Mucca Pazza

Mucca Pazza is a twisted mockery of everything that marching bands across the nation hold dear. Like, if you took a group of unsuspecting high school band members (and a couple members of the pep squad), taxidermied them, and possessed them by aliens with an excellent sense of humor but little idea how to act normal, and ... you get the idea.

I had the good fortune for Mucca Pazza to come play at my college last weekend. They describe themselves on their website as a "circus punk marching band." I don't know what "circus punk" is, but I love it, love it, love it. Their sound comes across as, oh, sort of a cross between Abney Park and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't know the technical music terms, but there's something about their rhythms that's very intricate and energetic. Syncopated, maybe? And they use the brass instruments in ways they were not intended to be used.

But Mucca Pazza is just as much act as it is sound. The 30-odd members of the band really hammed it up to the crowd, jamming around with their instruments and intentionally bumping into each other. And their costumes – mismatched old band uniforms (including turquoise), horn-rimmed glasses, artfully placed rips, some things I could have sworn were Masonic Lodge hats. Oh, and to complete the evocation of cringeworthy high school memories, they even have a couple of cheerleaders, both male and female. I do believe I even saw Kricker in there, though he was a lot taller than I remember him. This sort of stuff would be right up a ratrider's alley.

And what circus punk band would be complete without a manic tuba-ist? They've got one.

I came away from the Cave that night with one thought on my mind: do these guys sell CD's? Oh, yeah, they do.