Worlds by Jason Lee
All Hallow’s Eve season has evolved over the years as a fascinating mirror to the state of the surrounding society going all the way back to its origins as a Medieval-era pagan ritual (the “Dark Ages”) celebrating a successful harvest (agrarian societies) all the way up to 20th century ‘Murica which refashioned Samhain Day as a family-friendly children’s holiday (the Norman Rockwell-izing of Halloween)…
…all about off-the-rock costumes and acquiring large quantities of candy (consumer society) but which in the latter-day 20th century reclaimed some of its edgier associations with the rise of the counterculture—becoming a sort of “queer Christmas” for all of those shut out of Norman Rockwell’s America—marked by bacchanalian parades and celebrations, identity play, and slutty costumery…
…all culminating in the rise of the “cover band showcase” in current times which combines most of the elements listed above—and by cover band showcase we mean the plethora of live shows one finds in the days leading up to Halloween where a lineup of local bands choose one iconic musical artist apiece and play an entire set covering some of their songs usually whilst dressed up as said artists or in similar fashion…
…which combines the old school pagan ritual associations of All Hallow’s Eve (rock stars are our modern pagan gods of course) alongside nostalgic associations harkening back to childhood (bands/artists tend to cover fovourite artists from childhood and adolescence that shaped them in their formative years) but in settings that are all about adult-oriented Dionysian release…
…like house parties for instance and speaking of house parties the Halloween Cover Show Season begins in earnest this weekend with one example being the party happening tonight at an undisclosed location in North Brooklyn (you can purchase a ticket here to find out where!) featuring Aux Blood as the Ramones, Gun as Limp Bizkit, November Girl as No Doubt, and Sofia Zarzuela as Nirvana and for this feature we asked each of the artists to share a few words on what led them to choose their particular tributed artist and the answers may surprise you…
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Aux Blood: Ramones laid the groundwork for what we do. We all love them but after playing their songs for a few weeks you gain a whole new appreciation for the music. That’s probably the best part.
Gun: Limp Bizkit goes extremely hard and anyone that says different is a loser. We’re influenced by them quite a bit and we’ve covered “Break Stuff” a bunch of times so it felt pretty natural.
November Girl: I wanted an excuse to dye my hair pink, and I wanted us to be able to play songs people could dance to, since it’s a Halloween party!
Sofia Zarzuela: We chose to do Nirvana cuz we already covered Hole!! 😀