Vernian Process is an American band formed in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in 2003. Taking its name from the works of 19th century author Jules Verne, Vernian Process is a band that creates music themed around Victorian

scientific romance Scientific romance is an archaic, mainly British term for the genre of fiction now commonly known as science fiction. The term originated in the 1850s to describe both fiction and elements of scientific writing, but it has since come to refer to ...

and its modern counterpart steampunk. Their sound is a fusion of modern and old-world styles including gothic-rock darkwave,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

, neoclassical,

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

, and other related genres. The band consists of vocalist Joshua A. Pfeiffer, and multi-instrumentalists Martín Irigoyen, Steven Farrell, and Vincent Van Veen.

Career

Pfeiffer began working on music under the name Vernian Process in the winter of 2003. He released a number of downloadable albums over the next 4 years, including 2004's ''Discovery'' and 2006's ''The Forgotten Age'', before being approached by Irigoyen about joining forces to work on '' Behold the Machine''. From that point forward, Vernian Process evolved beyond a solo project. Throughout 2009, as work on the album progressed, Vernian Process sought out additional members in order to play shows to support the upcoming release of ''Behold the Machine'', as well as record new material for future albums. ''Behold the Machine'' was released on October 1, 2010. On November 11, 2010, they announced that their next album would be titled ''The Consequences Of Time Travel''. On June 27, 2011, Vernian Process released the first single from the new album, entitled "Something Wicked (That Way Went)." The song was inspired by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

's similarly titled dark fantasy novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. The song integrates

tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

and circus music styles with progressive rock and features a sampled

calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muse ...

. It features Kyle Thomas and Unwoman as guest musicians. On October 31, 2011, they released a special remix of "Behold the Machine" entitled "Behold the Machine (Factory Floor Mix)." The remix incorporates EBM and industrial influences. In October 2014, bassist Vincent Van Veen joined the project.

Press

Vernian Process has appeared in articles in media such as the UK publication '' Bizarre Magazine'', and MTV during their coverage of the Steampunk genre.

Band members

* Joshua A. Pfeiffer - Vocals, songwriting * Martín Irigoyen - Guitars, songwriting, various instruments, SFX * Brian Figueroa - Guitars, keyboards * Vincent Van Veen - Bass * Steven Farrell - Keyboards, percussion

Live appearances

Live, Vernian Process is often joined by cellist Erica Mulkey, aka Unwoman. Vernian Process has appeared at events performing with

Attrition Attrition may refer to *Attrition warfare, the military strategy of wearing down the enemy by continual losses in personnel and material **War of Attrition, fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970 **War of attrition (game), a model of agg ...

, Skinny Puppy,

Front Line Assembly Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The band's members ...

, and

Faith and the Muse Faith and the Muse is an American rock band composed of Monica Richards and William Faith. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk music to dark wave, drawing on many sources and influences, notably Dead Can Dance. Richards is the prima ...

, Ravenwood Festival in Arkansas, and the Eccentrik Music Festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2008. In 2009 they appeared at a number of festivals, notably Steamcon in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, Eccentrik Festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and The Endless Night Festival in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. In 2011, they performed across the West Coast at events such as Gaslight Gathering in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

; Maker Faire in San Mateo, California; and the Edwardian Ball in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. In 2012 they appeared alongside

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

at the inaugural 'Steamstock' festival at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, California.

Other projects

Shades of Violet

As of 2008, Joshua, Martin, and Allison Curval have begun working together on the musical score for the steampunk themed videogame; "Shades of Violet: Song of the Clockwork Princess" for Imagineer Games.

Dirigible Days

In 2012, Vernian Process was commissioned to write the theme song for the newly released steampunk web series Dirigible Days. The resulting instrumental track, "New Horizons", was released as a single on August 13, 2012. The edited version for the show's opening also features narration by

Anthony Daniels Anthony Daniels ( ; born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and mime artist, best known for playing in 10 '' Star Wars'' films. He is the only actor to have either appeared in or been involved with all theatrical films in the series, and ...

, most famous for his work as the voice of C-3PO in the Star Wars film series.

The Getty

In February 2014, The

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California launched a video they created with Vernian Process to promote their Victorian photography exhibition. It shows a trip to The Getty as a time traveling experience.

Profondo Delle Tenebre

In mid-2014, frontman Joshua Pfeiffer formed Profondo Delle Tenebre, a

synthwave Synthwave (also called outrun, retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn fr ...

/ Italo-Disco project inspired by the Italian

Giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

horror genre. He was soon joined by Half Rats of fellow Steampunk band Ague, and Vernian Process keyboardist Steven Farrell, as well as Vernian Process bandmate Martin Irigoyen. Operating under the pseudonyms Dario Bava, Mario Argento (after filmmakers

Mario Bava Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the M ...

and Dario Argento) and "The Shape", the first full-length album ''Esoterica'' was released in October 2015. Profondo Delle Tenebre has also remixed tracks for San Francisco-based darkwave band Roadside Memorial and horror synth artist Nightcrawler.

Discography

Albums

* ''The Symphonic Collection'' (2007) * ''The Cries of a Planet: A Tribute to Final Fantasy VII'' (2009) * ''Sonic Symphony: An Orchestral Tribute to the Sega 16-Bit Games'' (2010) * ''A Cursed Legacy: An Orchestral Tribute to the Music of Castlevania'' (2013) * ''Beyond the End of Time: An Orchestral Tribute to Chrono Trigger'' (2013) * ''Sonic Symphony: 25th Anniversary Remix'' (2016) (Credited to "Josh of Vernian Process") * ''Castlevania: The Eternal Legacy (Vol. 1) 1986-1996'' (2017) * ''Sonic Symphony 2.0'' (2018) * ''The Consequences of Time Travel'' (TBA)

Singles

* ''Something Wicked (That Way Went)'' (2011) * ''New Horizons (Dirigible Days Theme)'' (2012) * ''ELEgy'' (2013) * ''Fractured Memories (In the Looking Glass)'' (2016) * ''La Solitude'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Steam Age Symphony'' (2003) * ''Revolution'' (2005)

Compilations

* ''Catching Up With Vernian Process'' (2006) * ''Catalysts'' (2006) - A Collection of cover versions * ''Discovery of The Forgotten Age'' (2020) - A Collection of remastered early songs * ''Before the Machine'' (2020) - A Collection of remastered early songs

References

External links

Vernian Process Official Site

Interview with Dieselpunks.org
{{Authority control American gothic rock groups Dark cabaret musicians Musical groups from San Francisco Steampunk music