The Beer Patrice Return This Halloween With The Freakers Ball
“Come on babies grease your lips
Grab your hats and swing your hips
Don’t forget to bring your whips
We’re going to the freakers ball”
– Shel Silverstein, “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball” (1972)
Attention all ye freakers, miscreants, screwballers, and sapheaded numbskulls of St. John’s and surrounding areas — there’s officially a ball to roll to just in time for Halloween, and it promises to be a place where you can be your weird-ass selves, or be a weird-ass someone else.
Not sold yet? Well, the entertainment for the evening is a hot ticket of multifarious madness, a bang-on bill of bewildering beguilement, a mixed bag of musical tricks and treats, and on top of the pile sits the ghoulishly anticipated return of the pungent funk punkers The Beer Patrice.
The Beer Patrice, Photo by Mike Heffernan (2015)
Do I have to stoop any lower or talk any bigger to shake you to the realization that this is not a night to miss?
October 30th at Velvet Nightclub in St. John’s. Mark it on your calendars.
We spoke to Harris O’Scumwater, Ugg Gurgg, Don Pickles and Roofus Preroll of the The Beer Patrice for a gab on the Freakers Ball, the current state of the band, and what their future may, or may not hold.
Rumor is The Beer Patrice are back for Halloween, and we wanna get to the bottom of it. If this is not just some crazy gag, then tell us — where is it at, and who’s it with?
Harris O’Scumwater: It’s at Velvet – the St. John’s LGBT Club. The Bill: The Beer Patrice, Branch Ricky, The Darts, Cartridge Family, Punch Table.
Urgg Gurgg: We want to have night of boogie down and bang head same time.
The last gig was at CBTG’s, was it not? And from what I remember there was a bit of a capacity issue. And by that I mean there was just as many people outside listening from the deck as there was crammed inside the bar. Besides Velvet being a great club in general, was the accommodating size a motivating factor in the choice of venue?
The Beer Patrice, Photo by Mike Heffernan (2015)
Harris O’Scumwater: The last show was a bit of an eye opener. We aim to have our shows become as wild and involved as we possibly can – and we are going to bring the same thing to Velvet this time around. But honestly we weren’t prepared for how insane it got – by the end I was standing on the drums in a sea of people, none of the mics worked – I was just yelling at the crowd who were doing 90% of the actual singing. It felt like I was a zombie conductor for the walking dead. It ruled.
So I gotta start by saying – Velvet is a venue I have ALWAYS wanted to play since winding up there years ago when I first seen Protest the Hero. It blew my mind – the venue is someplace out of a movie – a wrap-around stage with an open balcony. It’s perfect.
So when we started thinking about a Halloween show we figured it had to be there or bust. It’s just to wicked to pass up. Thankfully everyone at Velvet has been best kind by having us and accommodating a live rock show. I also want to incorporate some drag elements into the show as well, a kind of rocky-horror-picture-show-
Don Pickles: Capacity was an issue and wanted to play somewhere different and hopefully to a broader crowd. We want lots of space so people can rock out in front of the stage and still be able to watch from afar. Also merch tables are something we wanted to have this time around.
The Beer Patrice, Photo by Mike Heffernan (2015)
Roofus Preroll: CBTGS WAS WAY TOO INTENSE. FOR LIFE. TOO MANY BODIES.
TOO MUCH RAGE. I HAD FUN.
What can folks expect from a Beer Patrice Halloween celebration? Isn’t any ordinary Beer Patrice gig slightly in the spirit of the season?
Harris O’Scumwater: We have always dreamed of a combination of b-movie Hollywood horror stage show with rock and roll. Drawing on the talents of as many of our friends as possible – this won’t be the average downtown show. Let’s just say we are pulling out whatever we can on this one.
Don Pickles: Expect the unexpected. This is going to be a show for the books. Every show is indeed reminiscent of Halloween due to the costumes we wear but we encourage people dress up regardless of the Halloween season. We hope to see some stuff this time around.
Is this reassembly for more than just The Freakers Ball, or is the Beer Patrice back to stay?
Harris O’Scumwater: Honestly, no. Dr. Von Romp has to go back to operating on War Trolls in Finland.
Honestly again, I enjoy the difficulty and rarity of the past shows. It forces us to really put our heads together and one-up ourselves. If we are going to teleport the fucker back into town – how are we going to make it worth everyone’s time to put it together and convince everyone to come see us?
As for the future – I have given up thoughts of ever putting the band truly to rest. It’s too much fucking fun, man.
Is there anything else on the books that BP fans should keep their ears out for?
Don Pickles: Nothing yet. Hopefully we can get together after this show to bang out some new songs but for now this is the last foreseeable time we will be together as a band. However, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
Roofus Preroll: GIVE ME MORE SHOWS TO PLAY AND I’LL PLAY THEMS.
“Blow your whistle and bang your gong
Roll up something to take along
It feels so good it must be wrong
We’re freakin’ at the freakers ball”
– Shel Silverstein, “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball” (1972)
Check out the Freakers Ball event here
Hit up the Beer Patrice on bandcamp
and on Facebook