Charming Disaster
Wednesday 5th November
Doors: 8.00pm
£7.00 Advance
Charming Disaster are a goth-folk musical duo based in New York City, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, and Charles Addams, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write playfully dark songs about death, crime, myth, magic, science, and the occult. In their interactive shows, songs are selected by chance by audience members who draw cards from the Charming Disaster Oracle Deck—a Tarot-style divination that straddles the line between concert and theatre.
Charming Disaster’s music has been featured on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, they have toured the United States and Europe, and have opened for Rasputina, Voltaire, and The Dresden Dolls. Recent appearances include the Rochester Fringe Festival, Philadelphia’s Science History Institute, Cleveland’s Wizbang Circus Theatre, and NYC’s Coney Island Sideshow stage. Their latest album, The Double, was released in May 2025 to critical acclaim.
“Dressed like ghostly prom dates who ran off with the tarot reader, the Brooklyn-based pair turned the joint into a gothic cabaret where every strum, stomp, and stare felt enchanted. With a Gibson from the grave and a deck of cards from the occult, they let fate pick the playlist — a high-stakes game of cabaret roulette…The whole thing? Mesmerizing, madcap, and maybe a little cursed — in the best possible way.” –Unrated Magazine
“Live, their onstage banter—equal parts sarcastic stage whisper and conspiratorial wink—transforms each set into a midnight salon, where clever wordplay and playful repartee keep the crowd on delighted tenterhooks.“
–Grimrose Manor
“Bisker and Morris excel at presenting a kind of cabaret of shadows while also providing a safe place to explore the spooky.” –CITY Rochester
“One of the most spellbinding acoustic goth-folk-cabaret duos ever to walk the earth.” –Metal Shock Finland
“It’s pretty hard to find folk that is as spellbinding as it is humorous, but Charming Disaster executes such a feat while barely breaking as much as a cold sweat…It’s kind of like Coven meets the Carpenters, or Captain & Tennille if they had barely escaped the collapse of the Process Church with their lives and immortal souls intact.” –I Thought I Heard a Sound
“The song…builds and builds with the most delightful sense of dread imaginable. If you’re the type of person that finds the macabre fun and intriguing, you’re going to adore “Cherry Red.” –If It’s Too Loud
“There is just no bad spot to start with in Charming Disaster’s catalog…the natural world and metaphysical realm are explored with a murder ballad, folk noir and tense cabaret hybrid that no one else could replicate.”
–Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews
“Glorious…the kind of soundtrack you’d expect to find on a 1930s cartoon about a Prohibition-era Voodoo funeral…just be careful if they offer you a drink.” –Goldmine Magazine
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