A guided listening experience exploring surveillance, revelation, resistance, and choice through John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's ‘They Live’ (1988) score.
Join us for an intimate two-hour journey from ordinary city life to a broadcast that was never meant to be decoded. Carpenter and Howarth combine urban drift, broadcast static, synth pads, and rock momentum as suspicion becomes recognition and recognition becomes resistance.
Listen for the point at which the everyday starts to sound controlled, then notice how the music turns awareness into movement. Once hidden power becomes visible, does the final theme sound like defiance, exhaustion, or the cost of choosing to look?
The experience
Connect, relax and quietly settle in with 30 other guests in the intimate and comfortable surroundings of the Margate Arts Club.
Rather than watching the film, we’ll listen to the score as a story. Expect a focused soundtrack listen, minimal non-distracting visuals and text to set context, and a relaxed discussion about how music moves from suspicion and revelation towards resistance, choice and agency on screen.
For ‘They Live’ fans, soundtrack lovers, film fans, DJs, selectors and anyone interested in intentional listening.
The venue
The Margate Arts Club is a joyful, DIY, inclusive, intersectional, community organisation running since 2015. They have a world class sound system, set up with a nod to David Mancuso’s audiophile loft parties. Welcoming and friendly.
Program:
7:30pm - 7:45pm - get settled, grab a drink and meet the other guests.
7:45pm - 7:50pm - short intro from event host.
7:50pm - 8:20 - Guided listening experience - Part 1
8:20pm - 8:30pm - Interlude and share your thoughs.
8:30pm - 9:00pm - Guided listening experience - Part 2
9:00pm - 9:30pm - discuss, connect and share.
Exclusive post-event channel
Post-event all guests will also have access to an exclusive 'Identity | Memories of Being Human ' Discord channel where you can continue the discussion with other guests for 7 days.
About us
Socialcreatures is a small team of creatives, musicians, audiophiles, technologists and therapists who create guided music listening events.
We create smaller connected experiences for 30-60 people. We use intentional listening and often explore the psychological themes within music and their therapeutic benefits. We focus on artist curated music so albums, film scores and other experimental forms.