80s band to perform on Halloween in support of Fredericton Food Bank.

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Matt Carter

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It's time to start digging through those old boxes of clothes that have sat silently in your parent's attic since who knows when. Those forgotten time capsules and painful reminders of a day when over-sized belly shirts, neon scarves, and one-piece jogging suits were worn with pride. That's right folks, the 80s are coming back.

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This Halloween, Fredericton's favourite party band, Pretty in Pink, will be hosting one of the largest spook parties the city has ever seen. The event will take place on October 31 at the Farmer's Market in downtown Fredericton and is guaranteed to take more than a few folks back to their youth.

"It will be one of the best looking shows in town," said Darren O'Donnell, organizer of the event and one of the driving forces behind Pretty in Pink. "Its going to be an 80s show so you can count on excessive lighting and everything else. You can't do the cheese of the 80s properly without more than one fog machine, lots of lights, and the occasional mirror ball."

Since first stepping into his track suit and lacing up his high-tops nearly three years ago, O'Donnell and his fellow musicians have quickly risen to near cult status on the city music scene. Pretty in Pink or "the 80s band" as they're often referred to, have unearthed what may be considered a universal guilty pleasure among area music fans.

"I think it's all about taking them back to a place in their lives," said O'Donnell. "Everybody is quick to dump on 80s music, but at the same time, they know all the words and can sing along. For us, it's very tongue in cheek because there is some 80s music from a musicians point of view that are amazing songs. There are also these other songs that are sort of poppy and essentially make up the cheese of the 80s and all know them as well. It's like a guilty pleasure to be out playing them," he said.

The idea of putting together a band to play 80s music was originally a joke between O'Donnell and his friends, many of whom make their living playing and teaching music. Although it all may have started as a joke, O'Donnell soon discovered the real joke was on him when he began to dissect many of the tunes that defined this often dismissed era of music.

"At first we just kind of laughed at the idea but after really getting into some of the songs, from a musician's point of view, there are a lot of tough arrangements out there," he said. "We really try to do the songs as true to form as we can because that's what makes it funny. You could just get up there and jam out a bunch of tunes but the joke isn't captured and the cheese factor isn't there unless you do the diligence to it. In a way, the joke is on us because there is a lot more going on in these songs than we thought is I guess what makes the joke that much funnier."

Dubbed The Halloween Ball, the show itself will be a fundraiser for the Fredericton Food Bank, with a portion of the proceeds going directly to this important local charity.

"We wanted to do a bigger show and we wanted to tie it into a local charity," said O'Donnell. "The reason we chose the food bank is because of the time of year primarily. Their need for food is so much higher going into the colder months."

The Fredericton Food Bank accepts donations through its Friends of the Food Bank program.

Meghan Scott operates Tuck and Roll, an artists' promotion and booking business currently booking shows for Ross Nielsen and Newfoundland musician Chris Kirby. She has been involved with the show since inception and is hopeful this may become an annual event in the city.

"Darren came up with the idea for this show and he approached me to see if I wanted to promote it with Tuck and Roll. He's done a lot of work with the production and we worked together on the marketing and advertising," she said. "We didn't want to spend a whole lot on advertising so we basically just turned to our friends and asked them to get the word out. It's grown exponentially from there. We'd like for it to become an annual event but we're going to have to wait and see how this first show goes before deciding on future events."

"We just thought it would be nice for Fredericton to have a really big party with an excuse to get dressed up and have a really good time with some really good music," said Scott. "There seems to be a lot of excitement surrounding the show. People have even stopped me on the street to tell me they are coming and what friends they're bringing."

The buzz for The Halloween Ball has been spreading throughout the city for the past few weeks with ticket numbers growing in a very un-Frederictonian fashion, due largely in part to Facebook and word of mouth.

"Ticket sales have been crazy," said O'Donnell, who has been involved in countless shows in the past where pre-sales have left promoters wondering if anyone will turn up. "Usually these type of events will sell most of their tickets in the two days before but we've been doing very well so far and I'm not just saying this so people will run out and buy a ticket. It's the truth."

Tickets for the Halloween Ball are $15 and on sale at Read's on King Street and Tony's Music Box on Queen. Treat yourself and your community this Halloween and come out to the largest Halloween party the city has ever seen. Visit the Fredericton Food Bank on line to learn how you or your organization can make a donation www.frederictonfoodbank.com