Boo! It’s Halloween! Throughout October, HollywoodLife is running The Sound Of Halloween, where some of your favorite fiends of music, movies, television, and pop culture pick songs that should be on your Halloween 2022 playlist. Today, Dru DeCaro — the neo-soul/R&B/hip-hop musician who has performed with Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Faith Hill, and more – weaves some classic goth, industrial, and early rap into the playlist.
Dru’s Halloween will be extra-special this year, with the opening of Carey Sharpe‘s BLOOD/LOVE at the historic Howard Theater in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The “rock popera” transforms the venue into The Crimson, a gothic nightclub where the dead interact with the living. BLOOD/LOVE tells the story of Valerie Bloodlove (portrayed by Sharpe) as she deals with the monotony of immortality as she searches for purpose and, possibly, undying love. DeCaro plays Anzik for the two-night run – Oct. 27 and 28th.
“Blood/Love is unreal,” DeCaro said in a statement about the experience. “Every step of this production has been absolutely new and ambitious, heavy, and satisfying. I can’t wait for people to hear the music and feel the terror.” The show comes on the heels of DeCaro writing and producing Em Beihold’s radio hit, “Numb Little Bug.”
So, with that spooky pedigree under his belt, Dru decided to take a bite out of The Sound Of Halloween with his song selections.
Dru DeCaro’s Halloween Playlist Picks
Bauhaus, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”
Dru: There is no goth scene without this record. It’s not really a party joint, but you gotta give credit where due.
Rockwell, “Somebody’s Watching Me”
This one is sillier than it is scary, but my first metal band used to cover this back in the ’00s and we rocked it out. I’ll always remember exactly where I was when I was trying to figure out how to play it.)
Marilyn Manson “Sweet Dreams”
I was in like 5th grade when Manson was huge. Overnight he changed fashion among preteen would-be delinquents, and looking back on it now; his style was always impeccable. He gave a lot of kids something to call their own, even if this song wasn’t his [laughs].
Nine Inch Nails, “Into The Void”
Back when Manson was putting all effort into fashion and shock value, Nails was just busy making so much of the best music ever. Arguably, ‘Closer’ should be in this place, it’s the crowd-pleaser. But I’d probably play them both.
Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, “Nightmare On My Street”
I got this CD from the local library. Again, credit where it’s due. I’d like to see Jazzy Jeff’s Halloween setlist.
Michael Jackson, “Thriller”
You’re not getting away without spinning this.
Nightmare Before Christmas, “This Is Halloween”
You gotta have the right crowd to get away with this one early in the night. But shoutout Burton and Elfman.
Outkast, “Dracula’s Wedding”
Later in the evening, you gotta curb the spooky stuff and just give the dancefloor some action.
HollywoodLife: What’s a prominent Halloween memory for you?
Dru: A memory that’ll haunt me forever is the Exotic Erotic Ball in SF, maybe like 2007. It’s this wild costume party/fetish fest/all-around creepshow held on some weird floating military base under a bridge in San Francisco. I went there to perform, none of us knew what we were in for. It was Dark. I just remember the opening act for us was a woman getting her lady bits shaved live onstage by a mustachioed barber with a comically huge straight razor; he looked halfway out of Peaky Blinders, halfway out of Ringling Bros. It was mildly entertaining. Then my bass player took LSD and played the whole show naked. I was dressed as Prince. It was a terrible show but memorable, and I’d do it again.
What do you think will be the most popular costume this Halloween? What SHOULD be in your mind?
What will be the most popular costume? Can I say a toss-up of Stranger Things and Euphoria characters? Is that cheating? That’s totally what it’s going to be.
What should be the most? Man, I don’t know, the world on fire. Anything related to natural disaster. That’s the actual scariest shit anyway.
Do you have any October or Halloween traditions?
At my first studio house in LA (‘the LP House’), we always threw the ridiculous Halloween party. Five years straight. Complete mayhem. Toward the end, my folks started flying out from the east coast to attend. And they never come to visit otherwise, haha. My mom handmade their costumes the last time, everybody loved them. Now that I’m thinking about it, we will absolutely throw an out-of-control party this year too. It’s nice that I don’t have to drive home.
If a studio gives you a blank check and a run of the library, what horror movie are you remaking? Or, you could make a new one.
If I could remake a horror film from the past, probably be Troll 2. Maybe I’d do Troll 3: Return to Nilbog. If I could write my own, there’d probably be aliens and vampires. The vampires defeat the aliens, but it is not a happy ending. I like tragic, unsettling endings. That, or maybe I’d let young people save the day. Kids are the smartest, most heroic people we’ve got, so yeah maybe I’d have them teach everyone a lesson.
What’s on tap for the rest of the month – and the last weeks of 2022?
OCTOBER. I’m in the midwest workshopping my new vampire musical all month! It goes onstage on Halloween. It’s insane. We are doing a table read with the cast as I sit here writing this. It’s going to go to Broadway and will give Tim Burton, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Clive Barker, and all of them a run for their money. You’ve been warned!