The 8 Best Costumed Bands in Arizona

Halloween starts early. It begins with a couple of odd Facebook posts, a meme or two, and by the first week of October it's already looking like the nightmare before Christmas all over social media. Everyone seems to love Halloween time, whether they love the parties, bobbing for apples, or the chance to be another person. Now, the holiday is in full swing. 

In the Arizona music scene there are a few bands that make it quite obvious that their favorite part of performing is the opportunity to be a whole different person. The way they show it is by being a different person every time they hit the stage!

A lot of bands are going to come up for Halloween with nifty group costumes and neat makeup, but this list isn't for them. This is for the bands that get dressed up in ridiculous getups night in and night out to make the magic happen.
  
1. Father's Day

The number one spot has to go to the daddy of them all, Father's Day. Douglas Patton and the fellas have been bringing the costumed punk hits to Phoenix for more than a decade, and big Doug taught them well. The mustache, the sunglasses, the machismo — Fathers Day brings the ruckus every time. The group keeps a consistent aesthetic with their dad apparel while giving their own individual flavor to each character. Doesn't matter if you favorite is Doug the business dad, Frank Brando the golf dad, Ronald Hayweather the stepdad, or Tony Sykes the olympic sports dad, it's always a fun time catching the costumed bad boys of dad rock doing their thing.


2. B4Skin

From the far south planet of Tucson, or a little farther south, even, if you catch my drift, comes the only satanic pop band on the planet as far as I know and they came to go hard! When the members of B4Skin dawn their costumes, the regular humans beneath the masks stop existing and all that is left are five soldiers of Satan sent forth to spread the message that the devil isn’t really that bad. B4Skin always puts on a fun show with their lovely trampoline ladies and the wonderful guitar work of the musician only known as “Male,” who keeps his identity a secret behind a welder's mask. The whole set is just a fun experience that not many Arizona bands are putting on right now.

3. The Limit Club

It’s not 100 percent certain that The Limit Club are wearing costumes up on stage, but Nick Feratu, Monty Oblivion, NickDave, and Juan Carlos really just might be vampires. But assuming they aren’t they bring out a wonderfully scary group aesthetic with their pale faces, matching patch jackets, and their generally creepy demeanor. These guys aren’t any gimmick band, though. When the four of them get together the music they make is top notch, which is why they were able to take some time out of Phoenix and head to Europe for the month of September. The Limit Club will definitely be a hot ticket come Halloween time and absolutely worth catching.

4. Jerusafunk

If the costume theme you’re looking for is crazy gypsy, then Jerusafunk is definitely the band you want to get down with. Seems like every show they play at least one of the members finds a way to get down to his skivvies to give the audience a good show, not they need to undress, with the power emanating from their four piece horn section. With or without the spandex body suits, the men in skirts, and all the pageantry, J-Funk is one of the most engaging bands in town, but when they are in the crazy costumes they kick their show up a full notch or two in the entertainment category.
5. HotRock SupaJoint

The fakest rapper in all the land is also easily one of the most entertaining acts Phoenix has going right now. With his wig, his tattoo sleeves, and his ski- tight outfits, the king of weed rap presides over his fant kingdom looking down upon the peasants from a “high” up place. Then he hits the stage and it’s nothing but weed jokes and fun. Hotrock isn’t about much except for weed and having a good time, and the fact that he is willing to wear pants tighter than any skinny jeans we’ve ever seen at every performance only highlights his dedication to his character.

6. Dinosaur Love

Somewhat like the Limit Club, it’s not 100 percent certain that Dinosaur Love is wearing a costume. The extinct lizard exterior really just might be his real form. Phoenix audiences seem to like him, anyway. With his quirky acoustic songs about prehistoric giant lizards and his signature dinosaur mask, the guy is quickly becoming a go-to performer at venues like the Trunk Space and Lawn Gnome Publishing. If the name didn’t give it away, Dinosaur Love is completely obsessed with dinosaurs, so naturally that’s what all of his songs are about. He fits in very well with his label mates on Related Records — his show is just as weird as the rest of them.


7. Shooda Shook It

Another Tucson act that takes on a new persona to get on stage is Shooda Shook It they’re a zombie disco five-piece and they are really fun live. They take the stage with their bodies covered in paint and sing most of their songs in two part harmonies adding zombie dance moves into the mix and perhaps the tide is about to come in for them seeing how popular zombies keep getting in film and media. They are definitely the type of band you want playing your Halloween party, though having them on any show will certainly add to the odd factor.

8. Cult of the Yellow Sign

The Cult of the Yellow Sign walks a fine line between comedic musical entertainment and mild mental challenges, but good God is the cult entertaining. Like B4Skin, the Cult is not forthcoming with their true identities, but they are extremely forthcoming with the hilarious heavy metal at all of their shows. Be careful going to see them live because it only takes one show to get indoctrinated into the cult and once you join with those psychos, there is no turning back. They are kind of like the SupaJoint of heavy metal, only instead of doing songs about weed they do songs about death and destruction.