October kicks off three months of holiday celebrations. And for those in the know, Explorsion (aka Daiana Feuer) and Stepping Stone Presents (aka Liz Garo) put on their annual Murder Ballads & Dark Songs event. Last year, the event occurred at 2220 Arts. This year, they shifted locations to Zebulon.
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| Sugarmill Slim at Zebulon |
To bring along the Halloween spirit, there were bowls of candy throughout the venue. Did I have some candy? Of course, I did. The Halloween theme did not stop there. As one entered, spooky sounds could be heard. The stage was decorated with skeletons, a severed arm, eye ball floor lights, and synthetic spider webs. Those spider webs did do their job as I saw them clinging to people throughout the night.
What were some of the highlights of a night that included 16 acts?
The scene-stealer belongs to Sugarmill Slim (Anders LaSource). "Have you seen my daughter?" LaSource said, rushing around the venue before getting back up on stage to sing PJ Harvey's "Down By The Water." It ended with fake blood being splattered across a white dress and a death scene. Add to it all: Easy Love on drums -- do I have to go back to Summer Twins days when I last saw her behind the drum kit? Maybe. "I bet you never saw that episode of SpongeBob SquarePants."
Main squeezes, Borrowed Lips and Swimming Bell, sang tales from two perspectives. It was Borrowed Lips first performance ever. Swimming Bell (Katie Schottland) mentioned that "Murder Ballads were the very first form of storytelling. That's how news got around. People would write songs and tell the story of the news."
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| Borrowed Lips and Swimming Bell at Zebulon |
Ravens Moreland took Bob Dylan's folk tune "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and turned it into a "nocturnal industrial death rock" cover. Does one dare say that Ravens Moreland's version is superior to Bob Dylan's. It can't be. It must have been the Halloween ghosts having too much influence.
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| Ravens Moreland at Zebulon |
Los Angeles punk royalty, Alice Bag, performed a song before a peak audience crowd. Backing her up were the Bloody Death Skull band members. You could tell it was a moment to remember for them. Alice Bag's right hand was telling the story. "I love Alice Bag, that's all I've got to say," was Taleen Kali's reaction.
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| Alice Bag at Zebulon |
Four favorites went back-to-back starting with Taleen Kali. I've seen her a number of times throughout the years. There was a moment where I was just stunned by her vocals. I was thinking, I don't believe I've ever heard her hit those high notes before. Anyways, the band has a Kickstarter going to raise funds for their sophomore album (link can be found on their Instagram page).
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| Taleen Kali at Zebulon |
Covers of the Williams country family were a favorite for Harry Katz and the Pistachios and Emily Rose. Harry Katz sang "Endless Sleep" by Hank Williams Jr. while Emily Rose sang "The Angel of Death" by Hank Williams.
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| Harry Katz and the Pistachios at Zebulon |
Between Harry Katz and Emily Rose was Bart Davenport with Emily Rose doing backing vocals.
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| Emily Rose and Bart Devonport at Zebulon |
I had seen over half of the 16 acts before, many multiple times. So who was new to me (in a way) and will need to catch in the future? Crowjane. She's a member of Egrets On Ergot (I don't know how active they are at the moment). Oh mercy, it was a blast from the past. That band made my list of favorite new finds of 2018.
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| Crowjane at Zebulon |
The night ended at "10 o'clock on the dot."
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