Zeena Schreck facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Zeena Schreck
|
|
|---|---|
Zeena performing at Kantine am Berghain, February 28, 2016 – Berlin (Germany)
|
|
| Born |
Zeena Galatea LaVey
|
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Nikolas Schreck
(m. 1988; div. 2015) |
| Parent(s) | Anton LaVey Diane Hegarty |
| Relatives | Karla LaVey (half-sister) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Electroacoustic music, sound art, field recording, soundscape, minimalism, magic realism, ritual music, experimental, dark ambient, ambient, post-industrial, neoclassical, gothic rock, post-punk |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboard, Percussion, Flute, Synthesizer, Electronics, Sampling |
| Labels | Gymnastic Records, Unclean Productions, Wolfslair, Inc., Video Werewolf, Musicus Phÿcus, The Epicurean |
| Associated acts | Radio Werewolf, Nikolas Schreck, Christopher Lee, Hisham Bharoocha, John Murphy, NON, Musicus Phÿcus, Cory Vielma, King Dude, Frank Haines, Chris Kachulis |
Zeena Galatea Schreck (née LaVey), known professionally by her mononymous artist name ZEENA, is a Berlin-based American visual and musical artist, author and the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM), which she founded in 2002.
Contents
Early years and family
Zeena was born in San Francisco, California to Anton LaVey and Diane Hegarty.
Zeena was married to Nikolas Schreck, her Radio Werewolf band partner and frequent collaborator, from 1988 to 2015. In 2019, both parties issued a jointly written public statement on their respective websites stating, "[...] in 2015, after having been separated since 2007, we agreed to amicably divorce." Zeena chose to retain her married surname.
Early artistic influences and training
Zeena's work as a photographer, visual artist, musician/composer and writer are heavily influenced by mystical and magical traditions. Stylistically, she gravitated at an early age to artists and mentors whose art was imbued with a mystical or magical vision.
As a teenager and young adult, she trained in and studied theater, drama and film. At sixteen years of age, Zeena passed the High School equivalency exam, which enabled her to leave High School early, begin working legally and enroll in City College of San Francisco, majoring in drama. In addition to CCSF's Drama Department, she also received instruction from Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Eric Morris acting coach, Viola Spolin's student Marcia Kimmell of The Next Stage Improvisation Theater San Francisco, and the San Francisco School of Dramatic Arts. Her study focus was Hellenic sacred drama, improvisation, and various branches of the Stanislavski 'system' and method acting.
Zeena traces the lineage of her magical art to the mentorship of her godfather, filmmaker Kenneth Anger. During the 1960s and 1970s, Anger transmitted the influences of Curtis Harrington, Jean Cocteau, and Maya Deren on his own work to Zeena during her childhood and adolescence.
Zeena also became a long-time friend of director Curtis Harrington, who cast her as a Dietrich-like character in his last film, Usher (2000).
Media appearances
Zeena's website states: "Preferring to allow her work to speak for itself and indifferent to public opinion, Zeena has granted only a very few interviews since 1993."
In 2004 Zeena and Nikolas Schreck spoke about their book Demons of the Flesh on The Devil's Advocate radio show. In that interview, Zeena also spoke about the Storm (before it had been renamed Sethian Liberation Movement) and its incorporation of the tantric left way practices she writes of in her book.
In December 2011 Zeena Schreck spoke about the Sethian Liberation Movement on Nightwatch Radio while also promoting two of her short fiction stories, A Short History of Buddhism in Berlin and Lost and Found: A Fairy Tale of Sethian Awakening, in the literary journal Beatdom released December 2011. According to the Nightwatch interview Zeena Schreck states that the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM) is not membership based nor a 'group' seeking to fill dues quotas, or something to join but rather a practice.
In December 2012, Zeena Schreck was invited back to Nightwatch Radio. This time, promoting the 2012 Radio Werewolf release of The Vinyl Solution – Analog Artifacts: Ritual Instrumentals and Undercover Versions CD, the first authorized Radio Werewolf release in 20 years, and Beatdom's Crime issue #12 featuring a vintage portrait of Zeena on the cover and her theatre monologue, "Night Shift, Richmond Station".
On December 10, 2012, Zeena curated a stream of videos for Network Awesome's Live Music Show, with audio and visual clips arranged in an autobiographical manner.
On March 18, 2013, Network Awesome's daily program opened with an exclusive original production featuring Zeena Schreck's first one-on-one televised interview in 22 years, conducted by artist Jen Ray. Network Awesome spotlighted Zeena with a full day of programming, referencing various facets of her life. Other features in the day's program included archival interviews of Zeena and documentaries relating to her current spiritual pursuits and practices.
In 2016, a conspiracy theory in a vein similar to that of the Ted Cruz–Zodiac meme arose online, conflating Zeena with popular singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The conspiracy endlessly recycles in all languages. On June 14th, 2023 Yahoo! News reported it as one of the "8 most popular [conspiracy theories] in history"
Music and performance art
The 8/8/88 rally
On August 8, 1988, a large gathering converged on the Strand Theater in San Francisco for the film debut of a 'mockumentary' about Charles Manson. The event, planned and carried out by Nikolas Schreck, was the largest single gathering of this kind in history. Zeena spoke at the beginning of the rally and a film of her baptism was played. In a 2011 interview with Zeena for French music magazine Obsküre, she stated that 8-8-88 "would be the only performance that Nikolas, Evil Wilhelm [the original Radio Werewolf percussionist], and I ever performed live together. That marked the transition point spanning three phases of Radio Werewolf: 1) the Nikolas Schreck/Evil Wilhelm collaboration, 2) the solo Nikolas Schreck phase, and 3) the Nikolas Schreck/Zeena collaboration." Also featured were NON, Amok Press and Kris Force, a musician who at the time owned the Strand Theater. Geraldo Rivera's "Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground" film crew filmed the event, as well as interviews with all involved, to use for the network special.
Radio Werewolf
From 1988 to 1993, Zeena was co-director of the experimental musical project Radio Werewolf. She served as composer, vocalist, musician and graphic designer on the Radio Werewolf recordings "Songs for the End of the World", "The Lightning and the Sun", "Bring Me The Head of Geraldo Rivera", "These Boots Were Made for Walking", and "Love Conquers All." Her performances were exclusively European-based at that time.
In 2012, Radio Werewolf released The Vinyl Solution – Analog Artifacts: Ritual Instrumentals and Undercover Versions Compact Disc, the first authorized Radio Werewolf release in 20 years.
In 2016, Classic Rock magazine ranked Radio Werewolf No. 4 on their 'The 25 weirdest bands of all time' list, stating: "Formed during the height of 'Satanic Panic' hysteria in mid-80's America, Radio Werewolf was once considered 'the most dangerous band in the world', largely due to the notoriety of their vocalist, Zeena Schreck ...". In 2016, The Top Tens Most Satanic Bands listed Radio Werewolf, "Yes!, Since when does Heavy Metal have to be the only satanic music. Why not dark organ Gothic/Deathrock."
Solo music career
Performa 13, New York
On November 8, 2013, the visual art performance biennial Performa presented Zeena accompanied by New York musician Hisham Bharoocha (first percussion) and Danish musician Anders Hermund (second percussion), for a vocal based work that tapped into the ritual use of sacred syllables from Vajrayana, Shaktism and Sethian-Typhonian left-way tantric practices, "originating from emptiness, gradually transforming into a sound and voice collage on a stage set design by Frank Haines." This was Zeena's first solo performance in her native country since her expatriation to Europe in 1990.
David Sanderson described the event, "Jingling bells and padded footsteps echoed in the darkness. The curtains silently parted, dramatically revealing an electrified, vermilion environment. Dead center, with hands held in the Mudra position, stood the seemingly twenty-foot tall goddess Zeena. With a painted gong behind her, Bharoocha and Hermund adorned her sides. Bharoocha lit incense that swept through the audience as Zeena's commanding gaze pierced us all (everyone I talked to after the show swore she was staring directly at them)."
Wave-Gotik-Treffen music festival
On May 23, 2015, after a 24-year retreat from musical performances, Zeena made her official return to music in Europe, now as a solo artist, at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany. The concert, held amid "the sacred, magically charged ancient artifacts housed in Leipzig's Egyptian Museum (at the Leipzig University)," was a unique ritual soundscape which Zeena composed especially for the theme of that environment. She was accompanied by Cory Vielma and John Murphy. This was John Murphy's penultimate performance. Having suffered a long illness, John Murphy died less than five months after this concert. In accordance to Murphy's wishes, Zeena conducted the traditional Tibetan Buddhist ceremony for the passing of consciousness as he died. In 2016, a tribute to John Murphy as a 3CD compilation set entitled "All My Sins Remembered – The Sonic Worlds of John Murphy" was released by The Epicurean record label. On it, a live track from Zeena's WGT concert, featuring Murphy's electronic-percussion is included. The CD booklet also features cover portrait of Murphy by Zeena.
First solo recording
It was announced on Zeena's homepage that March 11, 2020, is the release date of her first solo recording, "Bring Me The Head of F.W. Murnau: A Ghost Story in Six Acts," inspired by news reports that the director's head had been stolen from his grave under mysterious circumstances. Many of the sounds incorporated in the tracks were captured in field recordings at Murnau's former residence in Berlin and at his grave-site in Stahnsdorf, Germany. The recording was issued as an EP in CD format, beginning with a pre-release limited, signed and numbered edition of 89 (number of years since the film director's death) followed by open edition and digital download through the Zeena Schreck Bandcamp site.
Discography
As solo artist
- Bring Me The Head of F.W. Murnau: A Ghost Story in Six Acts, Compact Disc EP 2020 KCH Records, no ASIN
Composer/performer for Radio Werewolf
- The Lightning and the Sun, Vinyl Mini LP 1989 Radio Werewolf, Unclean Productions ASIN: B000XV7U6I
- Bring Me the Head of Geraldo Rivera, Vinyl Mini LP 1990 Unclean Production ASIN: B001EBFUXG
- Songs for the End of the World, CD 1991 Radio Werewolf, Gymnastic Records, ASIN: B001EB9JFG
- Witchcraft/Boots, Vinyl Double-cover 12-inch Maxi Single 1991 Radio Werewolf, Unclean Production ASIN: B001EBDQXM
- Love Conquers All, CD 1992 Radio Werewolf, Gymnastic Records, ASIN: B000025TGE
- The Vinyl Solution- Analog Artifacts: Ritual Instrumentals and Undercover Versions, CD
Producer
- Christopher Lee Sings Devils, Rogues & Other Villains (From Broadway To Bayreuth And Beyond), 1996 Wolfslair, Inc., Co-Produced with Nikolas and Zeena Schreck, ASIN: B004GL0VRQ
- 5,000 Years of the God Set, 1997 Wolfslair, Inc./2012 Kaliyuga Clearing House, Producer Zeena Schreck, no ASIN
- Charles Manson Superstar (co-producer/narrator), 1989, film documentary, director/producer: Nikolas Schreck)
Other recordings
- Zeena provided all the female narration, as well as contributing some of the soundtrack music for the documentary film Charles Manson Superstar, 1989 Video Werewolf.
- Georges Montalba – Pipe Organ Favorites & Fantasy in Pipe Organ and Percussion, 2001 Hit Thing, digipack booklet includes an article written by Zeena Schreck with her archival photos, graphics and the last photo together of her and her father, ASIN: B001K2GGTG
- Zeena [LaVey] Radio interviews: Three Volume Set, 1989 The Black House, no ASIN
- Zeena Speaks on the Death of Anton LaVey, 1998 Wolfslair, Inc./2012 Kaliyuga Clearing House, no ASIN
- X – Zero (Track: Hymn To The Great Grand Goat), Vinyl LP 1998 Musicus Phÿcus, no ASIN
- All My Sins Remembered – The Sonic Worlds of John Murphy (Live track from WGT 2015 performance; track title "Sethian Dream Oracle"), 3-CD compilation, 2016 The Epicurean
See also
In Spanish: Zeena Schreck para niños
