Allie Jorgen was sitting in a club when what can only be described as a moment of Kismet occurred. “This particular situation came together in 2010, the drummer and I were at a club watching a band and the keyboard player pulled out some of his originals. They were so different and so unusual, very mystical; and I thought my Gothic writing style, my vocals and melodies would fit his writing style perfectly, so after their show we talked to him to find out where he was at and told him we were interested in starting a Gothic rock band. He said it was really interesting because he had just been thinking along the same lines. Le Reverie was actually born that same night, we came together and wrote our first couple songs. We actually used the same bass player and same guitar player and the band went on from there”.
With a talented group of band members, Le Reverie is able to do what very few other groups have done—-combine different genres of music together and have it sound like they were meant to work together. Elements of heavy metal, progressive rock, Gothic rock and even classical symphonic touches blend seamlessly into a unique style. So unique, in fact, that one of their first songs opened a lot of doors. She said, “The first song that we wrote was called ‘Hold Me Down’ and it was written to a lot of people that thought we shouldn’t have done a Gothic rock band and said ‘don’t you want to do a different style of music?’ We said, ‘No, we really want to do the Gothic rock sort of imagery, the Celtic matter and so we are going to do that and nothing is going to hold us down. So we wrote the song and sent it to Al Bowman who does the LA Music Awards just as a demo and forgot about it after a while. We got a call later, returned it and since we were looking for a producer at the time, asked him for suggestions. Al called us back and said he knew Ron Neveson, who has worked with the Who, Led Zeppelin, Heart and just about everybody else. He then told us, ‘your song was nominated for 2013 Breakout Single of the Year’. It was really amazing! So we went in the studio with Ron, and all we had was ‘Hold Me Down’.” Fortunately, Allie also had a song called ‘Ghost of You’, a ballad that worked perfectly to go with ‘Hold Me Down’.
The Gothic style of Le Reverie isn’t something that just happened. “I’m very much into the Gothic imagery, we love the French-Gothic architecture like Notre Dame and the gargoyles and everything surrounding that such as the history of French-Gothic Architecture, and the French accents and outfits when we first started”, Allie said”. “I still kind of do the outfits, the French corsets, but now the guys not so much, they do the long black coats. I guess we were sort of like French-gothic vampires. Some of the outfits now have moved a little more into progressive. The imagery, the candelabras, the candles are still very much part of what we do. And yes, the writing, there are so many topics open to Gothic and Metal, much more than many music types. When you go into the Gothic era, you can go into all kinds of interesting things. I’m very interested in mystical and magical, all kinds of topics and they all seem to fit into the Gothic/Metal imagery”.
With Halloween coming up soon, Allie mentioned that “Being in a Goth band is like Halloween every day of the year! People like to dress up in costumes, it brings out a different side of people that they really enjoy”. In fact, Le Reverie releasing a new single called ‘Hounds of Hell’ for Halloween. They are also part of a new movie, the gothic Horror feature Lake Eerie, with a fascinating story behind their role in it. Allie said, “The Lake Eerie story is really interesting. We played at an event for them in LA and we had our photographer who’s a good friend of ours shooting our live show that night and she happened to be involved with these people who were making this Gothic Horror film. They were trying to figure out what kind of music to use and she had just been given our CD, so she told them that they had to hear this song. She gave it to the producer and the director and they got in contact with our drummer who is also our manager and told him they were excited about it. Well, we never heard back from them. It was a couple months, we got really busy, forgot all about it, and then we got this call, ‘We heard this song, oh my gosh, we’ve got to have this song!’. The director said the lyrics to the song is what the movie is about, but it also talks about ‘Is this a dream? Or just reality?’, which is what starts the movie. He said it could have been written for the film and it was so fascinating that we were all on the same page just different parts of time. I wrote the song before I even met them, but when I met them, the song was perfect for the film. So that’s really exciting that they are using the song for their theme song. On the DVD with extra footage, they are going to use a couple more of our songs because they are Gothic songs. For the premiere, which is going to be in London in late October, it is going to be interesting to sit there and watch the movie and then hear the song come on, it’s going to be really exciting!”.
With their ‘Dark Symphony’ album really taking off, Allie talked about what’s coming up for Le Reverie. She explained that this coming weekend they are not just doing a concert, but a performance that is very personal to her. She said, “I’m doing the Rockers Against Cancer 3 Concert as a memorial to my mother and a couple more people; I’ve lost some very, very close people to me and its so awesome, I feel so honored to part of such an amazing, great event”. Her mother was a big part of Allie’s life. “It was just me and my mother, I really didn’t know my father. He left when I was young. My mother and I became like best friends throughout my whole life. About six years ago she came down with cancer and it’s interesting that it’s cancer we’re involved with now, because there are so many young kids and young people smoking cigarettes. In her day, they smoked as well and then later on in life they quit. But the problem that I found out is, even if they smoked a little bit, it stays in your body and even though she got cleaned out and watched out for the signs, it was lung cancer and it happened really quickly. It takes over really quickly and goes into every part of your body. It went into her brain as brain cancer, into her lungs, so fast and there was no way to stop it”. At this point, it was apparent that even years later, it is a hard thing for Allie to talk about. “Then she passed and I lost my best friend”.
One of the songs on “Dark Symphony” was influenced by an experience Allie had. “I have to say, since we are talking about the whole cancer thing, that I want to talk about ‘Hall of Mirrors’ and the words in that song, because a lot of people do not understand or know the meaning behind that song. It starts out, ‘Just looking down a hall of mirrors and your soul is looking back at you’ but the chorus, ‘I will be with you’, and I want to say this without getting too, too emotional, as my mother was laying on her bed in her last few moments she did not really recognize me any longer, I saw the fear in her eyes and I took her hand and I said, ‘don’t be afraid, I’ll be here’. And that is what the song is about. And then, actually, the very next night, after she passed, I had a dream, a vision that she looked at me and said, ‘don’t YOU be afraid, I will be with you’. So that song has a lot of meaning and it is especially centered around all we are talking about. That song is very special”.
The 3rd Annual Rockers Against Cancer Benefit Show will be held on Saturday night, October 18th, at Malone’s Bar and Grill in Santa Ana. Headliners include 70’s glam-rock band the ‘Sweet’, known for their hits ‘Ballroom Blitz’ and ‘Fox on the Run’, the Gary McGrath Project, feature a to-be-announced all-star lineup, as well as eight other live bands. The event is hosted by Rob Sherriff of Hollywood Sherriff Productions and Derek Madden of 95.5KLOS. Le Reverie is thrilled to be back at Malone’s. “Our year started off in January at Malone’s. Our first show was a NAMM show, where we were fortunate enough to open the show for Don Dokken, Vinny Appice, James Kottak and Uli John Roth. And then our last two shows, at the Grove of Anaheim and the Queen Mary’s Rock the Boat, were great and now we have come back full-circle to where we started the the year, at Malone’s, for Rockers Against Cancer 3. We’ve done a full circle and it’s pretty special for us. Obviously, this event is amazing, Rob Sherriff puts one on every year in honor of his brother that he lost to cancer and it gets better each year. As you know, it’s a great way to honor someone you’ve lost, with all these great bands. It’s such an honor to be part of it, it’s October 18th, on a Saturday night. It’ll be packed and it will be a great event and it will be good to be back on that stage”.
3rd Annual Rockers Against Cancer Benefit Show
Malone’s Bar and Grill
604 E. Dyer Road
Santa Ana 92705
www.malonesbarandgrill.com
