‘The Journal’ acknowledges that a staff member is affiliated with one of the bands mentioned but was not involved in reporting or writing this story to maintain ethical journalistic standards.
Six bands, a $1000 costume contest, and a crowd of costumed partiers turned The Mansion into Kingston’s loudest haunted house on Halloween night.
On Oct. 31, the Mansion hosted a Halloween party featuring multiple student bands playing in the attic, including Dutchbaby, Naked by 9, Clay Pigeons, and Jinx. On the main floor, touring Canadian rock band Greenwing rocked the house, followed by local country band Beer. While tickets for the event started at $20, the bar offered up a $1000 cash prize to whoever showed up in the “best costume,” according to their Instagram account.
Upstairs, Dutchbaby kicked off the night at 9:30 p.m. with a sizeable turnout. The funky Kingston quintet debuted their new line-up, exciting the crowd with performances of Maxine Nightingale’s “Right Back Where We Started From” and Outkast’s “Hey Yeah!”.
For the first time, Dutchbaby also played a few original songs. Lead singer Rachel Heaney, ArtSci ’26, spoke to The Journal about what inspired the new material.
“My favourite original [song], ‘Don’t Pass Me By,’ came from a jam session over summer,” she said. “I loved being able to show it to our friends at The Mansion tonight. It proves we’re more than just a cover band, [and] that we have some songwriting muscle,” she said.
The crowd grew as Naked by 9 took the stage around 10:30 p.m. The four-person band kept people dancing with a Halloween-themed set, performing Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” They even played a cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dance Floor”—although, thankfully, all the dancers at The Mansion made it out alive.
The Clay Pigeons stepped up to the mic next around 11:30 p.m. with a Super Mario-themed group costume. Characters ranged from Luigi to Bowser as the talented band opened with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Their set then diverged from the Halloween theme, featuring R&B hits like “After the Storm” by Kali Uchis and rock songs like “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden.
Clay Pigeons dressed as Mario characters. PHOTO BY: ETHAN POWELL
Knowing their local audience, The Clay Pigeons made sure to pay homage to Kingston legends The Tragically Hip with a rendition of “New Orleans is Sinking.” After almost an hour of music, fans cheered for an encore. The Clay Pigeons took flight, soaring into a cover of “505” by their animal kingdom cousins, the Arctic Monkeys.
Despite the varied set, the crowd was somewhat lackluster, lead singer Matthew Caracao said in an interview with The Journal. “The crowd was alright, a little lacking for the mansion. But it’s good now that JINX is coming up,” he said.
Finally, with the witching hour high, JINX rose to the stage around 12:30 a.m. in an Alice-in-Wonderland themed group ensemble. The packed crowd of nearly 70 people danced along as JINX played spooky favourites like “Witches” by Alice Phoebe Lou, and triumphant anthems like CeeLo Green’s “Forget You.”
But the fun didn’t end with the bands. The winner of the costume contest was announced near the end of the evening, when “best-dressed” attendants were chosen by Mansion staff and photographed for social media.
On Nov. 3, it was announced that the winner was Tee Marie Miller, who showed off her mind-bending makeup abilities with a high-concept spider costume. In a statement to The Journal, Miller wrote the costume resulted from hours of work, using “the last 5 dollars in [her] bank account” to purchase hot glue and other supplies.
“What I love about Halloween is that I get to dress up and have fun,” she wrote. “I feel so happy and grateful that I won, and very thankful to all my supporters and the other contestants. I was overjoyed to find out!” she wrote. With the $1000, Miller wants to donate to homeless shelters, Christmas toy drives, and help her father with groceries.
As the Halloween season ended last weekend, there was no better place to let loose and celebrate spooky, silly fun than at The Mansion. If this year’s success is any indication, next year’s party will have a lot to live up to.
Tags
Art, Culture, Halloween, Live Music, Music, Student bands, The Mansion
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Aaron Calpito
What a well-written article! Sounds like it was an awesome night. Love from The Medium at U of T Mississauga 🙂