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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2015)
DEEP CUTS ADD A FEW FRESH SLICES TO YOUR HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST W Fever Damn With the season of the witch gearing up again, Coast Weekend chatted with some local musicians about their favorite harvest songs, murder ballads and monster tunes. From obscure to obvious, there is enough trick in this list of treats to keep your cauldron brewing and your party howling well past midnight. Holiday Friends Astoria’s reigning pop princes shared a few spooky tunes heavy on the groove. The indie-rock goup includes, from left, Zack O’Connor, Scott Fagerland, Jon Fagerland and Joey Ficken. Catch the Holiday Friends at The Crystal Ballroom in Portland on Dec. 2 or any day at www.holidayfriendsmusic.com Luke Ydstie & Kati Claborn When they aren’t playing in Blind Pilot or Hook & Anchor, Luke Ysdtie and Kati Claborn can often be found playing around town together, as they will be this Halloween night at the Fort George Lovell Building around 7 p.m. See them channel some of these haunting tunes and check out Luke’s recently released solo album “Collect- ed Essential Works.” “The Werewolf” by Michael Hurley: “A beautiful lilting melody with the most complex character study of a werewolf in song to date.” — Luke Ysdtie “The Shankhill Butchers” by The Decemberists: “This song is a cautionary tale about what happens to children who don’t heed their mothers words. Those poor, unfortunate souls who disobey their parents are given up to the Shankhill Butchers, who come for them with cleavers, knives and all manner of nightmare fodder.” — Zack O’Connor “Helter Skelter” by The Beatles: “The words ‘Helter Skelter’ have lots of spooky meanings.” — Scott Fagerland “Thriller” by Michael Jackson: “Because we love Michael Jackson, we love good pop music and Michael Jackson is the KING OF POP!” — Scott Fagerland “Zombie” by The Cranberries: “Because … Zombies. Also The Cranberries are a staple in my life music playlist. Ironically though, this has got to be one of my least favorite Cranberry songs.” — Scott Fagerland “Lady Margaret,” traditional English ballad : “This creepy ghost song dates to the 1600s and features some wonderfully chill-inducing imagery, including corpsey-lips and beds fl oating in blood. Yikes.” —Luke Ysdtie “In the Pines” by Leadbelly: “Nirvana did a version of this, which is notable for a wonderful doomy, lo-fi thrashiness, but Leadbelly’s more nuanced performance contains a slight cheery edge, which somehow creeps the whole thing up that much more.” — Luke Ydstie “Edward,” traditional English ballad “Edward’s Wife: ‘How’d you get that blood on your sleeve?’ Edward: ‘Oh, that’s from my horse. I mean my dog. Shoot, did I say dog? I mean your brother.’” —Luke Ydstie “This is Halloween” by Danny Elfman (From the motion picture “The Nightmare be- fore Christmas”) : “If we wanted an encapsulation of Halloween to explain the holiday to aliens, this would be a fair candidate.” — Luke Ydstie Hollywise These pop punk practitioners from Seaside off er up some scary and fun tunes at a faster pace. From left, Zach Spooner, Josh Strozzi, Maxwell Strozzi and Mitchell Stephens. Check out their Reverb Nation page for info on upcoming shows. “Dig Up Her Bones” by The Misfi ts, rec- ommended by Maxx Strozzi: “Dig up her bones starts with the cry of a coyote followed by a driving intro that’s sure to get a crowd moving.” — Mitchell Stephens “Halloween” by The Misfi ts, recom- mended by Maxx Strozzi : “Lyrics that reminisce of pumpkin carving and other Halloween traditions are sang in an early punk, Ramones fashion.” — Mitchell Stephens “This is Halloween” by Marilyn Man- son: “Marilyn Manson’s take on, ‘This is Halloween’ defi nitely puts a more metal spin on the set list. An even creepier, heavier version when compared to the original by Danny Elfman.” — Mitchell Stephens “Ghostbusters” by Jed- ward: “There’s defi nitely an inner child in all adults that begins to get excited when hearing this tune.” — Mitchell Stephens “My Curse” by Killswitch Engage : “This song is a much more melodic hardcore ballad that intensifi es any party and gets people pumped for a good time.” — Mitchell Stephens It is evident from any of their music videos available on Youtube that the ladies of Astoria’s Fever Damn know how to have a good time. And while Andrea Mazzarella, left, and Teresa Barnes may be known more for summertime jamming by way of ’90s-era hip-hop, these terrifying tunes cross plenty of genres. Check out their album “Meow Down” at feverdamn. bandcamp.com “Monster Mash” by Bob- by Pickett: “Play it fi ve times in a row.” — Teresa Barnes “Season of the Witch” by Donovan: “I listen to the song ‘Season of the Witch’ by Donovan any time of year, but Halloween seems as good a time as any to put it into the regular rotation.” — Andrea Mazzarella “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds : “Or really probably any of his songs.” — Andrea Mazzarella “Nightmare on my Street” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince: “I guess I should throw in something in the ’90s hip-hop genre since our ‘sound’ reflects that influence. There’s The Fresh Prince song ‘Nightmare on My Street,’ which is cheesy and ridiculous, but then again so is Fever Damn.” — Andrea Mazzarella the arts VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE Story by RYAN HUME October 29, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 9
