Burlesque is a musical performance commonly known for causing laughter, whilst taking on a serious side to entertain the audience. This genre of performance originated in the Victorian Era, regarded as a theatrical parody.

The performer(s) relied on the audience to understand the ‘mocking’ of other serious artists. When Burlesque first appeared at venues such as Cabarets, Clubs and Theatres, they often featured a female ‘striptease’ alongside elements of comedy which made the shows very diverse. In-fact since the 70’s, a number of big Hollywood movie producers tried to adapt the dramatic Burlesque scenes to feature in films. Some of these include the 1972’s ‘Cabaret’, and ‘All That Jazz’ which premièred in 1979. Costumes in Burlesque were categorised by some as very revealing, wearing stockings, feather boas, skirts above the knee and most importantly, corsets!

Burlesque continues to strive throughout the generations. The new acts of Burlesque such as Dita Von Teese, were influenced by movies and their curvy queens like Marilyn Monroe. With their big hair and fertile hips, these bombshells inspired women everywhere to exaggerate their own voluptuousness, and the corset especially was reborn.
Why not celebrate the long-lived Musical performance with our Corset Burlesque style choker? St.Cyr’s Delight (P587)..’An enticing revue of the Burlesque dancer’s talents. With ribbon lace-up front, black pearls and crystal heart. On deep red velvet with button fastener’

With Christmas just around the corner this would make a stunning gift or even a treat for yourself. Buy yours here to search our list of approved Alchemy Dealers: www.alchemyengland.com/buy

Ben wears a collection of Alchemy Metalwear items including the P623 Pentagration pendant; all available to order at www.alchemyengland.com/buy

Evile are an English Thrash Metal band and formed back in 2004. They have so far released three albums since then; ‘Enter The Grave’, ‘Infectious Nations’ and the recent 2011 album release of ‘Five Serpent’s Teeth’. They have been touring over the last few weeks and we have been lucky enough to catch up with drummer Ben Carter.

*First of all, would you be able to tell us a little bit about the band, and how you came to be?Evile are a Thrash Metal band from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. We started out as a covers band after Matt Drake and I became friends at school, and it kind of went from there. We had a similar interest in music, both wanted to play live, and it seemed very normal for us to start a band. We enlisted Matt’s brother Ol into the band, and then recruited Mike Alexander for the Bass duties, and the band was complete.

*You’ve been on quite a journey as a band since the early days. What would you say has been your personal highlight? We’ve had the pleasure of playing in some of the greatest places in the world, and seeing some amazing sights. We’ve met so many great people and toured with bands that we’ve grown up watching and idolising, so that in itself is greatly rewarding. I’d say my personal favourites are playing Download at Donington, which for me is the home of heavy metal in England. So many legendary bands have cut their teeth there; to be included in that list is amazing for me.

*Evile have supported some pretty awesome bands over the years such as Exodus, Machine Head and Megadeth, they must have been a real influence, which if any have had the greatest impact on you as a band?When we supported Machine Head and Megadeth, it was very early in our career, and we were very naïve about how a tour was run and how to conduct ourselves. We learned so much from watching those guys backstage, onstage, and behind the scenes that it helped us better ourselves and take that professionalism across into our own setup and work ethic. We were treated really well by those guys and that also helped us and made us feel appreciated on the tour.

*Although the band have been together for over 12 years, it wasn’t until the Bloodstock Festival of 2006 when you got your big break. How did all that come about? We never actively looked to get signed by a record label; we never sent out demos or EP’s to labels, nor did we set a timeline for getting recognised or signed etc. We just loved playing gigs, and getting as far afield as we could to spread our music around. I think it was this honesty in what we did and our work ethic that got us the slot at Bloodstock. We were over the moon to be playing, even more so when we found the head of Earache Records watched our set and was blown away. We had an email waiting for us on the Monday morning after the festival, and the rest kind of fell into place shortly after.

*Six years on, you’ve recently completed a headline UK tour, how do you feel that went? The headlining tour was fantastic, and we had the opportunity to play some songs we’d not previously let loose live, so that was interesting! Our fans always give us a warm reception and we made sure to play extra hard seeing as it might be a while until we tour the UK again.

*It must have been a proud moment playing at the Holmfirth Picturedrome, your home town, following the success of your 3rd studio album Five Serpent’s Teeth? It’s always good to go home and do shows, but the Picturedrome is extra special as it’s so close to all our families and friends, we know so many of them will come and support us, and just have a great night. It’s a fantastic venue too, being an old cinema, and has a really special aura to it. Seeing so many familiar faces still supporting what we do is great and makes you relax so much, they’re really enjoyable gigs there.

*As a band, you seem to still have a real enthusiasm for playing gigs, are there any plans in shape for 2013 yet? Hopefully, in 2013, Evile will continue to go from strength to strength; we are already booked to record our 4th Studio album with Producer extraordinaire Russ Russell, in February. We’ll be touring extensively worldwide, hopefully visiting some countries and territories we’ve not yet visited, and then fingers crossed, we’ll be doing our thing at festivals across the Uk and Europe. We’ll never lose that want to play live, and as long as people want to hear our music, we’ll do our damned best to deliver it to them! Long Live New Flesh!!

Check out Evile’s Full Set performance at Bloodstock festival 2012 below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-AJwww-Nuk

This Sunday, November 11th is Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day), a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” in accordance with the Armistice, signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. (“At the 11th hour” refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 a.m.) World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The remembrance poppy (a Papaver rhoeas) has been used since 1920 to commemorate soldiers who have died in war. Inspired by the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields”, they were first used by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers who died in that war (1914–1918). They were then adopted by military veterans’ groups in the Commonwealth; especially Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Today, they are mainly used in current and former Commonwealth states to commemorate their servicemen and women who have been killed since 1914. In those states, small artificial poppies are often worn on clothing on Remembrance Day/Armistice Day (11 November) and in the weeks before it. Poppy wreaths are also often laid at war memorials.

The remembrance poppy is especially prominent in the UK in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday and are sold in supermarkets, shopping centres and on the street by The Royal British Legion for its “Poppy Appeal”.
 

Alchemy strongly support the work of the Royal British Legion, and their efforts to provide financial, social, political and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces, and their dependants. If like us you wish to donate to this years Poppy Appeal you can do so here

Here at Alchemy we are celebrating 35 years since our formation and throughout the whole of October we asked fans on our Facebook page to Share & Like a competition post for a chance to win one of 35 limited edition anniversary keyrings.

The lucky winners can be found below:

Bartosz Rakowski
Betty Jones
Bev TwistedLassie Owen
Bodea Andrei
Brianna Freeman
Daniel Raymen
Eleanor Stafford
Frederic Fromont
Ingrid Debona
James Watson
Jarrod Macneil
Jay Parkins
Jennifer Bower
John Kovacs
Kaspar Peamehaanik Parmann
Kirsten Richards
Leanna Slade
Leslie Fuchs Blackburn
Lila Edgar
Manesh Kumar
Mark Alexander Furnival
Mia Fowler
Michael MadMic Adams
Michelle Wilson
Mik Gray
Rebecca S Harrison
Robert Tuggle
Rose Hewins
Roy Rich
Sabine Beck
Sarah Flood Houseworth
Sarah-Louise Tebbutt
Stephen Goss
Timothy McGranahan
Yang Li Ping

If you’re lucky enough to be a winner above you can claim yours by emailing: stephanie@alchemygroup.com with your name and address to receive!

Thank you for your participation!

Lacuna Coil have been entertaining and inspiring crowds for 18 years now, since their formation in the city of Milan in 1994. The band were previously known as ‘Sleep of Right’ and then ‘Ethereal’ before settling on the name we all know so well Today, translated in English as Empty Spiral.

From such humble beginnings, they’ve grown to become one of the best-known European metal acts around today. Their sixth studio album ‘Dark Adrenaline’ was released earlier this year with rave reviews, and they are now currently performing around Europe in celebration of it.

Lacuna Coil have returned to the UK with their Dark Legacy tour, and are set to perform in Manchester tonight, before the final gig in London this Sunday. We at Alchemy are huge fans of the band and the feeling is mutual as they can often be found sporting items from the Alchemy England Apparel and Alchemy jewellery ranges both on and off stage.

Front woman Cristina Scabbia has an impressive range of Alchemy pieces – one of her favourites is The ‘Temptation of Havva’ necklace [P571]. She was also recently photographed wearing one of our statement pieces; the ‘Star of Ishtar’ ring [R162], which is enhanced by a star-cut Swarovski topaz crystal. The symbol represents the Babylonian goddess of love, war and sex and while we wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that Cristina ticks those boxes, there’s no denying she looks stunning in her Alchemy gear!

Cristina was recently featured in the Kerrang Magazine, wearing the latest additions to her ever expanding impressive collection of Alchemy treasures! She wears the ‘Upir’ Pendant [P584] accompanied by the ‘Hornets Nest’ Ear-Wrap [E303] [Both pictured below].

Want the Rock Goddess look? Visit the approved list of Alchemy dealers and order yours today!!! www.alchemyengland.com/buy