Tyler Walker and Friends, Tayls and More Get in the Spirit

On Halloween at The East Room, the sheet ghosts and last-minute Party City fits were left at home. Despite a persistent cold drizzle, the Thursday night crowd turned out for an unofficial gathering of Nashville’s most specialized costumes, with each new outfit seemingly a more niche pop-culture reference than the last. A duo of pre- and post-corruption Jojo Siwas mingled with Lisa Frankenstein, while a human-size pack of cigarettes leaned on the bar and a seemingly endless supply of Robert Smiths was spread out among the pre-show crowd. 

The aforementioned Smiths gathered onstage just after 8:30 p.m. as Tayls, kicking off their Cure-dedicated set with “Boys Don’t Cry.” Teased hair, smudged eyeliner and sullen vocals culminated into a perfect emulation of the post-punk pioneers. 

“This is Robert, that’s Robert, back here’s Robert, over here’s Robert, I’m Robert,” frontman Taylor Cole said. “We’re all Robert here!”

Tayls experimented with ethereal vocal harmonies to complement classic upbeat ballads like “Just Like Heaven” before careening into The Cure’s darker discography for a few songs that are practically obligatory on All Hallow’s Eve. The band revved up the eerie goth undertones full-throttle for songs like “Lullaby” and “A Forest,” turning the tiny corner stage into a borderline nightmare-fueled fever dream.

The post-Tayls energy immediately dissipated as the house music cut to “Super Freak” while the band broke down, leaving an empty stage for the next act.

After a brief intermission, Neil Fridd, better known as Terror Pigeon, embraced his inner Count for a round of vampire karaoke. The audience invited him in from the venue’s dark alley threshold, after which he skittered barefoot to the stage for “Death by a Slayer,” a Weird Al-by-way-of-Nosferatu parody of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” 

Fridd scurried around the stage for his supernatural-themed set list, cast in the glow of a projector light displaying homemade Photoshopped clip-art lyric videos behind him. Halfway through the set, Tayls bassist Michael Taylor (also spot-on frontman of Talking Heads tribute These Slippery People) joined Fridd in a Heads duet aptly reworked as “Let Me in the House.” Still barefoot, Fridd pleaded briefly with the sun before his set drew to a close.

Next, Nashville musical theater group Amm Skellars set up for a hyperpop retelling of The Crucible. Any expectations of a typical reenactment of Arthur Miller’s 20th-century classic were quickly snuffed out, as the projected moonlight background glitched and teasing synth beats thumped.

The quartet spiced up spoken acts with choreographed performances featuring crowd walks and neon lights. Near the end of the set, the group invited audience members onstage to beat a candy-filled poppet doll piñata with a paddle. Goody Proctor & Co. took a group bow before tossing the candy into the audience and disappearing ominously behind a white curtain.

Around 10:30 p.m., a group of Nashville bachelorettes, complete with pink cowboy hats and punny bridesmaid sashes, assembled a panoply of instruments onstage, neon orange Home Depot bucket included. The East Room bachelorettes were Tyler Walker and Friends — aka Meth Dad and/or Sessy — appearing for one night only as LSD Soundsystem. (The last time we saw a version of this LCD Soundsystem tribute was on NYE 2016, and it ruled.) The group took up their respective instruments, giving a few shakes to test out the tambourine and some foreshadowing strokes of analog synth.

The set brought new meaning to the phrase “it takes a village,” with Walker requiring six friends to re-create the eclectic indie-sleaze cadence of LCD Soundsystem. The band opened with the drawn-out bucket-beating intro of “Dance Yrself Clean,” the anticipation making the synthy, drum-heavy beat drop all the more electrifying.

The synth surrendered the spotlight for “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,” replaced by cowbell and a triple threat of bass. The electrifying early-catalog Soundsystem tune got the crowd headbanging, with one hotdog losing his head in the process.

The group closed with the bittersweet anthem “All My Friends,” mixing New Order-esque guitar in with the song’s original rapid synth and drums. Reflected in rainbow strobe lights, the audience came together for a fitting group hug at the end as Walker belted, “Where are your friends tonight?”

“Thank you, guys, we’re LSD Soundsystem,” Walker said. “We’ll play again in eight years.”

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