Halloween night can be a harrowing occasion for even the bravest among us. Not because of all the witches, vampires, and lycanthropes; everyone knows all that stuff is purely imaginary. No, what makes October 31 so bone-chillingly horrifying is the horde of real monsters roaming the streets: children. Not everyone is so pants-shittingly fearful, though. There are those who see Halloween as another excuse for a party. To aid those souls in their quest for fun, we asked a few local musicians to give us their recommendations of songs to get even the stiffest wallflowers doing the zombie shuffle. We also got them to share their ultimate Halloween costumes, for those unable to scare up ideas of their own. Trick or treat!

Lief Hall and Quinne Rodgers are a two-woman team who, operating under the name Myths, sound more like a scarily claustrophobic, industrial-goth army of darkness.
All-time best costume: (Rodgers) “Showing up for work dressed as Marion Crane, half naked under a plastic sheet and covered in fake blood, then having to attend a meeting by your parent company extolling their work values and getting the fake blood all over the executive boardroom chairs, may seem like a bad idea. But I won first place in the costume contest.”
Song to spark a Monster Mash: (Hall) “Kap Bambino’s ‘Batcaves’! Not only is Blacklist one of my all-time favourite dance albums, taking my hyper gauge from zero to 100 in 2.5 seconds, but ‘Batcaves’, in particular, has greatly revitalized the vampire club scene in Paris and abroad in the last five years. Interview With the Vampire is being rewritten as Booty-Shakin’ With a Vampire, and even Lestat can be seen tappin’ his toes in dark corners of the Marais nightclubs to this modern-day vampire rave music.”

Singer Marc Godfrey is the frontman for pop-minded postpunkers the Vampire Bats, whose finest moment to date might be the seasonally appropriate track “Cemetery”.
All-time best costume: “Anything from Series 2 of The Mighty Boosh, my particular fave being Noel Fielding’s Evil Green Cockney character.”
Song to spark a Monster Mash: “I would say ‘The House of Dr. Stimuli’ by Deja Voodoo, who get extra marks for that, ’cause the title sounds like it could have been an SCTV skit.”

Colin Huebert fronts indie adventurists Siskiyou. The band’s genre-mashing new album is titled Keep Away the Dead, which, rumour has it, is also the title of George A. Romero’s next zombie extravaganza.
All-time best costume: “A little gruesome, but basically I dressed as a mom-to-be whose unborn child had stabbed its way, or should I say halfway, out of the womb. Props included a pillow, wig, dress, doll, knife, and blood. My second-best costume would have to be a plate of breakfast.”
Song to spark a Monster Mash: “I actually played at a Halloween party not so long ago, so I feel like I’ve done some research. According to the crowd’s response—and without including the super-obvious choices—I’d say you can’t go wrong with ‘Psycho Killer’ by the Talking Heads. It’s catchy and creepy. Myself, though, I’m more of a ‘Skulls’ by the Misfits kind of guy.”

Pyra Draculea records dark, minimalist electro under the name Maqlu, and she also hosts CiTR’s The Vampire’s Ball, where Halloween is every day—or at least every Friday from midnight to 4 a.m.
All-time best costume: “Last year I went to the Waldorf’s Halloween party dolled up as a gothy saloon girl, complete with a white flower barrette in my hair, black cap-sleeve off-the-shoulder top under a tight-laced black corset, and a giant flounced black satin ball skirt. It wasn’t very witchy or spooky in the traditional Halloween sense but definitely fun, and boy did I pop out a few eyeballs!”
Song to spark a Monster Mash: “Tough call with so many awesome choices from the goth-industrial realm, but I think that boogie bass line in My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult’s ‘Devil Bunnies’ works like a charm. Overall, the song is also sinister and creepy enough to work for any Halloween party and not as expected as, say, Ministry’s ‘Everyday Is Halloween’ or Bauhaus’s ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’.”

Billy Hopeless—who never met a shade of black he didn’t like—sings for grimy garage punks the Bonitos, whose self-titled debut four-song EP is out on the ever-scary-sounding Skull Skates record label.
All-time best costume: “One year I dressed up as John Lennon with a white suit, beard, specs, and wig. My getup was so good, not only did my own bandmates not recognize me, but I would have won first prize in a costume contest at a Halloween wedding/Smugglers concert if me and my Yoko hadn’t already split to continue trick-or-peacing.”
Song to spark a Monster Mash: “Charles Sheffield’s ‘It’s Your Voodoo Working’. If this song don’t get you dancing in a sexual trance like Lisa Bonet in Angel Heart, I don’t know what will.”