White Mischief, London's steampunk variety night


Last night I lucked into attending White Mischief, a mad, steampunk-themed variety night held at the old Scala cinema in King's Cross, London. The event was organised by copyfighting musician Toby Slater and the band Kunta Kinte, who headlined the night, but the entertainment ranged from a screening of From the Earth to the Moon to live, 1920s-themed Edward-Gorey-inspired cabaret to a twisted "flesh harp" performance from Skinphony, who mic strings that are anchored to hooks piercing the skin of the performers. The place was packed, and hundreds of people got into the spirit of things with inpsired steampunk/Victorian outfits (my favorites were the guys with the goggles, jetpacks and admirals' hats).

As for the music, it was completely kick-ass. Kunta Kinte played a show that felt like something from Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense tour, with funky, rhythm-heavy numbers that I enjoyed from the first song.

This was just about the perfect night's entertainment, and it's a semi-regular affair, with more to come in future. I almost never have the time to out to shows anymore, but I'm going to do my damndest to make it to the next one.

Link,
Kunta Kinte MP3s on Google Pages, Kunta Kinte streams on Last.FM, Kunta Kinte videos: 1, 2, My photos from the night