To celebrate the release of their first album “1 Natural Rubber Latex Condom” the four member rock band Poon, fronted by Central alumni John Otteni and Matt Carstens, will be performing at Old Skool’s on Halloween night.

“You hear the name and you automatically kinda get an idea that this is something really weird,” Otteni, film and video studies graduate, said. “If you like the name, you’re gonna like what you see, hopefully.”

Poon gets a lot of their inspiration from the band Kiss. When performing, Poon’s band members wear wigs, makeup and dress in 70s and 80s rock star clothing. Each member even has their own stage persona.

Even though they emulate Kiss, Poon is not a parody band.

“I take the songwriting as serious as any of my other songs,” Otteni said. “I take a lot of time with it. You could call us comedy rock.”

Otteni, who plays guitar and sings lead vocals for the band, also wrote a pretend backstory for Poon, which states the band formed in the mid-70s. He describes his stage persona, Lesley Quartermaine, as being flamboyant, fanciful and extravagant.

“Initially we wanted to be characters, and try to keep that up,” Otteni said. “Each name really fits the personality.”

Otteni also came up with the stage personas for Carstens, who is Chet Stroker, and the band’s drummer Colin Wessman, who is Rick Boner.

Wessman also has performed improv, so he enjoys the acting side of the band.

“I feel like there is still a lot to develop as a character, which is a fun part of the band,” Wessman said.

Otteni, Carstens and Wessman have all been friends since kindergarten.

“It’s just a lot of fun playing with guys I have known forever,” Wessman said.

The band’s original name was Big Mountain Fudge Cake, but they decided to change the name to Poon, a name that is shocking yet short.

When at Lake Washington High School together, Otteni, Carstens and Wessman became interested in Kiss after they heard the song “Strutter.” They started coming up with ideas for Poon in 2006.

“Something about Kiss is that they’re really poppy, but it’s also really funny how serious they take themselves,” Otteni said. “We just thought it would be so fun to do something that isn’t serious at all.”

Half of Poon’s songs were written in 2006, but they did not play their first gig, which was at Studio 7 in Seattle, until 2010.

Carstens, who graduated college in 2011, originally came to Central to study percussion before changing his major to print journalism.

Carstens plays guitar, keyboard and does vocals for the band. Aside from Poon, Carstens plays drums for the Ellensburg Big Band and has played shows around Ellensburg under the name Nancy.

Wessman also plays the bass, and despite being Poon’s drummer, he thinks that Carstens is actually the better drummer.

Carstens said when Poon plays at shows, people ask them if they like Kiss, and the band members play dumb and pretend like they do not know who Kiss is.

“We’ll show up to shows in full makeup and costume and people will just be like ‘what is going on?’” Carstens said.

In September, Poon performed an acoustic show at Old Skool’s.

“I wasn’t sure how it would translate, but it worked out well,” Carstens said. “I’d like to think that my character had never seen an acoustic guitar.”

Some of the song titles on Poon’s album include “Windy Bitch City” and “(I’m Your) Lovin Flame.” Otteni wrote 10 out of the 11 songs on the album, while Carstens wrote one.

“I try to make them as inappropriate as possible, trying to maintain a little subtlety,” Otteni said. “Riffs are a big part of Poon. I usually start from a tasty riff or a really bizarre phrase.”

Poon has played five shows, and their favorite venue to perform at is Blue Moon in Seattle.

The band also really enjoys interacting with the audience when they perform.

“I think my favorite part of performing Poon is anything goes,” Otteni said. “[Blue Moon] has that kind of environment that feels that we can do whatever.”

Otteni said that one of the biggest challenges in performing is keeping his energy high for the entire show while he is in character. He also finds challenges in the makeup process.

“It helps if I get foundation powder, cause if I don’t, I had a show where I sweated off all my makeup, and it looked really terrible.” Otteni said. “You really gotta take time to make sure everything looks right.”

Before a gig, the band likes to rehearse in full hair, makeup and costume.

“It’s a lot different playing without makeup and a wig than it is with makeup and a wig,” Carstens said. “I have to take my glasses off, so I can’t see the entire time.”

Wessman actually does not have too much trouble getting into character.

“You’re looking in the mirror and have all the makeup on, and you’re just like ‘I’m this guy now,”’ Wessman said.

Besides Kiss, Poon’s musical inspirations include Alice Cooper and Michael Bolton.

“One of the original ideas of doing this was that we wrote songs with different eras of Kiss in mind. We have a disco sounding song; we have a ballad,” Carstens said.

Carstens and Otteni look forward to their show at Old Skool’s because they like the intimate feeling that comes with playing there.

“That’s what Poon all about-getting intimate.” Carstens said.

Otteni, Carstens and Wessman agree Poon is the most fun they have ever had performing.

“This is kinda the thing we always wanted to do, and now we’re finally doing it,” Carstens said. “We’re living the dream.”