Ten Connecticut rock horrors: A local band Halloween playlist, plus some live musical frights
It’s scary how great the Connecticut music scene can be. Connecticut has brought you such frighteningly monikered bands as Plague Witch, Witches Rock, Hannah Cranna (named for a purported witch buried in Monroe), Eyes of the Dead, Dead by Wednesday, Evilution, Deadwait, Exit Ghost, Ghost of a Chance and many others.
Scary songs by Connecticut bands are even more ubiquitous. Here’s a sampling spanning the doo-wop ’50s to a classical/surf mash-up released this month, plus a live Halloween music event you can you watch online Saturday night and a DVD with a new score of a classic silent horror movie.
“Shadows” by the Five Satins. “Someone stepped way into my dreams/ And tore them, tore them apart/ Shadows for the first time/ Came into my heart.” Makes you realize there may be a darker side to the Satins' biggest hit, “In the Still of the Night.” On YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=ouRg6VqY6Yg
“Ding Dong The Witch is Dead,” the Fifth Estate. A bubblegum reworking of the “Wizard of Oz” song marking the demise of the Wicked Witch of the East. The Fifth Estate formed in 1963 in Stamford, toured with major pop bands and are still releasing compilations of their old garage band material: “Garunge Deluxe" came out this year. On YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=gT3QhfiGxRI.
“The Ghost of Way” by Jasper Wrath. A startling bit of fast-paced, mood-altering prog-rock originally released under the fake band name “Zoldar & Clark” after Jasper Wrath broke up in 1976. The band’s co-founder Jeff Cannata is still active as a producer and recently reunited his other band Arc Angel. He’s got a spooky side: The bio page on his website, cannatamusic.com, features a skeleton collapsed at a soundboard. On YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=DIJqlAu_Dnc.
“I Go Ghost" by Solin. Power-pop panic from a soul-searching singer/songwriter. On SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/solinmusic/08-i-go-ghost.
“Little Witch" by The Botswanas. A prized 45 from the hard-charging female-fronted New Haven garage/punk band of the ’90s. On SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/feralette/the-botswanas-little-witch
“Teenage Witch” by The Gravel Pit. When a local rock writer and Archie comics fan (all right, it’s the guy who wrote this story) mistyped The Botswana’s “Little Witch” as “Teenage Witch” in a New Haven Advocate “Music Notes” column, The Gravel Pit took the wrong title and ran with it: “Flying through the gloom/ Flying on a broom/ What should I do when I picture you?” It’s on the band’s breakthrough album “The Gravel Pit Manifesto” from 1996, and on Spotify, Amazon Music and other streaming services.
“Ghost” by Dirt. Sabbath-esque metal workout with screams by “Chalice” Betterton and guitars by the identically nicknamed John “Dirt” Francis and Raphael “Dirt” Guzzi. On YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=pRurY8cztuI.
“Surf Toccato" by Rob Nelson. A brand-new hybrid of surf music and J.S. Bach’s creepy “Toccata and Fugue in D minor.” Nelson posted it on SoundCloud this month: soundcloud.com/rob-nelson-525033013/surf-toccata-by-rob-nelson-with-help-from-js-bach?. This week, Nelson released another Halloween song, also instrumental but more rock-minded, with blistering guitar by Peter Greenberg of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages. “Birth of the Ghoul," which opens with a wild scream, is on BandCamp at robnelson2.bandcamp.com/track/birth-of-the-ghoul.
“Nosferatu." Strangely, and wonderfully, you can take your pick of locally produced original soundtracks to the 1922 silent vampire movie. New Milford horror rocker Argyle Goolsby of Blitzkid is webcasting his “Nosferatu: A Cinematic Seance" Oct. 31 at 7 p.m., featuring a fresh print of the film and new title cards. It is also being released on DVD and CD. Details at acwnnstore.com or the Argyle Goolsby Facebook page. Two other “Nosferatu” scores on BandCamp, from experimental jazz band Light Upon Blight (lightuponblight.bandcamp.com) and Istvan B’Racz’s dark neoclassical combo Goorilla (braczsound.bandcamp.com).
Yale Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 Halloween Show. The Halloween concert by the undergraduate Yale Symphony Orchestra has gone online this year. The show is a mix of frights, comedy, original film and music projects and rousing symphonic scares. Oct. 31 at 11 p.m. Free, though a $15 donation is requested. Register at yso.yalecollege.yale.edu/event/yso-halloween-show-0.
Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.
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