Halloween Mash Up Costumes: Behind the Scenes
Rachel Lowen, our merchandise development guru, walks you through the the details of just how it all goes down. Head over to our ebay page and bid on any one of this year's mash up costumes, support The People's School of Music and help us get the next generation of kids musical education.
October is always a little weird around the office. Most days, the UM HQ chugs along to a healthy melody of tour planning, merchandising, coming up with fresh ideas to get the music out there- all the good stuff. While none of that slows down, there is certainly a pinch of pizazz added to the mix as the mash-up costume planning begins, and conference tables once covered in contracts and guitar strings becomes overrun with faux facial hair, spirit gum and character wigs.
For the last four years, since the boys adopted musical and costume mash-ups as a central theme to our Halloween shows, I've worked with the band to piece together their outfits for the big night. The process typically starts with a comical group email chain in mid-September with lists of "hilarious characters with first names for last names", and by October 1 the costume scouting is underway. The most fun characters to piece together, are those with an iconic era to their image, and familiar costume pieces recognizable with little explanation- see: Brendan's Richard Simmons short-shorts. We gather the images of the two characters being mashed-up, choose which piece from which character to wear, and then I hit local costume shops, thrift stores, and the interwebs to create the look.
Rachel & The Band backstage at the Tabernacle
Working in branding, my eyes have become trained to spot trends, and some interesting ones have emerged from year to year with the band's costume choices. Andy seems to go for sports legends and iconic American characters. Brendan and Jake have both stuck with eccentric guitarists from year to year, keeping in character for much of the show- often to a truly surreal level (see: Jake as Paul Stanley). Ryan has historically been the easiest, as no matter what the character, he's (hilariously) already owned much of his costume- "I'm doing Dr. Evil Knievel, and I'll just need the bald head, since I have a full Evil Knievel suit...I'm doing Brett Michael's Jackson, but I'll really just need the blond wig and Ed Hardy tee since I have the Michael Jackson outfit and red Thriller jacket at home." Kris has proven himself to be a character actor through and through, often choosing a mash-up for emphasis on the personality- Larry David Letterman's Top 10 Lists, and Pamela Anderson Cooper's reporting as examples. Joel has portrayed keyboardist mash-ups two of the four years we've done this, and total "big personality" wild cards the other two years. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next year.
We've learned some valuable lessons over the years- mainly, over all else, wear something you can play in! (see: Kris' Incredible Hulk Hogan in 2008).
Helping the guys create their mash-ups is one of the most fun parts of my job here at UM HQ. The creativity and spirit of the band never ceases to amaze.
Till next year,
Rachel