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Oct 31, 2013 Web Exclusive By Mark Redfern

We sent out the same set of Halloween-related questions to a bunch of different musicians. All Halloween week we are posting their responses. Here are some spooky answers from Blouse, Widowspeak, White Poppy, Ejecta, and Breathe Owl Breathe.

Blouse

Charlie Hilton

What was the best Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the best Halloween you ever had?

The best Halloween I ever had was when I was 23, living in Los Angeles. My friend Hilary and I dressed up like dead ballerinas and went to a party at a young director’s house in Hollywood. He was a gay man, so it was pretty much a gay party, and most everyone there was male, and almost all of them were wearing speedos with various accessories. Somewhere in the house, we found a bottle of very expensive theatrical blood and smeared it all over our necks so that we looked a little more dead. The bar only served Red Bull and vodka, but we managed to get an ecstasy pill from someone and split it. I had never taken it before, and I wouldn’t condone it, but I took it without thinking anything of it. I can’t remember how it happened, but all of a sudden I was kissing what must have been the only straight man at the party. I don’t remember his face, but all I remember is he had very long hair and it was the most incredible kiss. It could have been a wig. He could have been a woman. After the party we went to the bar at Chateau Marmont, where one of our friends worked, and we had a private dance party after closing. My friend and I took off our shoes and we slid around in our tights all over the floor. She kept telling people she was Isadora Duncan, but no one knew who that was. That’s my favorite part about Halloween, people asking you what you are and you having to explain. That, and having theatrical blood stuck on your neck for days.

What was the worst Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the worst Halloween you ever had?

Somehow, I thought it was a good idea to dress up as a biker-prostitute when I was 12. I went to the school dance like that. Then my friend put a snail down my back because she knew I was afraid of them. She was a terrible friend. I didn’t like that night. We basically wandered around the suburbs of Los Angeles looking for something to do after the dance. But being a teen on Halloween is terrible because you’re too old to care about candy, but too young to have anything else to do. That’s when snails go down dresses and things get lit on fire with hairspray.

What do you plan to dress up as for Halloween this year?

I’m going to be Lawrence of Arabia. I just watched the restored version of the film and I can’t stop thinking about it. I already have the blonde wig. I love when Peter O’Toole puts on those robes for the first time, and how happy they make him, how he runs away just so he can dance around a little in private. When I watched that, I thought to myself, “I’d like to do that.” Halloween is a good opportunity to fulfill those kinds of wants.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

The Shining.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

“Souvenir,” by OMD. It’s not classically spooky, but it sounds to me like the song that continues to play after your car has crashed and you’re laying there, dead. It’s one of my favorite songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDIYOiQUi2s

www.blouseblouse.com

Widowspeak

Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas

What was the best Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the best Halloween you ever had?

Molly Hamilton: Best costume was probably as a tax collector in third grade. I knew that adults found them terrifying and that they went door to door. Or a few years ago I was Little Edie Beale from Grey Gardens, and it kind of ruled.

Robert Earl Thomas: My little sister was born the night before Halloween. In all the confusion we totally forgot to make costumes so one of the nurses let my brother and I raid the supply closet. We took scrubs and band-aids and rubber gloves and went trick-or-treating as male nurses.

What was the worst Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the worst Halloween you ever had?

Molly: Worst Halloween was probably the year I was Little Edie Beale from Grey Gardens because no one got it.

Robert: My mom has a strict homemade-costumes-only policy. One Halloween I wanted to be the Red Power Ranger so my mom tried her hand at it. I thought the costume was terrible and whined the whole night. In retrospect it was actually a killer costume, haha.

What do you plan to dress up as for Halloween this year?

Molly: We haven’t decided yet, but we have a show in Chicago so it’s got to be good. Last year we played as Jedis, and I was Princess Leia.

What have you always wanted to dress up as for Halloween but never had the guts and/or resources to pull off?

Robert: I’m always too chicken to shave my mustache for a costume, which really limits my options.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

Robert: Bubba Ho-Tep with Bruce Campbell is more funny than scary, but it’s definitely my favorite movie about a killer mummy terrorizing an old folks’ home.

Molly: Candyman. It’s a pretty terrifying plot (an urban legend about a killer summoned through mirrors who lives in Chicago housing projects), but the score is also by Philip Glass, and is incredibly eerie and suspenseful. I get pretty spooked by urban legend stories-I am still too scared to say “Candyman” or “Bloody Mary” five times into mirrors.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

Robert: “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” by Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock. Or maybe “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave.

www.widowspeak.bandcamp.com

White Poppy

Crystal Dorval

What was the best Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the best Halloween you ever had?

The best costumes and Halloween memories are from when I was a kid. My dad used to really like doing face paint, so I had a really good cat face and devil face.

What was the worst Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the worst Halloween you ever had?

My worst Halloween experience was when I was in middle school. I went to a party in the boonies and these small town “gangster” girls wanted to fight me. They started chasing me down the street and this huge crowd of teens followed us in hopes of seeing a fight. I ended up running to my friend’s house and her dad was home, luckily. He let me inside and then he went outside and starting yelling at all the kids and told them to go away (in much harsher words). It was pretty terrifying and awful, but it makes for a good story now.

What do you plan to dress up as for Halloween this year?

I liked the idea of going as a piece of Lego, but I probably won’t want to make that costume when it comes time to do it. My boyfriend and I also talked about going as Mulder and Scully.

What have you always wanted to dress up as for Halloween but never had the guts and/or resources to pull off?

I’ve been wanting to go as Sally Jessy Raphael from the ‘80s for a while now, but I need to find the perfect red glasses. I sort of want to become one of those people who goes as the same thing every year. I just need to find the perfect costume.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

I don’t like watching scary movies. Did you know that people who are highly sensitive actually experience gore and horror in movies as if it were reality?

What’s your favorite spooky song?

I’ve always really liked the “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett.

www.crystaldorval.com

Ejecta

Leanne Macomber

What was the best Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the best Halloween you ever had?

Last year I crucified Halloween by dressing up as a pants-less Santa zombie. It seemed appropriate in the company of my 11-year-old niece, whom I was chaperoning through this quiet Bible-belt suburb. Apparently, adults are expected to be not only fully clothed around children at all times, but should refrain from violently shattering their belief in God. I watched trick-or-treater after trick-or-treater silently mouth my name, “Santa,” then immediately turn to an angry mother staring me down or dad attempting to redirect their attention to the excellent decorative stylings of whatever house seemed far enough away to get me out of their field of vision. I even got hugs from a toddler who didn’t happen to notice my egregious lack of trousers or the blood in my beard. I’m a bad person.

www.facebook.com/EjectaEjecta

Breathe Owl Breathe

Trevor Hobbs

What was the best Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the best Halloween you ever had?

We played a Halloween show a few years back where I was a skeleton being struck by lightning, Micah [Middaugh] was a cloud, and Andréa [Moreno-Beals] was a Canada goose. Micah had put together a huge cloud headdress, complete with piles of glued-on cotton balls. Then we strung up a bunch of lightning bolts connecting Micah’s headdress to me at the drums (stage left). Andréa was in full black and white face paint, wings, bill, and goose suit…so good. I think there might have been only about 15 people there, but everyone including the audience was in their best Halloween costume.

What was the worst Halloween costume you ever dressed up in and/or what was the worst Halloween you ever had?

When I was in first grade, I really wanted to be Optimus Prime (from Transformers). So, my mom got me this amazing vinyl suit and mask. That day at school, for whatever reason, I was wearing corduroy pants underneath my costume, which was insanely hot. But I was dedicated to the role of Optimus Prime, and I didn’t let it shake my confidence. There was also a lot of walking around school that day-I think it must have been a parade or something-whatever we were doing, I was so proud of my costume. Then at the end of the day, after most of the kids were gone, I found myself walking down the hallway. Around the corner in front of me turns this girl that I had a huge crush on…a fifth grader! As I walked down the hall toward her, and her toward me, I thought to myself, “this is my chance to impress her!” Gradually, I started hearing this “zip, zip, zip, zip” type of sound with every step I took. As I was passing the girl, I looked down to discover that my corduroys had worn through the inside seam of the vinyl costume pants, which were now tattered and falling off my body. I looked up in horror, my face all slimy with condensation under my plastic mask, and saw her laughing at me. I was so bummed. The scene replayed in my head over and over any time I thought about Halloween from then on. The next year came around and I knew I had to be a hockey player, something tough, so I could redeem myself.

What do you plan to dress up as for Halloween this year?

This tour we are coming up on is actually called the Lost Costume Tour. There will be several layers of costume that will be revealed throughout the day, depending on the activity at hand. We may play an ultimate Frisbee game prior to our Halloween show in Iowa City. As night rolls around, costumes may change. I think I’ll eventually end up as Christopher Walken.

What have you always wanted to dress up as for Halloween but never had the guts and/or resources to pull off?

Always did. There’s never really been the option not to in my life.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

House on Haunted Hill (the original version from 1959). I couldn’t sleep for weeks after I saw that the first time!

www.breatheowlbreathe.com