Dreaming of a Dark Christmas with Squid Lid

Photo credits: Ashlea Wessel, Derek Cutting, Photolena. Squid Lid is a Toronto electronic, underwater-inspired costume band which goes overdrive at Christmas. You’ll find one of three band members James Zirco Fisher, a.k.a. Professor Keypresser, dressed up like a Krampus.

Why? Squid Lid just hosted the second annual Krampus Ball in Toronto; a spooky affair with hundreds of people dressed as the alpine demon with horns, white fur, and dark eye makeup all over their spooky faces. By challenging the good cheer of the season (and spooking out families on the subway), Squid Lid is stomping on the commercial side of Christmas with demonic dress-up.

Aside from the annual bash, though, Squid Lid is used to fusing electro with theatrical performance. Carrying around a Halloween vibe all year round, their live shows present a spectacle which is more than just dudes standing behind glowing laptops. They bring together futuristic masks, florescent paint, black lights and medical coats. The characters onstage reflect deep sea creatures, like the seahorse, angler fish, and the eel.

Squid Lid the band—which is Fisher, Chloe Dellark and Warner Reshife—are gearing up for the release of their third album, Tackle Box, in the spring. In the meantime, James spoke to us about being freaked out by the underwater world, surrealism, and Krampus versus Santa Claus.

Noisey: At what point did you decide to do the Krampus ball? What happens here?
Squid Lid: Years ago the original co-founder of Squid Lid, Jonah K, exposed me to the amazing YouTube clips of all the wild European Krampus parades that happen every year. The desire to throw a dark Christmas party has been a long time coming, as I'm continually frustrated with the distorted Christmas obsession in North America. The Krampus Ball is a big "get stuffed" to all the commercialism that we are bombarded with earlier and earlier each year. There are Christmas items in stores even before Halloween is over! Our first KrampusBall was 2012 at Revival in Toronto. It was a last minute production and we were totally amazed by the turn out and costumed response. This year we had a parade that formed in the park just south of Revival. The numbers doubled from last year's party and the costumes were even more spectacular! The best part about North Americanizing anything is the slight shift in translation that occurs. Toronto's Krampus is more about the seasonal statement and less about tradition. The costumes reflect that naturally. It's astounding.

Why are you drawn to Krampus and the darker side of St. Nicholas?
I personally need an outlet that celebrates the darker elements during the Christmas season as I get so irritated by the insistence of "joy" from a culture that is geared to make money off of all that good cheer. Because of this cash cow season no one is punished for being bad and everyone is worthy of Christmas gifts. Krampus is the ramification I've been searching for! He deals with the naughty kids and hands out the coal and the seasons beatings (ironically, if you're too broke to heat your house or have a fetish for a good lashing then Krampus is like Santa!). Krampus has a rich history too which helps in credibility when encouraging the tradition to take place in Canada. The thing I love most about Krampus is that the tradition has all the demonic fixings of pure evil, and yet is somehow playful and fun as he is paired up with a Saint encouraging good behaviour in all the young, mouldable minds. We have the jolly idealized Saint Claus rampant here in North America, it's time to even the playing field.

As for Squid Lid, where does the band’s identity come from? I see masks, florescent paint, black lights, and medical coats.
Squid Lid came from a deep seeded need to perform new music with a theatrical live stage show element. It started four years ago in the rise of the "live" DJ set, where DJs became famous for doing little more than pressing a button or two. Inspired to engage with our audience more without bringing on more members or instruments or getting too "techy," we thought of all the aspects of live performance that were most interesting to us and combined them into a creature mash. The glow element really helps convey to the audience that they have entered a different world. The masks help to keep everything on a surreal level. The medical and operation qualities give the impression that something unpredictable is being created before their eyes. The deep sea world theme helps tie everything together while directly relating to our outlook on this project.

Why does the underwater underworld inspire you?
I'm totally freaked out by the deep seas! It excites me to no end knowing that on this planet, that we carry out our day-to-day rituals, there also exists such wildly beautiful yet intensely frightening creatures. The laws of nature down there are so abstract. Being a dreamer at heart has strengthened a healthy need for the surreal in my life, and growing up it was always about outer space and what lies beyond. With all the new discoveries being made under the waters' surface and documented for all to see a whole new world has been uncovered ripe for artistic expression and reinterpretation. I love the fact that we don't have to venture farther than our own planet to encounter real life monsters and aliens.

Jazz hands, people, jazz hands.

Is there a subculture associated with this type of music? If so, what is this scene?
We are a mash-up of all that inspires us from such heroes as Amon Tobin, The Knife, Noisia, Trent Reznor, and Hans Zimmer to name only a few, which is part of the reason for our eclectic sound. Even though most of our music is instrumental we really try to interweave a loose narrative within each track. The scene that is gravitating to our music is evolving in a similar fashion. It's a mash-up of many different scenes made up of people who enjoy a more complex dose of narrative electronic in their system no matter what their music genre of choice is. Our scene is growing and evolving much like an un-charted deep sea land: you just can't predict what kind of creature is going to show up next.

What role do the masks play in the performances?
The masks are our direct connection to those experiencing a Squiddy performance. While performing we're saying it’s time to escape the world you think you know and enter a new one where anything can happen. Our masks represent the dark and eerie ways of the deep underwater worlds. They empower us when we wear them, helping us to inhabit that world instantly.

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