VonZuben wants you to dance

By: Josephine Herbert and Qori Aparicio

The Wardroom at the University of King’s College came alive on Feb. 9 when student band VonZuben played their first show in Halifax. 

Something like a fish out of water, or mermaids in reverse, VonZuben went for an all-out fish-themed show. 

Their set list included covers of Radiohead’s “My Iron Lung” and Charli xcx’s “Roll with Me.” VonZuben also performed their originals “The Killing Joke,” “This House!,” “So Much For Love” and “My Mind, My Mistake.”

The band’s message is simple: if there is music playing, they hope people will move with it.

“If you’re gonna fucking dance, let’s do it,” says lead singer Ben Halliday. 

The opener hit hard, and the crowd broke out into a dance frenzy immediately. During the show, the band asked the crowd to sing along. The crowd did not disappoint, and responded with shouting, jumping and dancing. 

VonZuben is made up of Halliday on lead vocals, Zoe Schaffer-Wood on bass, Alex Rose on guitar and Mara Calcutt-Turmel behind the drums. 

VonZuben began as Halliday’s solo music project, but transformed when he asked his friends to be his backing band for a school performance. 

“Zoe and I were huge fans,” says Rose. “We loved supporting Ben, and then it turned into this awesome, different thing.” 

In September 2025, three of the band’s original members moved to Halifax to attend King’s. 

Dalhousie student Calcutt-Turmel also moved to Halifax in September. Originally from Montreal, she moved to Halifax from Liverpool, U.K., where she had been studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

A tattoo helped Calcutt-Turmel and the other band members find each other. Rose has a tattoo of the art for the band Car Seat Headrest’s album Twin Fantasy. Calcutt-Turmel spotted it in the Student Union Building, sparking a conversation between the two. The rest is history.

VonZuben is a rock band proudly inspired by the energy, catchiness and visual iconography of pop music.

“Growing up, I didn’t listen to a lot of rock music at all,” says Halliday. “I listened pretty exclusively to pop.” 

Halliday brought Rose and Schaffer-Wood into the world of pop in high school. 

“I only got really into pop music because of my friendship with Ben,” says Rose. “I liked pop music, but I was a snooty rock music person. I would be embarrassed to like the song on the radio.”

VonZuben’s other biggest inspiration is dance. 

“I love to dance,” says Halliday. “I love to have something that isn’t, ‘Oh, I want to dance to this.’ It’s ‘I have to dance to this.’ You just feel compelled to the dance floor.”

The band’s relocation hasn’t been totally easy. Halifax has far fewer all-ages spaces than Toronto. “In Toronto,” says Schaffer-Wood we really feel the scene, the energy. In Halifax, a lot of the shows are 19-plus. So we can’t go.”

The band aims to keep making music and sharing it beyond their peers, even if finding suitable venues is difficult. Through it all, one thing remains true: it’s all about having fun.

“Life is short,” says Halliday. “I think it would be a shame to waste it not dancing.”