Press
Aiding & Abetting (Webzine): “Issue #293: Reviews” by Jon Worley [February 2008]
Six members rather than the advertised 40, but when you've got an active horn section, it's easy to make small numbers sound bigger. And these songs generally sound much bigger than they are. Which is about what I expected, given how much I liked the band's earlier stuff.
The guts of the pieces are simple rootsy jangles. But throw in the horns, a Fender Rhodes, violin and mandolin and these songs take on a more ambitious life. They certainly sound more alive, in any case.
The sound of the album is raucous and restless, almost mono at times. That flat character really takes these songs to a cool place. Kinda like being present at the birth of rock and roll.
Alright then. Some folks know how to play the country blues, and more than a few can do the rock and roll. Most folks these days don't try to do both at the same time, but Forty Piece Choir does just that most impressively. Most fun.
The Times (Newspaper): “Local Scene: Busy, great year for area bands” by Tom Lounges [December 28, 2007]
Key events that affected region music in 2007:
After a decade together, regional rock sextet Forty Piece Choir, called it quits after releasing its 11-song swansong CD, “The Profound Nature of Life.” Its last gig was the August CD release show at Chicago’s House of Blues.
The Times (Newspaper): “The Best Local CDs of ‘07” by Tom Lounges [December 6, 2007]
No. 2
Forty Piece Choir, “The Profound Nature of Life” (Cooked County Records)
This eclectic collection of quirky rock, folk-pop jams sadly serves as the swan song for one of Chicago land’s most promising young groups. The release party for this fine set of music also served as the last live performance by the sextet with the confusing name. Complex and unique arrangements, top-shelf writing and performing, the creative use of a plethora of instrumentation beyond the basic guitar/bass/drums combine to make this one of the most interesting and overall enjoyable albums to cross my desk and enter my stereo all year.
Highlights: “Bank, Books, and Alcohol,” “100 Violins,” and “Preaching from the Choir.”
Illinois Entertainer (Magazine): “Around Hear” by Mike Myer [December 1st, 2007]
Forty Piece Choir’s swan song, The Profound Nature of Life, offers little insight into the veteran Americana act’s recent breakup. Instead of a funeral march (or wispy, introspective folk), their fourth full-length is a celebration of boogie-woogie horns, jubilant electric piano, and an almost Born To Run level of uplifting vocal urgency. FPC have hit their rock ‘n’ roll stride while walking out the door. The less folksy the future for the ex-members, the better.
The Times (Newspaper): “Local Scene: Music Notes” by Tom Lounges [September 7, 2007]
After a decade of music making in Chicago land, the popular rock sextet known as Forty Piece Choir, has officially called it quits after releasing their 11-swan song CD, “The Profound Nature of Life.” That they chose to disband on the very evening of this impressive CD’s release at Chicago’s House of Blues last week is sad, really, because this solid collection of music hints at the great things that might have come for them.
Time Out Chicago (Magazine): "Issue No. 131 / Music Listings" [August 30 - September 5, 2007]
Forty Piece Choir + Mer
House of Blues, 8pm, $13-$15. All ages
You don't know what you got till you loose it, and unfortunately Forty Piece Choir is breaking up hot on the heels of its newest album The Profound Nature of Life (Cooked County). Frankly, it's our loss. This band's brew of psych, power-pop and alt-country tasted good, without any hipster posturing.
Chicago Sun-Times (Newspaper): “Club Hopping” by Thomas Conner [August 31, 2007]
Tonight at House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn, is the final performance of Chicago band Forty Piece Choir. Relax—it’s only six guys, and they rock. Which you’d know if you’ve been following their local career the last 10 years, a run that wraps with the release of the band’s fourth and final disc, “The Profound Nature of Life.” They’re calling it quits to focus on family, and for some reason the band will be joined for their swan songs at this show by saxophone player Ben Mollin, a finalist from Bravo’s reality TV show “Shear Genius.” Mer and the Dirty Blue open at 8 tonight. Tickets, $13-$15. Call (312) 559-1212; www.ticketmaster.com.
Illinois Entertainer (Magazine): “Vol. 33, # 10, “File” [August 2007]
Farewell Forty Piece Choir. After a decade of music making in Chicago, FPC are calling it quites but not before a grand finale. The band will say goodbye with one last show, at the House of Blues, on August 31st where they’ll also release their full-length swan song,
The Times (Newspaper): “Singing to the Choir” by Tim Shellberg [April 8, 2007]
For their forthcoming album, "The Profound Nature of Life," Chicago land’s Forty Piece Choir found influence in rock and roll '50s founders as well as in their psychedelic, blues, indie and alt-country roots.
And on one track, they found inspiration in chief songwriter Dana Okon's young daughter.
"There's a song on the album called ‘Blue Guitar' in which the words were written by his daughter who, at the time, was probably only 5 or 6 years old," said guitarist Dan Dominiak.
"The lyrics are 'all I want for my birthday is a blue guitar from you/make it a blue guitar and I'll play this song just for you.'"
Performing a 21-and-older show today at Nick's On The Rocks in Calumet City, the roots of Forty Piece Choir can be traced back a decade ago, when Dominiak, a Calumet City native, caught the Tinley Park-based Okon performing a set at a Homewood coffee house.
In 1999, they released their debut full-length set, "Salud," and followed it up three years later with "Face Your Fear." "Nature" will be the follow-up to the band's third set, "Tennessee," which came out in 2004.
The current lineup consists of, along with Okon and Dominiak, Palos Heights-based bassist Tim "Smu" McCarthy, Thornton-based drummer Ryan DeYoung, who recently returned to the band after several years away, Chicago keyboardist Jason Slade and Palos Heights saxophone player Jim Vonesh.
Yet this is hardly the original incarnation of the band. Dominiak said that all of their former band members, which includes members of the Windy City buzz band, The 1900s, have gone on to forge their own musical identities.
"I think in the past, a lot of previous members have had creative differences and (their) own visions and (their) own things that they wanted to do," he said.
"I guess one of the things that's never been known about Forty Piece Choir is that we've really nurtured a lot of the (former) members of the band."
In June, the band plans to release "Nature." Mastered by Mike Hagler, who has worked behind the boards for the likes of Wilco and Neko Case, Dominiak described their forthcoming set as "a culmination of everything we've always done" over the course of their existence.
"We're very multigenre and like many forms of music," he said. "I think that coming on 10 years by the end of this year as a band that maybe we haven't really stuck out in any specific category.
To celebrate "Nature's" release, the band, Dominiak said, has been in talks with two of the Windy City's most esteemed live-music venues. Without naming names, Dominiak said he hopes to see his new album arrive to the masses with a bang.
"When you make an album, you want to get all the possibilities," he said. "We're talking with them and they seem serious and (we're looking into) who's offering dates and what we can do to accommodate the best show for the band and to the supporting acts as well."
ifyougo
Forty Piece Choir
When: 9 p.m. today (21-and-older show)
Where: Nick's On The Rocks, 816 Burnham Ave., Calumet City
Cost: $5
FYI: (708) 868-6100
Revue (Magazine): “Chicago’s Forty Piece Choir Begins West Michigan Tour” by Steve Davy [November 2006]
If you listen to old Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley or Little Richard recordings, there is one thing that practically drips from the album jackets when you hold them in your hands: soul. That’s what is at the heart of making music for Forty Piece Choir.
The Chicago-based band will be full of soul when it sets out for a mini-tour of the west side of Michigan this month, starting at Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Eccentric Café on Nov. 9.
“When we get together, we really try and play as soulful as possible,” guitarist and vocalist Dan Dominiak said. “You see bands like Led Zeppelin or Cream or even artists from the Stax label – that whole Memphis thing. A lot of that music, when you’re playing live, there is just soul to it.
“The way we work as a band is that each of us brings with our instrument and with our personalities and characteristics…our own souls into the music to the point where when you’re playing, you’re not really thinking about it. You are just doing it. It’s a pretty amazing feeling.”
Forty Piece Choir has been in the studio working out the finishing touches of the band’s fourth album. They had hoped to release it this fall, but now plan to do it in the early part of next year.
Dominiak said the album was recorded differently than the previous three. Forty Piece Choir has recorded in the past with friends who had recording equipment. But for this latest effort, the band has ventured into the self-recording world and a digital 16-track.
“We kind of approached it from the building-block method, which is something that most bands cringe at,” Dominiak said. “We try and get the moment of the song recorded like we would play it live. It’s worked out for us, but it is just very time-consuming and it’s hard to get the feeling in the recording sometimes.”
Forty Piece Choir, in its ninth year of making music, has evolved into a sextet, with Tim “Smu” McCarthy on bass, John “Dole” Doyle on drums, Jim Vonesh on saxophone, Jason Slade on keyboards and the two founding band members: Dominiak and lead vocalist and principle songwriter, Dana Okon. Drummer Ryan Deyoung will fill in for Doyle during the West Michigan shows, and also recorded on the upcoming CD.
Dominiak said he and Okon have continued with the band all this time because of their passion for the music, and their friendship. “In a personal respect, Dana is my best friend, and I think that he’s a greater part of the longevity of the band,” Dominiak said. “Sometimes we rattle each other’s brains so much about this band, in that we don’t want it to die, that sometimes you can lose people. Everything happens for a reason. We’ve had some great people in this band of which, for one reason or another, have decided to leave. Forty Piece Choir is a family.”
Perhaps more important to understanding the inner synapse connections of Forty Piece Choir is seeing the band’s desire to put the music first, without apprehension of being signed to a label or writing the big hit. The six members genuinely feel like the band is on its own path. They realize they are influenced by an array of artists and genres from today and in the past, but their approach has been to reinforce the artistic perspective.
“Even though we are musicians in a band, we are doing our own thing,” Dominiak said. “It constantly changes when you are not influenced by wanting to write a hit song, or whatever it may be for other bands. What we do is always refreshing…we are kind of hard to pin down, because we all come from very diverse backgrounds, and we tend to look at music – especially the music that we do – not just as music. We look at it as art; it’s very visionary.
Forty Piece Choir plans to pull out all the stops for the band’s mini-tour of West Michigan. For these rockers, the live performance is still what the music is all about. “I think that for the most any band, your live performance sincerely defines who you are,” Dominiak said. “It’s hard sometimes to win people over with your recordings, because you are really only telling half the story.
“Passion is what shows through Forty Piece Choir. When you see us play live, it is the real deal.”
Kalamazoo Gazzette (Newspaper)/ Ticket (Your Entertainment Guide): "Inspired by family: Chicago’s Forty Piece Choir" by John Liberty [November 9-15, 2006]
You’d think the guys from Forty Piece Choir had been listening to old Red Hot Chili Peppers CDs when they selected the title of their latest three-track EP, “Hope Love Faith Dreams Giving Sacrifice.”
Vocalist/guitarist Dan Dominiak said the title is essentially a series of positive themes found through-out the band’s upcoming full length CD, “The Profound Nature of Life,” due out early next year. The new CD from the Windy City sextet, which will perform at 9:30 tonight at Bell’s Eccentric Café, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., touches on all things positive, including the growing families of the band members, Dominiak said during a phone interview from Chicago last week.
One of the tracks on the EP, which will be available at tonight’s show for $3, was written by front-man Dana Okon’s then 6-year old daughter Zoey Ocean. The single, “Blue Guitar,” is made up of two simple lines courtesy of Zoey.
All I want for my birthday is a blue guitar from you/Make it a blue guitar and I’ll play a song for you.
“(Okon) said, “Hey, I’ve got this song Zoey was singing around the house and I wrote music to it. I think we should try it,” Dominiak said.
They did and “we were amazed” by the song, Dominiak said. AS for the upcoming LP, the EP barely maintains a single genre through any of the three horn-heavy rockabilly/jazz/blues/rock songs, so expect the full length version to touch every base and then some.
“It does make it difficult to interpret what we really are,” Dominiak said. “We’re all all those things and more…We’re like the lost gems of musicians. We like so many genres, we create something that’s uniquely our own.”
The Columbia Chronicle (Newspaper): "Premium Blend (Taking a closer look at Chicago's local bands)" by Tiffany Breyne [May 8th, 2006]
Forty Piece Choir may have only six members, but their vibrant and ever-changing music evokes a much larger sound. The psychedelic rock group formed in Calumet City, Ill., nine years ago. The band focuses on topics of love, faith, hope and the like with their poppy guitar and keyboard mixed with the mature saxophone. Vocalist Dana Okon, guitarist Dan Dominiak, drummer Ryan Deyong, bassist Tim McCarthy, saxophonist Jim Vonish and keyboardist Jason Slade will be performing their last show with Deyoung this month at the Double Door. Dominiak took time to discuss his inspirations after nine years of playing.
The Chronicle: How have you guys managed to maintain jobs and the band for nine years?
Dominiak: We’ve basically grown to nourish the fact that every faction of life is going to either work for us or work against us, and irregardless, it’s going to bring something to the band. The band’s been around for nine years, so we [keep playing]. We rarely practice or ever play shows right now. We’re just trying to set little goals for ourselves right now. And we’re working on the fourth record. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last four or five months.
The Chronicle: What inspired you to start the band?
We’ve got guys that are married in the band with kids, and if you’re an artist, especially a musician, you try to make the best of any given situation and make it creatively influence what you’re doing. We don’t really look at it as just music; we look at it as art. We’re not doing anything that’s, dare I say, radio-catered. We play a lot of different styles of music, and we don’t really care if we gain people or lose people. We’re just doing something creative that is very positive. What we sing about lyrically is very positive, and I think it holds its own. I think some people really are attracted to that alone.
The Chronicle: Do you think Chicago bands tend to make “radio-catered” music?
No, I think there [are] a lot of great Chicago bands. I think there [are] probably more creative bands than there are of the fabricated type. I think that holds strong with the Midwest in general. It’s not like you’re on the West Coast, and you have California where a lot more bands are fabricated like that because there’s just such a vibrant entertainment industry. Then on the East [Coast] with NewYork and whatnot.
The Chronicle: Why do you think that is?
I just think that this has something to do with the seasons. I guess you have your spring, summer, fall, winter, and I think that is a great environment for any kind of artist.
The Chronicle: Do you draw from that?
I think that it teaches me personally; I think that just the seasons influence creative aspects. Summertime—you’re out; things are vibrant; you feel really good and really positive and you’re out and about. But when you have times like the fall, the colors change [and] visuals come into play. Going into winter you kind of hibernate—you’re thinking a lot about yourself, reflecting on those changes. It definitely has a power on an artist’s creative drive.
The Chronicle: So what were the influences for the album you’re working on now?
I think that people can expect pretty much a little bit of everything we’ve done in the past, but definitely with a new flare to it. In the past some of our music has been heavily influenced by psychedelic music, [and it] is represented there. I think now one of the heaviest influences that we’re having, which is our songs are a little bit more simple, and they’re a lot more influenced by people from the ’50s, like Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard. That might be because we have a saxophone player in the band full time now; he kind of rounds it out really nicely. But it definitely has a modern edge to it. It’s really exciting and really straightforward and upbeat, and a little bit more understandable for a person that may not have even seen us before.
Weekly Buzz / Buzz Magazine (Webzine & Magazine): "Faith, Hope, and Family Ties" by Susan Schomburg [November 10th, 2005]
On first impression, the name "Forty Piece Choir" is a bit of a misnomer. With a current lineup of six members, there are far from forty pieces in this band. "Our band is actually only six members," guitarist and founding band member Dan Dominiak says, "So that always throws people for a loop, which is probably a good thing and a bad thing. At least it attracts attention. The number in our band name doesn't really signify anything. I think the inspiration for the name comes from church, or maybe a choir of children would be an example of what we were thinking of. There's a pretty enormous strength behind a choir, and the more people, the merrier."
"There was a time where I would go to practice and I would go across the street to this African-American gospel church where it was all black people. I was the only white guy there," lead singer Dana Okon recalled. "They were really cool, though, they were so nice. I remember watching them sing. It wasn't for fame or fortune or anything. It was all very humble, and it was all for God ... that's what it's all about. Our band name has that kind of thinking behind it."
When asked who he could share the stage with, Okon unequivocally replied, "Jesus Christ ... because that's a powerful figure. Music can be done for certain reasons, or it can be done for deeper ones. It’s more than just a power; it's about love, and you don't have to play an instrument or sing to get that across."
"It's not as though we're a Christian rock band or anything like that," Dominiak adds. "But, we do believe in positive vibes and are very family-oriented. We respect our families, and those inspirations make us the band that we are."
Family is a huge part of the band's creative and psychological orientation. Okon's children provide influence and material for his songwriting, and he adds, "Without my family, I don't think I would even be sane enough to play music and vice-versa. It's like a balancing act. It's very depressing to leave my family [to tour], but as soon as I go onstage for the band's set, I feel like I'm flying for real. It's an amazing feeling to perform."
Dominiak says his musical influences include Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, also citing band favorites like Wilco and the Jesus & Mary Chain and says, "The Beatles and Chuck Berry are the reason I play music ... musicianship would be the major attraction [to them], but perseverance in art, not necessarily just looking at music as a commodity. People back then used to make art, make great music and not have any expectations about how well it might sell."
"Our music is very abstract; it's always changing. There are no formulas, no set way of thinking. We have kind of a band philosophy to be positive, to do good things," Okon said. "We just try to get out there and present the soul of the music and get the energy up."
Forty Piece Choir's upcoming show at the Canopy Club this Wednesday marks their fourth visit to the Champaign-Urbana music scene. Dominiak and Okon had similar impressions of the difference between the local scene and that of the band's native Chicago. "Chicago is getting tougher," Okon comments. "In Champaign, there are so many young people, and I think college kids really listen to music, and their minds are a lot more open to things that aren't so corporate. Their minds are fresh and new, and so they are more open to ideas that are unusual and not just force-fed."
"I think in Champaign, there's maybe a bit more solidarity within the musical community," Dominiak observed, saying, "I guess pretty much any band might have that perspective of another outside city or town by being welcomed to play there."
Although they love their home scene, Okon remarks, "Sometimes the Chicago scene gets a little jaded. We've seen so many bands in Chicago, so it can get a little bit stale sometimes. I think Chicago's great, but I'm glad to go to Champaign ... sometimes you're accepted in other places more than your own home because you're new; you're fresh."
Both Okon and Dominiak were presented with the challenge of summing up their band's sound and attitude in three words, and "spiritual" was the one they had in common. Dominiak's other picks were "positive" and "artistic," while Okon went with "abstract" and "hopeful."
"There's a philosophy behind the band where we try to be positive and to do and sing about good things, such as love, God, positivity, energy, things like that. The band is more like a family. It's definitely not a business band."
"Forty Piece Choir is a pretty positive band," Dominiak agreed. "Anyone can just take out some positivity in the music or the message. The lyrics should have something good to say. As far as performance goes, we try to put on a great show and be as entertaining as possible."
Chicagoist (Webzine): “Re-Viewed: 4 Bands for $3” by Julene McCoy [August 4th, 2005]
Last night Chicagoist headed over to the Double Door for a night of eclectic and cheap music. Not knowing what to expect, except that our friend The Rich Experience (look him up at myspace.com) would be playing a couple of his classics as an opener, we went in with an open mind to hear some of Chicago’s lesser known bands.
Calumet, Homeland Security Orchestra, Riddle of Steel, and 40 Piece Choir were the bands on the bill and they covered the musical spectrum. It was Calumet’s 2nd show and for being so green they held their own on stage. Our favorite songs were the one’s that the xylophonist/violinist provided vocals for in her Americana-based twang. Homeland Security Orchestra, a side project of The Dirty Blue, were slower and a more melodic piano-based group. Their songs reminded us that the Conor Oberst depression based songs are the norm.
Next up were Riddle of Steel, a hard rock band out of St. Louis. ROS brought with them quite the throng of fans who were not at all scared to get right up to the stage and rock out. The 3-piece were clearly led by the power drumming of Rob Smith who was lit from his bass drum causing him to appear as Jesus Drummer! Lead vocalist and guitarist, Andrew Elstner, used Nirvana-esque reverb and wasn’t afraid to make his guitar sound like anything other than a guitar.
Closing out the evening were 40 Piece Choir. Chicagoist didn’t believe that one band could sum up the sounds of the previous bands, but 40 Piece Choir were up to the task. They came off as white boys rockin’ the blues, but then turned the corner into good ol’ country boys and skidded around to old time rock-n-roll. 40 Piece Choir mixed all these genres and more without coming off as schizophrenic. Quite a feat!
Double Door was a great scene for these bands still coming into their own while looking for a broader audience. We loved the fact that we got to see 4 bands for $3 by picking up reduced tickets at Reckless Records down the street before the show.
Music Connection (Magazine): "Vol. XXIX, No.14 “Demo Critiques” [July 4th, 2005]
Chicago fivesome’s third CD melds disparate influences into something that is sometimes fresh and appealing to alternative ears. The first track, “Tennessee,” is so strong in its haunting use of treated guitar, aching male-female vocal blends and obtuse yet alluring lyrics that the tunes that follow are a bit of a letdown. “Body to Soul” and “Whistler,” while lyrically enticing, are musically less interesting. Still, there’s enough here overall to attract an indie label. (7 out 10 rating)
Bonemachine (Australian Webzine): “4 of 5 Bones” by Frank Boner [May 9th, 2005]
Forty Piece Choir are a Chicago band who are obviously quite skilled in the art of deception. George W would be proud. It didn't take me long to work out that there's not a choir to be found, the music is far less haybale and overalls than the album title suggests... and, worst of all, the band are actually a five piece. My illusions of a stage floor groaning under the weight of 40 banjo and jug players has been shattered. Once I got over the feeling of being used, cheated and lied to, I found myself really getting into Tennessee. I have had this album for a while now, mainly due to the fact that I'm a slack bastard. The more I've listened the more I've liked.
There's a bit of an Alt Country thing going on throughout this album (whatever that means), but there are enough sprinklings of psychedelic rock, edgy folk and wig-out jam sessions to ensure I was still listening intently at the end of the last track. Quite a few times through if the truth be known. This is definitely one of those cds I'll be pulling out from time to time to re-visit. The recording is polished without being naff, and I loved that there's a small dose of slightly-off tuning. Perfectly tuned instruments are over-rated in my book.
These guys are not afraid of throwing in a bootload of guitar solos... and the distinctive, controlled-feedback lead is probably the reason I like this album so much. The guitar-work on the title track in particular is achingly beautiful, always on the verge of exploding but always kept oh-so-close to the edge. Vocal duties for the band are shared by Dana Okon and Kelly Kruse, and when the two are working together some of the harmonies that result are pure art.
There is a slight tendency for some of the tracks to meander a bit, perhaps just a bit too much for their own good. That aside this is a very strong release, similar in a lot of ways to The Essex Green (and a whole bunch of Elephant 6 stuff for that matter) Have a listen for yourself, the band are offering a few free downloads at their website, and if you like what you hear you can pick up a copy at CD Baby.-Frank Boner
Prog-Resiste (Belgium Magazine): "Issue # 40" by Mërgim [April 2005]
Encore un disque qui se retrouve dans les vrac plus par manque d’affinités avec le prog que par manque de qualités musicales. Ces cinq musiciens de Chicago qui en sont à leur troisième album produisent un rock sophistiqué nourri de multiples influences. Un batteur, deux guitaristes chanteurs, un bassiste et une claviériste chanteuse ont atteint un degré de maturité et de production qui suscite l’étonnement quant au fait qu’ils ne soient pas sur un gros label. Le chant les rapproche beaucoup du folk mais leur musique oscille joyeusement entre le folk-rock, le rock psychédélique avec quelques accents country et de grosses touches progressives très seventies surtout en se qui concerne certains solos de guitares des plus agréables ainsi que l’usage important des claviers. Ne vous attendez pas, cependant, à entendre des rythmes impairs ou des passages très expérimentaux, en effet, le chant reste toujours important ainsi qu’un souci mélodique constant. Du rock sophistiqué orienté chant avec beaucoup de guitares et pas mal de claviers, qui plaira aux amateurs de psyché, de folk-rock et à certains progueux. Quoiqu’il en soit je vous invite à visiter leur site web où vous trouverez plusieurs mp3 libres de téléchargement. Leur musique m’a séduit, bien que je sois assez hermétique à ce style musical. Alors pourquoi pas vous ? Certaines de leurs mélodies me restent en tête toute la journée.
Chicago Tribune (Newspaper): “Check It Out: Here’s a Choir that truly sings” by Jenn Q. Goddu [April 1st, 2005]
The band name 40 Piece Choir is a definite misnomer, even though this Chicago outfit has seen enough turnover and guest artists to make it seem possible that one day, it might indeed live up to its name.
“We’re pretty much on our 10th or 11th version of this band,” says guitarist and founding member Dan Dominiak. “It’s always constantly growing. It’s pretty much what this band stands for.”
The recruitment of new blood enables the band to have a broad range of influences. The most recent album, “Tennessee” (Cooked County Records), has alt-country, rock, jam band, folk and blues elements. “We’re basically a band that loves all music,” Dominiak says. “We’re just looking to do something that is ultimately always creative and has a good, positive message.”
Singer / guitarist Dana Okon, who writes most of the songs for the band (currently a quintet), wants 40 Piece Choir’s music to connect with audiences on subjects such as the “energy of love and the beauty of life.”
Okon’s lyrics might draw on life experiences and spiritualily, but they ultimately are part of a collaborative creative process. “Everyone puts their soul into it and it just sort of takes off by itself,” Okon says. “It’s more art than music to me. [We’re} not worried about what other people are going to say.”
Dominiak agrees that 40 Piece Choir’s goal is not to write and perform one hit song that will grab everyone’s attention. “Our overall emphasis is just trying to create music that just has its own energy,” he says.
It’s an energy that makes for a good live show, says Billy Giannopoulos, program director of Hostage Radio, a Sunday night program on WDRP-FM 88.3 that follows Chicago’s music scene.
Giannopoulos also admires the band’s willingness to stick with it, playing its music for the love of it. “They’re a band that a lot of Chicago acts should look up to,” he says. “There’s been a lot of changes in the band but they keep coming back with more and more powerful songs and records.”
Illinois Entertainer (Magazine): “Around Hear” by Joseph Simek [November 1st, 2004]
It is obvious Chicago’s indie scene is saturated when a band as decent as Forty Piece Choir still exists in local band obscurity. Maybe it’s because this band, which is made up of five pieces, is not easily labeled. FPC’s third album, Tennessee, drifts between the psychedelic leanings of Verve, the country tidbits of Lambchop, and the indie-rock of Modest Mouse. Being eclectic usually goes over well in this city, but not if you make the easy mistake of crafting sounds instead of songs.
Roots Music Report (Webzine & Magazine): "Tennessee online album review, 2004"
Forty Piece Choir has created an absolutely phenomenal album. Tennessee is a rollercoaster of an album that at times submerses itself deep within the mind, and floods the senses with audio ecstasy. This group represents true musicality in that they are not cages by a particular musical styling. “Forty Piece Choir” hints that there at least forty different influences in every song, so every song is a different journey into musicality. Great sounding artistic band that will surely rise through the ranks.
Splendid (Webzine): by Jennifer Kelly [September 20th, 2004]
There are actually nowhere near forty people in Forty Piece Choir -- just five core members, plus another eight supplementary players. That's enough to supplement their basic jam-into-psychedelic-country sound with non-typical instruments like oboe, trumpet, a few saxes and a string section, but it doesn't account for the largeness of their sound. On the dramatic coda to "Lemon Lime", for instance, you could almost believe there are 40 of them, swelling the tentative melody of the song's initial measures into a juggernaut-sized chorus, crashing with cymbals and fat with vocal harmonies. Yet in other places, such as the delicate Ben Harper-esque closer "Flowers", the choir is stripped to its purest essence: the tightly fused voices of Kelly Kruse and Dana Okon and a strummed acoustic guitar.
Tennessee is the group's third full-length, following on 2002's Face Your Fear, which our editor called "a glorious hodge-podge of bewildering but ultimately complementary influences." The Chicago-based band continues to take inspiration from a wide variety of sources, with Deadhead jams alongside Elephant 6-ish psychedelia, Page-esque guitar solos next to Steely Dan keyboard lines. There's a certain amount of country audible in the slacked out 12/8 title track and the honky tonk shuffle of "Heart of Love", but it's counterbalanced by a spacious psyched-out seventies spirit. "Lemon Lime"'s keyboard line, for instance, would fit well on a late Pink Floyd record, though it floats luminously over the twang of guitar. The guitar work -- that's Okon and Dan Dominiak -- is particularly good. The title track's slow, hard-rocking solo and the heated, Zeppelin-ish shreds of "Whistler" light gentle songs on fire, while "Money"'s mediations evoke jam-godfather Greg Allman. Kruse's Fender Rhodes is also quite effective, a cool, crystal clear counterpart to the band's warmer vibe.
This is a spiritually engaged band, concerned with god and souls and the corrosion of materialism, yet not overly weighted down by these issues. Religion is a part of daily life here, just as music is, and the two are matter-of-factly, unceremoniously entwined. The lyric to "A-Frame House", one of Tennessee's most joyful tracks, sums up the band's approach when it says "Say what you say / When you sing / While you pray."
"Keep on Keepin' On", with its shuffling Western swing beat, gets at the heart of things -- Forty Piece Choir's spiritual uplift -- when Okon sings, "I've listened to the choir / no egos / just free love / no fire." Guitar solos without ego, biblically relevant lyrics without preaching, heck, an oboe solo without pretension -- it's not easy to accomplish this kind of stuff. Forty Piece Choir just make it look that way.
Expose (Magazine): by Peter Thelen [September 20th, 2004]
The somewhat low-energy title track that opens the disc, a slow paced number that begins in a space a bit reminiscent of The Band circa Big Pink, gives few clues of the many highlights among the eleven tracks that follow. This is the third disc by the Chicago based five-piece of dual guitars, drums, bass, keyboards, and male-female vocals, and a fine one it is, offering up a style that at once recalls late sixties west-coast psychedelic rock, a sort of bluesy ‘Americana’ rock style, aggressive driving alternative rock without the bad attitude, and a good-timey folk-rock vibe. Guest players contribute saxes, violin, cello, trumpet, and other instruments, and there is a great sense of adventurous variety from one track to the next, as the arrangements keep the sound interesting and exciting. Plenty of tasty guitar licks adorn a number of the tunes, often veering into blistering psychedelic territory. The vocal harmonies between Dana Okon and keyboardist Kelly Kruse work nicely and blend together seamlessly, but occasionally take on a looser Grateful Dead-ish quality too, although on “Body to Soul” the harmonies leave this writer a bit puzzled. Highlights include the overtly progressive “New One Eyes,” “Not About Me,” the infectious hook and groove of “Money,” and the full throttle new-wavey rocker “Whistler.” Folky and beautifully orchestrated, “Flowers” closes the disc nicely. Plenty of great stuff here for the open minded listener.
The Daily Copper (Webzine): by Jedd Beaudoin [July 13th 2004]
Don’t really get the title, but the music? Oh, yeah. There are traces of the Grateful Dead and its innumerable offshoots and its bastard offspring in some corners of the material (especially during the guitar leads and vocal harmonies of “Money”), which might count as a deficit in an assessment of a different band but Forty Piece Choir (just a simple quintet) gets bonus points for blending a pinch of Jerry with sweet grooves and mellow tunes. Forty Piece Choir draws on elements that will appeal to middle-of-the-road prog fans, jam banders and perhaps even the odd punter without a musical home.
One of the band’s best weapons may very well be keyboardist Kelly Kruse, whose keyboard lines provide small splashes of color when needed but also drive other tracks such as the wonderfully goofy “Think Fast” (Kruse takes lead vocal chores and comes across like a more soulful version of Natalie Merchant) and blends nice with the fiery guitar lines of Dan Dominiak and Dana Okon, who’s no slouch of a vocalist himself. (The band is rounded out by the rhythm section of bassist Tim McCarthy and Tim Minnick, which gets a nice workout on the lovable throwaway-ish “A-Frame House.”).
One gets the feeling that the band can only tell half of its story on disc, that there are epic tales to emerge once this outfit hits the live stage. Still, Tennessee seems to serve as a good primer for catching this band on the boards. Nice, cross-generational stuff.
Aiding & Abetting (Webzine): “Issue #254: Reviews” by Jon Worley [June 2004]
There's something about the whole Americana movement that seems to inspire some really wild attempts at musical assimilation. A band like Lambchop throws in everything and then heads out to the junkyard to look for more. A guy like Ryan Adams is comfortable channeling Gram Parsons, Neil Young, James Taylor and the Replacements--sometimes in the same song. Forty Piece Choir is just as diverse in its influences, and that results in a fine album--an album that's probably too unique for most labels to stomach. I mention labels because the band's website mentions that it is searching for one to call home. There are plenty of outstanding record labels in the band's Chicago home, and I figure one of them will pick up on these folks sooner or later. What to do with Forty Piece Choir is another question all together. While the vocals of Dana Okon and Kelly Kruse do lend a sense of familiarity, there is an awful lot going on here. The sequencing of the album is alright, but it really isn't optimal. There's not the sort of flow between the tracks that there ought to be, and they really don't build to much of anything. Which isn't to say the stuff isn't great. Most of these songs are wonderful; they just seem a bit jarring in the order that they're placed. Sequencing is an art. When done right, it makes an average album great. A reshuffling here would make a very good album even better. When you're trying to do as much as Forty Piece Choir, every little bone thrown to the listener helps.
Hybrid Magazine (Webzine & Magazine): “The Bargain Basement” [July 6th, 2004]
Ford:
Extremely talented Chicago quintet, indie rock with bits of lazy country. Sonically very diverse.
Arthur:
Duck. Yes, duck.
Zaphod:
Darkish, but not bullshit. X plus Mazzy Star dived by Sixteen Horsepower. Best living room recording ever.
Midwest Beat (Magazine): "Midwest Ramblings" with Rachel Komar [June 2004]
First I want to start off with the band I was most impressed by this month, Forty Piece Choir. Reigning from Calumet City, IL, this band’s third and most recent twelve-song album, Tennessee, is relaxing as much as it is trippy. Forty Piece Choir mixes many styles including: rock, country, folk, blues, as well as containing a slight ‘70s feel. The only problem I had with this band is not being able to see the direction they are trying to go with their music.
Joy (Webzine): by Ian Viggars [June 4th, 2004]
Disappointingly, 40 Piece Choir only have five members and there's not an actual choir in sight, so those expecting new contenders to the Polyphonic Spree's symphonic sound should look elsewhere. Hailing from Chicago where they apparently already have a strong following, 40 Piece Choir are a back-woodsy alt. country style outfit. This is their third album of melancholic meanderings and despite the misleading name there is a lot to enjoy here, that is if you can put up with some serious muso tendencies creeping through occasionally.
The languid title track 'Tennessee' opens proceedings, veering from lilting pedal steel flourishes to annoyingly virtuoso guitar solos. It's pleasant enough, but the drifting nature of the track makes you think of the dreaded words "prog rock". Unfortunately this image of 'good ol' boys' losing themselves in extended space-rock jams rears it's ugly head on a few other tracks. 'Whistler' is seriously middle of the road, the fast drumming and over produced guitars summoning the dreaded spirit of 80's stadium rock, and 'Heart of Love' is as slushy as the title suggests, plodding along in an MOR fashion that even encapsulates an awful sax solo. However when the tendency to noodle deserts them, 40 Piece Choir manage to produce some truly brilliant moments. Lead vocals throughout are shared between the 'bloke in a pub band' style gruntings of Dana Okon and the sweet female vocals of Kelly Kruse - the best tracks being the ones where the two harmonise or Kelly takes lead. 'Body to Soul' is built on swooning descending chords and the keening harmonies of the two singers blend perfectly. This eventually give way to yet another guitar wig-out, but for once it's more melodic than rambling, making for an almost flawless three minutes of country tinged psychedelia. 'New One Eyes' follows this format to the next extreme, opening with rolling organ chords and stupidly loved-up lyrics ("I can see everything looking straight into your eyes") before drifting off into a five minute long spaced-out country blues coda that just about avoids becoming annoying.
The best track by far though is 'Think Fast'; at just under three minutes with Kelly on lead vocals it skips along like a lost late-era Beach Boys track mixed with Belle and Sebastian at their most twee, and is all the better for it. What these songs prove is that for 40 Piece Choir to stand a chance of escaping their California home town following and join the true heavyweights of alt. country (such as My Morning Jacket and Lambchop) they need to drop the muso showmanship and give Kelly Kruse the lead vocal placing her beautiful vocals deserve.
The Times (Newspaper): "Local Scene: Music notes" by Tom Louges [March 12, 2004]
Forty Piece Choir released its latest CD, “Tennessee,” this past week.
Chicago Reader (Newspaper): “Spot Check” by Monica Kendrick [March 5th, 2004]
Tennessee (Cooked County), the third full-length from these locals, is a mighty leap from 2002's well-received but rough Face Your Fear. Skimming lightly over country and folk on its way to gentle psychedelic rock, the new album is generous with its licks and ideas in a way that mellowish hippie music ought to be more often. Their exploration of inner space continues to favor the celebratory (for apparently spiritual reasons), but the stabs at celestialism are now less cloying than they once were and more complex, seasoned with prog-blues grandeur and timing, keening harmonies, and exhilaratingly wanky guitar solos.
Red Eye – An Edition of the Chicago Tribune (Newspaper): "Music: Who’s on stage and at the clubs" [March 3, 2004]
Preaching to the choir: Forty Piece Choir’s atmospheric indie rock has made this band from south suburban Blue Island a popular Chicago club choice. See them live at Metro on Friday night.
The Times (Newspaper): "Local Scene" by Tom Lounges [July 25, 2003]
The all-original South Side modern pop group Forty Piece Choir will wrap up its multistate tour with a regional date this evening at J.C.’s Sports Pub, 102 Calumet Ave., in Chesterton.
Midwest Beat (Magazine): For Immediate Release: Band Bit’s…Rollin’ Tape & Retailin’ by Tom Lounges [April 2003]
A new CD is in the works from modern rockers, Forty Piece Choir, who are said to be “working diligently on a 12-song set of originals”. Nearly half the cuts -- “A-Frame House,” “Keep On...Keepin’ On,” “Heart Of Love,” “Tennessee” and “Not About Me” -- are completed and in the can. Expect it ready for release in mid-to-late summer. The as-yet-untitled collection is the quintet’s third album to date and the follow up to last year’s well-received, “Face Your Fear “ CD.
UR Chicago (Newspaper): "Local Sounds: Record of the month" by Jeremy Ohmes [August 2002]
I’m the sort to send my plate back when I find any sort of noodles in the offering, so – knowing Forty Piece Choir’s penchant for meandering Grateful Dead-style macaroni jamming – I was skeptical of their new release. But Face Your Fear, the Chicago septet’s debut (which actually came out in April and is only now garnering attention), is a buffet: the noodles are covered up with stray bits of lettuce, a cherry tomato or two, some cottage cheese…you don’t know what belongs where, but you slop it onto your plate anyway and go back for seconds because it’s just that good. With an emphasis on psychedelia and poppy orchestral maneuvers, Forty Piece Choir lay out a sonic smorgasbord that puts Shoney's to shame and casseroles everything from Flaming Lips to Faust to Super Furry Animals to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. “On Incredible Man and So-So Girl,” bouncy ‘60s strut spills over into a bucket of horns, only to be kicked into Elephant 6-ish dreamy folk-rock mopped up with beats and bass. On “Bouquet” Forty Piece pumps out a blues riff straight from the Supergrass songbook, but two-and-a-half minutes in, the square-peg/round-hole, other-plane-entirely sound of what makes this album special drifts in with backward guitars, effects-laden bass, shortwave synths and Krautro craftwork. And the vocals are never in your face; they're glazed with male and female harmonies and kept warm under the music's heat lamp. The lyrics are conceptual and sometimes obscurely romantic, but more often romantically obscure, never resorting to crypticism, and always complimenting the music's subjectivity. Face Your Fear is an ambitious album, all of its elements accumulating into a moody pool of sound waiting to be heaped all on to one plate – an album for those whose ears are bigger than their stomachs.
Illinois Entertainer (Newspaper): "Around Hear" by Patrick Conlan [August 2002]
Continuing their successful harvesting from a broad spectrum of influences and styles, Forty Piece Choir sculpt marvelous, cinematic compositions on Face Your Fear. Packed with sensuous sonic details that invite repeated listens, Fear overflows with sweetly crafted sophistication that manages to be achingly gorgeous, swimmingly whimsical, and playfully eclectic while sounding lushly integrated. As an added bonus, there's a sinister hint in some of the lyrics, making the sunshine that much brighter.
Chicago Sun-Times (Newspaper): "Club Hopping" by Mary Houlihan [May 31, 2002]
Forty Piece Choir, 9 p.m. Wednesday, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. The Northside club celebrates the one-year anniversary of Justify Your Existence, a monthly showcase (in partnership with the Onion) that features performances by local musicians. Top billing this time around goes to Forty Piece Choir, a group that offers positive messages outlined with twangy pop arrangements. Sleeping at Last and the Grey Skies Are Sleeping open. Admission is $8 at Schuba’s (773-525-2508)
Chicago Reader (Newspaper): "Spot Check" by Monica Kendrick [May 31, 2002]
Forty Piece Choir, who have released their second album, Face Your Fear (Blue Room Studio), headline this one-year anniversary for Schubas and the Onion’s “Justify Your Existence” series. The septet’s song’s don’t sound like anyone else’s: they might qualify as the gentlest possible psychedelia , a little bit folk and a little bit fusion. As you might guess, this isn’t the massive-sounding outfit the name implies – its slightly adventurous, slightly Christian, and only slightly there presence is beyond twee, leaving the aftertaste of weak tea.
Splendid (Webzine): "Face Your Fear review" [May 2, 2002]
By now, it's fairly obvious that the Elephant 6 collective has gone the way of the dinosaur -- that is, all of its bands are either dead or desperately trying to evolve into something else. However, if the remaining members of the collective got together to record a spectacular swan song of a record, it might sound a lot like Face Your Fear - a glorious hodge-podge of bewildering but ultimately complementary influences. Forty Piece Choir’s roster is actually a far more manageable seven musicians (one of whom used to write for us), but that’s still a lot of players by conventional rock band standards. A lot of musicians musicians, logically, means a lot of different ideas and tastes tossed into the creative process, Forty Piece Choir does a remarkably good job of boiling its members’ input down to a coherent whole. Beyond the classic reference points (The Beatles, the Beach Boys), you'll detect lazy country-rock, jangly orch-pop, a distinct debt to psychedelia, Grateful Dead-style jamming and noodling, fuzzed-out proto-indie rock, a fondness for classic Nintendo soundtracks and even some seventies-style rock opera action. It shouldn’t be intelligible or even palatable, but it is, largely because the band’s songwriting reach doesn’t exceed their grasp; they’ve clearly learned that more ideas doesn’t mean necessarily mean better music, and they don’t overburden their songs. “One Electric Revolution,” for instance, leads with a slow, rhythmic layered-vocal verse straight out of Hair or even Godspell, then offsets the deliberate rhythm with a quintessential indie-rock freakout ending. It’s a delicious juxtaposition of styles, but too many artists wouldn’t stop there – they’d add breakbeats, or pedal steel, or possibly both, sacrificing the song’s simple charm in the process. Forty Piece Choir seem to know when to quit, although they seldom follow a simple route. “Reincarnated’s” country jam-band rock stacks its layered guitars to the ceiling, but leaves room for banjo, pedal steel and nasal-sounding keyboard; the song doesn’t seem bloated because the instruments are all serving the same idea. “Bull By Horns” pulls another rhythmic shift, kicking loose from its slow-moving orchestral-pop verses into maniacally twangy hoedown choruses that subside as quickly as they started (it sounds a little like a Mojave 3 track cross-bred with a Meat Puppets chrus). The horn-enhanced pop of “Incredible Man and So-So Girl” conceals an eleventh-hour switcheroo – a glorious, pastoral coda with assertive beats and electronic accents. “Ray X’s” flat-out weirdness works a Flaming Lips angle, complete with discordant noodling at the line-ends, while the schizophrenic “Mustard” begins as a none-too-subtle challenge to the Mendoza Line, then morphs into a Rick Wakeman-style laser-show monstrosity, complete with bombastic synthesizers, chunky riffing and lots of effects. How could you not love that? And how could you not respect a band that can put a song like “Mustard” on the same album as their brooding folk/orchestral title track?
Even so, the best thing about Forty Piece Choir isn’t their ideas, or their restraint, but something far simpler: they all sing. They don’t all sing on every song, of course, but everyone does a little bit of singing, and many tracks feature multiple lead vocals. True group vocals are increasingly unusual these days, and they give Face Your Fear a bit of an edge – call it a sense of community, as corny as that sounds. All those voices together just sounds nice – it’s old-fashioned but satisfying, in a feel-good sort of way.
The band’s sometime schizophrenic mixture of ideas won’t be everyone’s bag, but if you've been jonesing for a new Neutral Milk Hotel record, fresh Apples in Stereo, more Minders or a pinch more Of Montreal, you'll find it all on Face Your Fear -- and then some."
Local Live (Newspaper): "CD Reviews: Forty Piece Choir – Face Your Fear (self-released)" by Stu [April 2002]
Music for the Weird. It’s different. They’re talented, you can trip to it.
The Times (Newspaper): "Music Notes" by Tom Lounges [April 5, 2002]
Local music fans of all ages can catch Forty Piece Choir, a modern rock combo with roots in Northwest Indiana and Chicago’s South Side, live at 6:30 p.m. at Chicago’s Metro (3730 N. Clark St.). The general admission concert celebrates the release of the group’s second full-length CD, “Face Your Fear.” Tickets are $8 at the door, but the band is offering downloadable $2 off discount vouchers for the show on its Website (www.fortypiecechoir.com).
The Star (Newspaper): "Forty Piece Choir offers a little piece of love and light" by Jessi Virtusio [April 4, 2002]
In a world plagued by darkness and destruction, local band Forty Piece Choir is looking to spread some love and light.
“It’s fun to be able to play music that you really believe in, and it gets out there and people can actually hear it and you can maybe inspire them,” vocalist and guitaris Dana Okon says.
“We’re not rock stars. We’re just normal people. It’s just positive and a lot of hope is involved. It has a lot to do with the light and just finding the truth.
“When I write a song, I just do what the song tells me. I don’t even know where the stuff comes from, but a lot of it is inspired from my family or the really positive things that happen to me in my life.”
Okon, a Tinley Park native, and Dan Dominiak, of Calumet City, are the only two remaining founders of the group.
The ensemble also consists of Kelly Kruse from Tinley Park; Palos Park natives Timothy “Smu” McCarthy, Ed Anderson, and Tim Minnick; and Chicago resident Edgars Legzdins.
And the new blood has infused Forty Piece Choir to expand its songwriting wings, with all members contributing to the process.
“I always wanted to have a really cool band where everyone was nice to each other and parents would be willing to let their kids go to see us and not worry about it,” says Okon, who now lives in Westmont.
“We’re trying to spread good things, nothing bad, so it’s good for the kids and it’s good for the parents.”
Forty Piece Choir’s music was inspirational enough for Quest Management’s Fabian Guerra, who is the personal manager of the group.
Okon says the advantage of having Guerra in the band’s corner is the members are free to concentrate on their creative vision instead of worrying about the business end of things.
“We have many singers. We do a lot of harmonies with the singing. We’re all over with style,” he says.
“We don’t really have a set style at least on this new album. It’s not straight up rock’n’roll. It’s art rock, but there’s a lot going on. What separates us from everyone else is we’re trying to do something positive, too.”
The album that Okon is referring to is Forty Piece Choir’s latest release, “ Face Your Fear,” which was recorded at Blue Room Studio in Chicago and the Thornton home of Ryan DeYoung, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for local band Wolcott.
The full-length release – which was mixed by Homewood resident Brian Deck at Engine Studios in Chicago and mastered by Dan Stout at Colossal Mastering in Chicago – has also received key airplay on WXRT’s Local Capsule and Q101’s Local 101 segments.
And “Face Your Fear” will be played live in its entirety during the band’s compact disc release party this weekend at the Metro in Chicago.
“We’re happy to do (the party) there. That’s our favorite place to play,” he says.
“We’re going to play the entire album from start to finish in order of the way the album was made, and then we’re going to hopefully play a few more songs.”
Okon says he is looking forward to Sunday’s gig and sharing the music with others.
“We love all the people that do come out, and hopefully they’ll come out to this show. And whoever doesn’t come out, we still love you,” he says.
“We love everyone. We’re friends with everyone, and hopefully we can make new friends.”
Okon says Forty Piece Choir has benefited from befriending local bands and others whom the band has played shows with or encountered online through www.fortypiecechoir.com.
“We’re all sort of linked up together, and that’s helping. When I go to our website, I always go to someone else’s,” he says.
“I think it just brings more awareness, maybe not to someone that doesn’t know us at all but just some of the local bands get familiar with who we are and they come to shows.”
And at the end of those shows, the members of Forty Piece Choir seem to be at peace with themselves.
“I love playing the songs, and I love being with the people of the band. They’re like my brothers and sister. They’re like my family too, and we all are part of each other,” Okon says.
“I hope we can continue getting along with each other and just keep creating art.”
Illinois Entertainer (Magazine): "Studiophile" [2001]
At Blueroom Studio in Chicago, proprietor Edgars Legzdins finished tracking Fory Piece Choir’s second album, Face Your Fear. The album is being co-produced by Legzdins and FPC, mixed by Brian Deck at Engine/Clava Studios and mastered by Dan Stout at Colossal Mastering.
Illinois Entertainer (Magazine): "Around Hear" by T. F. [December 2000]
Forty Piece Choir plays vintage psychedelic rock with spiritual overtones on their Salud CD. The band, which actually, boasts seven members, successfully evokes Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd on the catchy pop of “Snail On A Star” and “Cowboy Song.” The sound and message get a little murky on the slower tracks, but Salud is consistently engaging.
Chicago-Music-Scene.com (Website): "Forty Piece Choir at The Metro – 10/20/00" by Eric J. Olsen [2000]
When you see the seven members of Forty Piece Choir hit the stage, you’re not sure what to expect from such an eclectic group of individuals. Then they start playing and they immediately merge into Forty Piece Choir. You almost forget that it’s seven people. Because Dana (vocals and guitars), Edgars (vocals, guitar, harmonica, moog, etc.), Kelly (vocals, keyboards, bells, and tambourine), Ed (keyboards, vocals, banjo), Smu (bass), Tim (drums), and Dan (guitars) get together and combine their individual influences, they create a new sound that’s all their own.
Some times ethereal, some times rocking, but always a sonic treat. Even though there’s not a lot of motion on stage, the energy that flows from the stage is almost enough to knock you down, luckily their uplifting music keeps you steady. Forty Piece Choir is the kind of band that demands your attention without your knowing it. Through their spellbinding music you’re left captured by their performance.
Forty Piece Choir is truly an ensemble. Every member does their part to provide the audience with a great performance. Their inspired vocal harmonies transcend the limits of the individuals, proving that the total is greater than the sum of the parts. When they balance that out with notable music, Forty Piece Choir gives the audience a memorable performance.
Every time you go to a show, you want to be entertained. Forty Piece Choir not only entertains the audience, they captivate them. With the music swirling around and the energy washing them over them, the audience is truly in the grip of Forty Piece Choir. And they don’t let go until after the show has ended. A band whose quiet power on stage just reels you into the world of their unique music.
UR Chicago (Newspaper): "Surround Sounds" [October/November 2000]
One guy who has been anything but dormant in the last year is Fabian Guerra of Quest Management. Quest, the company that Guerra started a year ago to promote and manage local bands such as Troy and Quasar Wut Wut, has flourished with its diverse roster. In celebration of their first anniversary, 40 Piece Choir, one of Quest’s most successful acts, will be playing an all ages show at the Metro on Oct. 20. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Listen.com (Website): "Forty Piece Choir – MP3s & More – Artist Review" by Chad D. [2000]
Chicago’s Forty Piece Choir occasionally slip into the psychedelic deep end of Mercury Rev, but prefer the warmer shallow waters of Indie Rock. Inspired by mystical themes, their lyrics are often as surreal as their keyboard effects and open guitar tuning. Required listening for your next reading of Alice in Wonderland.
UR Chicago (Newspaper): "Surround Sounds / Local Motions" [August/September 2000]
Ever wondered how many egos can co-exist musically on one stage? 40 Piece Choir found out for themselves when they invaded the Double Door Friday, July 28. While the 7 member juggernaut may come up well short of living up to its moniker, they fulfilled the expectations of the packed house with their tripped out bliss combining the traditional rock lineup with layers of vocals and everything from organs to banjos to xylophone. This is a band that has never heard an effects pedal it didn’t like, but somehow makes it all work. Don’t fret if you missed out this time around, however, because tapes were rolling and the band expects to release several of the songs as an EP late this fall, with a new studio album to follow soon. For now check out their first LP, Salud (featuring fewer members but no less intriguing).
The Times (Newspaper): "Local Scene-Sunshine fest brings top acts" by Tom Lounges [June 9, 2000]
The eight annual “Sunshine Food & Music Festival” presented by local promoter Omar Farag and conducted every summer at Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point is without a doubt one of the highlights of the area’s summer music scene.
This year’s program will take place June 24 and boasts one of the best line-ups ever. The Bo Deans and Dave Mason (ex-Traffic) will headline in the evening, after a wealth of local talent warms things up beginning at noon.
Local artists include Eric Lambert & the Laughing Gnomes, Satya Graha, Grey Eye Glances and Forty-Piece Choir. An all-day ticket costs $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show.
Making it even easier to cut loose for tickets, is knowing that $2 per ticket will be donated to The Children’s Miracle Network. Advance tickets are available at Ticketmaster.
NOW - Inside Toronto Every Thursday (Newspaper): "Forty Piece Choir Band Bio" [June 8-14, 2000]
In just over a year together, this sextet has released one CD, Salud, and written another. The use of vintage keyboards and intricate vocal harmonies gives their soulful songs real character.
Chicago-Music-Scene.com (Website): "Forty Piece Choir - Salud Review" by Eric J. Olsen [2000]
The Facts: Forty Piece Choir's "Salud" is the sort of album that you put on and then just relax. Each song has a hauntingly beautiful quality that makes the world drift away. While at the same time, there's enough of a rock edge to them that the listener's attention never wanes.
Since this album was released, Forty Piece Choir has continued to evolve, as well as having some line-up changes. Tim has replaced Chase on the drums, they've lost the vocals of Zoe Ocean, but added Ed on keyboards, vocals, and the banjo, as well as added vocal, bells, and tambourine to Kelly's duties. The vocal harmonies on "Salud" are excellent, but that's one of the big areas of change in the band.
Forty Piece Choir does a tremendous job of combining the disparate influences of the individual members into cohesive songs that stand on their own, away from genre lines. The songs touch on a lot of different genres (from rock to pop to country-esque to psychedelia), all the while retaining a feel that is all Forty Piece Choir. They lean towards the abstruse when it comes to lyrics. At times the lyrics are lost in a tangled harmonious mumble. Oddly enough that doesn't detract from the album in the least and in fact seems to add to the mood inherent on the tracks. The lyrics are more about poetic imagery and allowing the listener to decide what they mean, rather than trying to beat the listener over the head with a message.
The sound of the album is phenomenal. They delicately balance the various instruments and vocal harmonies to maintain that moody, otherworldly feel on the songs. Everything comes together beautifully without anything being overpowering. When you add it all up, "Salud" is an album that never strays too far from the CD player.
Nutshell Review: An ethereal album that pleases the ear and soothes the soul.
Some times ethereal, some times rocking, but always a sonic treat. Even though there’s not a lot of motion on stage, the energy that flows from the stage is almost enough to knock you down, luckily their uplifting music keeps you steady. Forty Piece Choir is the kind of band that demands your attention without your knowing it. Through their spellbinding music you’re left captured by their performance.
Forty Piece Choir is truly an ensemble. Every member does their part to provide the audience with a great performance. Their inspired vocal harmonies transcend the limits of the individuals, proving that the total is greater than the sum of the parts. When they balance that out with notable music, Forty Piece Choir gives the audience a memorable performance.
Every time you go to a show, you want to be entertained. Forty Piece Choir not only entertains the audience, they captivate them. With the music swirling around and the energy washing them over them, the audience is truly in the grip of Forty Piece Choir. And they don’t let go until after the show has ended. A band whose quiet power o
Chicago Sun-Times (Newspaper): "Local Sampler: New Sounds Around Town" by Jim Derogatis [May 26, 2000]
Aside from the fact that its members can’t count – there are but six of them – this home recorded debut is a smart and sophisticated effort with 10 lilting, atmospheric songs full of sly melodies and enigmatic imagery (favorite song title: The Amish Have Found God)
MP3 Reviews.com (Webzine): "Forty Piece Choir: Snail on a star, Evan, Cowboy Song" by Jim [2000]
From the opening jangle-pop guitar of Snail on a star, I was hooked. In comes comes a smooth flowing bass that would make your mom’s foot start tapping. With steady beat the Forty Piece Choir brings it all together to form a sweet, almost beatlesque smart sounding pop rock tune. The vocals on all the songs are delivered in a dreamy Nick Drake fashion, with just the right back up touches where they are needed.
Evan shows a slightly darker side of the band. The vocals are drenched in reverb, sounding like they are coming from a mile away. With an eerie guitar holding it all together, the drums, the keyboards, and even flute are allowed to explore their own little worlds. This song is reminiscent of early Ride and Jesus and Mary Chain.
These guys just keep getting better and better! Take everything I said above, and add a slide guitar and a bluesy harmonica, and you have the Cowboy Song. This is everything I wanted to sound like when I first picked up a guitar, somehow I got sidetracked along the way, but the Forty Piece Choir keeps it strong. They are incredible musicians who all come together to play amazing music for you! These guys, and gals, come highly recommended from all of us a mp3reviews.com.
Home Pride Productions (Webzine): “Save the Earth 2000” Benefit Concert Announced" [April 10, 2000]
Forty Piece Choir – This seven-piece band puts on a striking live show which, again, has already packed the Double Door on its own merits. They have also earned airplay on Richard Milne’s WXRT-FM program, as well as on Q101-FM and WLUW.
Home Pride Productions (Webzine): "Music Review: Salud – Forty Piece Choir (independent)" [1999]
The seven members of Forty Piece Choir live in a world where music and life, fate and karma are all beautifully intertwined. The story their press kits weaves is: After Dana Okon’s (FPC singer/guitarist) house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, he and his very pregnant wife moved into a drafty house were they eventually recorded their enchanting debut LP, “Salud,” making do with less-than-industry-standard funds and resources. Shortly thereafter, their daughter (Zoe Ocean) was born, her first cries, in fact, being immortalized on the FPC recording of the song “Evan.” All this hippie feel-good vibe would be only so much positioning if it didn’t find its way into the grooves. But it does. In spades.
Musically, Forty Piece Choir first sets the listener up with a trippy, hypnotic groove, reminding me most of Pink Floyd. Then all of a sudden they shift gears into some unexpected chord sequence, taking the song to a completely different place. Okon’s voice is almost always enhanced by some electronic effect, rendering it as another melodic instrument in the mix. They augment traditional guitar/bass/drums rock instrumentation with Moog, flute, harmonica (Edgars Legzdins), other keyboards (Kelly Kruse and Ed Anderson) and banjo (Anderson). Makes for a pretty interesting listen.
This Choir writes and sings songs with a decidedly uplifting, life-affirming message. In “Snail on a Star,” they testify “…its like giving birth on new years day/its like the love within your heart and Jesus Christ is living in me.” In “Evan,” Okon sings “…you enter the sphere to the changes around you,” as little Zoe Ocean’s vovalizations echo in, as if from outer space.
My favorite song is “There’s a Place.” Okon joyously declares, “…I come to find out, in my life…love is sacred…live is EV-‘RY-THING…” and then the electric guitars drive the message home with fire. Jesus! It's for moments like this that I listen to music in the first place.
Forty Piece Choir’s live show is equally impressive, replete with layered vocals and multiple vintage keyboards in addition to the instruments mentioned above.
The Beat (Magazine): “Celebrate Local Music Fest ’98: 40-Piece Choir” by Ernie Thomas [July 1998]
The 40-Piece Choir is in reality a quintet of talented young people who embrace a collective penchant for a pervasive pop hook and melodies that linger in one’s brain like the haze of a good wine.
Floating adrift in the South Suburbs of Chicago these five people share a musical vision that runs much deeper than much of the music itself. As so much of today’s music lacks originality and direction, the 40-Piece Choir is deftly traveling the depths of their inner space, orbiting with a rocket like devotion to in a quest for identity and emotion. With a heartfelt desire and an innocence like flower children of a lost generation, the Choirboys and Choirgirls find themselves driven by simple pop melodies of lustrous psychedelic proportions.
Armed with only honesty and desire, the Choir carefully takes its new found place in today’s massive local musical scene. As they join in unison to pluck a string, hit a drum or release a lilting vocal burst, these five cosmic souls strive to share more than just their music, more than just a simple song. Through the sounds they collectively create – Dan Dominiak (lead guitar/vocals); Dana Okon (lead vocals/guitar); Kelly Kruse (vocals); Mike Boyle (bass); and Eric Hofmeister (drums) – make an effort to bear the kind of heart, soul, peace, and love that today’s music unfortunately seems to lack.