There’s a Modern Haunting in Green Bay
September marks the transition into autumn, the season dominated by the world’s love of Halloween and all things spooky, and Modern Haunting has a soundtrack for the season.
Charles DeVillers, lead singer and bassist for their live shows, and writer and producer of Modern Haunting, had time between playing shows and pitching ideas to discuss what drives him to keep performing and coordinating memorably funny events.
“People attending shows want to have just as much fun as we want to have on stage,” DeVillers stated with a smile.
The soul of an 80’s vampire
Charles DeVillers has been involved in multiple music projects since his return to Green Bay, Wisconsin, from his time in Nashville, Tennessee, playing backup bass for local bands, and one-off shows and events he and his musician friends drafted together. For about three years, DeVillers attended and performed for shows in the Green Bay music scene, networking his talent and storing inspiration for when he was ready to release his own music once he found his niche, which he has since certainly found.
“Modern Haunting started in 2022 from my love of going out to shows in the Green Bay area,” DeVillers revealed. “It looked really fun, and I wanted to start recording and putting stuff out there so that I could be a part of that community.”
Inspired by “the bit” of life and always finding something funny in a situation, DeVillers admits that the beginning of Modern Haunting came from an evening of fun conversation following one of their best-sold shows with two of his friends.
“One of the best-sold shows I’ve coordinated since performing in Green Bay was actually a Weezer tribute show my bandmate, Collin Catalano, and I came up with as a joke,” DeVillers laughed. “We both thought it would be funny if there were a group of musicians who put on a Weezer-centered show, with the same idea and professionality of Project Pink’s Pink Floyd tribute shows, and in the same breath, we suggested to each other that we would be the ones to coordinate and pull it off.”
Unsure if, what was eventually titled, WeezFest would be something the people of Green Bay would resonate with, DeVillers and Catalano went ahead with planning the event anyway, and to their bewilderment, outsold the venue’s capacity.
“We sold about 130 tickets for a 100-capacity limit room, and we just couldn't believe it,” he grinned. “WeezFest is definitely one of the proudest moments of my career so far. The success of that silly evening made us realize that people attending shows want to have just as much fun in the audience, as we want to have on stage, which motivated us to keep trying to do ridiculous, stupid stuff. For each new event and show we plan, we joke 'Surely, this is going to be the one nobody shows up to,' but people keep showing up.”
Once DeVillers and Catalano realized how successful this approach to their social media and band promotion was amongst the Green Bay music crowd, putting on serious shows under a real band became a new priority of theirs. DeVillers and Catalano’s friends and lead members of Appleton, Wisconsin-based band, Before Dawn, Rob and Kate Houle, were equally impressed by the success of WeezFest and suggested another one-off music festival centered around DeVillers’ favorite holiday, Halloween.
Before Dawn was interested in playing as the main act for what would later be titled, SlashBash, and they were looking to DeVillers to organize it. In exchange, all DeVillers wanted was to debut his new band, Modern Haunting, as the opening act.
“I called Colin [Catalano - guitar] and Thomas [Killian - drums] from WeezFest, and Jacob, who I played with for a couple of other projects, and I told them 'Hey, I’m planning this event, there might be no people at it, but it's Halloween-themed in an old, haunted theater and it'll be fun!',” DeVillers laughed. “They were totally into the concept. We had a few rehearsals, and since SlashBash 2022, Modern Haunting has been rocking the Green Bay, Wisconsin area.”
SlashBash was the perfect scenario for DeVillers to debut not only this band name he had been saving for a few years, looking for the perfect opportunity to begin his own musical project in Green Bay but also a song he had written and completed.
“I was talking to a friend of mine about different genres of horror books, and I had said something like ‘I want a haunted house book that takes place in a modern home,’ and from that comment, I thought ‘Oh Modern Haunting would be a good band name,’” said DeVillers. “It was in a document on my phone for two years, and when I found it again, I had my song ‘Ghost in My Room’ ready to go. The two fit so perfectly!”
DeVillers brought on Catalano and Killian as full-time band members after the success of WeezFest and SlashBash and then asked Natalie Hoffman to play keys. DeVillers had been holding onto his song ‘Ghost in My Room’ intending to pitch it to Before Dawn, due to it being similar to their existing sound of 80’s-synth-pop, but eventually decided to release it independently.
“I love 80s synth music and 80s horror movie soundtracks, my favorite movie Near Dark (1987) by Kathryn Bigelow, is a quintessential 80’s vampire movie that has been a huge part of my inspiration, and I knew Before Dawn is also very into that genre,” explained DeVillers. “In the end, I ended up releasing it independently.”
“I've always loved dance-rock bands like The Strokes and The Killers, so I've been incorporating that into my sound. I'd say Modern Haunting is a mix of early 2000s indie rock, with 80s-goth-synth, and the whole Halloween aesthetic is the cherry on top of it. It's really fun and cheesy. I love the 80s, I wish I were a vampire in the 80s, deep down in my soul.”
DeVillers has adored the themes and theatricality of Halloween since he was a child, dressing up in a range of silly to downright creepy costumes, and once he entered his adult years, he was very dedicated to throwing an over-the-top Halloween celebration each year.
“I’ve always loved the aesthetic of Halloween, it’s goofy but spooky at the same time and it's fun to talk about ghosts and haunted houses,” DeVillers laughed. “I don't know where the connection set up camp in my mind, but I think rock music and Halloween go hand-in-hand. It's fun to be silly and it's fun to write songs about ghosts.”
DeVillers and his friends poured their bloody hearts into SlashBash to display how seriously the band takes the holiday. According to DeVillers, the group wrote and filmed a 25-minute horror movie and decorated the venue from ceiling to floor to add to the atmosphere, aside from their band debut! While they will continue to celebrate Halloween (and half-Halloween) in varying ways, the group will not be replicating that level of celebration for a long time due to how much it took out of them, both financially and emotionally.
“SlashBash became so huge, that I don’t think we’ll do anything to that level of extremity again for a good few years,” DeVillers sighed. “We’ll still do themed parties for sure, and obviously we’ll do something for Halloween, but nothing to that level anytime soon. We try to have a bit for every show we book out or event we put on, for example, we threw a goth night at one of our shows just because we wanted to, and for the fourth of July, we coordinated a birthday party for my friend's dog. We get restless if we just put on a standard show, it’s much more fun to have a theme or funny bit.”
Super Friends Productions
Though DeVillers prefers to draw crowds through a humorous theme or scenario, he spent a great deal of time in one of the United States of America’s music capitals, Nashville, Tennessee. While studying and working toward his degree, DeVillers was also freelancing on numerous projects, until COVID-19 made its way around the globe.
“I studied music at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, because I just didn't know what to do with my life and it seemed like a good idea at the time,” DeVillers chuckled. “I was going to stick around for a little while longer, but COVID-19 threw a wrench into that plan and I moved back to Green Bay, Wisconsin.”
“I didn’t think I would be lingering in Green Bay for very long, but the music scene really intrigued me,” he explained. “I attended a bunch of shows, and from those experiences became excited to work on my own music once again. I'm having more fun here than I was in Nashville, so I want to continue trying crazy stuff with my music here. There isn't much money in the music scene in Green Bay, but that shouldn't be the point.”
DeVillers has been able to find not only the inspiration he was searching for in his music, but also numerous artistic collaborators for event posters, decor, costumes, makeup, and even merchandise! The expansive Wisconsin city has connected many artists of all mediums, creating a very supportive system amongst the different genres and styles throughout the city.
“The best part of the music scene in Green Bay is that it's not just the music scene, it's the artists’ scene. All the artists and their different mediums come together to collaborate on and create unique projects in a way that supports everyone. It feels like everyone is friends and that’s so special.”
Since returning to Green Bay, DeVillers has been a part of multiple musical projects, some as a freelancer, some as stand-alone projects, and he never shies away from trying something new that he can either involve his friends in or make more friends in the process.
“Aside from playing bass on a few different releases by Before Dawn and 700Feet Apart, I also have a few other side projects just to keep having fun,” said DeVillers. “Modern Haunting is the main band I release music under, and definitely the band I dedicate the most time to. With our other projects, Colin [Catalano] and I split the work between writing and recording everything to lighten the load for each other.”
DeVillers and Catalano have developed a label for themselves and all of their other projects under the name Super Friends Productions, where they can and have released music under the names of Carlos Champagne and the Balcony Brothers, Leslie Jacobs and the Nazareth Riders, Modern Haunting, and any other new project they pitch to each other and later make a reality.
Though DeVillers and Catalano bounce ideas off each other and work together frequently, DeVillers admitted that for Modern Haunting, he prefers to work through the process alone.
“My workflow is nuts, so I have to work on Modern Haunting on my own,” he said. “For the last EP I put out, I would record from 11 PM to 2 AM in my room, not wearing pants, because that's when the creative juices were flowing. All that music exists in my brain, first and foremost, and I have to sit down and get it all out whenever it's ready to come out.”
It seems this method works best for the band, as Modern Haunting took home the Bay Area Music Award (BAMMY) for Best Original Song, for their song, ‘Terrified!’ in the 2023 lineup. Similar to the origins of the band’s name, DeVillers had actually finished this song well before its release date, afraid to publish it due to feeling like it was out of his band’s league.
“I sat on my song, ‘Terrified!’, for nine months before I finally released it,” DeVillers said sheepishly, “I was afraid it was too good for me to put out with where I was in Modern Haunting’s journey. I just couldn’t believe that I had written that good of a song all on my own, and when I would play it back for people, they also thought it was just as good.”
“Having my hard work be recognized through the awarding of a BAMMY was insane, it’s still my favorite song of mine, and I’ve had to stop myself from comparing my other songs to it because now I’m afraid I won’t be able to top it. Thankfully, it’s pushing me to write something that excites me at that level, because, this is embarrassing, but that song was my number one most played song on Spotify last year because I was so proud of it.”
Finally recognizing his own hard work that was put into both the song and his band, ‘Terrified!’ has been DeVillers top streamed song on Spotify since its official release, however, he still struggles with seeing his worth in the music scene, feelings his friends and bandmates work together to steer him away from.
“I get pretty bad imposter syndrome, my bandmates can attest to this,” he revealed. “Five minutes before every single show I'm freaking out about something. As much as I love having fun and doing silly promotions and themes for these shows, I’m also putting a real effort into everything. Sometimes I'll see another band and start to point out things I don't like about myself after seeing them, it's something I struggle with quite a bit.”
“Thankfully, I have a lot of loving and supportive people who tell me to shut up whenever I doubt myself or the band like that, which usually helps bring me out of that headspace.”
Spooky, scary, silly shows
Playing music and pitching ideas with his friends has been a highlight of Devillers's musical career, bringing confidence to his performances and writing in a way he was previously unfamiliar with.
“As much as I love writing Modern Haunting’s music solo, it’s so nice having other people to bounce ideas off of,” he smiled. “Our productivity is much higher, and we all work really well together. Colin [Catalano] and I joke that we have not had a conversation that didn't turn into one of us pitching something in maybe three years.”
This dynamic works very well for the band, as Modern Haunting has seen their best success at their silliest and strangest shows. DeVillers has even noticed that this social media strategy works particularly well with the artists of Green Bay and the younger generation.
“We have a lot of fans who are younger than me and it's pretty cool, I always feel old, though,” he laughed. “Everything makes me feel old. It's a whole thing. I'm hurtling towards 30 at this point, and I wake up every day with a different body part in pain.”
In an age of advertisements everywhere, DeVillers, like many, has noticed an influx of satirical and chaotically organized skits and bits used in advertisements and commercials as the younger generations are entering the workforce. This humor approach sees success as it lets the brand, company, or service in on the jokes that are circulating social media or creating a new trend entirely. Plus, a little laughter is good for everyone!
“There’s no good way to get people to show up to an event, so you may as well do something ridiculous and make a few people laugh at the same time,” DeVillers explained. “Even if they don’t have time to come to the show, or if they simply don’t want to, making someone laugh is still beneficial not only for their mental health but also for one of our future shows. They might remember one of our last announcements or posters and come to the next show that co-aligns with their schedule.”
Lining up shows and performing in Green Bay and surrounding areas of Wisconsin for a few years now, DeVillers has begun to notice patterns in the city’s nightlife that have helped him prepare for a variety of show outcomes.
“I’ve noticed the nightlife of Green Bay starts very late,” he pointed out. “I’ll be ready to perform for maybe five people that have showed up when our actual set starts, but 20 minutes later you start to see a crowd pile in.”
“We performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to what we thought was a single person in the crowd, only to find out after our set that he was the bouncer, so we actually didn’t have anyone we were performing to. The absurdity of it all was hilarious: we went down to Milwaukee and spent money driving down only to make $0, and that's fine! It ended up being one of my favorite shows to look back on. At the end of the day, it’s all about whether or not I’m having fun, and I am! You can’t let your expectations get the better of you.”
Although DeVillers and his band still have fun at these less-than-attended shows, they prefer smaller venues that fill up faster, providing a tight-knit community feeling amongst the crowd.
“I prefer a small, packed room over a big, empty room any night of the week,” said DeVillers. “We’ve started to see a similar crowd in attendance at our shows in Green Bay, which bodes well for word-of-mouth promotion when listeners start bringing their friends. There's something very magical about being in a small, punk venue; everyone is sweaty, the sound isn't stadium-level good, and everyone's just dancing and having a great time. It's my favorite thing in the world.”
“Do a stupid bit, have fun, and people will show up for it, but you also have to attend other people's events if you want them to show up for you. It’s really all about the friends we make along the way. If you go out to other people's stuff and make friends, they will show up to yours. All you have to do is be cool, and you will have a huge friend group,” DeVillers laughed. “It feels like we shouldn't be getting paid for this, because we're just inviting 50 people who know each other, to hang out with us."
After Modern Haunting’s BAMMY win, their participation in Appleton’s Music Festival, Mile of Music, and the many other shows they’ve both played and scheduled within 2023 and 2024, DeVillers has revealed that the band is slowing down their busy schedule so that he can spend more time writing Modern Haunting’s first full-length album.
“Modern Haunting will be releasing one more single this year on Friday, September 13, called ‘Halloween’, on all streaming platforms, but other than that I’m trying to pump the brakes a little. We released an EP on Friday, October 13 last year, and I knew I had to capitalize on the fact that there was another Friday the 13th in fall this year,” he said. “It’s the most on-the-nose punk song I’ve written so far, and was heavily influenced by Green Bay’s punk scene, I’m very excited for it to join my spooky lineup of music.”
Feeling full of the Halloween spirit? Check out Modern Haunting’s music for the perfect playlist!
https://open.spotify.com/artist/75HqvSa3U6VfjkiCcKrOVe?si=WMySSU0CQMKyijBXjxnTaQ
