OUR STORY
Twelve Chimes is a horror, suspense, mystery
audio drama anthology
We hope you've had a chance to listen to all the available plays / stories! What do you think? It would be amazing to hear from you--please leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts or drop us a line!
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS...
Brett & Aimee at Stookey's Club Modern, Oct 30, 2016
Above is a photo of Brett Stillo and Aimee Pavy, at Stookey's Club Moderne on Bush and Taylor Streets in San Francisco on the day before Halloween, about to perform the radio play Poltergeist from the old time radio show Lights Out.
This was the start of it all. Aimee, the creator / producer / director / editor of Twelve Chimes, loved old time radio, but didn't yet know of Wyllis Cooper and Arch Oboler's show Lights Out until Brett set her on the path.
This live performance was a huge inspiration to create her own radio show -- within ten weeks, she'd written five radio plays, rallied together a willing and awesome cast, and rounded up the necessary equipment. Throw some foam from Discount Fabrics on the walls of the TV room, a few rugs on the floor, a blanket over the furniture, and voila, the Twelve Chimes recording studio is born!
Hear Aimee and Brett discuss old time radio and the show Lights Out in “Twelve Times Chat: Our Inspiration, “Lights Out”:
One evening, a few months into writing scripts and preparing to record the first Twelve Chimes script, there was a conversation over cocktails at Stookey's, between Aimee and then-stranger Michael Dern, that soon resulted in the amazing show logo. Yay! Nice work Michael!!
And in another lucky break for the show, uber-talented artist Jeff Heermann agreed to create the look & feel for the show art as well as illustrations for stories 1, 2, 4-6.
Original sketch for story 2 coverart by Jeff Heermann
He's also created the striking art/poster you see below for story 15! Thank you Jeff!!
And then there was the last piece of the show puzzle: the voice, the host of Twelve Chimes.
Brett introduced Aimee to his co-host of the podcasts Five Minutes of Trouble and, most recently, Five Minutes of Banzai, Josh Horowitz. Upon hearing him speak, it was clear that he was the voice!
If you thought being the "voice" was a lonely existence, think again!
Although he's located far away in sunny Los Angeles, he has a home studio -- brilliant!!
Another huge influence and motivation for Aimee was her turn as assistant rehearsal stage manager of the last (*sob*) Thrillpeddlers' show -- a fantastic and horrific voyage to the land of Grand Guignol -- "I feel incredibly privileged to have had a chance to work with Russell Blackwood and the whole crazy crew. 💔 There I met so many amazing people like Crystal Why and Cameron Eng...thanks guys for lending your honed Grand Guignol talents to the mic!"
Photography: David Allen | Poster design: Bill Selby
From Shocktoberfest 15 | Photography: David Allen
THE SHOW KICKS-OFF
The cast started out with a group of willing and enthusiastic friends: Brett Stillo and Josh Horowitz, Aaron Seymour, Beth Abdallah, Scott Louis, and Audra Wolfmann. Love to them all for jumping in with their fantastic voices, their take on characters, and their great feedback and support from the very beginning!
We love “playing radio” and creating plays for audio.
Don't forget to check out the whole gang on the Cast & Crew page!!
Aaron & Beth recording S2E6 written by Beth
Recording S1E4: Beth, Cameron Eng, Scott, Crystal Why
Aimee and the Twelve Chimes gang recorded a few episodes LIVE: E6 “Chance Encounter,” E15 “The Foley Artist’s Folly,” and E17 “Old-Time Radio LIVE!” recorded at Stookey's Club Moderne with musicians Randy Odell and Kurt Ribak giving the episode a jazzy, beatnik vibe!
Stookey's Club Moderne, Feb 2017, L-R: Audra, Aimee, Scott, Randy, Kurt, and Brett recording E6
You'll often see a name, Dennis Hearne, in the bottom left corner of many photos of Twelve Chimes events, cast & crew. Any particularly amazing photo is most likely Dennis' work. He has been incredibly generous with his time and talent!
Soon after that, the Twelve Chimes gang got a chance to do another live show with the Kurt Ribak Trio (Kurt Ribak, Randy Odell, and Tom Griesser) at Bird & Beckett Books and Records -- a cosy, amazing venue, it's a bookstore after all! Please check out their calendar.
Bird & Beckett Books and Records, May 2017, L-R: Beth, Aaron, Tom, Aimee, and Kurt (you can almost see Randy behind the drum kit!)
In addition to more music from the Kurt Ribak Trio in season 2, Twelve Chimes has featured music from the spooky Jill Tracy! Her upcoming album was recorded in the famously paranormal town of Lily Dale--The Secret Music of Lily Dale.
And soon guest writers jumped into the fray! Brett penned the unsettling episodes "Superstitions" and "The Call of the Dead," Josh wrote the tragic and dramatic "Nutmeg" and "Slowdown," and the fun “Spooky,” Beth wrote the gruesome "A Modern Convenience,” Izzy Penston wrote the dark “Midnight Delinquents,” and TCM’s Noir Alley host Eddie Muller wrote “A Perfectly Obvious Explanation” originally produced for the Shocktoberfest stage!
Another highlight is the art: artist Jeff Herrmann started things off with the overall look & feel for Twelve Chimes episode art, plus the amazing illustrations for stories 1, 2, 4-6, and 15; fine art painter Kirsten Tradowsky contributed her talents with beautiful watercolors for episodes 7&8; Arthur Kay supplied an amazing tableau, also in watercolor, for episode 10; Clyde J. Kell jumped in with his eerie painting for E18; I sourced (with permission) an amazing image on Deviant Art by artist Gary Davis; Rowan Barbeau created their fantastically perfect illustration for E21; and finally photographers Peter Wiberg, StockSnap, Bess Hamiti lent their work for episode coverart!
I hope you have a chance to listen to all the episodes, tell your friends, add a review to iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts, and drop me a line at twelvechimesradio@gmail.com and THANKS for listening!