Four bands will take over Burlington’s ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center for a spooky Halloween dance party Oct. 31.
Madaila, a five-piece, Vermont-raised group of “dance-rock-pop-juggernauts,” is headlining the event.
“When we play in town we do it big,” lead vocalist and guitarist Mark Daly said. “[The show] is in a room with sweet fish tanks.”
The group plans on having spooky installations to decorate the venue along with other surprises.
“We want to make it multimedia so we will have a lot of art happening,” keyboardist and vocalist Eric Maier said.
Known for their neon, David Bowie-tight spandex attire, Madaila takes their music seriously but also enjoys having a lot of fun while doing it.
“Mark’s whole thing from the beginning is just inhabiting a part of yourself that lets loose and goes wild,” Maier said.
While letting loose is a fundamental characteristic of the band, there is a slight drawback to sporting their particular choice of clothing.
“It would be cool if we could wear spandex and not have to worry about the junk…Our parents come to shows and stuff… You don’t want to be hangin’ loose while your mom’s in the crowd,” said Daly.
Drawing their sound from artists like Prince, Bon Iver, soul grooves and hip-hop, Madaila delivers a unique type of music that is so scattered in terms of genre that they often have trouble labeling it themselves.
“We are kind of like living-room-dance-party-you’re-not-in-the-club-but-you’re-still-dancing music,” Daly said.
“We are trying to be catchy and poppy, but still be organic with the guitars and our harmonics,” he said. “The live music tradition is really important to us and we like that the music is tight and catchy, but we want the live show to be different than our record.”
Having only played together for a year and a half, the band is relatively young.
However, Madaila has performed at many festivals including Frendly Gathering, Otis Mountain Get Down, Discover Jazz and Grand Point North.
Musical acts LuxDelux, Alpenglow and Disco Phantom will joining Madaila at ECHO.
“LuxDelux is a young band from Northampton, Massachusetts,” Daly said. “They’re awesome. They play rock and roll and are kind of like Weezer and The Strokes.”
Disco Phantom is a Burlington DJ, versed in electro, hip-hop, disco and mash-ups.
Alpenglow, is a New York based-band that plays “cosmic” music, according to their Bio page.
“We have four really solid music acts… The love and support in Burlington has been really good,” Daly said.
The doors will open at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at the ECHO Aquarium. Tickets for the event are $25 each. The event is for ages 21 and over only.
