Monday night WRPR-FM (90.3) hosted a Halloween rock concert to warm people up for the spooky holiday. Friends Hall was illuminated by rainbow light as the bands Dumpcake, Raccoon Cheesecake and Until Tomorrow performed.
Dumpcake started the concert off with a song that showed off the lead singer Matt Demersky’s emotional voice. His use of whining as he sang conveyed the despair of his songs, most of them following themes of struggling relationships. The music was highlighted by Kevin Gudiel’s energetic drumming.
Despite the band’s songs following heartache, Demersky donned the robes of Jesus for this performance. Meanwhile, Gudiel wore a winter hat with pompoms that resembled a lion.
Near the end of the performance, Dumpcake let the audience in on a running joke of theirs. At each performance, they would give an audience member a bottle of mustard. However, due to time constraints and the convenience store not having mustard, they brought a bottle of ketchup with mustard packets taped to the outside. When the time came to choose someone in the audience to receive this gift, Gudiel spun around covering his eyes before tossing it to the crowd.
Up next was Raccoon Cheesecake, a campus favorite as seen from previous performances and their iconic raccoon logo stickers stamped around campus. Lead singer Nick Stampone wore a raccoon onesie while the bassist “Donny” Higgins had a onesie fashioned after Sully from Monsters Inc. and drummer David Feury was dressed as a very tall baby, bonnet and all.
They performed a range of songs from originals such as “Vulture Boogie” about capitalism and a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Stampone displayed his excellent vocal control in every scream, making every song raw and heartfelt.
Finally, Until Tomorrow took the stage with costumes like Walter White from Breaking Bad and a vampire. Feury deserves an extra round of applause as he was the drummer for both Raccoon Cheesecake and Until Tomorrow, which had him performing two sets in a row.
After an introductory song, Until Tomorrow performed a mashup cover of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” and blink-182’s “All the Small Things.” The mashup flowed nicely and had the crowd bouncing along.
In addition to these bands, the concert attendees came in their costumes. There were people dressed up as a bedazzled devil, an elven being, Hello Kitty and much more. I personally went to the concert as a modern vampire with makeup modeled after Nancy Downs from “The Craft,” a leather jacket, red bat wing shaped sunglasses atop my head and, of course, fangs.
Overall, the concert was a blast. The songs throughout the night ramped up the crowd and provided a perfect transition into Halloween.
pbortner@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Peyton Bortner
