "MUSICA ANTIQUA VIVA " festival , where we played a double gig with our dear friends from the German Band "FAUN". It was actually more like a triple concert because the Organisers proved that they have brains as well as good taste and they let us play together on stage , so we became one huge band shouting our pagan prayers together!!We gave the (completely sold out) venue-crowd a mega treat of two evenings with both nearly 4 HOURS of solid PAGANFOLK music by OMNIA,and by FAUN and by FAUNOMNIA! It was awesome!,I had goose bumps on my goose bumps when we played "Auta luonto" together, and was shaking for ages afterwards... we really must try and do that again some time... but alas we will probably have to arrange it ourselves, because hardly any other festival (except Summerdarkness 2004) has the sense to book us TOGETHER. Thanx to Oliver and Fiona of Faun for letting us share their house again and giving us such a good mini-holiday after the gig!!! Thanx to the crazy Dutch fans that came to Munich(bunch of gobsheens!) Und Danke an alle Deutche Fans die gekommen sind...bis balt auf den W.G.T!!
JOE HENNON JOINS OMNIA!!!Yes people it's official!JOE HENNON (SHANTALLA) and his masterfull Guitar have joined OMNIA for keeps. We are really happy to announce with a huge grin covering our painted little faces, that the core of OMNIA is no longer a Neo Celtic Pagan Threesome,... BUT A Neo Celtic Pagan Foursome!!! We hope that all of you are just as pleased as us with this. Maybe now we'll turn into a serious folk band after all....? Greenthingz OMNIA
Gorkumz Folk FestivalOMNIA does Theater!Theaters are way cool, they are really different to work in than most pop-podium-places (ppp's), did you know? The people that work in theaters are really nice, and you can tell that they actually enjoy what they are doing. They were all so helpful, the food was great, no hassle with the finances, the organisation was, in one word "perfect" (thanx Helga!!!and the others). We should do this some more... Maybe we should do a theater tour?.......hmmm?
Pictures Aegten Chapel!Our concert in the Aegten Chapel had never been, if the professional OMNIA paparazzi-member Marcel Bakker wouldn't have told us about this beautiful chapel. On top of this, he also made really great pictures of this concert. Go forth and have a look at them at his website!Snowy greetings, a very proud Jenny (who figured out all by herself how to put links on this page....)
St Aegtenkapel........Well...what should we say?........Different?, cool?, unique, cosy? really freaky?!..We don't know, it was mega, megacool.. Close.. Arguably the most intimate moment you'll get with us (except for a grouphuggy pic maybe). We loved your approval of Joe joining the band (now we really can leave the details up to him) and of Ben+ and Ben-.. So, really great to play for you again, but next time DON'T BE SO F*CKING LOUD! We don't want to give the impression that the average Omnia fan is some sort of fantasy football hooligan! Umm, but maybe you actually Are a bunch of fantasy hooligans.. ohwell, never mind then.. Hope to see you again on another gig! And by the way the people that run the chapel are really nice, and we can (and will) play there again. Greenthingz, Luka, Sic & Jenny
Shopping spreeThe script in our shop has been fixed, so get shopping already! Sorry for the downtime.
Shop...work in progress!At this moment we're working on our'shop' section. This is why it's not possible at this moment to order anything. In a few days you should be able to order OMNIA merchandise again; check this page for updates! Sorry for the invonvenience...Greenthings Jenny
Aegtenkapel sold out!It is not possible to buy any tickets for the Aegtenkapel concert on the 27th of February at the day itself; the maximum capacity of the Chapel has been reached, and the concert has been declared sold out........To everyone that made a reservation: See you the 27th! We are looking forward to it... Greenthings, Jenny & OMNIA
St. Aegten chapel almost sold out!The reservations for our concert in the St. Aegten chapel (27/2/2005) have been stopped, because the maximum capacity has been reached.Not all reservations made have been confirmed yet; around the 15th of February you can see here, on our newspage, and on our forum, how many tickets are left. These will probably only be sold the day itself at the venue.
Tivoli CD presentationIt was cool...thanx!Greenthingz Sic
CD presentation party!!We will be celebrating and presenting our newest CD OMNIA "Live Religion"on the 28th of Januari in TIVOLI DE HELLING in Utrecht(nl). WITH MUSIC! (a monstrously long and excruciatingly religious two hour set) WITH our new stage set up!(more drums, new instruments, new songs!) WITH Joe Hennon (virtuose fingers on Irish strings!) WITH a new mystery-guestmusician! WITH Cyn selling all our new merchandise stuff! WITH a cybercase gothic dance-fest afterwards untill way past your bed-time! WITHOUT George Bush!(is this a running gag?) the price is 8 euro, tickets are available all over the place. And if you dress up really freaky we will love you all the more for it (because we are actually quite shallow) Oh yeah, and Omnia shirts always look freaky! Greenthingz and see you there OMNIA
Yoohoo they're online!Finally finally finally......It took a while, but it was worth the waiting! Check out our new 'Shop' for our new merchandise and order your goodies with the brandnew form (thanx Miez!) Don't catch a cold (wear an Omnia hoody), Greenthings Jenny & OMNIA
MidwinterThe longest night has been and gone,we had a really great midwinter ritual.Lugh was reborn again in our wickerman-fire and all the signs look good for the next solar cycle... I hope that despite the many irritating troubles of the world (pollution,hatred,george bush etc), we can all still keep our inner spirit strong and growing stronger. People make a lot of shit in this world...let's grow some Roses! (they love shit!) Greenest of greenz and a hoppity-skippity happy-jig to you all! OMNIA
IT HAS ARRIVED!Our new CD "Live Religion" arrived today! You can order this cd in our 'shop' on this site. It will also be sold at the Archeon Midwinter Fair this weekend at the stand of the organizers of 'Castlefest'. Gothic Fashion Store "Netjes" will sell our new shirts at their stand at this festival as well. Next week, an order form for the new Omnia fashion-line will be put on this site.Greenthings and Snowflakes, Happy Yule! Jenny & OMNIA
ORDER LIVE RELIGION NOW!Hello dearies,From now on, you can order your copy of our new (live) cd 'Live Religion' from the Shop on our website. We expect the cd's Friday the 17th of December, so if you order it now and deposit the money before then, you can have the cd in time for Christmas! Lots of ordering fun Jenny & OMNIA PS: The first 50 copies will be signed and numbered!
special acoustic show in yet another chapelWe've decided to do another little ACOUSTIC gig, in yet another wonderful christian reverb-box:The 15th century st.Aegten's chapel in Amersfoort(NL) Doors open on 27/02/2005 at 19.00. The show starts at 19.30 and at 23.00 we will close the place up and throw you all out again. What exactly will happen between 19.30 and 23.00 we are not going to tell you!....But it's gonna be really freaky! If you wanna be there as well you can make a reservation on this page.
Bodhr?n Workshop door Stenny!Op veler verzoek, geven Sic en Jenny op woensdagavond 19 en 26 januari 2005 een tweedelige bodhr?n workshop!Waar: Everard Meijsterlaan 3, te Utrecht Hoe laat: Van ongeveer 19:30 tot ongeveer 21:30 uur Kosten: Euro 40,- voor 2 keer 1,5 uur les incl. lesmateriaal, excl. instrument. Voor wie: Mensen die al met de bodhr?n bezig zijn, en mensen die het al (goed) kunnen maar graag wat meer willen leren. Afhankelijk van je niveau word je in een groepje met Sic of met Jenny ingedeeld. Instrumenten: We gaan ervan uit dat je de beschikking hebt over een bodhr?n. Inschrijving dmv. PM (via het forum) of email (jenny@omnia-neocelt.com) dan hoor je vanzelf hoe en wat.Er is beperkt plek, dus hoe eerder je je inschrijft, hoe meer kans je hebt geplaatst te worden. Tot dan! Greenthings, Sic & Jenny
New CD?Anyone remember this gig?Luckily on the saturday morning the weather cleared up as we went to the summerdarkness gig in the St.Jans church in Utrecht. And we must say that this "God" fellow (the christian one) has one mean power amplification system in his house! What a sound!! It would almost make you wish you were a christian.........ahem...I said ALMOST! The most wonderfull acoustics carried the (unamplified)sound of Omnia and Faun to fill the entire church with layer upon layer of rich tones...wonderfull. The versions of Dulaman and Auta luonto that we played together with Faun were particularly yummy for us. (Faun is sooo cool!) It was also really groovy to see so many Goths and Pagans together filling this huge Christian Church listening to our religious ravings of Gods of an older age. Just imagine this scene like , three hundred years ago!...I think we would have all been burned!!..ha haargh!...but not this time baby!.... Well.....We Taped it!! Yep! We've used the recordings of the SummerDarkness gig in the BIG st. Johns church in Utrecht (NL) for making our new LIVE cd! Sic and Jenny have been working nonstop, together with Miez, for the last week to get it all together and to wrap it in the most deliciously tasteful cover!...Thanx Miez! And we are done....OMNIA "Live Religion"...is on the way. All the master discs are at the printer now...and now ...we wait.... It's more than 50 minutes of music, PLUS we have put a lot of extra stuff on it, like rare recordings of Omnia and Faun (www.faune.de) playing together at SummerDarkness as "Faumnia", live videos of Omnia in st. Laurens church (NL) 2003 and five photo slideshows of all sorts of stuff. I think there's even wallpaper in there somewhere! coming soon .....(I think about 3weeks....) Greenthingz! Sic and Jenny
American concert tourAs a means of expressing our disgust at the present political climate in america,we have decided to CANCEL our planned tour of the U.S.A in 2005.Sorry to all our american fans!
TRIGANDAI would like to express how we felt about playing a couple of really wyrd and wonderfull gigs in Rijswijk last weekend , but I don't know how to say it so I think I will just quote our dear friend Oliver from Faun who allso played there when he said:"Zat Triganda thingie voz rreally somesing,eh?,...erm..do you have ze joint?..." Wow what a great weekend! It was really wyrd to play without Luka (he was busy assisting his wife in having a Baby!!!,yeah! three cheers for Branwyn!!Luka and Mirja's new baby daughter!) But our hero Joe Hennon from the best Folkband on the continent "Shantalla" came and helped us out with his magic guitar and it was sweet...!(I have a feeling we will be doing a lot more gigs with Joe AND Luka). And the FAUNOMNIA show was AWESOME! I had goose bumps during "Auta luonto", we must do that again sometime!. The audience were the nicest bunch of homo-sapiens as you could hope to meet, we got lots of nice hugs and even some prettie things!Thanx everyone! This might sound a bit cheesy, but we do actually care a lot about you all, I mean, I wouldn't go out and start picking out wedding rings just yet or anything , but we allways get such a buzz from playing for you all, that it really makes our world a much nicer place to be...so from all of us (including the whole Omnia and Kaos gang, Oliver and the faunies )THANX! We'll be seeing you around, keep your eye on our agenda because we have some things planned for this winter... "and the ass said unto the angel:"but I have no pockets..!" Stay wyrd! greenthingies to one and all Sic et OMNIA
Netjes!We have decided to add an extra sales point for you to buy our merchandise (next to our internetshop and sales stand at concerts).So starting this week you can get all your OMNIA cd's, t-shirts, stickers (and, hopefully, coming soon, patches and buttons of OMNIA and ZAP)at all "NETJES" clothing stores in Utrecht.
new stuff on siteWe have finally managed to update our site! There's a lot of new stuff, like all kinds of reviews and interviews (band ->reviews/interviews), a new story about Omnia (band ->about the band)and a new look for our gallery with new pictures (gallery)! Have a nice stay here and see you next time!Jenny, Steve & Luka
Cauldron!We played a "secret"gig last Saturday at the "Cauldron"Larp-event near Uden (we were a special present from the cauldron games-masters to their loyal flock of players, it wasn't advertised because otherwise too many people would try to get in.......sorry for the people who weren't there.....). And boy how we love those larp-gigs! The Forest, the in-character weirdos, the smell of hot Latex, the sound of rubber-bashing....wow, what a load of fun! Thanx for treating us so extremely well guys!! We'll play for your gang anytime! Sic et OMNIA
"Archeon midwinter farce"Hi peopleThere seems to be rumour going around that we are going to play at the "Archeon midwinter fair". Alas ,I have to dissappoint you...We have not heard anything from the Archeon office since last year when we played at their little fair and they disrupted,raped and desecrated our midwinter wicker-man ritual. We helped them to set up their fair, to fill it with some interesting stuff, we took Rapalje along etc., we even made up the name for them, or did you think that the profane capitalist that runs that slave-circus has the faintest idea of what mid-winter is?, And by way of thank you they used us , screwed us over and dumped us! This year we will have nothing to do with them, and if you're smart you won't either! May the Gods reward the good and punish the wicked Sic Steve
Update Fantamagic/BAD Langensalza!!Hello fellow Paganweirdo's,Here Omnia.... To give you a short update of recent eventfull events! Fantamagic Cosy! Both days were fun,allthough it already seems ages ago for us. We enjoyed the Sunday most, the great atmosphere was created by lots of our loyal fans who were hanging out in front of our stage hours before we started! We enjoyed ourselves a lot, Jan & Marjolein, volunteers and fans: Thanx..... BAD Langensalza Gosh, how to do this as short as possible? I'll give you a summary of the BAD things first: -Conversation by arrival at Friday night: Omnia: 'Where's the stage?' Organisator: 'you have your own stage with you, don't you?' Omnia (baffled): 'no??' Org:'but it says in the contract "OMNIA WILL HAVE THEIR OWN STAGE (....)" so you bring your own stage' To make a long story short, the stage was arranged just in time. Next problem: -No waterproof roof over the stage? It's raining all the time!! With a lot of effort, Omnia uses their own tarpaulin to cover the stage on Saturdaymorning. -Jenny has a very very sore throat and feels awful, with plopping ears and all....nice singing man... Oh well, the life of a rockstar!It's all part of it! Luckily, Sunday was great, lovely weather, nice crowd...although 4 sets of 45 minutes are a bit too much, especially at a noisy market with no mics to amplify you, and feeling quite ill...It also really helped to see our professional fans there!It's so nice to see a familiar face when you're in the middle of a Mittelaltermarkt in Bad Langensalza....(allso when they seem to be the same faces we keep seeing all over europe and even on the highway!) You guys are totally loony! See you next show! Love, Jenny p.s about "evil rumours" you hear about bands in the media. In germany we bumped into Ardor,the very charismatic bagpipe player and frontman from "cornix maledictum and "corvus corax" and as we had dinner and got to talking we heard from him that he wasn't allowed to play at certain festivals because he was supposedly dealing drugs after gigs and showing up to play while being completely strung out on coke/speed/heroin/take your pick. And this is a guy who only started drinking alcohol 2 years ago and doesn't do drugs. ( o.k. he might screw a lot of groupies , but that does not seem to be important....it's quite normal in germany). So people don't believe anything you hear or see or read in the media that tries to destroy someones reputation!, Don't believe me either!....)
Ons gastenboek enzo....Hallo lieve mensen,Zoals je misschien al hebt kunnen lezen, staan er in ons gastenboek een paar berichtjes van niet zo blije mensen...het schijnt, dat wij op Folkwoods een aantal kinderen hebben weggestuurd toen ze een cd wilden komen kopen bij onze bus. Onze fans weten dat we juist heel erg op kinderen gericht zijn, en zij weten ook dat wij niet te arrogant zijn om onze cd's te verkopen, ook al is dat niet bij het concert zelf. Vorig jaar hebben we op Folkwoods zelfs nog een cd weggeven aan een meisje, nadat we er eentje op haar vragen hadden opgehaald bij ons kamp. Dat zou al genoeg moeten zeggen, maar blijkbaar doen we het toch niet goed! Als er trouwens mensen zijn die in discussie willen gaan over dit onderwerp, ga naar ons forum. Dat hebben we niet voor niks! Als je in discussie wilt gaan met leden van de band, email ons dan. Maar gebruik daar alsjeblieft niet ons gastenboek voor. De berichten over het 'kindertjes' onderwerp hieruit zullen we verplaatsen naar ons forum, dan kunnen degenen die daar behoeft aan hebben nog even lekker doormiepen (en trouwens thanx aan de mensen die het voor ons opnemen!). Het volgende stukje had ik nog in het gastenboek willen zetten maar het is te lang. Dus bij deze: Wij (Luka, Steve en ik) zijn heel erg geschrokken van de beschuldigingen van een aantal mensen over het wegsturen van kindertjes bij onze bus. We weten hier alledrie helemaal niks van; misschien was het wel iemand die jullie voor Omnia aan hebben gezien maar die goedbedoeld mensen bij de bus hebben weggehouden (ik zal nog even in de crew rondvragen). Misschien had het wel te maken met 4 optredens in ??n weekend op 2 verschillende plekken gecombineerd met weinig slaap. Maar dit mag beslist nooit gebeuren! Wij hebben zelf allemaal kleine kinderen (bij Luka is de derde kneuter al op komst, en Steve heeft een meisje van 10 en een jongetje van 12) en staan er bovendien om bekend dat we heel erg kind-en familie vriendelijk zijn. Wij nemen altijd de tijd voor fans en al helemaal voor de kleintjes; geven zelfs geregeld cd's gratis weg en signeren ?lles voor kinderen. We hebben om maar een voorbeeld te noemen, dit jaar op moederdag 's middags een cd-release party gehouden, met moeders gratis op vertoon van kind. We deden het expres vroeg op de dag, omdat de kleine kinderen dan ook konden meekomen. Er zijn heel wat families die gezamenlijk naar deze dag waren gekomen! Bovendien, aan de andere kant, waarom zouden we in Taranis' naam geen cd's willen verkopen? We leven ervan ;-)! Maar serieus, zelfs voor handtekeningen, ook op andere dingen dan pas gekochte cd's, iets waar we dus niks voor krijgen behalve een heel blij iemand (das genoeg), nemen we altijd de tijd! Ook als het is vlak voordat we wegrijden. Of terwijl we naar een concert aan het luisteren zijn (zoals vaker gebeurde op Folkwoods). Hiermee hoop ik te illustreren dat wij nooit zoiets zouden doen als kinderen wegsturen die cd's wilden gaan kopen! Kritiek is best, maar liever wel berust op feiten. Kinderen zijn de toekomst, en als ze ons n? al leuk vinden, is dat alleen maar goed. We willen mensen een boodschap meegeven, en bij wie kan dat beter dan bij de jeugd? Veel liefs, ook aan de zielige kindertjes (laat ze ons maar emailen ofzo, maken we het goed!), Jenny & OMNIA
Summer Darkness/ Folkwoods 2004And an other interesting (loooong) weekend slams us across the teeth.....yawn!...we feel a little tired...We had great fun camping in the streaming rain at the start of folkwoods, Where Jenny played with Faun on the friday.Luckily on the saturday morning the weather cleared up as we went to the summerdarkness gig in the St.Jans church in Utrecht. And we must say that this "God" fellow (the christian one) has one mean power amplification system in his house! What a sound!! It would almost make you wish you were a christian.........ahem...I said ALMOST! The most wonderfull acoustics carried the (unamplified)sound of Omnia and Faun to fill the entire church with layer upon layer of rich tones...wonderfull. The versions of Dulaman and Auta luonto that we played together with Faun were particularly yummy for us. (Faun is sooo cool!) It was also really groovy to see so many Goths and Pagans together filling this huge Christian Church listening to our religious ravings of Gods of an older age. Just imagine this scene like , three hundred years ago!...I think we would have all been burned!!..ha haargh!...but not this time baby!.... Anyway ,after some frenetic activity we arrived back at folkwoods to do a "normal" gig there on saturday evening. We played an aggressive set together with Joe Hennon from Shantalla (thanx again Joe)in front of an elated screaming ,jumpy, bouncy audience..Folkfestivals have great dancing!! It was good to see a gigue danced properly again. Thanx! Taranis was pleased with us! It didn't rain anymore so on the sunday after a hard day of hanging around in the sun getting stoned with the Faunies we finished off the folkwoads festival with a real nasty fire show together with the totally deranged psychos of KAOS. We were a bit worried about KaosBen's hand , because Sic cut him with an axe on Thursday and he still had fresh stitches in his hand ("we all have little sacrifices to make..."). But he didn't bleed all over the stage and everything went just peachy. Thanx to Tinus and Martijn of Folkwoods for a great organisation! Thanx to Teun of Summer Darkness for lending us the Church... See you all somewhere sometime greenthingz OMNIA
FaumniaWell we had a lot of fun in Luxemburg, baking in the hot sun, sweating and making music together with our friends from Faun. The new band we formed there was called Faumnia or..or Omnifaun or ..eh..something...The music sounded pretty good actually...better than our usual rubbish.It was also really great to be greeted by so many familiar looking faces who had travelled all the way there to see us (thanx guys!)...(and thanx AGAIN guys!) What more can we say.... the weather was great, the drinks were good, the food was shite (except for the cakes we got off the fellow from the museum...and that Chinese restaurant where we gorged ourselves together with the Faunies on masses of food after the weekend.....and all the yummie stuff from that little bakery just outside the hotel...and...well the food was pretty good as well actually!) So I guess we're happy... See you all somewhere sometime, coming up next are Folkwoods (with a special guest!...and no, it's not Oliver!) and Summer Darkness (together with Faun again so we'll try and play as "Faumnia" again in the church!) Greenthingz and a (latish) happy Lughnasah to you all! OMNIA
A little updateWell it's about time to let you know what we've been up to lately. We've been working a lot and hardly seem to have any time to muck around behind our computer....so here goes:The Celtic iron-age thing in Eindhoven. What a lot of fun with Romans in Eindhoven! Thankx to all you dear weirdos who showed up (especially all those psychopaths that took the time to get all dressed up for the "Neo-celtic" MacClannad front)! Your enthusiasm and applause helped to make it a great day for us and the socially mal-adjusted warriors of "Kaos" and not forgetting our youngest violent deviants Glorix,Twix and Liga,who allso did some serious fighting to the (theatrical) death. Taranis heard our pleas and kept off the rain untill just after we had left.....our thanx go to him as ever..... The "Austria -trip" Well that was bloody interesting as well. On the trip to austria we had to drive through Germany and there the german police decided to stop our (rather freaky-looking) bus on the motorway to check us for drugs-smuggling. They told us that we had to accompany them to the police compound to have our bus strip-searched and it would take a couple of hours........bummer!...... Sic gave them his grass (he always carries grass around with him because he's a degenerate marihuana addict!). But they still wanted to search the whole van! So, we spent a couple of interesting hours at a german law-enforcement outlet surrounded by some pretty good looking german law-enforcers (you know the type: healthy outdoor types in army like fatigues carrying pepperspray and guns).While inside some rather overweight and ugly characters were violating our bus's innards. Ben and Luka were playing strip-stone/scissors/paper on the outside compound while Jenny was trying to relax a bit. In the meantime Sic was being interrogated in some office surrounded by huge "Heckler and Koch" gun adverts by a couple real german inspectors (could've come straight off some T.V. crime-series , they even had the whole goodcop/badcop thing going).....nice guys though...for cops....hi Harald and Pat! Anyway we left the place 2 hours later minus 3.1 grammes of really great dutch happy herb, 100 euros fine and ...mysteriously LUKA'S UNDERPANTS!! some how after the police had unpacked EVERYTHING from our van (and we have a lot of stuff with us we can assure you) we found out that Luka's family jewels warmers were missing!! Makes you wonder doesn't it? Anyway we got a valuable "tip" from Harald : he told Sic that if you go to Amsterdam DO NOT go into side streets because somebody could come up to you and FORCE you to BUY hashish at KNIFEPOINT! (he had heard the story from two people he knew).......and you know what the scary bit is....he actually believes it too! Well we hope the third millenium catches up with you guys soon!!,thanx for the interesting waste of time (you made us arrive too late for dinner in Austria though!) The gigs in austria were really freaky! in the middle of nowhere...in a mountain forest ....in the dark....with flames for lighting...150 austrians and tourists......AND SUDDENLY FOUR OMNIA FANS APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!.....that is a shock I can tell you! Thanx Ad, Margriet, Greetje and Neeltje for following us into darkness and making us feel at home in a strange land. You are all ...really...disturbed...(travelling 1000 km, watching a couple of tiny gigs , travelling 1000 km back!!...)Thanx. Sic, Jenny et OMNIA
picture gallery work in progressAs you might have noticed, our picture gallery has been extended and the lay-out has changed a bit. It isn't finished completely yet and the names of the photographers of the gigs at the Elf 2004 haven't been added yet. So, that's why I will just mention them here:Pictures Music performance: Johan Winkelman Pictures fireshow: Ad Luijks and our dear Erno (www.celticfolkfanpage.nl) To all these photographers: Thanks a million, you surely make us look good! All the best and greenthingz, Jenny
Elf fantasy Fair 2004Yeah! Cool!What a great(long)weekend! We had a terrific time at the most excellent Elf fair. So many beautiful people to see and talk with, the fine musicians to share a stage with (RAPALJE! and PSALTERIA!) The Elf organisation for us was , in one word PERFECT! (thank you very much Jan and Pauline for all your care and personal attention !!and thanx to Stefan "the big Elf cheese" for making it all happen). Also we'd like to thank all the volunteers who helped to make this a great event for everyone, and ofcourse MAJOR thanx to all of our fans (old and new) who cheered and screamed so loud that I think we will have ringing tones in our ears for the next month! And ofcourse we thank the gods (especially Taranis, for keeping the rain off our heads during the fire-show,and off your heads during the rest of the fair. We made the deal, we paid the price ,...v.s.l.m.) We will remember playing in lisse on the colourfull stage under the huge oaktree for a long long time......We hope to see you all there again next year! lots of love and greenthingz OMNIA PS: If you already want to see some cool pictures, look at our forum (blabla -> forum -> Omnia -> Omnia op Elf Fantasy Fair). Soon the best pictures will be on this site....
The Omnia forumHey you! , have you been to our OMNIA forum yet?just follow the "BLA BLA"link at the bottom ,left side of this page and discover a world full of weirdos ,just like you............
Keltisch Festival?What an interesting day.....playing around in the sun.For a moment it seemed that the wicked goddess Bureaucratia would put a stop to our concert there, but in the nick of time the day was saved by Jenny's mum(it's a long story). Thanx Rapalje for the loan of your stage space.(Yo Maceal! Yo Maceal!) And thanx to the fans for the beautifull singing! See you all at the ELF..........?
The Joust at deHaarI completely forgot to write something about the excellent jousting event where we played (22nd and 23rd of may)I have never before encountered such a great organisation at an open air fair,These guys really know how to treat muscians,thanx yoram and Arne! And of course to all the volunteers THANX!! groenedingetjes Sic
WGT 2004.........Wow!.....what can we say?...(yawns out of sheer exhaustion).Four days of 3 or 4 gigs a day, surrounded by thousands of total freaks!!...I mean like,...GREAT!! This was such a good vibe for us , the WGT rules! (big time!). We really enjoyed ourselves in the beautiful "Pagan Village" in the forest of Leipzig. So many wonderfull people dancing and cheering, so many brilliant musicians (The faery-like Faun, the almost sacred Estampie, and many more). It was all a real kick , and we look forward to playing there again next year. lots of love, OMNIA
The Forum has movedThe Omnia Forum has moved ... it can be found on this page.
Danu thanxWow! that was one hell of a groovy gig, last Dan?-day. What a lot of mothers!Thanx a lot to all the fans for all your enthousiasm, the hugs, the positive energy etc. Oliver and Joe really enjoyed themselves as well. And they think that you are all definately MAD!.....so what's new?...but it's true , you're all crazy and please don't change! lots of love Luka, Jenny and Sic
RESERVATIONS DAN? DAYHere's some important news for those people that didn't make a reservation but would like to come to Dan? Day after all: It is not possible anymore to reserve tickets. You will have to buy them straight at the door (sale starts at 13:30), on the 9th of May at Ekko's. There are only a few left (about 40)...Hopefully until the 9th of May, enjoy the lovely weather and a (late) fiery Beltaine to you all, Love Jenny
Work in progressTo upgrade the accessability of the site in the future, there will be some changes to the site. It may happen that (-a part of-) the site will be offline for a short while. The forum is normally accessable if you have bookmarked it individually (because the site link may be unavailable). As D. Adams put it; Sorry for the inconvenience.
Another unusual gig!Hello deary ones,We'll be extremely busy during the weekend of Folkwoods (13-15/08)! At Saturday the 14th we'll be racing back and forth between Nuenen and Utrecht, 'cause now, we also play at the Gothic festival 'Summer Darkness' in Utrecht. And....guess what....it's in a church *Steve laughs demonically*.....but it's one with beautiful acoustics. We'll play an unamplified set for this reason! If you're not coming to Folkwoods, this performance will be worth the while. You can find more info in our agenda! Greenthings, Jenny
WGT!New date added: The Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig!!
new dates and stuffHey hello everyone!The reservations for Dan? Day are piling up! It's going to be a hell of a party. For everyone taking 'a mother' with them: Don't forget to reserve a ticket for her as well, because of the capacity of the venue. For the rest, we have added some more new dates to the agenda. If you really want to get into 'festival mode', we would recommend you to go to the Medieval Spectacle on the 22nd and 23rd of May. The knights jousting at this festival are truely the best! Lots of love, many sunny thingies, Jenny
Danu DayEnfant Terrible / Zap prod presents: Dan? Day: A Celtic/Pagan afternoon with Omnia and friends9 mei - Ekko, Utrecht. It is no longer possible to make any reservations via the net. The last tickets will be sold at the door on Dan? Day itself.
YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!It's here! It's here! It's soooo beautiful!!!!! Please order one soon; our living room is full of boxes, with in them a total of 3000 cd's......we can hardly move around here! Get them while they're fresh!Love and cd-thingies, Jenny & Sic
InvoiceGot an invoice by a big printing company today,On it was (apart from an astonomical amount to be paid) " delivery-date 3-3-2004"
A Date!!O yeah..finally! We have (very good) news! Details will follow asap, but keep a space in your agenda for Mother's Day (Sunday the 9th of May)! We're organizing a big party, somewhere in Utrecht, during daytime. With, of course, a lot of music, dancing, the Zap McClannad Liberation Front, Wicca Coven Imladris and a lot more! And, don't forget, mothers get in for free...Lotsalove and white snowflaky thingies, Jenny
Almost? Well...Well, apparently it's not that easy to organize a CD-launch last-minute after all. The venue we intended to use for this party, is not available in March anymore. Too bad, isn't it! We're trying to organize a concert there after all, but it's going to be, at it's soonest, April.We think it's not fair to have all you fans waiting for the CD for another month, so...we will start selling it as soon as we have it (in approximately 2 weeks we hope), but only through our website. So everyone that can't wait for such a long time, will be able to get a hold of our CD. Just a little longer, and then you can be the owner of OMNIA IV: Crone of War ! More news will follow as soon as we have it! Lotsalove and blue thingies, also from the other OMNIAsts, Jenny
Almost!Dear everyone,Assuming every fan regularly checks this page (don't you?), another short message with some news.... First, about the cd.....Everything's going well! All the recording and mixing has been done, the artwork is almost finished, and we're finally ready to take some distance from it. We'll leave everything at the CD-pressy-factory-thingy next week or maybe even this week. It will take about 2 weeks from there to have the finished 'product'. Which means it's almost certain that it will be finished before the end of this month. When we'll start selling it, is still uncertain, due to the fact we still don't have anything fixed for the launch-party. We are really trying hard to arrange something in time, so we will have a fitting celebration of the delivery of our 'child' together with you! Keep an eye on this page for news. We are trying to do the best we can, because we don't want to dissapoint anyone (including ourselves)! Second, as some of you may already know, Sic and I got officially married last Monday! We were pleasantly surprised with all the sweet reactions fans gave us on the forum. Many thanks! If anything, you can be sure that OMNIA will go on the way we're going now for a long time....Sic & I won't get rid of each other that easily ;-), so expect a lot more new OMNIA-music written by us! Lotsalove, green thingies, Jenny
New C.D. OMNIA 4Hi guys!Some more news from the front. Well ,we've finished all the recording! (YEAH!!) The very last track was recorded yesterday (with Joe Hennon from Shantalla),and it is.....................beautiful! (That man is such a brilliant guitar player.......). Now all we have to do is the final mix and pre-mastering (which we'll do on the 31st of januari)and then the music bit will be finished. MIEZ is at this very moment working his fingers to the bone trying to get the C.D. cover to look good and doing his freaky "Art-thing" and hopefully that 'll be finished somewhere next week aswell. When there's more to tell, we'll let you know..... Green things! Sic
Changes siteClick your 'refresh' button to dump that old page out of your cache, because there have been some changes. Firstly, the links page has moved to the header 'Blabla', and the page itself has been drastically changed. Furthermore, new songtexts have been added (under 'music'), as well as some other minor changes.Greetz, Luka
Recording C.D. 4 "Crone of War"Well the new year is starting out real well for us.We had to cancel a couple of studio days last year but now we've just been locked away again in "Norberts magical Crystal studio" (way out in the country side) for a couple of days of heavy recording sessions.And, believe me, the new C.D. is gonna be 'ng great!(and pretty damn long as well). We've finished all the recordings (except for two tracks we'll be doing with Joe Hennon (from SHANTALLA)on the 19th of January). And now we are locked in the tedious process of "Mixing" and hopefully we'll have the little bugger off the press and ready for your greedy little ears in February!! When there's more to tell , you'll read it here! p.s. For those who need to know: OMNIA and FAUN are playing on FOLKWOODS in August. Faun on Friday, Omnia on Saturday (plus a fire show on Sunday).
Hi everyone! We would like to wish you all a really honking new year (see Forum , for tacky card) , full of siphraious galurdnings and whatnot. I wonder what 2004 has in store for us......? Well we had a totally freaky year and that's mostly because of your support and enthusiasm, seriously THANX EVERYONE! Now before we finish off the year I'd like to answer a couple of questions: "What the fork is a Wickerman?" A Wickerman is a gigantic man-shaped figure made out of woven wicker. The ancient Celts used to fill this with all sorts of sacrifices (cattle, crops, criminals, all alive, of course) and then they'd set fire to this figurine as an offering to gods like Toutatis, Taranis etc. Our version this Midwinter was an 11 foot Cernunnos (horned god) and he was going to be filled with somewhat milder offerings like bread , fruit, alcoholic drinks and "more personal items". "Is OMNIA flipping well playing at the ELF FANTASY FAIR 2004 or what!?" But of course we are playing there in June 2004, we wouldn't miss it for the world, because it's one of our all time favourite Events to play at. We play music all weekend (the usual) AND on the Friday evening we could do a FIRE SHOW or CONCERT but not both...........which would you prefer (react on the forum please)? "Are we playing anywhere else before june 2004?" Well I should Blondy-well hope so!! Otherwise we'll die of hunger! No worries, we have plenty of gigs on the boil, BUT a lot of 'em are private thingies. But, we are planning a NEW C.D.release party!! in Utrecht (we hope around februari 2004) so we can introduce OMNIA 4 "CRONE OF WAR" to you all properly! Well that's all for now. See you next year! Lots of love Blessings of the Godz OMNIA
New! the swear-filter!Omnia has installed a swear-word filter on the opening pageto protect the innocent minds of little children
Aargheon midwinter scareWell we survived that one again!!Wow you were all a really great audience....the hugs....the kisses...the good cheering and screaming action!...THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH! Every time I see all of you I remember why I love this work! (our life). It was really great playing with RAPALJE again (hey guys!). Did you realise that Dieb (the fiddle player) actually had a fever, and could hardly stand up because he was so sick?... BUT let's just say that at the end of the weekend, we (OMNIA, the "kaos-crew" and the coven Imladris) were not very happy that Archeon (instead of OMNIA) destroyed OUR Midwinter-sacrificial "wicker-man" (that took us two days to build) before we even had a chance to fill it with our gifts to the gods (we weren't even there) when they set it on fire as if it was one of their "acts"(and some people say I'm irreverant about other people's religions.......) So our conclusion of the Mid Winter Fair is : GOOD BITS GREAT AUDIENCE! (you lot), BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! Well...most of you anyway...), Good friends (Rapalje), Wonderful stage sound (Rapalje) Fantastic mead!(Ukko) BAD BITS The Total disrespect for our religion (may the gods punish the guilty in a fitting way) See you all next time!, b Lots of love and have a great new year!
Welcome to the new look Omnia websiteWe have redesigned the Omnia website, we hope you like the new look!
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10-09-2010
German CD Release Party!!! Location: "Festival Mediaval", Se... |