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Oct 28, 2013 His Clancyness 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 Sparks, Wooden Shjips, White Hills, Audacity, and His Clancyness.

Sparks

Russell Mael

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

I dressed up as the Hoover Dam. Leaky but very effective.

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

I dressed up as a box of granola. It was sadly mistaken by some for cornflakes.

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

Since we are on tour this Halloween, I am going as Russell Mael from Sparks.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

Anything by Katy Perry scares the hell out of me.

Wooden Shjips

Dusty Jermier

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

In Iowa, snow came early and heavy, snowbanks high as me. Struggling through the snow in a Daffy Duck mask, door-to-door looking for candy bars but taking whatever was given, even homemade popcorn balls.

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

Worst I ever had: same as the best. I wanted to wear my brother’s Woody Woodpecker mask. I didn’t like that Daffy Duck. I wanted to be scary and I wanted candy. It was an emotional Halloween.

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

The Wicker Man?

What’s your favorite scary movie?

The World Beyond, known to me as Mud Man [aka The Mud Monster]. I’ve only seen this once; that is all that was needed.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

“Long Black Veil.” [Originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell, probably most familiar in Johnny Cash’s version.]

White Hills

Dave W. and Ego Sensation

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

Ego Sensation: My mom made me a Snoopy costume when I was six. I collected enough candy to last the whole year. That was the zenith of Halloweens for me.

Dave W.: Both are the same for me. I dressed up as an Egyptian mummy one time when I went to see The Cramps on a Halloween night.

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

Dave: My worst Halloween was when I was working as a bartender in NYC and had to deal with drunk idiots in costumes.

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

Dave: A hobo.

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

Ego: Freddie Mercury.

Dave: A hobo.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

Ego: Don’t Look Now.

Dave: The Others.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

Ego: “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” by Bauhaus.

Dave: “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!,” by Napoleon XIV

Audacity

Kyle Gibson

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

We as a band dressed up as The Beatles when we were in junior high, mostly to please our mothers. I’ve had lots of great Halloweens—a fun one was a few years ago when our friend Lily had a party, and we played and so did Pterodacdudes. At the end of the night there was a fight and some bottles smashed on people’s heads, so that was exciting.

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

When I was annoying in high school I wrote on a T-shirt “Pink Floyd is a terrible band” and I told people I was “the truth” for Halloween. I like Pink Floyd now. One Halloween

I got an egg thrown at me from a car as I was trick-or-treating, and then later that night my bag of candy broke open and all my candy fell into a sewer.

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

I don’t know and I’m totally freaking out! Maybe something topical like a government shutdown?

What’s your favorite scary movie?

I love Creepshow 2—there’s this one scene where these kids are all stuck on a raft in a lake and there’s a killer oil slick blob that eats them all (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yST0rbG9BQ). Also Re-Animator!

What’s your favorite spooky song?

I think most songs by The Stranglers are spooky and suitable for Halloween, so maybe The Stranglers’ “Hanging Around.” The Stooges’ “We Will Fall” is good séance/sitting-in-a-pitch-black-room music. Also the soundtrack to The Haunted Mansion is great. And anything off of Only Theatre of Pain by Christian Death!

His Clancyness

Jonathan Clancy

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

Giulia [Mazza] dressed up a few years back as a bloody highway patrol officer from her small village she grew up in called Pegognaga. It was perfectly executed. The same year I threw a party in the old part of Bologna. Over 200 people came, and I knew it was too much when a random dude turned up dressed as a mad doctor with a real bleeding cow’s heart in his pocket. Disgusting.

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

Worst Halloween costume: poor Count Dracula.

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

The band has been bugging me to go as a nu metal dude from hell. Basically I’d wear an Adidas bloody track suit.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

La casa dalle finestre che ridono [English title: The House with Laughing Windows]. Incredible Italian movie.

What’s your favorite spooky song?

Wendy Carlos stuff.