SCREAMFEST
- rockstar4265
- Nov 3, 2023
- 4 min read
Carry on SCREAMING
Over Halloween 2023 we indulged ourselves in a self-funded week of spook-themed musical shenanigans in the form of SCREAMFEST. And there was indeed screaming…
We bounced the idea of running a Halloween workshop around at the end of the summer event (70s) but like all things it depended on finances so it all came together quite late as we figured out costs and how best to approach it. I think we announced it about three weeks before it started which is a short time to get everything organised but hey, pressure is great for motivation.

So the concept of SCREAMFEST began to take shape. As with everything we do we created a framework for our young rockstars to build their own ideas within but we didn’t want to just go for obvious horror/Halloween songs so we hatched the idea of punning song titles to fit the brief. We had a lot of fun with that too. Suggestions included “Abracadaver” (Steve Miller Band), “Fell in Love With a Ghoul” (White Stripes) and the more tenuous “Damn, I Wish I Ate Your Liver” (Sophie B Hawkins). We secured the venue quick smart, then we advertised it, pinged emails off left right and centre and got on the blower (which I recently discovered is called so because the original telephones had a whistle on them and when you wanted to call someone you blew down the pipe and their whistle sounded). See? The Rockstar Experience is both cultural and informative.

Due to it being such short notice we expected a lot of people to be busy with their holiday plans and that proved to be the case but we had eight people sign up and boy did they smash it. Having a smaller group really helped us to focus on the music and we were able to put a set of six songs together, effectively in three days. Bearing in mind the framework we created and how we like it to be driven by our young rockers, the final set – as put together by them – looked like this: Zombie – The Cranberries Creep – Radiohead The Witch – The Cult
Psycho Social – Slipknot Dark Matter – Rivals Vampire – Olivia Rodrigo Plus we kicked off the show with Coor’s excellent single “The Rats” which you can listen to here
In The True Spirit of The Rockstar Experience We like to feed people. It’s just a thing we do because we know that life can be a struggle sometimes and holidays can bring a lot of stress for one reason or another, so, we did it again because knowing your children have eaten is one less thing to worry about.

It was great to have Leah back with us, supporting us all and providing hot food, tea, coffee, refreshments, Halloween decorations and a place for people to go and talk while they rested their ears from the raucousness of SCREAMFEST.

She kindly prepared a fantastic buffet on the final day and the food – all plant-based - was amazing. We had chilli, pizzas, a jelly brain and goopy eyeballs, cauldrons of sweets and spooky decorations adorning the buffet table.

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