Rock & Shock 2014 Pulls Back the Curtain Just Enough…
…to Give Us an Early Reveal of a Few of 2014’s Guests & Performers
By LD and DDD
Rock & Shock is getting ready to turn it up to 11! In anticipation of the 11th anniversary of THE horror and music convention that brings 3 days of monsters, music and mayhem ~ not to mention diehard fans from coast to coast ~ to downtown Worcester, MA’s DCU Center and The Palladium, Rock & Shock is giving the public an extra early sneak peak at this year’s attendees ~ and as every horror fan worth the blood and brains in his or her body knows, each year the list of celebrity guests starts out incredible and winds up mind-blowing by the time the doors open on the first day of the gathering that has come to define what a horror convention should be. While there are still plenty of big name acts yet to be divulged, Rock & Shock is teasing us by revealing that actors Brad Dourif, John Ratzenberger, Jeffrey Combs, Nivek Ogre and Fiona Dourif are already confirmed guests and that King Diamond, Machine Head and Twiztid are among some of the convention’s scheduled musical performers. IS IT OCTOBER YET????
Brad Dourif and his alter ego Chucky
Brad Dourif, the voice of everyone’s favorite flame-haired doll turned serial killer Chucky, will be making a rare convention appearance at Rock & Shock 2014. Dourif is a legendary character actor who is best known for his appearances in Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 & 2, The Exorcist III, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers & The Return of the King, Dune, TV’s “Deadwood,” and his breakthrough role as Billy Bibbit in Milos Forman’s 1975 classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. To make the event a true family affair, Dourif will be joined by his real life daughter and True Blood star Fiona Dourif. Fiona’s other screen credits include Curse of Chucky, “Deadwood,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Academy Award nominated film The Master.
Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West
A legend in both the horror and sci-fi communities, Jeffery Combs will be making his triumphant return to Rock & Shock this year. Combs first made his name as Herbert West, the main character in Re-Animator and its two subsequent sequels. An immediate icon the moment horror fans laid eyes on him as West, he followed that character up with appearances in several classic horror films including The Frighteners, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, House on Haunted Hill, FeardotCom and, most recently, Would You Rather. True fans can list off his vast resume of [sometimes nearly unrecognizable but always “Combs-Creepy”] cameos in a host of other films and television programs as well. Science-fiction fans best love Combs for his portrayals of several characters within the Star Trek universe, most notably the Vorta clone Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
John Ratzenberger (R) in Motel Hell
He has danced with the stars, voiced some of your favorite cartoon characters and even fought for the Rebel Alliance ~ and this October, Cheers‘ very own John Ratzenberger will be returning to the place where everybody knows his name. In addition to portraying Cliff Clavin, postal worker extraordinaire on the seminal Boston-based TV series Cheers, Ratzenberger has appeared in films including Motel Hell and House 2: The Second Story, competed on “Dancing With the Stars,” and has become the voice of Pixar. Ratzenberger is, in fact, the only actor to voice a a character in every Pixar film, most notably Hamm the Piggy Bank in the Toy Story series, The Abominable Snowman in Monsters, Inc. and Mack the Truck in Cars.
Rounding out the early announcements is Skinny Puppy and ohGr frontman Nivek Ogre. Since forming Skinny Puppy in 1982, Ogre has wowed audiences as both a musician and an actor, appearing in films such as Repo! The Genetic Opera, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams and The Devil’s Carnival.
King Diamond
Speaking of world renowned musicians, this year’s performers already include King Diamond, who will kick-off the event’s pre-party on Thursday, October 16, Machine Head, Children of Bodom, Epica, and Battlecross, who will be shaking the walls of The Palladium on Friday, October 17, and Twiztid, back by popular demand with their Fright Fest festivities scheduled to close out the event on Sunday, October 18. Stay tuned and start guessing, as a very special guest headliner for Saturday will be announced in August!
Tickets for Rock & Shock 2014 go on sale this Friday, June 27th at 10am at ticketfly.com, FYE stores, and at The Palladium box office. There are still PLENTY of celebrity guests, musical acts and events yet to be announced, so make sure to visit rockandshock.com, follow Rock & Shock (and enjoy pix from past years) on Facebook, and make R n S part of your Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram universe.
Special thanks to Kevin Barbare, Jillian Miller, and Gina Migliozzi