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FROM MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, Black Dime Cabaret is the brain-child of Brandon Young, a theatrical and thrilling progressive rock tale that is as sweeping as it is immersive. It is often compared to bands such as The Dear Hunter, My Chemical Romance, Oingo Boingo, and The Decemberists. Yet while their epic concept album sequence (beginning with Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight) provides the core of Black Dime Cabaret, the story is enhanced by an ambitious multiverse spanning several interconnected novels.
Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight (October 2023) is their first foray into this unique brand of musical storytelling. It introduces fans to a 19th-century French town on the brink of collapse, the witches who inhabit it, and the raven-faced man destined to destroy it. Following this with their much-acclaimed hit Knock Knock (December 2023), Black Dime Cabaret have already begun to establish themselves as a presence in the international progressive rock scene, with a small yet passionate fanbase. Knock Knock was the first song from Black Dime Cabaret to gain over 10,000 streams, and chart on the Hypeddit Rock Charts and Main Charts at #4 and #83 respectively. In 2024, they will release their anticipated second album, Act II: The Phantom Ballet.
BLACK DIME CABARET was formed by Brandon Young in 2019, alongside drummer Joel Holdsworth and former keyboard player Max Budich, following their departure from the alternative rock band On Planet. They soon enlisted vocalist/guitarist Dayle Barnett, bassist Cole Catania, and violinist Yzzy Peterson. Originally influenced by dark cabaret acts like Birdeatsbaby and The Dresden Dolls, along with art rock act Bent Knee, the band started with a softer, keyboard-heavy sound. However, they would quickly pivot.
In September 2019, they released “The Black Dime Demos,” a collection of songs from Act I that gave early listeners an idea of what Black Dime Cabaret was. This was eventually followed by an Indiegogo campaign to fund the production of their debut album, Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight. At around this time, tensions within the band ran hot and a number of plans were put on hold. Despite this, they continued to play small shows around Melbourne, Australia and prepared to record their debut album.
BLACK DIME CABARET RELEASED Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight on June 26, 2020. However, the band had broken up by this time over increasingly untenable interpersonal conflicts, on March 20. The album remained available for several months, with a limited physical release, before being taken down altogether. Throughout the COVID pandemic, Black Dime Cabaret was on indefinite hiatus.
BRANDON HAD STARTED reaching out to musicians prior to the album’s eventual release, to form a new version of Black Dime Cabaret. This eventually culminated in several early rehearsals that occurred from June 2020 through to the end of the year. This strange and interrupted period in Black Dime Cabaret history (coinciding with the COVID pandemic) saw a rotating cast of musicians, as well as a setlist that excluded Act I entirely.
The first variation of the band in this time was comprised of Brandon on guitar, Lucy Seale on keys, Nick Michaels on bass, and Darcy Doherty-Brown on drums. In October, they added Sian Dowler on vocals and Patrick Ng on lead guitar. And in November, Lucy was replaced with Caitlyn Adshead. It was a turbulent and confusing time for the band, bouncing between Act I and Act II, and scrapping the project entirely. The lack of progress resulted in Nick departing the band at the end of 2020, to be replaced by Luke Bosnich.
The struggle of finding a direction for this new project persisted into early-2021, with April seeing the departure of lead vocalist Sian due to personal issues, and May ending in the parting of ways with Darcy. This transition saw former keys player Caitlyn step up as the new lead vocalist of Black Dime Cabaret.
The band enlisted drummer Zephryn Williams for a brief stint that lasted from May to November 2021, while progress remained slow and uncertain. Finally, in January 2022, original drummer Joel Holdsworth returned.
BLACK DIME CABARET OFFICIALLY returned on April 6, 2022. They played their first gig at Red Betty on April 13, and celebrated their return at The Workers Club on June 1. Following these appearances, the band got to work on their first single, The Man Without Morality, which was released on July 22; and began recording demos for the reboot of Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight.
They entered the studio in January 2023 to begin recording Act I: Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight, the most ambitious project in the band’s history thus far. Following a steady stream of singles, the full album would eventually be released on October 13, 2023. This release marked a monumental moment for the band, completing a long redemption arc that started more than three years prior. It was only now that Black Dime Cabaret was able to move on from their past and set their sights on the future.
ON CHRISTMAS 2023, Black Dime Cabaret released their first new song in almost four years, Knock Knock. This also marked their first release outside of Act I and II. Self-produced and recorded at Electric Recording Lab, Knock Knock was met with extreme acclaim and immediately became their most successful song yet. They are currently working on the untitled sequel, along with Act II: The Phantom Ballet, which will release in late-2024.
