Weird Music Night Says ​“Hellooo!”

“Hellooo!” called out John O’Donnell, in an exaggerated, almost Cookie-Monster-like voice.

“Hellooo!” called back the crowd, matching his energy and tone. It was weird, wacky, and wildly entertaining, setting the tone for Weird Music Night, a monthly event at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art on Trumbull Street. Attending the event felt like walking through a cabinet of curiosities, as the audience shifted from room to room and experienced a series of acts that were as odd as they were incredible.

O’Donnell, the organizer of the event, opened the evening with a performance as his alter ego, Pervert Savant. ​“It’s a demonstration of contradiction because it’s a figure that is neither a pervert nor a savant,” he said. The act reflects on the word ​“pervert” as a way for people to pass rapid judgment on others.

“It became a way for me to play as an identity,” said O’Donnell. ​“I wanted to do almost a performance about my history of performance.”

Pervert Savant performed under red light, using a children’s toy drum set. ​“The tide is high and so am I, welcome to Weird Music Night,” he said. He continued to perform a series of songs based around his alter ego, with lyrics such as ​“He’s a pervert savant / And he does what he wants / He’s not the best / But he’s not the worst.”

Following Pervert Savant’s set, the audience migrated to a neighboring room to watch The Chomins perform. The band was composed of Elyse Smith (vocals), Jaston Tosta (banjo, guitar, and vocals), Justin Theodra (banjo, guitar, and vocals), and Logan Bishop (theremin and vocals).

They started with a cover of ​“Lola,” an apt choice for the event. The lyrics ​“it’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world” perfectly encapsulated the evening. The Chomins continued with the rousing Irish song ​“Cod Liver Oil,” the psychedelic ​“White Rabbit,” and the heartening ​“Bella Ciao.” The floor of the building shook and quaked with the music.

Next, Tommy Riles performed an Irish dance to a Metallica song. The set only lasted a few minutes, but it aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd. They chanted his name as he left the stage.

Stone Jaw, a.k.a. Terry Regen, followed. He described his music as ​“dark ambience” with ​“a lot of textured layers.” A bulbous flashing light protruded from the curtains behind his head like the eye of a slowly waking dragon. Stone Jaw’s music combined sounds like engines revving, chirping automated birds, and distorted voices. It was lulling and meditative, the perfect reprieve from the boisterous excitement of the night.

If Stone Jaw’s set resembled white noise, then Skull Tower 4E was electric blue, red, and purple noise. O’Donnell returned in a mask, blowing into a tube to create a wind sound, while Peter Fulop strummed at a guitar. The effect was a kind of thunderous noise, like being in the center of a hurricane.

“I think it’s like a gesture of sound,” said Fulop. ​“Listening to our music is like a gesture of purification … to take you out of this reality.”

“It’s protesting socially for the well-being of my fellow human beings,” he added.

The last performance of the night was Spyrodon, a psychedelic garage goth-pop group composed of the husband-and-wife duo Alex Theodoropulos and Tara Foley. They stood in a dark room behind a wall that flashed with projected hallucinogenic animated images. Foley was on vocals and drums (drums for the first time), while Theodoropulos played guitar.

Hauntingly, Foley sang and chanted ​“it’s not for nothing, it’s something,” and ​“this kiss, this kiss, this kiss.” The performance felt atmospheric and eerie, the perfect conclusion to the night.

Weird Music Night took everything untraditional and outside the box and gave it a platform of its own, making the weird wonderful. The audience circulated and laughed and discussed the art they had seen before preparing to return home. But not before the night ended as it had begun: with a resounding ​“Hellooo!”