Spooktober is ridiculous

There’s a fine line between being fantastic and being horrible.

The Athens, Ohio duo Spooktober steps all over this line.

I was first introduced to the group when I saw it live at Berea Fest IV two summers ago; the group was horrible.

It was also, however, utterly ridiculous. The bassist wore a fake mullet. The members danced around like idiots, and the group even had a rapper.

The duo made quite an impression on me.

When the lineup came out for Berea Fest V, I was very happy to see Spooktober on the list. 

At the show, I made my way to the front and was ready for my second taste of Spooktober.

I was expecting another show that was so bad it was spectacular, but instead, the group blew my mind with how good it was.

All the songs were danceable, and you could tell the band just wanted everyone to have a good time. Midway through the half-hour set, the band threw tons of toilet paper rolls out to the crowd so that the crowd could teepee themselves. It was great.

After the set, my friends and I stepped out for some air. As Spooktober guitarist and singer Brian Rudell walked by, I told him I enjoyed the set and that the band needed to play in Bloomington.

We then talked about Shaq’s old Taco Neck commercials, and I offered him a Kool-Aid Burst. In exchange for the Kool-Aid, he offered me a copy of the group’s CD, “PukeTober.”

Although Spooktober won me over live, I had very low expectations for the CD. In fact, I had such low expectations that until Tuesday, I had never bothered to listen to it, which was stupid.

“Puketober” is an awesome record. It’s 31 minutes of spooky fun. The band is composed of Brian and bass player Miguel Evanosky.

Both members sing using a lot of distortion and echo while the band is backed up by a Casio keyboard providing beats. Ninety-five percent of the time I would say this sounds like a horrible set-up for a band, but this is one of those in the 5 percent that are special.

The album is full of abrasive guitar hooks, fun keyboards, drum tracks, catchy melodies and the occasional rap verse.

Lyrically, the 10-song album features four songs about ghosts, and the rest range from unrequited love and hating cops to getting skulls cracked by assholes in SUVs.

Spooktober is definitely its own band, but at times it reminds me of a more fun Japanther. I also hear a bit of Daniel Johnston in there, but mostly the band is its own creation.

The first track, “Meeting up with an Ex-Girlfriend,” opens with a 35-second story about someone getting arrested for knife possession. Then it goes into loud crunchy guitar and a fast-paced Casio Beat.

The vocals sneer their way through a great melody: “Were you pretty cool, back when you were in high school, did you date the boy who played guitar?”

The group is helped out by rapper Jesty Beatz on the simple keyboard-based song, “We Hate Cops.” Jesty is later referenced in the song “Tourror Stories,” in which the first verse is about Jesty being attacked by a ghost in Oklahoma City.

Sound clips, video game noises and lyrics about virtually everything make sure that you don’t forget that this band is just here to have a good time.

It would be easy for this band to tread too far on the serious side and end up sounding similar to overindulgent hipsters.

It would also be easy for it to completely go off on the other side and make something completely unlistenable, but instead the band takes that middle ground and comes out with something that is just ridiculously fun.

E-mail: dalten@indiana.edu