As students start putting their costumes and keg orders together for Halloween weekend, perhaps they should factor Wook-O-Ween into their plans. The event, which is set to go down at the Orpheum Theatre Stage Door from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., is sure to provide an avenue for the hordes of Freakfest attendees looking to continue dancing into the morning.
""It'll be hard not to dance,"" said Mike Kuerschner, bass player of headlining band Wook. A good reason for that is the increasingly danceable nature of Wook's music, a band that has grown up quickly over the span of the past year.
Wook's foundations stem from Kuerschner's high school days, when he frequently performed with guitarist/vocalist Jake Stottler and drummer Andrew Stark. But Wook, which now includes guitarist Justin Wouters, didn't really materialize until the fall of 2009 when the band started performing regularly around Madison. Considering their jump from semi-weekly gigs in local bars to their performance at one of the biggest festivals in the jam scene, Summercamp, it's fair to say Wook has become one of Madison's most promising student acts.
Like their biggest influence, electro-jam pioneers Umphrey's McGee, Wook is able to delve into lengthy improvisations onstage.
""It's mostly freeform,"" Kuerschner said of the jams the group more or less invent onstage. And while many jam bands bore their audience with stagnant grooves, Kuerschner said Wook has the ability to ""tell when [the jam is] going somewhere great and when it's going nowhere.""
More importantly, the band knows where to draw the line, as they've ""gotten pretty good at stopping [the jam] before it nosedives."" That said, some of Wook's marathons still lasted 15 minutes at their live performances.
While Wook's standard drums-guitar-bass ensemble suits their more traditional jam taste, the band has recently explored synthesizers and laptops in an attempt to incorporate electronica into their repertoire.
""We're trying to branch out into a bit more electronic music,"" Kuerschner said. ""But we want to keep in touch with real singer-songwriter types of songs as well.""
As one would expect, Wook's incorporation of electronic elements has only made their performances more accessible for the college scene, and Kuerschner hopes for a good turnout from the college crowd at Saturday night's show.
Wook's setlists are mostly composed of the band's original songs, but they also like to include covers to get fans interested in the show. Rather than playing the cover songs as they were written, however, Wook likes to manipulate songs so they highlight their own style.
Although the headlining act hits the stage around 12:45 a.m., ""Wook-O-Ween"" offers the equally talented Ifdakar and The Coop performing prior to Wook's performance. Ifdakar, a five-piece Madison band who spread reggae, electronica and funk into their jams, are set to start the event at 10 p.m. with an hour-long set. The Coop, a four-piece jam outfit from Chicago, promise to get the crowd grooving as they hit the stage at 11:15 p.m. for a 75-minute set.
And, as if there wasn't already enough incentive to wear a ridiculous costume this Halloween, Wook-O-Ween is offering special prize packs for a few audience members the band determines to have the best costumes. The details are still unclear, but Kuerschner said the winning costume-wearers should expect a generous package of CDs and concert tickets from all three bands.
As for Wook's costumes, Kuerschner promised they would be extravagant but refused to divulge any details.
""They're pretty cool, they go along with the electronic and lights theme,"" Kuerschner said. ""But that's about all I should say.""
Whether or not the gigantic Freakfest crowd will have the energy to keep dancing at Wook-O-Ween remains to be seen, but as Kuerschner said, ""The fan base seemed big enough that we can bring a lot of people in.""
With last year's Freakfast tallying some 44,000 attendees, the Orpheum Stage Door should be pretty damn full by the time Wook hit the stage.
The Orpheum Stage Door will host Wook-O-Ween this Saturday, Oct. 30. Doors open at 9:00 p.m. and music begins at 10:00 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door.
