EXCITEMENT is mounting and timbers are shivering. Shops have run out of black coats and milliners are reporting brisk business. Australia’ s weird and wonderful Spooky Men’s Chorale are heading to Islington’s Union Chapel for their grand finale gig — exclusively revealing the role of the Spooky Man in the annals of history.
Wave goodbye to choirs as you know them. This 15-strong line-up is a macho juggernaut – bold, bible-black, behatted, big as a behemoth and show-stoppingly good. Sounding as sacred as a high church choir one minute; as stupid as a raft of drunken Kazahkstani butchers the next.
Following triumphant UK tours in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011, the Aussie larrikins have packed their bags in their native New South Wales and whisked themselves away from the eucalyptus-infused Blue Mountains for a whistle-stop run of some 40 gigs and workshops in England, Scotland and Wales (and a mid UK tour jaunt to Denmark’s Tonder Festival).
With a sound variously described as “sexy, powerful, impossibly gentle and sad but unmistakably male” their repertoire to date has ranged from Georgian drinking songs to whisper perfect ballads and a string of improbable original hits like Don’t Stand Between a Man and his Tool and Stop Scratching It .
Compellingly comic they may be but make no mistake, this is a slick class act. Not only can they sing like angels; they also maintain an unflinching, side-splitting grandeur amidst the mayhem of their madcap humour. Who says men can’t multi-task?!
Spooky veterans will still be reeling from their hilarious, elephantine retreatments of classics like Earth, Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland and the funniest version of Abba’s Dancing Queen you are likely to witness.
The Spookies were formed by Melbourne-based Kiwi choral impresario, Stephen Taberner in Sydney in 2001, inspired by the great Georgian choirs.
The much anticipated finale of their UK tour will be at the Victorian gothic gem of Islington’s Union Chapel on 8 September with its great acoustics, which they sold out in 2009 and 2011 on their last two outings.
Tickets for the 7pm show are available online at www.wegottickets.com/pulluptheroots (£16.50 plus booking fee) or from TicketWeb www.ticketweb.co.uk or See Ticketswww.seetickets.com.