With Halloween right around the corner, those who enjoy the holiday are in the spooky season spirit. However, for a few individuals in a very unique band, Halloween is celebrated year-round through their music.
The Spooky Ooos are self-described as “paranormal honky-tonk,” band who sing about all things scary including UFOs, witches, bigfoot, ghosts and even the members’ own personal paranormal experiences with a classic country twist.
The band consists of four members: Alex Pulsipher on vocals and accordion, Jim Myers on vocals and guitar, Joshua Thomas Sheffield on drums and backup vocals and Maria Williams on vocals and bass.
“Jim was casually playing in the parking lot at a small spring festival at 4th Presbyterian back in 2012, and a friend of mine had an accordion, so I started playing it. I noticed that Jim was playing along with me and he was really good. I asked if he’d like to jam sometime and that turned into a regular Tuesday afternoon jam date, a performing duo known as Mr. Farquhar, the Cattywampus Puppet Band, and now the Spooky Ooos,” Pulsipher said.
The band has explored many different themes and names over the years, but in the summer of 2016, the group finally became The Spooky Ooos.
“Someone had a flash insight that there needs to be more honky-tonk music about the paranormal. Jim liked the idea and eventually came up with our name. Joan signed up to be our drummer, John Phillips played bass and Konane Rickards did backup vocals and percussion and we were off! Eventually, everyone but Jim had to quit,” Pulsipher explained.
As time went on, the group discovered new members to add to their unusual band.
“I met Maria Williams playing in a band that Maggie Longmire put together for the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash. She is a multi-talented musician: a fine singer, excellent bass player, and very funny and quick-witted on stage. Maria is great at vocal harmony, and like Jim, she has decades of experience as a performing musician and penetrating insights into so many of life’s problems,” Pulsipher said.
Pulsipher met Joshua Thomas Sheffield at the Pilot Light’s annual masquerade and was drawn to him because of his odd costuming at the celebration.
“He was dressed as a zombie, which scared the bejesus out of me, but I heard he was a good drummer, so I asked him if he wanted to jam with me and Jim sometime. Josh is a great drummer, and he often has a vision for how songs and whole performances can work better, which is a rare asset,” Pulsipher said.
Most bands start off at small, unknown venues for their first show, but because The Spooky Ooos had been involved in the music scene for so long, the band was given a huge opportunity for their debut show.
“Our first show was the main stage at the Dogwood Arts Festival, which is a pretty killer first gig. A beautiful sunny day in Market Square, with great sound and a few hundred people … We got that because Jim and I had played that stage the year before with Cattywampus Puppet Council,” Pulsipher said.
The Spooky Ooos are most notable for their peculiar genre, lyrics and tone of music. Most likely, they are the only exclusively paranormal honky-tonk band. Although their theme of music is not popular and most times unheard of in popular music, several famous artists have been involved in the genre.
“There are plenty of famous artists that have dabbled in the genre with a song or two and they’ve been a great inspiration (to us). “Ghost Riders in the Sky” by Johnny Cash, “Reincarnation” by Roger Miller and “Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Charlie Daniels Band are just a few. But to my knowledge, there’s no one as devoted to the genre as we are. A similar genre is Southern Gothic, but where that music tends to be dark and ghostly, paranormal honky-tonk has broader subject matter and is more fun and upbeat,” Pulsipher said.
Although the idea came about by chance, Myers still holds a great interest for the paranormal that definitely differs from the norm.
“I’ve always felt the presence of spirits, had psychic experiences, noticed the energetic qualities of places and seen UFOs. I’ve had several scientist friends who work at Oak Ridge and various federal agencies who have educated me about the seriousness of ET reality, and many of my songs are about that. Some recent articles in the New York Times and Washington Post have made it easier to talk about ET issues without people thinking you’re nuts or a comedian. It’s a real shame that we’ve all been programmed to just laugh off the ET subject, but I’ve learned to play with humor in my music and performances. I do wear a tin foil cowboy hat during every show,” Myers explained.
Although the band began by covering songs, The Spooky Ooos have transitioned to writing their own music that fits their specific genre.
“Now we mostly do originals. My writing process begins with a concept, often captured in something I hear someone say in passing, that can be translated into a vocal hook. I’ll ruminate on it for a few days, and then one morning I’ll wake up and not be able to get back to sleep so I’ll open up to the lyrics in a sort of dreamy state and the song comes through. Later that morning I’ll work out the bass notes on the keyboard. After a few days I might jam on it with my friends David Hughes and Barry Crowder, we also have a band, and then bring it to a Spooky Ooos practice and really hash things out,” Pulsipher said.
The Spooky Ooos will be performing at Preservation Pub on Oct. 24 at 10 p.m. for All Hallows Honky-tonk and on WVLT Channel 8 for Halloween during the program’s Rockin Wednesday Morning Show.
