Doom and Blooms

In the world of the weird, the Tiger Lillies have a special place. First of all, they are so strange — oh, let’s be polite and say unique — that they defy classification. The three-piece London-based cult band claims a “signature” blend of “chanson, opera and Gypsy music,” which, however, never sits still long enough to be catalogued as such. In reality, that’s just the starting point for ever-evolving madcap forays into not just music but Art in all its indefinite forms. You may remember their 1998 cabaret-inspired “junk opera,” Shockheaded Peter, or The Gorey End, their 2003 collaboration with the Kronos Quartet and writer/illustrator Edward Gorey (now there’s one weird dude) that won them a Grammy nomination. Described as “a twisted fusion of pre-war Berlin cabaret and avant-garde music hall in deranged anarchic Gypsy style,” the Tiger Lillies’ output also includes over-the-edge songs involving bestiality, prostitution and blasphemy, which the boys enjoy letting loose on unsuspecting audiences. Well, they might not go over too well in Boise, but L.A. is their perfect turf. This weekend they’ll liven up Royce Hall in the next stop on their “eccentric, perverted and darkly comic” Misery Guts tour. UCLA Royce Hall, Wstwd.; Sat., Nov. 3, 8 p.m.; $30. (310) 825-2101 or www.uclalive.org.

—Mary Beth Crain