Halloween Industrial Festival: The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of

My dreams haven’t been the same since I attended the Halloween Industrial Festival at Providence’s Club X. Instead of the nightmares in which I forget to wear pants to my first day of school or accidentally drive my car off of the Newport Bridge, I am now awakened in the middle of the night by dancing chickens, sweaty men wearing latex, and sexy women wearing black feathered headdresses. I awake not in fear, but with an impassioned heart akin to the feeling you get when you’re on the verge of kissing your first high school crush – on acid.

Festival ringleader David Dodson flew in artists from all over the world to perform, including England’s Mark Spybey. The festival also attracted plenty of out-of-state music lovers, including Otto Von Schirach, a self-described “chameleon musician and performer” from Miami. Von Schirach expressed his undying appreciation for the festival and opened my eyes to the beauty of gatherings like these.

“It is great to have an eclectic, experimental space for performers,” he told me. “There are no rules. You can be free and open to the madness.” He later described the skinning of a cow head, an esoteric exercise that I missed because all of my attention was focused on a sleep-deprived light and sound guy from A Curious Production who was describing how the music’s high pitch and heavy vibrations broke a bottle of vodka during Controlled Bleeding’s set.

Andy, of Providence’s The Vomit Arsonist, praised the festival’s organizers for pulling off a spectacular show in the face of Frankenstorm Sandy.”There were setbacks because of the hurricane, but despite all of that, the show was dance-y, noisy and had something for everyone,” he explained. “It was definitely a lot of fun.”

Partiers clearly trusted the artists to take them on a strange and magical journey that featured both the demented and passionately beautiful. Even the bartender, who frequently wiped a river of sweat off the bar from a cat-like man dressed in a full-body latex suit, was impressed. As he put it, “It was … different, but I learned a lot about different types of music.”

You can be sure to find me at the next show. I’ll be at the front wearing a clown mask and mini skirt. Maybe nightmares aren’t so bad after all.

Yosefa Leora  is a journalist based in Rhode Island. If you have an interesting story or event you want covered, she can be contacted at yomotif@gmail.com or at DareMe Yosefa on Facebook. She can also be followed at @goagnome on Instagram.