forever oeuvre

February 22, 2009

"I recently had the opportunity to hang out and jam with the most recent Fuel bassist, Ronny Paige, and I have to say he is one darn good musician! Just by talking to Ron I was able to tell that he knew what he was talking about when it came to songwriting, the music business, and performing. This kid is the real deal when it comes to musicians. So, anyway, Ronny is currently on hiatus vis-a-vis Fuel, but he did, however, start a new band with Rachelle Holscher and her brother/guitarist Jimi Holscher. The band is called Forever Oeuvre, and the unique thing about them is that Ronny isn’t the only rock star in the band. Their drummer is Breaking Benjamin’s drummer Chad Szeliga. Rounding out the line-up is keyboard player Ryan Sebastian. Forever Oeuvre does not currently have a bass player and are actively auditioning as we speak. Oh, by the way, Ronny isn’t playing bass in this project. He’s playing guitar.
After hearing much about Forever Oeuvre from my friend Lisa, who books at Dexter’s, I decided to give them a listen only to get a CD of the band’s 2008 EP from Ronny a couple of weeks later. Songs that really stood out for me is a song called “First Stone,” which can be heard on WDHA locally. I also couldn’t get the songs “Guilty” and “I Am” (which isn’t actually on the EP) out of my head. All of the songs were written and produced by Ronny and Kato Khandwala with lyrics and melodies written by Rachelle. Without blowing smoke up Ronny’s butt, the songs are so well written! The hooks are catchy and the choruses just really big, which are the main ingredients to writing amazing pop rock songs!
Forever Oeuvre—what does it mean? Well, “Forever” means without ever ending and “Oeuvre” means the sum of the life work of an artist, writer, or composer. It’s an interesting name for a band and they’re obviously creating quite a buzz within the industry, but it’s no wonder why. Just look who’s in the band! Forever Oeuvre recently made their big live debut at Dexter’s “Save The Rock” event a couple of weeks ago. To find out where they’re playing next or to give them a listen to hear just what I’m talking about, log onto myspace.com/foreveroeuvre."

ONLINE ARTICLE: http://www.theaquarian.com/aq/2009/02/22/north-jersey-notes-forever-oeuvre/ - by: Tim Louie

REVIEW

"Forever Ouevre is the brainchild of bass/lead guitar player Ronny Paige (Alston, Five.Bolt.Main, Rev Theory, and Fuel) and drummer Chad Szeliga (Breaking Benjamin) so you know the music is going to be tight on the band’s first EP. I thankfully got my hands on this release from Ron himself since I originally had a bootleg copy that had been circulating the Internet, which didn’t do the band justice at all!

The opening track “ First Stone” gives you a good feeling of what to expect from the band throughout. Hard hitting guitar riffs, captivating vocals by front woman Rachelle Holscher and must hear hooks and melodies that will make you listen over and over again.

Personally I wasn’t a fan of the slower songs on this EP such as “Wounded” and Simple Song”. They are good but as far as the raw emotion and power goes, they just don’t compare to “First Stone”, “Guilty”(My favorite song on the album) and Everything’s Perfect”. This is what I want to hear more of from these guys when their full length CD is released. For now this will definitely keep me occupied.

Fans of bands like Sevendust, Breaking Benjamin, Alter Bridge and Evanesence will love what they hear from Forever Oeuvre."

Tracklist
1. First Stone *
2. Guilty *
3. Wounded
4. Everythings Perfect *
5. Simple Song

* Highlights

ONLINE REVIEW: http://www.melodic.net/reviewsOne.asp?revnr=7374 - by: Troy Kramm

2/12/2009
A Buzz Is Building
Forever Oeuvre to play Valentine's Day Massacre show

It was a little less than two years ago when Ronny Paige was sitting around trying to figure out how he was going to keep the band Five Bolt Main together. The group was struggling and Paige knew deep down that it wasn’t going to work out, yet he was stressing out over the band’s future.

Despite his success with other bands — Rev Theory and a gig touring with Fuel that summer — Paige needed a push in a new direction. Rachelle Holscher provided just that.

“I was stressed beyond belief trying to hold something together that just wasn’t going to stay together,” Paige said of Five Bolt Main. “One day, Rachelle was looking at me racking my brain trying to figure out how to make things work, and she was like, ‘The answer is right in front of your face.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And she basically said, ‘Me, you idiot.’ But she didn’t say ‘idiot.’ She said, ‘Me, silly.’”

In a nutshell, that’s how Forever Oeuvre was formed. Now, the band is six musicians strong — including Holscher as the lead singer — and blazed its way to the top of the 97.9X Buzzcuts chart earlier this month. The group will headline a Valentine’s Day Massacre show at Nightcaps in Edwardsville on Saturday beginning at 7 p.m., a show that’s sponsored by electric city and diamond city.

Paige brings a wealth of experience to Forever Oeuvre, but it’s the drummer that draws the most attention in the 570. Breaking Benjamin’s Chad Szeliga agreed to lay down the drum tracks for the group’s EP, Unfinished. After spending time in the studio with the band, Szeliga liked what he heard and decided to become a full-time member.

“Chad basically fell in love with what we were doing and decided that he was going to stick with the band and see what we could get out of this,” Holscher said.

The group’s progressive rock sound has drawn attention around the area after 97.9X picked up the band and started airing their music on a regular basis. Only recently did Forever Oeuvre start playing live shows, but Saturday’s show promises to be a must-see event for fans in the area.

“It’s very intricate. We want to rock, but yet we’re trying to keep that kind of mainstream feel,” Holscher said of the band’s sound. “We’d like to appeal to as many audiences as possible.”

In addition to Holscher (lead vocals), Paige (lead guitar) and Szeliga (drums), the band includes Holscher’s brother Jimi (rhythm guitar), Ryan Sebastion (keys) and Aaron Bruch of Panacea (bass). The members come from different areas — Rachelle Holscher and Paige are from New Jersey, Szeliga and Bruch from Pennsylvania, and Sebastion and Jimi Holscher from Ohio — but they come together in northern New Jersey to record and rehearse.

The band has six songs on its MySpace page (www.myspace.com/foreveroeuvre) that feature heavy rock sounds that don’t quite tiptoe the line of heavy metal. Paige’s gritty, grinding guitar licks give the music a raw feel while Rachelle Holscher’s versatile voice lends a sound not many prog rock groups can boast. Add Sebastion’s skills on the keys, Szeliga’s powerful beats, Bruch’s bass line — “He’s incredible,” Paige said — and Jimi Holscher’s ryhthm guitar tying it all together and Forever Oeuvre is on the fast track to success.

The singles “First Stone” and “I Am” — the first song Rachelle Holscher and Paige worked on together — best display the band’s heavy rock talents, but “Wounded” proves Forever Oeuvre can easily go acoustic and hit one out of the park.

There haven’t been many female-fronted rock bands in the 570 — Dealer in Wares, with lead singer Sarah Yzkanin, is easily the most notable — meaning music fans will get a taste of something different on Saturday night, something Forever Oeuvre’s lead singer thinks the music industry needs more of.

“As a female and loving music the way I do, I’m constantly in search of other new bands and I get excited when I hear new bands come out with female singers,” Rachelle said. “I think we really need to bring that back. It happened a while ago when there were a lot of female leads in the rock genre that did really well and we just kind of lost that and we’ve only got a few now.”

Even with the band’s rising popularity in the 570 thanks to the heavy play on 97.9X, they’ve still got a lot of work ahead of them. They remain unsigned, although Rachelle and Paige both said they’ve been talking to labels about possible deals. Financial backing is always an issue for a band trying to build itself up, but that hasn’t stopped Forever Oeuvre from having a plan for their future.

“We would love to get back into the studio as soon as possible and finish this album,” Rachelle said. “That would probably be our next step, as well as setting up a tour for next summer would be our main thing. Everything is kind of in the works right now, but we’re an unsigned band. We’ve been talking with labels, but doing it on your own is very hard.”

The business side of the music industry might be tough, but there’s one thing she said Forever Oeuvre is sure of and that’s their music.

“It’s just rock ’n’ roll. We want to have fun with it.”


ONLINE ARTICLE: http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=48083 - by:Randy Shemanski