Forty Piece Choir profile picture

Forty Piece Choir

A DREAM TO BE..ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY

About Me


On their ten year journey through the Chicago music scene, Forty Piece Choir continues to create multifarious music with unbridled spirit. By embracing the charisma of its members, they merge Rock-N-Roll, Indie, Psychedelic, Blues, Pop, Country, Rockabilly, and Folk genres to capture harmonious arrangements of dynamic brilliance. The heart of Forty Piece Choir is its undaunted will to create artistic music, often drawing comparisons to influences that include the Beatles, Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators, Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, and Jesus and Mary Chain. Lyrically optimistic, their words transcend the philosophy of life, love, family, faith, hope, happiness, and even compassion for death.

With a performance at House of Blues, Forty Piece Choir has released their fourth full length compact disc “ The Profound Nature of Life ” abroad on its Cooked County Records imprint. Exclusively available through CD Baby, the new record was recorded by the band and mixed/mastered by Mike Hagler of King Size Sound Labs (Wilco, OK Go, Neko Case, The Reputation). Reverberating 50’s Rock-N-Roll artists such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, Forty Piece Choir crafts their rawest and most upbeat collection of compositions while retaining their eclectic array of musical inspirations.

In 1997 Forty Piece Choir formed when Dana Okon and Dan Dominiak met in the south side coffee house folk music circuit. With the addition of rhythm section Ryan DeYoung and Mike Boyle of local pop punk favorites Winepress; Kelly Kruse soon brought her angelic voice and melodic keyboards to the fold. The band aspired to create a new blend of artistic music that advocated optimism and positive ideals.

Bringing in Chuck “Shaft” Gonwa on bass and Eric Hofmeister on the drums by 1998, home recording sessions began with up and coming producer/engineer Edgars Legzdins (Plane, Blue Room Studio) whom would soon join the ranks of Forty Piece Choir. In 1999 the sextet released their debut full length compact disc Salud on Cooked County Records, a fictitious record label created by member Dana Okon for his solo output. Home Pride Productions states, “ Forty Piece Choir lives in a world where music and life, fate and karma are all beautifully intertwined. All of 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. ” Grabbing the ear of Chicago Q101 disc jockey James VanOsdal in 2000, the debut’s opening track Snail On A Star was included alongside Lucky Boys Confusion, Sister Machine Gun, and the J. Davis Trio on the “Local 101 ~ Volume 2” compilation.

By 2000 Forty Piece Choir grew into a septet including Timothy “Smu” McCarthy on bass and current members of The 1900’s Tim Minnick on drums and Ed Anderson on multiple instrumentation. Meticulously recorded by Legzdins, their sophomore full length Face Your Fear was released on subsidiary Cooked County Records label Blue Room Studio in 2002. Mixed by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse, Tortoise) at Engine Music Studios, the albums endowments were charmingly brought to life through Deck’s interpretation. Patrick Conlan of Illinois Entertainer shares these words on Face Your Fear . “ Continuing their successful harvesting from a broad spectrum of influences and styles, Forty Piece Choir sculpts 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 .”

Tennessee , the third full length Cooked County Records release from 2003, saw the group maturing as a quintet. Recorded by Groovemaster Studio producer/engineer John Doyle (Plain White T’s, Kill Hannah, Disturbed), the band solidified its home recording techniques with Doyle’s keen ear. Roots Music Report declares, “ 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 caged 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. ”

Forty Piece Choir has shared the stage with Stars, Gogol Bordello, Jackson Browne, Pat MacDonald, Waco Brothers, Robbie Fulks, Essex Green, Baldwin Brothers, Leona Naess, Sleeping At Last, Josh Rouse, Umphrey’s McGee, Bo Deans, Dave Mason, Ekoostik Hookah, and an endless array of talented artists. While frequenting the Chicago club scene, Forty Piece Choir has appeared at House of Blues, Metro, Double Door, Schubas, Empty Bottle, Abbey Pub, Hideout, Park West, and everywhere in between. Festivals, including Toronto’s North by Northeast Music Festival and Sturgeon Bay’s Steel Bridge Song Fest, have received the energy of Forty Piece Choir’s music favorably. “ It’s an energy that makes for a good live show, says Hostage Radio program director Billy Giannopoulos. “They’re a band that a lot of Chicago acts should look up to,” he says. “There have been a lot of changes in the band but they keep coming back with more and more powerful songs and records. ”


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/4/2006
Band Website: fortypiecechoir.com
Band Members: Dana Okon = vox, guitar
Danny Dominiak = vox, guitar
Ryan DeYoung = drums
Timothy " Smu " McCarthy = bass
Ben Mollin = saxophone
Jason Slade = keyboards

extended family/time served:

Bass: Mike Boyle, Chuck " Shaft " Gonwa
Drums: Tim " Bakasom " Minnick, Eric " Hoffy " Hofmeister, John " Dole Doyle
Keys & Vox: Kelly Kruse
Guitar, Keys, & Vox: Edgars Legzdins, Eddie " Spaghetti " Anderson
Saxaphone: Jimmy " Jazz " Vonesh

Influences:

A Tribe Called Quest, A-Ha, Ace Frehley, Agent Orange, Alice Cooper, Allman Brothers, American Analog Set, Andrew Bird, Angola, Animals, Aretha Franklin, Ash Ra Temple, Bad Brains, Bananasac, Band of Gypsy's, Bar-Kays, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, Beatles, Beck, Belle & Sebastian, Big Hat, Black Sabbath, Blues Brothers, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Booker T and the MG's, Brant Bjork, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Bright Eyes, Buddy Holly, Buena Vista Social Club, Built To Spill, Byrds, Califone, Calumet, Candlemass, Carl Perkins, Charlie Christianson, Cheap Trick, Chicago, Chuck Berry, Cocteau Twins, Cream, Cure, De La Soul, Dead Can Dance, Depeche Mode, Doors, Echo & the Bunnymen, Edie Brickell, Einsturzende Neubauten, Elliot Smith, Entombed, Elvis Presley, Eugenius, Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Field Mice, Flaming Lips, Fleetwood Mac, Four Tops, Free, George Harrison, Gowhead, Grateful Dead, Guns & Roses, Hank Williams, Hellacopters, Hope Sandoval, Howlin' Wolf, I Decline, Iron & Wine, Jackson Browne, Jackson 5, James, James Brown, Janes Addiction, Jawbreaker, Jeff Buckley, Tim Buckley, Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jesus and Mary Chain, Jimi Hendrix Experience, John Coltrane, John Lee Hooker, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, Journey, July, Junior Wells, King Crimson, Kinks, KISS, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Kyuss, Led Zeppelin, Leonard Cohen, Lightnin' Hopkins, Little Richard, Little Walter, LL Cool J, Lou Reed, Lush, Magic Sam, Magnetic Fields, Mark Lanegan, Material Issue, Mazzy Star, MC5, Mekong Delta, Melvins, Mercyful Fate, Merle Haggard, Michael Jackson, Midstates, Miles Davis, Mojave 3, M.O.P., Muddy Waters, My Bloody Valentine, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Neil Halsted, New Order, Nick Drake, Nicolai Dunger, Nirvana, Nova Sonic Down Hyperspace, Novembers Doom, Oh My God, Otis Redding, Pat MacDonald, Patsy Cline, Peter Green, Phish, Pink Floyd, Planet Blue, Police, Poster Children, Pretenders, Primus, Prince, Psychedelic Furs, Public Enemy, Queen, Quilts, Radiohead, Ramones, Ravi Shankar, Red Dawg and the Apostles of Funk, Red Red Meat, Robert Johnson, Roky Erickson, Rolling Stones, Run DMC, Ryan Adams and Brian Adams, Sam & Dave, Sam Cooke, Sinead O'Connor, Slick Rick, Slowdive, Sly & the Family Stone, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonny Boy Williamson I & II, Soundtrack of Our Lives, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Spiritualized, Steepwater Band, Stereolab, Stone City Stragglers, Stone Roses, Stooges, Sundial, Sundays, Supergrass, Supremes, Syd Barrett, Temptations, Thin Lizzy, 13th Floor Elevators, This Mortal Coil, Thompson Twins, Timbuk 3, Tom Waits, Tomorrow, Tony Duggins, Tossers, Trouble, Turnerjoy, Tyrant's Reign, U2, UI, Uncle Tupelo, Unfortunaut, Velvert Turner Group, Velvet Underground, Voivod, Waterbogs, Waylon Jennings, Ween, Who, Wilco, Willie Nelson, Wilson Pickett, Wolcott, Yardbirds, Yes, Yo La Tengo, Znowhite, Zoetrope, Zombies, Zwan, 13th Floor Elevators, 1000 Vertical Feet, 1900's

Thanks to Chris for the making of this video highlighting the band from back in 2000!

Thanks to Michael Snyder, Joe Daley & the Ohio Center for Broadcasting Students for this footage from the Tennessee record release show back on March 5th, 2004!
Forty Piece Choir

Thanks to Nick Richards at Rule 42 Productions for the making this video for the song Orange from the band's latest full length record The Profound Nature of Life .

Sounds Like: Hope, Love, Faith, Dreams, Giving, Sacrifice, Belief, Flight, Poetry, Family, Music, Art, Choir, Vision, Peace, Grace, Endless Love...........................
Record Label: Cooked County Records
Type of Label: None

My Blog

FPC (Lyrics)

And when the Magic's not on time. And when the season arrives. i will laaayyyayayyy my soul down to you, to let you you know that were alive, look at the magic that we made, and on the way we grew, we...
Posted by Forty Piece Choir on Fri, 11 May 2007 01:14:00 PST