Every October, bands pull out cheap vampire capes and fake blood for seasonal gigs. The Spanish collective Broken Peach take a much slicker route. Hailing from Vigo, Galicia, the seven-piece act turned The Human League’s 1981 synth-pop anthem “Don’t You Want Me” into an uncanny Halloween showcase in 2022. Swapping the neon glare of eighties clubs for striking red and black outfits, eerie skull face paint, and mechanical choreography, they transformed a classic story of romantic resentment into a stylish pop cabaret.
The performance was filmed inside the subterranean concrete architecture of the Museo Interactivo da Historia de Lugo. Spanish publication VIGOHOY praised the production as modern, minimalist, and retrofuturistic. Instead of simply copying the original Human League recording, the arrangement reimagines the track through a wall of voices. Philip Oakey and Susan Ann Sulley originally sang the track as a tense, back-and-forth dispute, but Broken Peach turn those memorable vocal lines into a shared exercise in synchronized phrasing and striking visual cues.
That shared vocal presence is central to how Broken Peach operate. The group built its foundation around four front vocalists supported by a three-piece rhythm section of guitar, bass, and drums. Band member Lara Rodríguez has previously explained that this four-frontperson format originated when their singers first combined soul and gospel harmonies around a piano. Arranging their music this way allows for rich vocal layering while preventing any single singer from taking over the spotlight, giving their reinterpreted covers an unmistakable group dynamic.
Their song choice also carried an accidental piece of British pop trivia. A year earlier, Broken Peach built their 2021 Halloween production around Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”. In an unusual historical parallel, those two tracks vied to become the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1981. British chart compilers initially announced “Tainted Love” as the biggest-selling UK single of that year, until uncounted Christmas sales officially handed the crown to “Don’t You Want Me”. Broken Peach ended up covering both chart-toppers back to back, delivering their own punchy tributes to that golden era of synth-pop. Broken Peach performed their take on “Don’t You Want Me” for The Night Of The Halloween Specials, a concert the band says was recorded live in one take.
The clip found a wide audience far beyond typical pop circles, accumulating more than 3.7 million views. Reviewer Gene Turnbow at SCIFI.radio highlighted the band’s precise arrangements and choreography, while listeners from across the musical spectrum chimed in. One heavy metal fan confessed that despite usually listening to extreme bands, Broken Peach delivered the full package and gave them chills. Others focused on the visual craft, with one commenter noting that the group’s detailed costume design, makeup, and extreme creativity blew their mind.
Seasonal video drops have become a signature tradition for the Vigo outfit, stretching back to their popular 2015 interpretation of “This Is Halloween”. Broken Peach eventually included their synth-pop cover on their 2024 collection Halloween Special (10th Anniversary). Even so, the musicians have refused to stay boxed into holiday gimmicks. That same year, they launched their debut full-length record of original material, Welcome To Brokenland, showing that their theatrical flair and tight harmonies work just as effectively when they play by their own rules.