However, like the monsters and fictitious characters that will be walking the streets during Halloween weekend, these bands are imitations. In reality, the bands playing are mostly local musicians, covering the songs of these famous bands.
Alex Molica is a member of a Cramps cover band playing two shows Halloween weekend, including a Thursday night set at the Root Cellar Lounge. Molica, also a member of Bloomington punk band Wet Heave, said the tribute-focused shows around Halloween provide an opportunity for fans and bands to connect in ways they might not normally.
“It’s pretty fun, especially when the audience knows a lot of the songs, when they don’t know them with your original music,” he said.
Junior Josef Renton lives at the Brickhouse on South Grant Street and organized a Friday show featuring a mixture of cover bands and bands playing original material.
Renton said Halloween shows have been a tradition at the Brickhouse since he moved to Bloomington for college and before he moved into the house.
Renton isn’t playing in any of the bands set to play the Brickhouse, but he said he understands the appeal of paying homage to influential bands around Halloween when many people get a chance to be someone else, he said.
Plus, Halloween shows give the young adult set — people who have grown out of many Halloween traditions but still want to enjoy the holiday — places to celebrate, Renton said. He said he wants to cultivate a spooky atmosphere and blend of nostalgia and togetherness.
“It’s the 20-something’s trick-or-treating, where, instead of candy, you get to listen to sweet tunes and dress up,” he said.
Renton also said Halloween weekend highlights the liveliness of Bloomington’s house show scene, with shows happening at several houses across the weekend.
Molica said Halloween shows have a tradition in Bloomington — at least since he moved to town nine years ago. Though many cities with thriving music scenes have similar traditions of cover shows around the holiday, Bloomington’s has grown in recent years, he said.
“I guess this is the first time I’ve seen so many people doing this,” he said. “This (year) just seems a lot bigger.”
In Bloomington’s music climate, the shows can even act as a unifier to bring together people who might not usually like the same type of music or go to the same shows, Molica said.
Renton said the shows are also indicative of Bloomington’s artistic unpredictability and, especially at Halloween, they can expose people to things they wouldn’t expect.
“Freshman year, me and my buddies were walking around, and we stumbled across a Beatles cover show,” he said. “It’s Bloomington. You never know what you’re going to see, and that’s why I love it so much.”
