“It’s not ideal,” agrees The Funk Klub’s Dr Funkenstein, responding to rumours that people have died of fright at the group’s gigs. “I guess that can happen when you have a band of ghosts,” he says. “But we come into our own at Halloween. Then the living seem to delight in having the pants scared off them. And with us, they can dance at the same time – pants or no pants!”
Since the phantom band haunted the Blue Mountains Music Festival, they’ve had a change of wraiths. “We have a bloodcurdling new guitarist in the form of Vaughn Clippings, whom we dug up from a grave in Blackheath,” says Dr Funkenstein. “People are dying all the time, so it’s quite easy for us to get the pick of the dead, and keep the band on the up – musically, at least. For Halloween this year, we’ve reincarnated some heavily decomposed material that should be both spooky and danceable.” He also recommends people dress up, so the band doesn’t feel too out of place above ground. “The living give us the creeps,” he says.
The Funk Klub’s Halloween: Baroque Room, Saturday October 28, $20. Doors: 7pm. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/halloween-at-baroque-nightclub-with-funk-klub-tickets-711791486497, The Velvet Fog & at the door.