OUR STORY
Twelve Chimes is a horror/suspense/mystery anthology, audio drama podcast
We hope you've had a chance to listen to all the available episodes of the show! What do you think? If you like the show, 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 this episode:
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 cover art for all five episodes of season 1.
Original sketch for S1E2 coverart by Jeff Heermann
He's also created the striking art/poster for the season 2 live finale! 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!
And now the ever-growing cast gets together every month to "play radio." 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 wrapped up season 1 with episode 5, "Chance Encounter," which was recorded at Stookey's Club Moderne with musicians Randy Odell and Kurt Ribak giving the episode a jazzy, beatnik vibe. Stookey's is an absolutely beautiful bar and the crowd was fantastic and loud! Pictured below (from left to right) are Audra, Aimee, Scott, Randy, Kurt, and Brett.
Stookey's Club Moderne, Feb 2017, recording S1E5
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. Pictured below are (left to right) Beth, Aaron, Tom, Aimee, and Kurt (you can almost see Randy behind the drum kit!).
Bird & Beckett Books and Records, May 2017
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.
Season 2 saw more writers jump 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 Beth wrote the gruesome "A Modern Convenience."
Another highlight of season 2 is new art! Kirsten Tradowsky started things off with beautiful watercolors for episodes 1 & 2, Arthur Kay supplied an amazing tableau, also in watercolor, for episodes 4 & 8, Josh supplied an image for episode 5 (the episode he wrote), Antonio Toro created a disturbing collage for episode 6, and Jeff Heermann returned to create art for the season 2 finale, episode 9, "The Foley Artist's Folly."
The next episode is the hard hitting “Grand Guignol noir” written by the founder of the Noir Film Foundation and host of the Noir City Film Festivals, the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, with his play “A Perfectly Obvious Explanation”!
And for the 2019 holidays, the longest episode yet, “The Turn of the Thumbscrew”!
That's about it for now. We 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 us a line at twelvechimesradio@gmail.com and THANKS for listening!