Philadelphia electro-funk jam band Disco Biscuits are busy writing a steampunk musical at a Malvern home studio of one of its members, Jon Gutwillig, writes Rosa Cartagena for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Very Moon: A Steampunk Musical has “got a little bit of Pixar meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” said Nick Schmidle, a journalist-turned-playwright.

The band is currently writing a song for a character who is escaping through sewers. The band and the writer have been holding songwriting sessions in Malvern for the Disco Biscuits-adjacent project for the last year and a half.

For Gutwillig, the musical is a departure from his usual style but it is also a return to something from his past. Two decades ago, Gutwillig wrote an epic story called Hot Air Balloon. The rock opera had its debut at Silk City on New Year’s Eve in 1998.

The new musical builds on the story set out in Hot Air Balloon.

“I always felt like it could be bigger — the music was anthemic, it resonated in your soul, you felt it in the gut,” said Schmidle. “It gave me goosebumps.”

Read more about Disco Biscuits writing their musical in Malvern in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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