UTBM; All Hallows Eve Ball

Coming into Newtown for the Under the Blue Moon Festival is always a great experience; now in its sixth year it took over the streets of the Inner west with brilliant fashion, music and art. The festival’s peak event was the all ages All Hallows Eve Ball located at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville. This night held a number of fantastic bands; such as The HorrorWood Mannequins, The Art as well as headliners, Japan’s GPKISM, a fashion show dedicated to the support of local designers, as well as a “dungeon of debauchery” hosted by UBER.

Coming up to the venue one could see the array of costumes, and the overt effort people put into their appearance. A myriad of corseted waists, and jokers were present. Big dreads, and bigger boots, top hats and pale faces, Victorian gowns and leather; I will leave you to run wild with your imagination.

Entering the Factory Theatre I made my way straight to the stage to see the first band of the night - The Mansons. Before they began their set, a poem of introduction was delivered by a man with Slipknot hair circa 1999, in a rendition of Edgar Allan Poe’s celebrated masterpiece “The Raven”. Receiving a great applause for an amusing and witty introduction, Newtown’s The Mansons hit the stage, clad in the outfits made famous by Alex DeLarge and his gang from the 1971 film “A Clockwork Orange”. Playing alternative rock, they did a good job in warming up the still entering crowd, which grew considerably in mass during their set.

As The Mansons left the stage it marked the beginning of the night’s fashion parade “Lunarmorph”. First designer to showcase their handmade designs was Baroque & Roll, followed by Gallery Serpentine whose models showed their take on Victorian fashion.

Waiting for the next band to start, I ventured in to the UBER room. With a quick 18+ check I was greeted with Placebo streaming out of the speakers. I was surprised to find that most of the populace inside were sitting down and avoiding the dance floor; that being said, the night was definitely still very young, and that atmosphere changed dramatically further down the line.

Second band of the night were Sydney’s Chaingang. A four-piece “who play love songs for the ladies”, Chaingang have played with the likes of “The Streets”, “The Academy Is”, “Cobra Starship”, as well as “Mercy Arms” among others. With front woman Hayley Foster dressed as Elvis in red, she held huge energy and loved her time on stage and in turn the crowd adored their set. Playing pop punk, Chaingang do not play to my personal musical preferences, however their building audience front of stage enjoyed their tunes and danced the set away.

Following Chaingang, the catwalk was taken over with brilliant hair creations on behalf of Furr Hair, followed by another local designer Beserk Clothing. Taking a break to quench my thirst, I spent around twenty minutes in a line that seemed to scarcely move toward the bar. At this point – it is definitely safe to underline - the Factory Theatre was crowded with a mass of beautiful people.

The time came for the obscene HorrorWood Mannequins! Cut up, torn up and bleeding, the four-piece ripped into their set. With vocalist Audri walking onto the stage as Jack Skellington, these phantoms gave the night children an amazing set. Reminiscent to that of the Frankenstein Drag Queens, the Murderdolls and basically anything related to Wednesday 13, the HorrorWood Mannequins held massive energy, and fantastic stage antics; Audri stripping away his skirt, and parading in stockings [which received howls and laughter] their stage presence received an awesome response from the ghouls and creeps below. After their set I was amused to find that I had lost my press pass within the mass, indeed that is how much I enjoyed the night children on stage.

Another fashion show from Dusk Moth Designs followed by The Wild One - now in its fifteenth year - boasting fantastic creations, is one of the most respected fetish designers in Sydney.  Following I decided to return to the UBER room once more. A change from Placebo and HIM, the music playing was reminiscent to old industrial with a crowd overflowing on the floor clad in amazing clothing, creating a wicked atmosphere, and ready for a burlesque striptease.

Missing most of the set for Juke Baritone, what I did see was an eccentric character boasting an accordion, with a Gypsy Punk Cabaret whom the audience adored; dancing throughout the venue and in the line for the bar to their psychobilly take on alternative, jazz fueled rock.

Midnight came, and marked the time for The Art. Having recently moved to Los Angeles to reawaken themselves, and resurface as THE ART, and even more recently touring with Marilyn Manson on his Sydney and Brisbane stops, this Newtown outfit came upon the Factory stage in true Halloween style; with Azaria as the Joker, KJ shot in her back, guitarist Jak as a ghoul and drummer Steven; well, one could not truly decipher what he was.

Opening their set with “Newtown”, The Art gave those who loved and remember them as The FolloW a number of pieces including; “Smashed Heart”, “Christian Girl”, as well as the self portrait under the moniker of “Indecisive Weirdo” – during which many from the crowd [including this writer] jumped upon the catwalk and danced despite being asked to remove ourselves from the structure. As always, this quartet had a fantastic set, including KJ once again coming up to the microphone and giving the audience her beautiful voice. Finishing with “Happy Now”, The Art left the crowd happy and indulged indeed, and truly wanting more.

Japan’s GPKISM were the headliners of a night full of decadent debauchery, and fantastic music. Having been described as “the manifestation of baroque essence fused with electro/industrial sound, creating a unique world both decadent and sublime” the three-piece played as a duet with live keyboardist RYONAI unable to make the event. Aesthetically brilliant, dressed in amazing gowns with cinched waists, the two androgynous entities upon the stage were absolutely adored by the crowd. With the mass who filled the Factory having begun to disband, those left inside crowded at the front of the stage; with fists pumping air, the females thrashed their hair and all were hanging on every word from Kiwamu and vocalist GPK. The drum machine pumped out heavy industrial blasts, as distorted guitars and classical vocals filled the room, with energy reverbarating from the stage in to the crowd below.

As GPKISM announced their last song, this marked the end of yet another fantastic Under the Blue Moon Festival. With a mass now looking forward to next year, it is indeed remarkable to see how 2010 will top the brilliance provided from this Halloween.