Terribly Happy: An Energetic Inspiration

If you want to know what the secret of success is—a prediction of great things to come—then look at a person’s enthusiasm and ambition. There’s something absolutely infectious about one’s desire to succeed and make a difference. I found that contagious energy in the unique talents of three young guys who make up the band Terribly Happy.

But success isn’t solely based on enthusiasm and talent. It’s also a result of relentless support for other arts and artists. One look at the Facebook page of Terribly Happy reveals both of these characteristics—an unparalleled drive for success and an immeasurable amount of support for other local bands and artists. Terribly Happy is constantly working, creating, and performing, and throughout all of this, they find time to connect with other bands, support their work, and even take on unique endeavors—like working with a local author. Collaboration is one key to success, and the distinct talents of each band member coalesce to form vigorously creative music and performances. But they don’t limit themselves to just one another. Their vocal support of all music and artists is what truly pushes the boundaries of collaboration. They are, in fact, a terribly passionate trio destined for great things.

Their dreams of performing and making a band date back to their middle school days. All three band members—James, Kyle, and Logan—attended different schools and didn’t meet until college. Like fate, their passion for the same genre of music, pop-punk, eventually steered these three talented individuals together. More than a similar interest, each has unique musical talents, the combination of which has sparked electrifying and exciting original music.

The name Terribly Happy came from a brainstorming session between Kyle and James. They tossed around all sorts of clever names from Buffalo Flow to Roshambo. On a Google search for unique movie titles, James came across a Danish Noir film titled Terribly Happy, and the name has stuck ever since.   

** Band Member Spotlight **

KYLE HAMON

Position: guitarist/vocalist

How he learned music: Kyle started playing bass and then switched to guitar. He taught himself how to play, and the first song he ever learned was “Blackbird” by the Beatles.

Favorite band: The Front-Bottoms, an acoustic pop-punk band

Favorite song by another band: “The Secret of Life” by the Dead Milkmen

Favorite Terribly Happy song: “Out of State, Out of Mind”

Favorite Terribly Happy Lyric: "If I could buy anything, it'd be the memories. We could watch them together,” from a song titled “You and I aren’t Heroes”

Five unique things about Kyle: He has an extensive retro video game collection and games to boot, he started off as a folk musician, he’s a cinephile, he originally went to culinary school when he started college, and he likes to switch between rhythm and lead guitar in the band!

JAMES WYLIE

Position: bassist/vocalist

How he learned music: James taught himself how to play bass by looking up song tabs online and practicing them over and over again.

Favorite band: Blink182

Favorite song by another band: a tossup between "Everlong" by The Foo Fighters and "Flag Pole Sitta" by Harvey Danger.

Favorite Terribly Happy song: "So Rad" due to its personal nature with himself

Favorite Terribly Happy lyric: "In this fucked up world, you're my silver lining."

Five unique things about James: He is left handed, was born in Colorado, is very much into fantasy football, loves anime, and likes raccoons!

LOGAN KIESEWETTER

Position: drummer

How he learned music: He had formal lessons and private drumming lessons when he was younger, but also learned to teach himself when he was older.

Favorite band: Blink 182

Favorite song by another band: “Natives” by Blink 182

Favorite Terribly Happy song: "Alpha, Beta, Chedda."

Favorite Terribly Happy lyric: His favorite comes from two different lyrics sang by Kyle and James at the same time from a song called, "Sinking Sand." Kyle sings, "Man down ooooh, everyone flees. Oh yeah they fled from it all. They felt the ocean breeze. It felt too good, like we shouldn't feel as we could." And James sings, "The cold is setting in, it's time for winter to come again. And I'm here to remind you that I'll always be near."

Five unique things about Logan: Logan is a graphic design and film-making major, he’s obsessed with science-fiction and fantasy stories, he’s learning how to do horror airbrush make-up, he loves comic books, and he’s named one of Terribly Happy’s songs.

****

Terribly Happy started as a two-person acoustic duo with James and Kyle, and they met Logan a few years later. The three were a perfect fit and are currently a trio. They released one EP titled Sprinkles With That earlier this year in March. Currently, they are working on their next album and first official music video for their song, “Shut Up, Let’s Go.”

Although they are exploring all sorts of different sounds, such as emo, straight-punk, and folk-punk, pop-punk music is their primary genre. Bare bones pop-punk is a style with energetic music and catchy melodies. They love this style because—for all three—it influenced them when they were younger, and now they want to contribute to the same field of music that has been so meaningful for them.

Catch a live performance of Terribly Happy! Updated performances are available on their Facebook page, but some you can catch soon include: 1) the Marquette Heights Men's Club'sFreedom Fest on June 27^th, which will be their longest performance to date as they will play a two hour set. You can catch them from 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. at the pavilion, and 2) the Warp Zone Show on July 16 (performances begin at 5:00 p.m.). Click the links to learn more about those individual performances. Their favorite places to play vary with each member, but they all love house shows, which produce energetic crowds in intimate settings.

Terribly Happy also has a very unique creative process. Generally, they will start with an acoustic competition and then turn it electric and the song evolves from there. Other times, they like to jam electrically first and then form the song. They’ve been known to pump out a couple new songs a week as the creative juices flow high, or they’ll take a few weeks or longer to really perfect a favorite song.

When you see them play, you’ll recognize that their greatest strength is the chemistry between the band members. They are very close when they perform, and they feed off of one another’s energy as well as the crowd’s. Their chemistry also enhances the creative process as they bounce a variety of ideas off of one another.

I asked what advice they’d give to those looking to start their own band. What they told me: “Be friendly and grateful for any love and support given to you in your local scene. Don't personally have a big ego among your band mates and, as a band, don't have a big ego out in the scene among other bands.” This is great advice for all artists, and one reason I personally admire Terribly Happy. Once again, success comes from supporting others, and Terribly Happy models that. In any artistic scene, the success of another is a win for all.

 

After interviewing the band, I asked one final question—anything else you’d like readers to know? Terribly Happy said, “We love you and please support the local music scene.”

You can show your support by liking the Terribly Happy Facebook page here, and even more so by attending an upcoming performance. Subscribe to their YouTube channel to receive all of their new music!

Check out some of the music in the videos posted below!

About the author: Joe Chianakas is the author of the upcoming horror adventure series RABBIT IN RED. You can like his author page and learn more about the book on Facebook, Twitter, or his author website at www.joechianakas.com. Why did a horror author write this article about a local band, you may be wondering? Well, just wait and see! Terribly Happy and I, as you can tell, understand that collaboration enhances success. We’ve got some fun projects up our sleeves, and I’ll tell you more about Terribly Happy and those projects in a future article! Stay tuned!

"Shut Up, Let's Go," Original Song

 "Out of State, Out of Mind"

Rabbit in Red Art & Trailers

As of today, I am officially in the double digit (finally!) count down till my book Rabbit in Red is published!

To celebrate, I wanted to create a short blog post where I would post all of the Rabbit in Red media to share with you, in case you've missed any of these awesome things. There are a lot more side projects in the works-- a couple of big collaborations I've very excited to share with you in time.

I also want to thank anyone who is reading this. I've always written, but a lot has changed since this time last year. In fact, it was about this exact day last year (I remember it being the first week of my summer classes) when I sat down in the backyard to read a book. A few pages in, I got this incredible idea. Art inspires art! In one afternoon, I outlined Rabbit in Red and spent every day writing. Thirty days later, I had 70,000 words. I was that passionate about this project.

It's a very different story from that last summer after too many rounds of revisions to count. As they say, first drafts are pretty much always complete shit :) But you have to start somewhere.

One book that's been over a year in the making-- that's how writing and publication work.

It releases September 18, 2015. I hope you'll be as excited to read it as I am to share it with you.

Please follow my author pages here on Facebook and Twitter if you haven't already!

And now, to celebrate: here's a collection of Rabbit in Red media so far.

A possible Rabbit in Red logo

Rabbit in Red is the name of a movie production studio that turns out to be oh so much more in my story! This is the art one of my best friends, Brandy Kennington, drew for me. 

Unofficial Trailer #1

The above is the first trailer I created-- watch for a preview and I hope you catch all the horror references!

Bill's Nightmare

This great drawing was created by Tracie Verkuilen. You can read more about it and her here.

Unofficial Trailer #2

Once I had some art work, I had to make a second trailer-- check out the above. I love the scary music (credit for that goes to iMovie, of course). 

Jaime and Tara Stein

This is a cool drawing made by Toni Ritchie. Jaime Stein is a major character, and her little sister will play an important role as the story progresses. You can read more about that and Toni here.

Rose Dawn

Meet Rose Dawn, another important character. This sweet sketch was designed by Kim Loan. Read more about the character Rose and the artist Kim here.

Once again, thanks for following and reading! Please consider sharing this post and liking my author Facebook and Twitter pages to support. 99 days and counting, friends!

You can also check out my official website-- www.joechianakas.com-- for more content and a cool countdown! 

Artist Kim Loan Provides First Look at Rabbit in Red's Rose Dawn

I had the pleasure of interviewing another fantastic artist who contributed some art for my upcoming novel Rabbit in Red. Today, I’d like to take some time to introduce you to Kim Loan.

Kim creates mostly anime, cartoons, and any kind of creature or imaginative thing living deep inside her head. She remembers drawing shapes all the way back in kindergarten and being absolutely mesmerized by art. She moved from simple shapes to more challenging concepts very quickly. By the time she was in second grade, she would draw Pokémon characters. In the summertime, she would often draw from the moment she woke up until bedtime. Art is clearly her biggest passion.

-- Follow along on Facebook and Twitter for the latest Rabbit in Red updates!--

When she’s not drawing, Kim loves hiking, biking, and playing badminton. She also loves playing video games and watching anime. Her current goals are to improve with charcoal and with drawing more realistic looking people. Kim plans on being a hair stylist, but will never give up her love of drawing.

For Rabbit in Red, she drew the character of Rose Dawn. Here is part of the excerpt from my novel that Kim read before drawing Rose:

When asked why she entered the contest, Rose looked shy on camera and said, “I enjoy being behind the camera. Not on it.” A seventeen year old New Orleans resident, Rose’s name matched her face: soft, short red hair, a petite body. Her eyes were hard and dark, as if guarding a secret, but her face was cute in a little-sister kind of way. She may not stand out in a crowd, except for her hair and a little black purse she held tightly against her side, but she possessed a deeper beauty, something harder to see for most people.

She spoke quietly into the camera but never looked directly at it. “So you want to be a filmmaker too?” a reporter asked.

 “Yes.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I like it.”

 “And you want to make horror films? Why horror?”

“Horror needs art, and I like art. I think JB would agree,” Rose answered simply.

For multiple reasons, I thought Rose Dawn was a perfect character for Kim to draw!

Kim also shared with me her favorite drawing, pictured on the right. You'll see a butterfly with torn fabric wings and a ribbon-like tail. Next to the butterfly, Kim drew a hummingbird with a mermaid-like tail and butterfly wings. They are surrounded by flowers and a stream of water. She had a very unique inspiration when drawing this. This art represents the idea that everyone belongs in this world, no matter how different they look or act.

Finally, I talked with Kim about other interests such as books and movies, since she drew some art for my book. Her favorite horror film is Thirteen Ghosts, and her favorite book series is Gregor the Overlander, which she says is action packed with adventure and creativity from the beginning until the end. Plus, there’s a bat that can fly you around and the roaches in the book can talk!

Thank you, Kim, for your beautiful portrayal of Rabbit in Red’s Rose Dawn. If you would like to message Kim, just leave on comment here on this blog article. 

Rabbit in Red is scheduled to release in September of 2015. Be sure to follow along on Facebook and Twitter for more updates. 

Student of the Year Toni Ritchie on Art & a Glimpse Inside Rabbit in Red

I recently interviewed one of Illinois Central College’s 2014-2015 Students-of-the-Year, Toni Ritchie. Toni is a graphic design major transferring to Illinois State University in the fall. She has a huge passion for art and design. She sketched a little something that will give you a peek at some of the characters inside my upcoming novel Rabbit in Red.

Her passion is to create comic book art and game characters. She was first inspired by Japanese art, and she has a motto that is inspirational and applies to many artists: “There’s no wrong way to do it.”

-- Please follow on Facebook or Twitter for more updates!-- 

Her favorite artist is Ako Shimaki who does manga in Japan. For you aspiring artists out there, Toni stresses the importance of determination and practice. Toni got started by putting paper over various images and simply tracing them. This strategy lets your hands build muscle-memory as they get used to various shapes and designs. From there, you try to look at images and draw without tracing. All of this takes time, but with patience and persistence, everyone gets better.

Toni is continually updating her online art portfolio and is working on a fighting scene for Blizzard Entertainment. With her graphic design degree, she hopes to eventually work on book covers and movie posters. Below is her favorite drawing, an Arabian Knight sketch. She created it with graphite and touched it up in Photoshop. The animal is similar to a horse and an antelope. 

She was selected as student-of-the-year for all of the extra-curricular responsibilities she does outside of the classroom, including—but certainly not limited to—being the student president of the Cougar Karate Club and designing a website for her college biology class.

You can follow Toni on Twitter!

For Rabbit in Red, my upcoming horror adventure series, she sketched two sisters who play an important role in the story. Here you’ll see Jaime and Tara Stein. They’re sitting on Jaime’s bed, Skyping with best friend and another main character, Bill Wise. The relationship between these sisters is one of my favorites in the story. 

They are raised by their mother. Dad walked out on them years ago. Mom is addicted to Lifetime Original Movies, while Jaime writes horror stories with strong, independent females who don’t rely on a guy to save them. The women in her stories are the heroes, and Jaime is always dragging Tara out of the living room, away from the TV shows that make it look like a boyfriend is the most important thing a girl can have. She’s trying to raise Tara to be tough and independent, like her own characters. Tara has a relatively small role in book one, but I promise you, the relationship that you see in book one between the two girls is very important for the series. Tara will have a significantly more important role to play as the series progresses, but you’ll just have to read to discover all the magical mystery that is yet to come!

Book one of Rabbit in Red releases this September. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter to stay tuned for updates! And more art!

A SuperWhoLock Artist: Getting to Know Tracie VerKuilen

I’d like to introduce you to an incredible student artist, Tracie VerKuilen. A passionate and talented artist, Tracie drew the first “fan art” image for my upcoming novel, Rabbit in Red.

I gave Tracie a short description of one of my characters. It’s amazing to see what others envision. Isn’t that the joy of reading? Creating your own image of the characters and their surroundings? In this drawing, Tracie drew a character’s nightmare. When you read the book, you’ll understand why I love the drawing so much.

After she drew this, I wanted to learn a little more about her to share with you. I firmly believe that art inspires art, and whether you like to write, draw, sing, or act, we can always use some extra inspiration.

Tracie is a 2-D artist who mainly does pencil drawings, but she also loves paintings. Some of her work is based partially on references, but she prefers to use her own imagination. Drawing is a relaxing pastime for her. She’ll listen to music and paint or draw, using art as a way to express any number of emotions she’s experiencing. She’s also a writer, and she likes to draw the characters from her own book. It helps her connect to them and add to their personality to have that visual medium in addition to words on paper.

I asked Tracie what advice she has for aspiring artists. She recommends that artists find their comfort zones. She took a class in high school that offered a little bit of everything to let people find what aspects in which they had talent and interest. She found hers in drawing, and like any subject, she says, “You won’t be the next Picasso in a single day. It takes practice and dedicated time.”

She enjoys working in the comfort of her basement, surrounded also by her PlayStation and laptop. She writes “fanfics” for various series, including Welcome to the Night Vale and an original short story about the Marauders in Harry Potter. You can find some of those stories over here at Archive of Our Own.

In terms of books, Tracie loves the Artemis Fowl series for its originality and is also a huge fan of the Bartimaeus books, which in part are about a sassy genie bound to serve a young wizard’s apprentice who tried to summon something too powerful in order to prove himself to his master.

Below you’ll find a picture of one of her favorite drawings, which she created using a mix of charcoal and pencil. It’s titled “SuperWhoLock,”which is inspired by three of her favorite television series: BBC’s Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Supernatural.

If you want to follow Tracie’s work, you can find her on Tumblr and Archive of Our Own.

Thanks, Tracie, for your contribution to Rabbit in Red!

____________________________________________

Follow Joe Chianakas on Facebook or Twitter for more updates!

And be sure to check out the info for the upcoming horror adventure series, Rabbit in Red, to be released in September 2015 by Distinguished Press. 

A first look inside Rabbit in Red!

I’m excited to share with you a first look inside RABBIT IN RED! This is my upcoming horror adventure novel through Distinguished Press. It releases in September this year. 

Disclaimer: My publisher and editors want you to know this is still a WIP (work in progress). That means the chainsaw hasn’t finished its attacks, and after the wounds heal, the following excerpt will be even better.

I’m sharing this particular section because it shows the heart I include with the horror. I didn’t choose to write in this genre. As most writers will tell you, the story chooses us. It’s more than horror—it’s an adventure, a mystery, and a tale about friendship. Horror must include heart. Otherwise, why would we care about the characters? I want to see how they deal with the terrible things that are happening to them, how they overcome them, or—and sadly this must happen to some—how they don’t.

This is a passage that takes place in between some of the terrific action that I can’t wait for you to read!

“Sorry if I woke you,” Bill said.

“No, don’t be. I was barely sleeping. Between Rose’s snoring and my mind going a thousand miles an hour, it was hard to sleep.”

“Same here.”

“How bad were the dreams?” she asked. In one of their many online conversations, Bill had confessed that he often had recurring nightmares about the night his father was murdered.

“It started off so good,” he tried to smile. “I relived a good memory. And then it changed. I hate that. Why can’t we have only good dreams?”

“If people had only good dreams, the horror genre wouldn’t be nearly as successful.”

He smiled. “That’s true. I don’t mind nightmares as long as they’re about Freddy or Michael Myers. Anything that’s not real.”

“You still have your Michael Myers dream?” she asked him. Halloween was one of the first horror films Bill had seen, and the ghostly pale mask of Michael’s still sporadically haunted him.

“It’s been awhile, but yeah. But with those kind of nightmares, you know, I wake up and know it’s not real. They even oddly excite me sometime. The power of horror, right? But with the other kind, I wake up, and I can’t shake the truth or memory away.”

“I get it. I still dream of my uncle. I’d prefer getting bitten by vampires in my dreams any day over reliving his tragedy,” she replied. “And like you said, it’s not fair. I want to remember all the good times, but dreams have a way of focusing on the bad. Worst of all, I have dreams of other friends and family killing themselves. It’s terrible.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s like once you know someone—really know someone close—who has committed suicide, you can’t stop thinking about it. We missed it completely, you know? We didn’t see it coming. We kept living our lives, and here he was struggling and we didn’t even really know it.”

“I’m sorry,” Bill said.

“It’s not your fault.” They sat there in silence for a moment. “You know, I’ve had that dream about you.”

“What about me?”

“That you killed yourself.”

“Oh, Jaime, no, I would never.”

“I know. But you see that’s the problem. I think I know. But do we ever really know? What if you start drinking like your mother? What if you change?”

“I’ll never drink,” he stated.

“My uncle used to say that when we’re young, we make promises about all that we dream of doing and all that which we vow never to do,” she frowned. “But the truth is, few of us accomplish what we dream, and most of us do what we vowed we never would. Do you think that’s true?”

Bill lowered his head and shook it softly. “I don’t know, J. But I promise you. I’m ok.” He reached out and held her hand. “Seriously.” There was another long stretch of silence, which was fine with both of them. They enjoyed the moment of a late night hand holding, such a modest act of kindness and friendship, something forgotten perhaps by adults hardened by routine or immune to the unassuming joys of adolescence.

“What about you?” Bill interrupted the silence. “Are you ok?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I think you and I and everyone will always be hurt at times. We’ll never escape all the bad stuff. But I would never hurt myself, if that’s what you mean.”

“Why does anyone hurt themselves?”

Jaime sighed. “There are just some things we will never understand. I think that’s what my uncle would tell me. We can empathize. We can criticize. But we will never really know what goes through someone’s mind—or what pain they have in their heart. All pain is unique,” she squeezed his hand and moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulders.

“Death sucks,” Bill stated.

“Yep. And look at us suckers. We surround ourselves with it voluntarily.”

“We must really be messed up,” Bill frowned.

“That’s ok,” Jaime told him. “Know who you are and know what you love. And as JB said, don’t hang with those who shame.”

Bill thought of his mother, wondering if she were still awake. If she was up, she was probably on her umpteenth drink. He wished he knew how to make it better. But he didn’t.

He looked down at Jaime, her head on his shoulder, her hand in his. He didn’t want to get up. Lowering his head so it rested on hers, he closed his eyes and thought he had discovered something very powerful in these moments. Telling himself he needed to write this down, he thought, “Maybe, just maybe, if everyone had someone they could talk to honestly in the middle of the night and maybe, just maybe, if everyone had someone to hold them and tell them it would be ok, we would all actually be ok.”

He felt really good and thought he should tell Jaime what Wes and he found. Plus, he was curious if Jaime and Rose found anything. But then he heard a light snore coming from just below his ear, and he smiled. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

And then loud bells rang, a deafening loudness, thunder after the calm.

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Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter too for many more exciting Rabbit in Red updates!

Summer Then, Summer Now

Often before I begin a full day of writing, I like to do a warm-up. Today as I got ready to dive deeper into book two of my Rabbit in Red series, I took some time for a little free-writing. I thought about summer in my past and summer today. Here's what I wrote. I hope you enjoy.

Remember sunflowers as big as gods or devils?

I’d strain my neck to find their centers,

Envisioning a unique universe in each petal.

The sun would wake us up without complaint.

Daily adventures awaiting on grass and concrete,

Never fearing the heat would make us faint.

No lawn was too small to host a world series.

No house too little to be a big haunted mystery.

Life was a delirious string of games and stories.

Ice cream truck music turned us into sprinters.

And boy could we run, all day long, never tiring.

These were the rewards of suffering long winters.

The smallest hills beat the best roller coasters.

All you needed was a fast bike and a best friend.

It’s our imagination that brings us all closer.

Kool-Aid, Super Soakers, and snow cones:

We didn’t need phones or apps to be happy,

Just a creek where we could toss some stones.

Maybe it would have been fun to have today’s toys,

But I’m glad I remember dad’s holler and not some text.

All of today’s noise distracts us from such simple joys.

Sometimes I wish I had taken more pictures, sure.

I spent more time looking up instead of looking down.

Too busy living in the moment but those memories still endure.

These worlds from our childhood can inspire others,

They become stories on paper or tales told to children.

Life around us—not on a screen—is what we discovered.

Of course, I loved my video games and movies too,

But I’m glad I saved those for rainy days and late nights.

My dirty hands and sunburned face had better things to do.

Naturally every generation will glorify its past,

And hang onto nostalgia to sweeten present moments.

It’s because looking back we know life moves too fast.

But I wouldn’t trade in my childhood summers

For any of today’s technological games and wonders.

The HD of nature is and will always be a brighter color.

As a new summer begins, let us remember the little things,

That a bike ride or a reading a book under a tree,

Stimulates the mind as flowers are fueled by spring.

I prefer not to look down but to look up at the world near and far,

To see all of its beauty, to be inspired by possibilities.

I’d rather trip and fall than ever know I missed a shooting star.

We can reach the suns, the stars, the moons, and the oceans.

We can experience the infinite depths of their power.

But only if we live and walk with our eyes up and minds open.

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Thanks for reading. Feel free to follow me on Facebook or Twitter if you enjoyed this post.