Ryan Pardey is a musician, singer, songwriter, promoter,

tour manager A tour manager (or concert tour manager) is the person who helps to organize the administration for a schedule of appearances of a musical group (band) or artist at a sequence of venues (a concert tour). In general, road managers handle tour deta ...

, actor, left-handed guitar player, and DJ from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. He is best known as the singer and songwriter for Halloween Town, which has featured members of

The Killers The Killers are an American rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingd ...

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, and

The Shys The Shys were a five piece indie rock band from Southern California, Their line-up consisted of Kyle Krone, Chris Wulff, Riley Stephenson, and Ryan Hansen. Their debut CD, titled ''Astoria'', was released on Sire Records on July 11, 2006. R ...

. Pardey is also well known for portraying Santa Claus on '' A Great Big Sled'' (2006) and ''

Don't Shoot Me Santa "Don't Shoot Me Santa" is a song by Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. The song was released , as a digital download. A portion of the proceeds from this song went to AIDS charities as part of the Product Red campaign, headed by Bono and Bob ...

'' (2007), two Christmas music videos released by The Killers. Pardey appeared as Santa again for The Killers in the two sequel Christmas singles, '' I Feel It in My Bones'' (2012) and ''

Dirt Sledding "Dirt Sledding" is a song by American rock music, rock band The Killers, featuring actor Richard Dreyfuss and the return of Ryan Pardey as Santa. It was released on November 27, 2015. The song is the third and final chapter in a trilogy storyline i ...

'' (2015). He also appears in the videos and as illustrations in the artwork for both singles.

Early life

Ryan's father was professional poker player Rodney H. Pardey. His brother is Rodney E. Pardey, who is also a professional poker player and musician. Pardey attended high school at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts in Las Vegas during the late '90s. In his senior year, he played the lead role of preacher C.C. Showers in a production of the controversial ''

The Diviners ''The Diviners'' is a novel by Margaret Laurence. Published by McClelland & Stewart in 1974, it was Laurence's final novel, and is considered one of the classics of Canadian literature. The novel won the Governor General's Award for English-la ...

'', where he acted on stage beside

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, filmmaker, fashion model, painter, illustrator, director, and author. He is best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal M ...

Baron Vaughn Baron Vaughn (born December 18, 1980) is an American comedian and actor, known for his portrayal of Nwabudike "Bud" Bergstein on the Netflix television series ''Grace and Frankie'' and Tom Servo on the 2017 revival of ''Mystery Science Theater 300 ...

, and

Rutina Wesley Rutina Wesley (born December 21, 1978) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO television series ''True Blood'', and Nova Bordelon on OWN’s ''Queen Sugar''. Early life and education Wesley was born ...

. After graduation, Pardey soon became the owner and operator of Café Espresso Roma, a coffee shop and music venue located across from

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. While helping to jump start his career in event promotion, the café also served as the breeding ground for The Killers.

The Killers

While touring with The Killers as their assistant, Pardey became known as "The Captain" by members of the band's fan club. During the tour, he also appeared as Santa on stage with The Killers during their performance on

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

, and during their performance in Los Angeles for the

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Almost Acoustic Christmas is an annual concert run by the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM. The first show was held in December 1989, though then it was simply called the KROQ Xmas Bash. In 1990 the show became bigger and attracted increasingl ...

. He continued as tour manager for The Killers until the release of

Hot Fuss ''Hot Fuss'' is the debut studio album by American rock band the Killers, released on June 7, 2004, in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004, in the United States by Island Records. The album is mostly influenced by new wave music and post-p ...

in June 2004, when he was replaced by long time tour manager Jeremy Bates. At this time, Pardey began writing the first Halloween Town album. The song ''Questions with the Captain'' is a secret song that appears on the album ''

Sawdust Sawdust (or wood dust) is a by-product or waste product of woodworking operations such as sawing, sanding, milling, planing, and routing. It is composed of small chippings of wood. These operations can be performed by woodworking machinery, ...

'', by The Killers, and was written about Pardey's tenure as "The Captain". The song is also used as the theme song for a

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

starring Pardey, in which he interviews members of The Killers.

Halloween Town

(2008–2009) 7" release

After returning home from touring with The Killers, Pardey experienced what he refers to as his "darkest most self-destructive period". He tells ''

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada, covering Las Vegas arts, entertainment, culture and news. ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is published by Greenspun Media Group. The paper was founded in 1992 by James P ...

'', "Without

Mark Stoermer Mark August Stoermer (born June 28, 1977) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist for the rock band the Killers, with whom he has recorded six studio albums. In addition to his work with the Killers, Stoermer has ...

there'd be no Halloween Town...I knew I needed to stabilize my life. Mark helped me bring my ideas to life." With the encouragement of Stoermer, who was Pardey's roommate at the time, Ryan began writing songs for Halloween Town, a name Pardey has said he used to serve as a metaphor for Las Vegas. Stoermer would later play bass for Pardey's band at their first show. In 2008, while writing for the album, Pardey test performed the songs for live audiences, opening for such acts as The Whigs,

Tokyo Police Club Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The band found early success with the ...

, and

The Silent Comedy The Silent Comedy is an American rock band, known for their folk, Rock and Roll, and Americana-inspired music. History The band was founded in San Diego, California by brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman, In September 2010, their album ''Commo ...

. In Feb 2009,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

based rock band

joined Pardey as his backing band on stage in Las Vegas, and again later that month at Bed Rock Studios in

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...

. Ryan continued to utilize The Shys primarily as his live band, while he began recruiting members of

as his studio band, along with The Killers bassist Mark Stoermer. In September 2009, Halloween Town opened for The Killers at the

Mandalay Bay Events Center The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts In ...

in Las Vegas. The band's live performance featured members of The Shys, Louis XIV, and

Transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

. Immediately after the show, Pardey and company appeared at The Aruba Showroom to celebrate the Las Vegas music festival Neon Reverb, where Halloween Town performed for the release of their EP ''Summer (The Dreamer From 1997)'', which the band released on vinyl 7". Ryan toured the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

as a solo artist in December 2009.

(2010–2012) ''Zafra Ct.''

Halloween Town continued to play concerts through 2010, opening for the Killers at a secret

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting diverse concert programming f ...

show in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in January. Between shows and traveling, Pardey took up a DJ residency at the Beauty Bar in the

Fremont East Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley – and Nevada – besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer and politician John C. Frémont and located in the h ...

music district where he also began hosting a karaoke night. In March, Pardey relocated from Las Vegas to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

where he would play in the

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

music festival, after which he continued to perform shows in and around Austin for two months before relocating again to San Diego, where he would begin recording the band's first LP. In June 2010, Pardey returned to Las Vegas to perform new songs from his forthcoming Halloween Town album at a benefit for Arbo De Vivo, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping impoverished people of the world. This specific event focused on support for

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

after the devastating earthquake that ravaged the nation earlier in the year. In May 2011, Halloween Town began a residency at The Palms hotel in Las Vegas. When asked when the Halloween Town LP would be released, Pardey responded by saying, "I guess some time in July...Since I'm an old man already, I don't need to rush." On September 9, 2011, Halloween Town released their debut LP ''Zafra Ct.'' on Cornstalk Records, a label created by friend Matt Gubler. The album was named after the street Pardey grew up on, and features collaborations and production by a star lineup of musicians, which include Shaun Cornell (Transfer), and Michael Stratton (12 Volt Sex),

and

Dave Keuning David Brent Keuning (born March 28, 1976) is an American musician, best known for his role as the lead guitarist of the rock band The Killers, which he founded alongside Brandon Flowers in 2001 and with whom he has recorded six studio albums. Ke ...

of The Killers, Jason Hill and

Brian Karscig Brian Joseph Karscig is a musician, songwriter, and record producer, but is mostly recognized as the co-singer/guitarist/songwriter for the American rock band Louis XIV signed to Atlantic Records. He also is the singer/guitarist/songwriter of ...

of Louis XIV, and Matt Dublin of The Red Romance and

Ambulance LTD Ambulance LTD was an indie rock group formed in Spanish Harlem, New York City in 2000. The band was founded by Michael Di Liberto and David Longstreth from Cleveland OH. Marcus Congleton joined about a year later and continued on with their name a ...

. Zafra Ct. was voted one of 10 best albums of 2011 in Las Vegas by '' CityLife magazine''. In a 2012 reader poll given by ''Vegas Seven magazine'', Halloween Town was selected as "Best Unsigned Vegas Band That a Big Label Should Go Ahead and Sign Already".

New work (2015–)

In October 2015, Pardey led the second reopening of the Las Vegas venue bar known as The Bunkhouse. The venue was sold to

Tony Hsieh Anthony Hsieh ( ; December 12, 1973November 27, 2020) was an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Prior to joining Zappos, Hs ...

's Las Vegas based Downtown Project in June 2013, closed, renovated, and then reopened in August 2014, only to close less than a year after reopening. Pardey was brought on as Entertainment Director when the venue reopened for a second time in late 2015. In November 2015 Pardey appeared in the

-directed music video for the song ''

'' by The Killers. Pardey sings on the song, which features actor

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...

, and he appears in the artwork for the cover of the single.

References

External links

* Ryan Pardey as Santa Claus in the music vide
Don't Shoot Me Santa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pardey, Ryan 1979 births Living people People from the Las Vegas Valley American indie rock musicians 21st-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Nevada