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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Halloween cover show at The Morgue

MICHELLE GORE / AGGIE

The Morgue brings back teenage memories with upcoming house show

If there’s one thing that pulled me through my middle school angst, it was late ‘90s punk music blasting loudly in my bedroom — and I imagine most college students can relate. Local venue The Morgue is hosting a cover show for just that reason. They will be featuring songs by some of the most beloved punk bands: Against Me!, My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Black Sabbath and Green Day.

Rest assured, The Morgue is simply a house, its name inspired by the its close proximity to the Davis Cemetery. Its residents have been throwing house shows since 2013, but this will be their first year hosting a cover show to celebrate Halloween.

Hosts Marisol Ramirez and Melissa Schiller first decided to cover Blink-182. Other performers followed suit, planning to perform songs by their own favorite punk bands.

“Halloween cover shows have been a Davis tradition over the years, but I’ve never hosted one,” Schiller said. “I’m really excited to host and play in it. […] Most of the bands that are playing are a group of friends who just assembled themselves to play these songs […] I think Halloween is a popular time for cover shows because they’re like costumes, but playing songs from different bands. It’ll be a fun night of nostalgia and pop-punk emo-ness.”

Ramirez and Schiller wanted to host a cover show featuring songs by these groups so that attendees could relive high school memories, but most importantly because they’re relatable.

“We wanted to cover Blink-182 because we thought we knew the songs well enough [to] play them and started working from there,” Ramirez said. “We chose those ‘90s emo bands because everyone knows the lyrics, and the guy from our last show said he was in a Black Sabbath cover band. ‘First Date’ by Blink-182 has been really difficult to play but fun once I get in the groove of it.”

Corey Gough, from the band Rex Means King, is coming to Davis from Vacaville to perform songs by My Chemical Romance. Similarly, Paul Collier of the band VVomen is covering songs by Against Me!.

“We’re from the Fairfield area and played at The Morgue a handful of times as well as G-Street Wunderbar, Sudwerk, Third Space,” Gough said. “I’ll be playing in a My Chemical Romance cover band. The bass player, Jason, wanted to play My Chemical Romance and kind of recruited me. I normally play drums, but he needed a guitar player so I said, ‘Sure, why not,’ […] I think it’s going to be hecka fun, and it’s just nostalgic. It’s going to be a blast.”

The appeal of these cover shows is largely their sense of familiarity. Reviving these “emo” bands may remind college students of some cringy adolescent memories, but it also opens a space where everyone can laugh about it together.

“We only have three instruments and the singer, so we’ll be trying to play as closely to the originals as possible,” Collier said. “Our music style is in the same vein, so it’s not really going to be deconstructed. Hopefully everyone will have a good time and we’ll be playing songs that they can sing along to.”

The Halloween cover show will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28 at The Morgue, located at 1919 Wahl Way in Davis. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.

 

Written by: Becky Lee — arts@theaggie.org

 

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