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| Photography: Tim Tronckoe |
I have come across a new band that I just cannot stop
listening to; the name of this band is called Motionless in White. The name of
the band can also be abbreviated to MIW. I came across this band back when I
viewed the music video titled “Whore” for another metal band In This Moment.
The music video featured Chris Motionless, and that is how I came across
Motionless in White. I have noticed that there isn’t really a blog posted about
this band, although this band has been featured in many magazines, so I have decided to write a blog about Motionless in White. I have become such a
big fan of their music and I would like to share with you
some information about the band so newcomers to this band can have some insight
about the band.
Motionless in White released their debut album back in October
2010, titled “Creatures” – Creatures is also the name Motionless in White call
their fans. The band has released two EPs, as well as a self-released demo
album before their debut album. The two EPs are titled “The Whorror” and “When
Love Met Destruction”. Their self-released album is titled “Motionless in
White”, the same name as the band's name. In November 2012, the band released their second studio album titled
“Infamous”, and their most recently released album, “Reincarnate”, which was released
in September 2014.
Motionless in White consists of the following current band members:
Lead vocals:
Chris Cerulli – Who also played rhythm guitar and keyboards from 2005 to 2006.
Lead guitar: Ryan
Sitkowski
Rhythm guitar:
Ricky Olson – Who also is backing vocals from 2009 till present day and used toplay bass guitar from 2009 to 2011.
Bass guitar:
Devin Sola – Who also is backing vocals from 2011 till present day.
Keyboards and
synthesizers: Josh Balz
Current touring
member for drums: Vinny Mauro
The band members have created character/stage names for
themselves, which most people call them by, and they are the following:
Chris Cerulli:
Chris Motionless
Ricky Olson:
Ricky Horror
Devin Sola: Ghost
Josh Balz: Balz
I am not entirely sure if Ryan Sitkowski has a character name because in most interviews, he has just said his name when he introduces himself.
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| Vocalist: Chris Motionless Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
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| Lead guitarist: Ryan Sitkowski Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
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| Rhythm guitarist: Ricky Horror Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
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| Bass guitarist: Ghost Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
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| Keyboardist and synthesizers: Josh Balz Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
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| Current tour member for drums: Vinny Mauro Photo taken from Vinny's Instagram page (@chenzomauro) |
Firstly, Motionless in White is a gothic metal band from
Scranton in Pennsylvania, located in North America. The band has stated that
the origin of their band name came from Eighteen Visions song which was titled
“Motionless and White”.
Motionless in White was founded back in 2005 by current band
member, Chris Motionless, who plays vocals and also played rhythm guitar, and former
band members Angelo Parente who played drums, Frank Polumbo who played guitar
and Kyle White who played bass guitar during their high school years. These
members of the band thought of many other titles for their official band name,
but settled on the name “Motionless in White”.
In the year 2005, the band released their self-released
album demo titled “Motionless in White”.
After about a year after the release of the band’s demo,
Josh Balz joined the band as the new keyboardist and synthesizer, as well as two new other band
members who joined the band: Michael Costanza and Thomas Bell – Thomas Bell's stage name is TJ.
Michael Costanza and TJ played the guitars. Frank Polumbo, who played guitar,
took over on bass guitar. This merely moved Chris Motionless to lead vocals.
While the band was performing at a local night club which was
called The Staircase, they were discovered by Zach Neil, who signed the band
first to management. Zach Neil then later signed the band to his record label
titled Masquerade Recordings.
After signing to Masquerade Recordings, the band released
their first EP titled “The Whorror” – which is the words whore and horror put
together – which was released in 2007. The Whorror was produced by Zach Neil
and also mixed by Dan Malsch.
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| The Whorror EP which was released in 2007 on Masquerade Recordings. |
Motionless in White had written enough songs after touring
in support for their album “The Whorror”, to complete an entire full-length
album. The next EP released was titled “When Love Met Destruction” which was
released in 2008 on Masquerade Recordings.
Zach Neil then added Motionless in White to his stage on the
Vans Warped Tour with their new EP record and the band was noticed by Shawn Milke
from the band Alesana, who then offered to manage Motionless in White.
Shortly after this, Bob Becker from Fearless Records made
contact with management Zach Neil, to make an offer to sign Motionless in
White to Fearless Records.
Despite the band being signed to Fearless Records before
leading up to the release of the EP form of “When Love Met Destruction”, it was
distributed by Tragic Hero on the date 17 February 2009.
The song titled “Ghost in the Mirror” which was directed by Scott Hansen, was made the very
first single from the band, as well as a music video premiere of the song.
Guitarist, Michael Costanza, parted ways with the band, and
brought in current guitarist Ryan Sitkowski during this time.
Bassist Frank Polumbo departed from the band after the
release of the EP “When Love Met Destruction”, and then a new permanent bass
player came in the year 2009, and he is the current member Ricky Horror.
Months later, the band released their first debut album in
October 2010 by Fearless Records, titled “Creatures”, with Andrew Wade as
producer. The album, “Creatures" was recorded in May 2010 at Wade Studios in
Florida.
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| When Love Met Destruction EP which was released in 2009 on Tragic Hero Records. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Ghost in the Mirror" which was directed by Scott Hansen. Top left: The band performing in what looks like a hall. Top right: One of the band members in a hallway. Bottom left: A snapshot of Chris Motionless singing the song "Ghost in the Mirror". Bottom right: A snapshot of what looks like a mirror that is shattered to pieces on the floor. |
The first single “Abigail”, was released in August 2010, and
also a music video was released in December the same year. The music video was
directed by Kevin McVey. The music video features Motionless in White performing the song, while the other scenes show a girl who represents Abigail who committed a crime, but when she is in a room for questioning, she tells the police that the criminal was another girl.
Two other music videos were released; “Creatures” which was directed by Stephen Penta and features tattoo artist Megan Massacre, which was released in July 2011 and the music video “Immaculate Misconception” which was directed by Cody Blue Snider, was released in November 2011 who also features Dee Snider as well as Megan Massacre.
The music video for "Creatures" features the band performing the song while the other scenes show a sultry dominatrix with a man, a girl who is praying, but the devil is present, and a man who looks like he is religious. During the music video, the girl who was praying ends up lying on her bed, not moving with what looks like blood in her mouth as the devil character in this scene uses a funnel and pours the blood-like liquid into the girls mouth; the sultry dominatrix whips the man on his back, and sets what looks like a fire on his back at the end of the music video; finally the man who looks like he is religious, sort of shocks himself by putting an eye mask on him towards the end of the music video.
The music video for "Immaculate Misconception" starts off by the band walking in a street, being scrutinized by a group of religious people and are shouting insults to the band members while holding up religious signs. The other scenes feature the band performing with all the "open-minded" people and the scene looks like it is a concert; another scene where there are people dressed as Romans - which also feature Dee Snider, Megan Massacre and a make-up less Chris Motionless - and who end up putting Chris Motionless on the cross, and in the same scene, Dee Snider whips Chris Motionless on the back with a whip; lastly,there is a scene of Chris Motionless who looks like he is painted blue with the crown of thorns on his head and the background around him is black, it looks like luminous colours in this specific scene.
The director, Cody Blue Snider has stated the following about the music video "Immaculate Misconception": "We have no intent of being blasphemous or irreverent. Someone somewhere is going to be pissed off, and those people are probably the ones Chris wants to piss off...but everyone else shouldn't be offended.". Chris Motionless has also stated that he is not trying to say the portrayal of the religious protesters in the music video is what his view of religion is in general. He has stated the following: "My band and myself are completely aware that not all Christians or followers of any religion are close-minded, I don't want anyone watching this video to feel like they should be angry towards every person of any faith, or that we are attacking their faith directly. The song is very plainly written about the people who abuse God's name by using it to profit or cause harm to others, emotionally or physically. More importantly, it's call to arms to any person in this world to come stand together and fight the ignorance that halts the progression of mankind.". Bottom line, no one should feel offended in any way of this particular music video.
There was also a live music video for the song “Puppets (The First Snow)” which was released in February 2012. The live music video was filmed during the band’s tour on The All Stars Tour in 2011.
Two other music videos were released; “Creatures” which was directed by Stephen Penta and features tattoo artist Megan Massacre, which was released in July 2011 and the music video “Immaculate Misconception” which was directed by Cody Blue Snider, was released in November 2011 who also features Dee Snider as well as Megan Massacre.
The music video for "Creatures" features the band performing the song while the other scenes show a sultry dominatrix with a man, a girl who is praying, but the devil is present, and a man who looks like he is religious. During the music video, the girl who was praying ends up lying on her bed, not moving with what looks like blood in her mouth as the devil character in this scene uses a funnel and pours the blood-like liquid into the girls mouth; the sultry dominatrix whips the man on his back, and sets what looks like a fire on his back at the end of the music video; finally the man who looks like he is religious, sort of shocks himself by putting an eye mask on him towards the end of the music video.
The music video for "Immaculate Misconception" starts off by the band walking in a street, being scrutinized by a group of religious people and are shouting insults to the band members while holding up religious signs. The other scenes feature the band performing with all the "open-minded" people and the scene looks like it is a concert; another scene where there are people dressed as Romans - which also feature Dee Snider, Megan Massacre and a make-up less Chris Motionless - and who end up putting Chris Motionless on the cross, and in the same scene, Dee Snider whips Chris Motionless on the back with a whip; lastly,there is a scene of Chris Motionless who looks like he is painted blue with the crown of thorns on his head and the background around him is black, it looks like luminous colours in this specific scene.
The director, Cody Blue Snider has stated the following about the music video "Immaculate Misconception": "We have no intent of being blasphemous or irreverent. Someone somewhere is going to be pissed off, and those people are probably the ones Chris wants to piss off...but everyone else shouldn't be offended.". Chris Motionless has also stated that he is not trying to say the portrayal of the religious protesters in the music video is what his view of religion is in general. He has stated the following: "My band and myself are completely aware that not all Christians or followers of any religion are close-minded, I don't want anyone watching this video to feel like they should be angry towards every person of any faith, or that we are attacking their faith directly. The song is very plainly written about the people who abuse God's name by using it to profit or cause harm to others, emotionally or physically. More importantly, it's call to arms to any person in this world to come stand together and fight the ignorance that halts the progression of mankind.". Bottom line, no one should feel offended in any way of this particular music video.
There was also a live music video for the song “Puppets (The First Snow)” which was released in February 2012. The live music video was filmed during the band’s tour on The All Stars Tour in 2011.
Upon the release of “Creatures” the album debuted at number
6 on the Billboard Heatseeker Chart and reached number 175 on the Billboard
200.
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| The album cover for the debut album "Creatures" which was released in 2010 by Fearless Records. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Abigail" directed by Keven McVey. The top and bottom left snapshots show the band performing the song "Abigail". The top and bottom right snapshots show the girl, Abigail committing a crime and at the police station which she sees the girl she is accusing of who supposedly committed the crime. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Immaculate Misconception" directed by Cody Blue Snider. Top left: The scene showing the religious protesters. Top right: The scene where Chris Motionless is with the people dressed as Romans. Bottom left: The scene where Chris Motionless kicks the one religious protester while being surrounded by the open-minded people. Bottom right: The music video featuring Dee Snider in the music video. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Creatures" directed by Stephan Penta. The music video also features tattoo artist Megan Massacre as seen in the snapshot at the bottom left of these snapshots. |
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| Snapshots taken from the live music video "Puppets (The First Snow)" that was filmed during the band's The All Stars Tours in 2011. |
During a Motionless in White tour, guitarist TJ left the band and Ricky Horror took TJ’s place as rhythm guitarist, which left the band to group in-audition for a new bassist. A man that had an unknown name began to play bass guitar and he was confirmed to be Devin Sola, who is the current bassist Ghost. Ghost was officially confirmed as the band’s bass guitarist in November 2007.
The second studio album titled “Infamous” was released in November 2012, and later a Deluxe Edition was released in June 2011, featuring new drummer Brandon “Rage” Ritcher – whose character/stage name is Rage – on the Deluxe Edition album. Ex-drummer Angelo Parente announced his departure via the microblogging platform and social network, Tumblr, on March 11th, stating the following: “After doing this since I was 17, the nonstop touring, and everything else that comes with the life of a musician, has finally caught up with me.” Angelo Parente left the band on good terms and he also left the band for personal reasons. The new drummer Rage, who was in the band The Witch Was Right, replaced Angelo Parente as the new drummer as of April 2013. After Angelo Parente leaving, the only original band member who started the band, was Chris Motionless.
With regards to the album “Infamous”, the band decided to
work with two separate producers to achieve a wide range of different styles
and sounds for the album. The album was produced by musician Tim Sköld, and
Jason Suecof. The “Infamous” album is the most diverse work the band has done
so far, compared to their metalcore debut album "Creatures". The album drew influences from
different musical styles such as the following bands: Cradle of Filth, Slipknot,
Rob Zombie, As I Lay Dying, Marilyn Manson, AFI and Linkin Park. Lead vocalist,
Chris Motionless stated in an interview with Metal Hammer UK that even though
the band enjoyed working with the metalcore genre music, the band wants to aim
the sound of their music to not be too generic and that the “Infamous” album
has been the band’s first step towards achieving this goal. Chris Motionless
also states that the sound heard on the “Creatures” album was to take the
metalcore genre music and put a twist on the genre and to “reinvent what it
means to be this sort of band”. Lastly, Chris Motionless also mentions that the
band, Motionless in White, is done with making music in the metalcore style of
music as he states the “Infamous” album was to “get them out of a genre which
has become repetitive monotonous bulls**t”.
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| The album cover for "Infamous" which was released in 2012 by Fearless Records. |
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| In order starting from the left: Ryan, Rage, Balz, Chris Motionless, Ghost and Ricky Horror. Photo by Chad Michael Ward |
In November 2012, a music video was released for the band’s
single “Devil's Nights”, which was directed by Cody Blue Snider. The single was
released in September 2012.
The music video for "Devil's Night" starts off by the band performing in the rain, and then throughout the music video, another scene shows the band going to people who are faceless as their face is covered by a faceless skin - the concept of the faceless people are people who do not open their eyes to what the world is like and who are ignorant to the world - and then as the band members grab hold of the faceless people, Chris Motionless comes in with a knife and takes away the faceless skin of the people. Once the faceless skin is off, the people then realize that being ignorant to the world is not good, and as the music video proceeds, more and more people walk with the band members. At the end of the music video, all the people who had faceless skin on them, are now removed and they are all walking with the band members. The music video ends with everyone stopping at a "DANGER DO NOT EXIT" sign, and Ghost walks up to the gate and breaks the gate, which everyone then runs off into the world, and Chris Motionless then walks towards the camera and points the knife in your direction, meaning to say you need to take off the faceless skin and open your eyes to world around you. This music video looks like it can be in a horror film.
In April 2013, the single “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” was released. A lyrical video was released, as well as a music video which was directed by Slipknot’s percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan. The music video introduces the band’s newest member, Brandon “Rage” Ritcher as the drummer. The music video also features the rock band New Years Day's lead vocalist Ashley Costello. While filming the music video for “A-M-E-R-I-C-A”, the band members have stated that the location was extremely hot. The location for the music video was in Riverside, California.
The music video for "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" opens with many guests attending a freak show circus. In this scene, there is also three girls who are in a cage. These girls are meant to represent the voodoo spell, meaning when the guests walk into the circus, they cannot leave and they all spend their money at this freak show circus. The ringmaster walks out of the tent and welcomes the guests to the circus, and then tells them to come inside the circus tent as the show is about to begin. During the course of the music video, four main people who represent iconic people walk inside the tent while the guests cheer them on, and they all are the female pop star, pedophile priest, the corrupt politician and the glutton person. There is another scene that shows the band performing the song, while also being accompanied by girls dancing around the band members. During the music video, this is what happens to the four iconic people: the corrupted politician enters the circus tent and the guests cheer for him, but when the corrupted politician's money in his briefcase falls out onto the floor, the guests all drop down to the floor and greedily grab the money; the glutton person then enters in a wheelchair and he then gets up and sits on what looks like a throne chair and Ashley Costello walks into the scene and gives him fried chicken, which the glutton person happily eats to his heart's content; next the pedophile priest walks in and views a child who is clapping and smiling at the priest. The mother picks up her child and glares at the priest in disgust; finally, the female pop star walks into the circus tent and the guests cheer for her, but she does not look happy. Ashley Costello walks in and the female pop star looks like she takes some sort of powder to her nose and then she starts to smile and laugh with the guests. The music video ends with the ringmaster walking out of the circus tent, looking either satisfied or disappointed in the guests as he did not look happy with the guests while in the circus tent, so he could be more disappointed than satisfied with the guests.
The music video for "Devil's Night" starts off by the band performing in the rain, and then throughout the music video, another scene shows the band going to people who are faceless as their face is covered by a faceless skin - the concept of the faceless people are people who do not open their eyes to what the world is like and who are ignorant to the world - and then as the band members grab hold of the faceless people, Chris Motionless comes in with a knife and takes away the faceless skin of the people. Once the faceless skin is off, the people then realize that being ignorant to the world is not good, and as the music video proceeds, more and more people walk with the band members. At the end of the music video, all the people who had faceless skin on them, are now removed and they are all walking with the band members. The music video ends with everyone stopping at a "DANGER DO NOT EXIT" sign, and Ghost walks up to the gate and breaks the gate, which everyone then runs off into the world, and Chris Motionless then walks towards the camera and points the knife in your direction, meaning to say you need to take off the faceless skin and open your eyes to world around you. This music video looks like it can be in a horror film.
In April 2013, the single “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” was released. A lyrical video was released, as well as a music video which was directed by Slipknot’s percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan. The music video introduces the band’s newest member, Brandon “Rage” Ritcher as the drummer. The music video also features the rock band New Years Day's lead vocalist Ashley Costello. While filming the music video for “A-M-E-R-I-C-A”, the band members have stated that the location was extremely hot. The location for the music video was in Riverside, California.
The music video for "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" opens with many guests attending a freak show circus. In this scene, there is also three girls who are in a cage. These girls are meant to represent the voodoo spell, meaning when the guests walk into the circus, they cannot leave and they all spend their money at this freak show circus. The ringmaster walks out of the tent and welcomes the guests to the circus, and then tells them to come inside the circus tent as the show is about to begin. During the course of the music video, four main people who represent iconic people walk inside the tent while the guests cheer them on, and they all are the female pop star, pedophile priest, the corrupt politician and the glutton person. There is another scene that shows the band performing the song, while also being accompanied by girls dancing around the band members. During the music video, this is what happens to the four iconic people: the corrupted politician enters the circus tent and the guests cheer for him, but when the corrupted politician's money in his briefcase falls out onto the floor, the guests all drop down to the floor and greedily grab the money; the glutton person then enters in a wheelchair and he then gets up and sits on what looks like a throne chair and Ashley Costello walks into the scene and gives him fried chicken, which the glutton person happily eats to his heart's content; next the pedophile priest walks in and views a child who is clapping and smiling at the priest. The mother picks up her child and glares at the priest in disgust; finally, the female pop star walks into the circus tent and the guests cheer for her, but she does not look happy. Ashley Costello walks in and the female pop star looks like she takes some sort of powder to her nose and then she starts to smile and laugh with the guests. The music video ends with the ringmaster walking out of the circus tent, looking either satisfied or disappointed in the guests as he did not look happy with the guests while in the circus tent, so he could be more disappointed than satisfied with the guests.
The Deluxe Edition for the album "Infamous" was released on 11 June 2013, which
contained remixes of several songs from the “Infamous” album, as well as two
new songs, and one of the new songs titled “Sick from the Melt” features Trevor
Friedrich, who is the percussionist of Combichrist and also the vocalist of The
Witch Was Right. The band Combichrist also remixed the song “Sinematic” on the
Deluxe Edition of the "Infamous" album. As of September 2014, the album “Infamous” sold 83, 000
copies worldwide.
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Devil's Night" that was directed by Cody Blue Snider. Top left: The band performing in the rain for the song "Devil's Night". Top right: The band members taking hold of the first faceless person. Bottom left: The band with some of the people who have had their faceless skin removed. Bottom right: The band with all the people who have had their faceless skin removed. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" that was directed by the metal band Slipknot's member Shawn "Clown" Crahan. Top left: The band performing the song for "A-M-E-R-I-C-A". Top right: The ringmaster with the guests cheering. Bottom left: The scene that shows the female pop star who is about to take the powder and Ashley Costello. Bottom right: The scene where these girls in the cage at the entrance of the circus are, who represent the voodoo spell. |
Motionless in White also performed at the 2013 Mayhem
Festival which ran from June – August 2013. The 2013 Mayhem Festival had 4
stages in each show, and Motionless in White performed on the stage called the
Musician’s Institute Stage, and the 2013 Mayhem Festival also had other
well-known music groups like Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Huntress and
Children of Bodom.
Chris Motionless provided male vocals on rock band New Years
Day’s song “Angel Eyes” on their album titled “Victim to Villain” which was
released in June 2013. A music video was released for “Angel Eyes”, which also
featured Chris Motionless in the video.
Chris Motionless was also featured in the metal band In This
Moment’s music video “Whore” which was off In This Moment’s studio album
“Blood”, which he featured as a man who is attending a strip club. During the music video, Chris Motionless gets drugged and violated by In This Moment's female vocalist, Maria Brink, and by the end of the music video, Chris Motionless is tied up with a dunce cap on his head.
In September 2014, Motionless in White released their third
studio album titled “Reincarnate”. The band announced a brief headlong tour that would take place in March in the month January 2014, with the bands The
Defiled, For Today, For the Fallen Dreams, The Plot in You and Like Moths to
Flames who appeared in San Antonio.
After the tour, the band entered the studio to work on their
new album.
In February 2014, the band was announced to be playing at
the 2014 Vans Warped Tour on the Main Stage during the tour. The band’s
drummer, Brandon “Rage” Ritcher, announced later on in the month, that he will
no longer be a member of Motionless in White, but he did thank everyone of
their support.
In April 2014, the band announced their third studio album
through social media, with an intended release date on September the 16th,
but the album would be released 1 day earlier in the UK only. The band’s lead
vocalist, Chris Motionless, stated that recording the third studio album was
easier compared to the band’s second studio album " Infamous". Chris Motionless also stated
that the “Reincarnate” album’s sound will contain the similar aggressiveness
from their first studio album “Creatures”, which the second studio album lacked and the album “Reincarnate” will also have a more consistent style to it.
The band also stated that they will remain a band of five members
and will instead be working with sessions and touring drummers.
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| The album cover for "Reincarnate" which was released in 2014 by Fearless Records. |
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| Current Motionless in White members, staring from the left: Balz, Ryan, Chris Motionless, Ricky Horror and Ghost. Photo by Chad Michael Ward |
The album “Reincarnate” had sold 31, 000 copies of the album
within the first week of the album’s release. The album also debuted at number
9 on the Billboard Top 20 and the album also became the number 1 Metal Album on
iTunes.
On 8 July 2014, the song “Reincarnate” was released as the
band’s first single, along with a music video which was directed by Chad
Michael Ward.
A lyrical music video for the next single titled “Puppets (The
Grand Finale)” was released on 6th August 2014 on YouTube, but the single was
released 1 day earlier, the 5th August 2014 on iTunes.
On 31 October 2014, an animated music video for the song
“Dead as F**k” was released. The music video features what looks like a male doll and a female doll's head on a spring with other animated features in the music video.
On 18 February 2015, the song “Break the Cycle” was released
as the final single off the album “Reincarnate”, along with a music
video which was directed by The Widow Brothers. The music video features the band performing, while Chris Motionless walks in a hallway and then goes in a different room to discover a mirror that has his own reflection staring back at him, but the reflection has sort of an evil side to Chris's personality as Chris's reflection laughs through the mirror at Chris and the reflection also has two other characters with him - they are Mick Kenny and Ghost - and they almost look like they resemble death because at the end of the music video, Chris's own reflection pulls the trigger from the gun he is holding to Chris, and Chris ends up on the floor not moving, eyes wide open, and with a bullet hole in his head.
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Break the Cycle" which was directed by The Widow Brothers. These snapshots feature each band member looking at their own reflection in the mirror. The bottom middle snapshot features Chris Motionless and his reflection. |
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Break the Cycle" which was directed by The Widow Brothers. Top left: Motionless in White performing the song for "Break the Cycle". Bottom left: Chris Motionless looking around the hallway and later, discovers the mirror that is beyond the door to the unknown. Top right: The scene featuring Motionless in White performing the song "Break the Cycle". Bottom right: Chris Motionless with his own reflection plus two other characters (Mick Kenny and Ghost) that look like they represent death. |
The “Reincarnate” album also features music artists that are
featured on the album. They are the following: Dani Filth (from the extreme
metal band Cradle of Filth) who features vocals on the song “Puppets (The Grand
Finale)”; Maria Brink (from the metal band In This Moment) who features vocals
on the song “Contemptress”; Dessa Poljak (from the band Silenco) who features
vocals on the song “Wasp”; Tim Sköld, formerly of Marilyn Manson and also KMFDM,
who features vocals on the song “Final Dictvm”; Drew Fulk featured vocals on
the songs “Everybody Sells Cocaine” and “Dark Passenger” and Kate Steinberg
featured vocals on the song “Dead as F**k”.
Tom Hame provided the drums and percussion for the album.
Tom Hame provided the drums and percussion for the album.
On 31 October 2014, the band announced on their Facebook
page that their fans could download their new application that will show
Motionless in White content and much more. You can download the application on
either iOS or on Google Play.
On 8 December 2014, Motionless in White announced their
upcoming headliner “The Beyond The Barricade Tour” along with other bands For Today and Ice
Nine Kills, as well as special guest rock band New Year’s Day which ran from
February 2015 – March 2015. On one of the tour dates, March 29th 2015, you could stream live on the internet of the band's performance on Yahoo! Live. The location for this live stream took place at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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| Left picture: The Beyond the Barricade Tour poster which lists the tour dates. Top right picture:The poster for The Beyond the Barricade Tour. Bottom right: The poster for the Yahoo! Live streaming for Motionless in White for The Beyond the Barricade Tour. Photo by Tim Tronckoe |
Motionless in White has also performed at many festivals
this year. Some of them are the following:
Rock on the Range; Download Festival; Hellfest; New England Metal
Festival; Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion and Welcome to Rockville Festival. The
band is currently on tour at the moment, but as the band members have said in
interviews, they love touring and also, the touring never stops as the
Motionless in White shows just keep adding onto the Motionless in White tour
dates.
Motionless in White has also appeared in many magazine
issues, mainly Alternative Press magazine, and particularly the Alternative
Press issue 318 where the band was the cover feature for this issue of the magazine. This special issue has two covers of Motionless in White, where one cover was the band and the other cover was Chris Motionless.
The band has been featured mainly in the following magazines:
Kerrang! magazine; Outburn magazine; Rocksound magazine; Metal Hammer magazine;
Alternative Press and Revolver magazine.
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| Alternative Press Issue 318 covers featuring Motionless in White as the cover stars. The photographer who took these photos was Douglas Sonders. |
With regards to the band’s musical style, the band’s
keyboard effects are noted in their music as the keyboard effects add a “dark and
uneasy atmosphere” to the band’s music, especially on their debut album
“Creatures”. The band’s musical formation features complex guitar riffs during
the verses of the songs, as well as breakdowns that are present in the songs. When I
say “breakdown”, I am meaning when the song takes a “breather” from the heavy
sounds, and then drops down to some percussion, and then straight back to the heavy
sounds.
One of the biggest influences Motionless in White have
stated is the heavy metal band Slipknot, as Slipknot is one of the band’s
favourite music groups of all time. The band does have many other various
influences such as Cradle of Filth, Rob Zombie, Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, Korn,
KMFDM, HIM, AFI and the list goes on as these are just a few band influences
Motionless in White have.
I have mentioned earlier on in this blog how I found out
about Motionless in White, and I felt so bad because even when I went to
America last year, I did not purchase any Motionless in White merchandise at
Hot Topic as I only started to listen to all their music at the start of this year.
I do feel bad about not listening to their music for about 5 years now, but I
am happier now that I listen to their music, it's really an inspiration. With regard to all of the music
Motionless in White has recorded, I absolutely love how the song's music starts up and
then right up until the song's music ends. I have to say my favourite album has got to
be “Reincarnate” as I listen to this album mostly in my day to day life. One of
the first songs I heard from Motionless in White was “Reincarnate”. The music
video was fantastic! The storyline to the music video was very effective!
The way the music video for the song “Reincarnate” starts
out, is by a graveyard with the actress/model Harper Leigh who then sees the
Motionless in White band members pull up with their car into the graveyard.
Harper Leigh then shows the band members to a grave which they need to dig up.
The band members collect their pickaxes and shovels and start digging up a
grave, while Harper Leigh watches them, smiling and laughing at them. While the band members are digging the
grave, Harper Leigh turns to her side to see the reincarnated bodies of the band
members, who then walk towards the grave and see the band member’s busy digging
up the grave. Then once the band members have dug the grave, they all sit in
the grave and their reincarnated bodies dig them up. During these scenes at the
graveyard, you can also see the band performing in what looks like a big hall –
and Chris Motionless looks a lot like Marilyn Manson in this scene, maybe that's just me – and also at
a hotel called the Alexandria Hotel that is located in Downtown Los Angeles - which is where one of the photo shoots from the rock band Evanescence took place as well. In
the scene at the Alexandria Hotel, you also see the band busy playing their
instruments on their own and Chris Motionless is on a couch singing instead of standing like the other band members, and Harper Leigh is
also seen in this scene where she is with a cat busy stroking the cat. The
concept of shooting the scenes at this hotel was a means of as you can say
“bringing the artwork to life” as you can see the backdrop of these scenes in
the hotel are the artwork from the album “Reincarnate”. The scene where you see
Harper Leigh and the cat is actually the cover artwork for “Reincarnate”. As I
have mentioned before, this music video was directed by Chat Michael Ward.
With regards to the band's new album, as well as their song "Reincarnate", it almost feels like the band is "re-birthed" with different sounds and lyrics. this is what the album "Reincarnate" means for me, again, this could be just me.
With regards to the band's new album, as well as their song "Reincarnate", it almost feels like the band is "re-birthed" with different sounds and lyrics. this is what the album "Reincarnate" means for me, again, this could be just me.
This has got to be one of my absolute all time favourite
songs and music videos from Motionless in White, and a definite must-listen-to song if you are a newcomer to this band.
The album “Reincarnate” is a definite must buy! I have
mentioned that “Reincarnate” is my favourite album from Motionless in White. I
have noticed that most of the songs on the “Reincarnate” album open with the
keyboard sounds and then straight into the heavy sounds of the drums and
guitars, which is truly a masterpiece! I have in fact always been inspired to
play the keyboard by so many music artists, including Josh Balz, who is the keyboardist for Motionless in White. I find the keyboard can make so many different sounds.
The keyboard sounds can make the music sound so unique, whether it be a happy sound or whether it be a more darker, creepier sound. Keyboards should definitely be used more in other bands.
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| Snapshots taken from the music video "Reincarnate" which was directed by Chad Michael Ward. Top left: Motionless in White band members in their reincarnated bodies. Bottom left: Motionless in White band member's sitting in the grave being buried by their reincarnated bodies. Top right: The model/actress Harper Leigh with the cat in the "Reincarnate" music video. Bottom right: Motionless in White in the hall performing altogether. |
Motionless in White’s
musical style is versatile and unique! I say unique because the musical style has
heavy sounds like the song “Reincarnate” and "Death March" as well as some slower songs like “Wasp”.
Motionless in White is notably known for wearing make-up, dressing
in black clothing and wearing body paint. One member of the band, Ghost, is often seen at live shows dressing up as different characters such as Sweeny Todd, Cruella de Vil and Beetlejuice.
One fact I have learned a lot more from Motionless in White,
is to not judge people when you meet them. An example in this case could be if
you are walking along the street and you see someone wearing all dark makeup,
wearing black clothes could be some sort of freak because of what they appear
to look like and their whole 'look' does not look 'normal' to you, when in fact, that person could be one of the friendliest people
you would ever meet. Also, maybe that person hates bright colours or just felt
like wearing a different colour of clothing for that day. We must never judge
people for who they are and who they want to be, or how they dress and appear
to be.
Another piece of advice from Motionless in White is when you
go and see them perform live, just go and watch the concert, as this band really
does give their 100% all when they perform live.
I unfortunately have not seen them perform live before as
they have not yet done a tour in South Africa, but one day I will get that
opportunity to see them perform live and will hopefully be able to tell them how inspiring they are to
their fans and how incredible their music sounds.
The songs I would recommend when first listening to
Motionless in White is – well, I would say every single song, but maybe just a
few favourites – Reincarnate, A-M-E-R-I-C-A, Death March, Contemptress
(featuring Maria Brink), Creatures, Abigail, Puppets (The Grand Finale) which
features Dani Filth, Everybody Sells Cocaine, Devil’s Night and of cause, Break
the Cycle. One of the band’s most well known songs are “Immaculate Misconception”
which is indeed, a definite song to listen to if you are first listening to this band.
I have viewed some facts that Motionless in White fans –
Creatures – may not know of Motionless in White. Here are some of the facts:
Chris Motionless:
He loves to have spa treatments.
Ricky Horror: He
does not like pizza!
Ghost: He used to
work at Universal Studios as a scare actor in haunted houses, which is pretty
much what does on stage when he
performs with Motionless in White.
Josh Balz: He
owns a store along with his girlfriend – who is a black and grey tattoo artist
– which is
called “The Strange and Unusual”
and is located in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
Ryan Sitkowski:
The majority of his time he spends at his house is writing rap beats.
In a recent interview with the company Alternative Press,
Motionless in White stated some facts Creatures may not have known.
Here is the link to “10 Things You Didn’t Know About
Motionless in White” which was published on Alternative Press’s official
YouTube page:
For those of you who are interested in knowing what “The
Strange and Unusual” store is about, here is some information about the store: The
store “The Strange and Unusual” is an oddities parlour that is owned by Josh
Balz and Ryan Malarkey. The store is located at 285 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, Pennsylvania.
The store sells many antiques, apparel, taxidermies, books, candles, hats,
beanies and novelties. The store has mostly a whole lot of dead items –
taxidermies, animals in a jar, human bones – and most of the items at this
store are made of organic materials and two examples would be preserved
animal specimens and natural bone material. The items are also antique or
vintage items that are fragile as some of these antiques/vintage items are
statues, made of solid brass or are porcelain made.
Don’t get me wrong, this store does look very intriguing,
and I would definitely visit this store when I am ever in the area as the
apparel and beanies are unique and would be a definite must-buy.
For those of you who would like to know what items are all sold at “The Strange and Unusual” oddities parlour, here is their official website, along with their online store and their social media pages:
Official Website: http://thestrangeandunusual.com/
Online Store: http://thestrangeandunusual.bigcartel.com/products
Facebook: The
Strange and Unusual:
Twitter: @OdditiesParlour
Instagram: @thestrangeandunusual
I received most of the information about Motionless in White from
their official website, on Wikipedia and also viewing various interviews. The information I have given about the music videos is what I have seen through my eyes and what I understand is going on in the music videos. Other viewers may see the music videos differently, but the information I gave, is what I have understood through my eyes.
 |
| Photography: Tim Tronckoe |
Official website: http://www.motionlessinwhite.net/
Facebook: Motionless in White:
Twitter: @MIWband
Instagram: @miwband
You can also check out the band’s personal accounts:
Chris Motionless:
Facebook: Chris
Motionless:
Twitter:
@ChrisMotionless
Instagram: @chrismotionless
Ricky Horror:
Twitter:
@rickyxhorror
Tumblr: http://rickyxhorror.tumblr.com/
Instagram: @rickyhorrorx
Ghost:
Twitter:
@LonesomeGhosts
Instagram: @lonesomeghosts1937
https://instagram.com/lonesomeghosts1937/?hl=en
https://instagram.com/lonesomeghosts1937/?hl=en
Josh Balz:
Twitter: @balzmiw
Instagram: @joshbalz
Ryan Sitkowski:
Twitter: @MIWryan
Instagram:
@ryanmiw
Current tour member: Vinny Mauro:
Twitter: @chenzomauro
Instagram: @chenzomauro
The two photographers who took the photography I have posted on this blog are Tim Tronckoe and Chad Michael Ward. Tim Tronckoe has also done photography for many other music bands whether it be at a live show or for an album shoot. Some music groups Tim Tronckoe has photographed in the past are Epica, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Slipknot, Dee Snider, Amaranthe and Cradle of Filth. You can check out his other photography on his official website, as well as his social media pages:
Official website:
http://www.timtronckoe.com/
Facebook: Tim
Tronckoe Photography:
Twitter: @timtronckoe
Instagram: @timtronkoe
Chad Michael Ward is a photographer as well as a filmmaker. Chad Michael Ward has contributed towards art covers to various book series such as L.J. Smith’s book series titled “The Vampire Diaries” and another book series titled “Secret Circle”. Chad Michael Ward has also done photography for musicians such as Black Veil Brides, Get Scared, Marilyn Manson and New Years Day. Not only was Chad Michael Ward the director for the music video “Reincarnate”, he was also the photographer for the album “Reincarnate”. You can check out his other photography/films on his official website and also on social media pages:
Official website:
http://thechadmichaelward.com/
Facebook: Chad
Michael Ward Photography:
Twitter: @chadmichaelward
Instagram: @chadmichaelward_photographer
https://instagram.com/chadmichaelward_photographer/
YouTube: Chad Michael Ward
https://instagram.com/chadmichaelward_photographer/
YouTube: Chad Michael Ward
Here are a few of Motionless in White’s music videos:
A-M-E-R-I-C-A:
Immaculate Misconception:
Devil’s Night:
Creatures:
Ghost in the Mirror:
I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to
read this blog!
I also thank the photographers, Tim Tronckoe and Chad Michael Ward, for allowing me to post the photos they have taken onto this blog!
Thank you!
Thank you!
