LIVE REPORT ~ The Candy Spooky Theater: November 9 2007
PMX Los Angeles, CA
In this town we call home, everyone hail to the Pumpkin Song.
Veterans to The Candy Spooky Theater’s shows know what This is Halloween signifies: the entrance of bassist princess of sexual witch Peggy Giggles, guitarist creature of the skull Kiddy Skeleton, and The Candy Spooky Theater’s master of ceremonies, mischievous vampire, the illustrious Jack Spooky.
Dressed in full twisted, comical horror garb, the black-and-white striped vocalist of The Candy Spooky Theater stared out emptily into the audience to the much enthused screams of “Jack!” mixed with the vaporous sounds of applause and cheers. He appeared to find all the excitement very curious as he sat by D&L’s drum set with the “fourth member” of The Candy Spooky Theater, the creepy marionette Tsutomu on his lap. Both equally bizarre, his and the doll’s expressions matched perfectly.
The twisted carnival that is The Candy Spooky Theater launched a familiar melody, the first of their eleven song set, Spook House. It was a crowd pleaser that reminded the audience, some of whom flew in to PMX just to see The Candy Spooky Theater, why they were in that room at that moment.
Of course, live performances aren’t without their share of technical problems. The three piece band left the stage somewhat inexplicably following the final notes of Spook House. It was unexpected and the room fell into a hushed silence as questions circulated about what was going on. All eyes turned to Tainted Reality’s CEO, Roger Shackelford, as he explained that Kiddy’s guitar string broke. It was a brief interruption but it didn’t hurt the performance any. Cheers arose as Roger left the audience with this cryptic message: “Halloween ain’t over yet.”
The Candy Spooky Theater continued their eccentric show with Devilish Kidnapper. Something must have poked the sleeping performer in Jack Spooky awake because he certainly came alive with his unique, marionette-like movements during the course of the show, prancing around the stage like a toy soldier.
One very solid moment in Devilish Kidnapper is the lull, lacking any beats or rhythm: all three members of The Candy Spooky Theater dropped forward, like toys that had simply run out of batteries. Of course once the beat got going again, they became very much alive, jumping up and down which prompted the audience to jump with them. There were many moments during the live show that would make an eyebrow twitch, hairs raise, mouths drop, but that particular moment was a stand-out. It’s not theater. It’s simply the insanity that is The Candy Spooky Theater.
The Candy Spooky Theater crew in general have a very different approach to live performances, the symmetry of which is a pleasant experience to watch. Peggy Giggles couldn’t possibly have a name more suited to him. Never once did he lose his shimmering, adorable demeanor. Personally I couldn’t get over how much Kiddy Skeleton resembled David Bowie in The Labyrinth, but he was equally interesting to watch as he explored his own doll rhythms – stiff and stoic, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s a Kiddy thing.
Tsutomu handled the job of introductions, a valiant effort on his part. He tried looking up Peggy’s skirt, and when that didn’t work out, he made his way over to Kiddy Skelaton. That didn’t work out too well either. It resulted in Jack stroking poor Tsutomu’s swollen head. But that didn’t stop the gallant Tsutomu from shouting to the audience, “LETS GO CRAZY TOGETHER!”
Calling it crazy or insane isn’t a far stretch from the truth. The Candy Spooky Theater could be the perfect fusion of carnival and horror, a macabre circus that delights and bewilders the senses. Three fascinating live dolls coupled with sounds from beyond the grave and past hell’s gates, when The Candy Spooky Theater leaves the stage and closes the curtains on their spellbinding show, it’s amusing to recall what a warped journey that show was.
set list
Spook House
-MC-
Devilish Kidnapper
Prince of Darkness
Murder Toy in the Closet
-MC-
(new song)
Strip
TRICK or TREAT
Merry Go Round
The Wind-Up Electric Chair
Bordeaux After Midnight
The Bride of Sleeping Forest
-ENCORE-
Spook House
photos and live report by Sarah; Kiddy Skeleton photo courtesy of sadOasis
Thank you to Tainted Reality and PMX for making this possible.
links
The Candy Spooky Theater Official Website
The Candy Spooky Theater Official Myspace
The Candy Spooky Theater Interview PMX 2007
PMX
BACK
