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Up Next: Celebrate Halloween With One Of Philly's Best Bands

By Michael Cerio

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — October has been busy for Philadelphia's TJ Kong & The Atomic Bomb.

Fresh from the release of their third album Dancing Out The Door, the genre-bending band is set to celebrate at their eighth annual TJ Kong Halloween Murdershow at Underground Arts this Saturday.

This weekend's "Murdershow" is a costumed collection of Philadelphia musicians with the brightest spotlight on TJ Kong. The group has gained praise with a sound that defies easy description. They are somewhere in the intersection of New Orleans swagger and Philadelphia attitude, a bluesy barroom-soaked stomp through the vivid cinematic mind of singer Dan Bruskewicz.

TJ Kong
TJ Kong | Credit: Neal Santos

"It's good for racing donkeys down the Grand Canyon," says Bruskewicz of their sound. "It's got different genres but there's a lot of Blues and Americana and it's like rough around the edges, but I think in general it's more about the energy and feel of it that sort of makes it special to us. There's sort of a feeling of, like you don't know what's coming and things could sort of ride off the rails at any moment."

The band is at their most dangerous and primed on Dancing Out The Door which is excellent and available now. You can see it in person this weekend at their TJ Kong Halloween Mudershow VIII happening on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Underground Arts in Philadelphia.

We had a chance to talk with Dan Bruskewicz about the band's beginnings, their new album, and some Halloween memories. You can hear the full interview above.

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