The Festival
The Tony Mills Festival is a celebration of Tony Mills life and music, organized by Black Swan Productions, that will be held on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at the Luppolo Saloon in Roletto (TO), Italy, from 3:15 to 11:30PM, in the context of a larger 3-day biker fest. There will be six bands, selected by a team of Italian record labels, playing a selection of their original material and Tony Mills songs from his different projects. The festival will close with a rare headlining performance by Docker’s Guild, who will present a special show made exclusively of material featuring the voice of Tony Mills (Docker’s Guild, Shy, TNT and solo works). As many of you already know, Tony Mills was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April 2019, so a huge fundraising effort is underway to collect as much money as possible for cancer research in Italy. Please show your love for Tony and support the cause!
DISCLAIMER: the Tony Mills Festival is officially supported by the Mills family, but Tony Mills will NOT appear.
The Organizers
Black Swan Productions
Black Swan Productions is the oldest Black Swan department and precedes the establishment of the school by many years. The first production, two soundtracks for industrial videos by Beloit Corporation, dates back to 1990. The name Black Swan Productions was used for the first time in 1996 for the creation of the album In the Desert by the electronic pop rock group Area 51.
Today Black Swan Productions mainly deals with productions related to the projects and collaborations of Douglas R. Docker, the owner of Black Swan. It also manages the productions and events of the school's students linked in particular to the Rock Lab course, as well as professional events such as the Entropy Fest, the Black Swan Festival, etc.
Black Swan Productions also offers its PA for small concerts and events both indoors and outdoors. The PA is aimed at groups and companies that cannot afford an expensive professional service.
The Team
Douglas R. Docker: Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, coordinating bands pre and post live, videos, sending information e-mails, managing website and Facebook pages, admin tasks, backline provider
Mattia Casabona: Operations Director, coordinating bands during the festival, stage changes management, evening problems management, social media manager
Fabio Samperi: stage setup and equipment, stage changes, merchandising booth
Stefano Aglì: sponsors stage setup and equipment, stage changes, merchandising booth
Al Luppolo Saloon
A dip into the Old West with the Al Luppolo Saloon pub where you eat, drink, dance and above all have fun.
The Fundraiser
We have concluded an official partnership between Black Swan Productions and the Fondazione Piemontese per la Ricerca sul Cancro Onlus for the Tony Mills Festival. 100% of the money raised will be donated to the Foundation (except where noted). This is how you can donate, contribute and help the fundraising effort: This is what the labels and other partners are donating for the fundraiser:
DOCKER'S GUILD
(prog / AOR) - Luserna San Giovanni (TO)
Docker's Guild is a massive prog metal space opera superproject which will unfold through 5 “seasons” and 9 albums and is masterminded by producer, songwriter, keyboardist and singer Douglas R. Docker. The first album, called “The Mystic Technocracy - Season I: The Age of Ignorance” (2012), saw the participation of acclaimed worldwide musicians such as Gregg Bissonette, Tony Franklin, Guthrie Govan, Jeff Watson, John Payne, Göran Edman, Amanda Somerville, Tony Mills and many others. It collected an impressive amount of awards and reviews, gaining widespread international accolades.
Docker's Guild’s new album is titled “The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past”. It is part of a series of 4 transitional albums placed between the 5 main “seasons” and which focus on an aspect of the storyline’s main character, Dr. Jack Heisenberg. This particular installment focuses on Jack’s youth and love of science fiction, in fact the album contains exclusively vintage science fiction soundtracks reworked in the typical Docker’s Guild sound. “Book A” will be followed by “The Mystic Technocracy - Season II: The Age of Entropy”, already in development. Another unique feature of “Book A” is its all-female cast, which makes it, as far as we know, the first all-female metal opera ever recorded.
Douglas R. Docker has worked with many acclaimed artists such as Tony Franklin, Gregg Bissonette, Guthrie Govan, John Payne, Göran Edman, Tim Bogert, Tony Mills, Therion, The Vivaldi Metal Project, Frantic Amber, Shining Line and, Nita Strauss, Amanda Somerville and Roxy Petrucci besides being the keyboardist for internationally acclaimed melodic rock band Biloxi.
17 CRASH
(glam metal / AOR) - Livorno
Born in 2011 in Tuscany, thanks to the passion and dedication of Phil Hill and Ros Crash, 17 Crash unleashed their love for the 80's L.A. Glam Rock Style from the beginning. Their first Album “Reading your Dirty Minds ” (2015) well represents that “teenage rampage” spirit. After a first tour all around Italy, the band came back in studio in early 2017 for the second chapter. After the "Glam era", the guys were ready for a change: they needed something different, something more fresh, always maintaining their rock nature but more with an eye to a modern kind of hard Rock and AOR. “Hit the Prey” saw the light in March 2018: a perfect compromise between the 80's sound and more modern hard Rock and AOR. During these 8 years of activity they had a lot of great opportunities and rewards, more than 300 live shows and the chance to play an as opening act for Geoff Tate, Crazy Lixx, Faster Pussycat, Girlschool, Adam Bomb and Frankie Chavez.
WALLS OF BABYLON
(prog / power metal) - Fabriano (AN)
Walls of Babylon were born at the end of 2012 from an idea of guitarists Francesco Pellegrini and Fabiano Pietrini. In September 2013 the line-up was finally completed with the arrival of drummer Marco Barbarossa and bassist Matteo Carovana. Shortly after, singer Valerio Gaoni joined the group. WOB offers power metal with progressive influences and modern sounds, characterized by melodic and catchy refrains.
ELYSIUM
(symphonic folk gothic metal) - Orvieto (ROMA)
Elysium is a symphonic folk ghotic band with female vocals, female keyboard and male violinist, drawing inspiration from early Whitin Temptation and Nightwish, as well as from the most popualar European rock acts like Anathema. Between catchy and symphonic refrains, melodic guitar riffs and vocal counterpoints on a solid rock basis, the band makes frequent incursions in classic rock, folk and prog, occasionally adding opera or gospel choirs. The use of keyboards and orchestration sequences enriches the songs and adds a symphonic edge, in a duet with violin and guitar. The songwriting duties depend on singer Daphne Nisi and bass player Marco Monetini, flanked by violin player Christian Arlechino. The rest of the band is formed by female keyboardist Claudia Poce, guitarist Simone Moratto and drummer Flavio Lovisa.
RIDE ON
(hard rock) - Torino
Ride On have been playing together since 2011 and compose songs with rock, blues and pop sounds. In 2014 they released "Life", their first album. They love to play live, in fact they are always looking for spaces to propose their music. They just released their second album called "Emotions".
VAIN VIPERS
(glam metal) - Bologna / Modena
Vain Vipers, hailing from Bologna and Modena, are an Italian glam-rock band, they were formed in 2013 by Scott and Wild (ex Cryin’ Angels). In the spring of 2016, after several lineup changes, they finally found their current singer Mick (ex Sex for Cash and Shabby Trick, currently in Crying Steel) and in early 2017, their drummer, Aaron. From there, they began appearing in many italian clubs, sharing the stage with famous rock bands Bai Bang, Rakel Traxx, and Stop Stop. In May 2017, the single "Lost in Your Eyes," was finally released, and with it their first music video. At the dawn of 2018, work started on their first LP, recorded entirely at Roberto Priori's Pri-Studio At the end of that same year, they found in Volcano Records what they had been looking for: a label, an agreement, and an album release.
PAWNS IN CHESS (PIC)
(blues rock / hard rock) -Torino
Pawns in Chess are a power trio from Turin, formed in 2017. They are influenced by the blues of B.B. King and the monsters of hard rock, like Led Zeppelin. The name of the band was taken directly from a sentence in the lyrics of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. In its nearly three years of activity, the band has recorded a 5-song studio demo and played live in various venues and contests in Piedmont and Lombardy, including "Rock in Park" at the Legend Club of Milan and "Torino Sotterranea" at the McRyan's in Turin. From May 2019, the band started collaborating with Volcano Records and recording their upcoming EP.
