Hello and thank you for doing this again. For those who don’t
know a thing, can you please introduce yourself?
It’s my pleasure man, thanks for having me. I am Shadow Windhawk.
I’m an entertainer from SLC, UT. I have a solo Horror Punk project called Shadow Windhawk and the Morticians and I also play
guitar from time to time for Argyle Goolsby and the Roving
Midnight. Aside from rock n’ roll, my mission is to keep horror and Halloween
alive.
So, how is the new Shadow Windhawk and the
Morticians album coming along? What can we expect?
It’s coming along nicely. The album is called Cremation
Garden. I’m working on 10 tracks for it at the moment with my sound
engineer, Bruce Kirby of Boho Digitalia Studio here in SLC. I always want to
one up myself and with this album I’m not pulling any punches. I feel good
about everything I’ve written for this one; I’m aiming to give the record an
even bigger, warmer and more classic tone with the guitars than my last record.
I’m going to be doing a lot vocal layering as usual, and continuing to play
with contrasting harsh overdriven vocals against my clean harmonized vocals. I
started doing more of that with my most recent studio recording, "Stigmata Martyr", which is a Bauhaus
song. I made my version into a strange menagerie of post punk, horror punk,
goth and stoner rock…when I started to work on that, I wanted to make the song
a bit more industrial and aggressive in how it is arranged, but still with all
organic drum sounds. That was a fun experiment and I hope to do more of that
kind of thing in the studio with Cremation Garden.
It will be an interesting process. I’m recording this new album with a classic
Marshall JCM 800 that is all tubes like I did on the "Stigmata
Martyr" cover, whereas on the last SWATM record I used an old solid
state Crate combo amp that had this great crunch and tone to it. So that’ll be
fun. The new songs are really diverse. There’s a heavier edge to a lot of them,
but then I also have a song for this one that uses both electric and acoustic
guitars (with a full backing band) and also a fully acoustic track with a full
backing band. I never like to stagnate or narrowly focus on a specific sound, I
always try to give the songs what they need as opposed to forcing things.
Obviously everything I do will still carry over the aspects of my songwriting
style that define my ‘sound’, but I intend to expand on that with every record
and make it constantly bigger and more diverse. If one song comes out and it
sounds better acoustic, I’ll do it that way. If it would sound better with a
fast tempo and a blistering punk beat, then I’ll do it that way. But nothing is
forced. It’s all just a natural progression. As people have come to expect from
me, this record is going to be a dark, violent journey into a world of monsters
in the same way that Casket Spray was. Many of
the songs are related to cult horror films in a similar fashion to Casket Spray. But I am taking a lot more time to
create this one, and I feel like these songs are turning out to be more complex
than my past work. I’m not done pushing the boundaries and experimenting with
blending horror and rock n’ roll. This album will be the longest release I’ve
done in terms of run time, too. I’ll be working on it all Winter. Hoping to
release it by February 2016.
Anything that you would like to do with SWATM that you haven’t
done yet?
The sky’s the limit…there are always more things I want to do
with SWATM and as an artist. I’d love to get the band to play out more, I
really want to get us on some shows in Germany - maybe WGT Festival in Leipzig
or something. And of course I still want to play a lot more shows in different
parts of the US. DIY touring is just insane. Tons of money. Tons of work and
commitment. And did I mention money? Haha. That’s usually the biggest issue for
any DIY band.
One thing that has impressed me about you guys is how much
bigger you guys appear to be even though you are a DIY band running your own
label and making all your merchandise. What are the challenges in keeping up
with that demand?
Thanks, I appreciate that. We’re certainly not a “big” band, but
if people see us that way then that’s great. I think a lot of that has to do
with the work ethic that is maintained and the quality standards that I uphold
for my work and output. Black Flame Records is my brain child and I run it out
of my house. Right now it’s a one man operation. And while I do enjoy it, that
can be hard sometimes. In terms of quality, with everything I do - merch,
vinyl, CD, recordings, media that comes out online (photos and video), I always
strive to work with the best people and put out the highest quality music and
products that I can. I always want to do everything above and beyond. And as I’ve
been running the band, I have had my successes and failures but most
importantly I keep learning. I’m always aiming to make all of it better and
better. The day I start cutting corners, is the day I should quit doing this
stuff. Consistency and quality are extremely important to me. Quality over
quantity. Aside from all the other aspects of managing a band, the biggest
challenge in starting Black Flame Records has been raising and generating the
funds to keep it running. It’s going pretty well for only being two years old.
Recently, you collaborated with Goosebumps
artist Tim Jacobus. How was that experience?
It was fantastic. Tim is a unique talent in the industry; an
incredibly talented illustrator. I have been a big fan of his work since I was
a little kid. Dark Shadows, Goosebumps
and old Universal Monster films were my doorway as a child into the wide world
of horror. I was always that guy with his nose in a Goosebumps
book throughout my early years in school. The cover art Tim created in the 90s
for Scholastic left a lasting impression on me during that time. It was truly
an honor to work with him on the cover artwork for my first 12” vinyl LP, Casket Spray, and I couldn’t be happier with how the
piece turned out. It has all the hallmarks of a classic Goosebumps
cover, but is still distinctly the vision I had when I first contacted Tim back
in May of 2014. The idea was to turn the Michael Myers mansion from Halloween 5
into the Dead House (from the first ever Jacobus Goosebumps
book cover) and place myself and the Morticians in front of the house. Tim knew
exactly what I wanted from both an aesthetic and tonal standpoint, having done
100 or so Goosebumps covers. I didn’t need to
explain much. He was excited to revisit that style of work with the album cover,
because it just suited the look of the band so well. He told me we fit really
well into the Goosebumps style. The process was
simple, I gave him references and spoke to him about my ideas and just let him
do his thing. The end result is not only the cover of my first self produced
and distributed vinyl release as a solo artist, but also the first vinyl record
ever to be pressed and released with Tim’s artwork as the cover. Tim has said
in interviews that he grew up inspired by prog rock and the cover artwork of Yes LPs. That’s what helped push him towards painting,
so it’s really awesome to have been in the position to bring both of us “full
circle” so to speak with the Casket Spray LP. It
was definitely a dream come true for me. Tim’s a true professional and a really
down to earth guy. When SWATM flew out to Jersey to perform at Dingbatz this
past July, Tim surprised me by taking a small break on his work for the Goosebumps movie and showed up at my concert. That
says a ton about him, I think. He’s an interesting guy and I’m thankful to have
worked with him.
As a musician, you have played not only in your own band, but
also in DieMonsterDie
and Argyle Goolsby’s solo
band, having worked with some of the genre’s best. In this 2 part
question; first, is there anyone that you have played with in the past that you
would like to work with either in the Morticians or, in another project? As
well, is there anyone living or dead, that you would like to work with that you
haven’t?
Oh, definitely. In an ideal world, I’d love to have Argyle
Goolsby and Johnny Ott appear on some future SWATM songs. It would be great to
work with them more and it would be fun to collaborate on a recording. Gools,
Johnny and I did the first live Roving Midnight
shows together in NJ and Indiana and it was a blast. There’s a lot of people
I’d love to work with both living and dead…to answer the second part of your
question, if I could choose anyone to work with on an album or project, it
would be Lux Interior of the Cramps and / or
Peter Steele from Type O. Those guys were both
fucking brilliant musicians and performers.
As an artist, what inspires you (movies, music, comics, books,
etc.)? What got you into this?
I’m inspired by so many things. Just being alive is inspiring.
Dealing with the good times and the bad. The new experiences, love, joy, pain,
sorrow, death. All of that translates into my music in someway or another, as
it does with all people who create music or art. Obviously, I draw a huge
amount of inspiration from Horror culture, from cult films, books, ghost
stories and tales of monsters. If I was to trace back to my earliest
inspirations, I believe they would be the original Dark
Shadows soap series from the 60s, the Universal Monsters and old
movies on VHS (like Vincent Price in House on Haunted Hill
and Last Man on Earth), Goosebumps,
John Carpenter’s Halloween and of course early
to mid 90s kid’s Halloween stuff, like Hocus Pocus
- which as it happens, is where the name of my record label (Black
Flame Records) was derived from. I remember Halloween was always the
time of year I felt most drawn and connected to; I used to have dreams about it
during the year, that I was trick or treating and carving jack o’ lanterns.
Then I’d wake up and be really upset that it was still the middle of March, or
whatever. Haha. I was that kid. I think in a way, I still am.
Before the Morticians, you did a solo acoustic EP based on Twin Peaks called Tales from the
Black Lodge. How was it stepping out from the comforts of being a
guitarist in a band, to just being you armed with nothing but a guitar and your
voice?
It was a very different experience recording Tales
From the Black Lodge. I did it all live in the studio, singing and
playing guitar at the same time into live mics in an isolation room. It was all
done with very minimal mixing and mastering. On the same day that I tracked the
EP, I walked out of Annex Studio with a finished copy. Being totally on my own
is something I am very comfortable with and I think a lot of that has to do with
the experience of recording Black Lodge. In
seeing that project through, I forced myself to step away from the comfort zone
of being just a guitarist and backing vocalist who was dabbling in songwriting
and I actually began my foray into becoming a singer, solo artist and front-man.
It was a very trans formative experience and you can hear the progression a lot
from Black Lodge to Casket
Spray. It was my first step toward who I am today and I’m proud of
it for that reason. It was also a very natural and organic process doing that
EP. It’s super stripped down and raw sounding, but I wanted it to be that way.
That was the concept of the entire thing, to create a piece of music that is
tonally and conceptually coherent, emotional, honest, raw and dark. A bleak sounding
record. A tale of a man trapped in the Black Lodge, armed with only an acoustic
guitar, his stories and his voice.
Will we see another solo release like that? I found it to be
awesome and haunting at the same time as I feel it gives you another dynamic to
your music.
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed it. I enjoy many different
styles of music and have influenced by tons of different bands and songwriters.
As such, I wanted Casket Spray to be the
opposite of Black Lodge and do some straight up Horror Punk, laced with doom
and death rock, to contrast the acoustic material I had previously done on my
first EP. I might do another live acoustic record. You never know. But there’s
no plans for that at the moment. With my new album, Cremation
Garden, I intend to integrate a song or two that is cut from a
similar cloth to the songs heard on Tales From the Black
Lodge - with the exception that the songs will all be recorded with
a full backing band, as has been the case since I reformed SWATM in Nov. 2013.
My recent cover of "Stigmata Martyr" (by Bauhaus)
was actually just me in the studio tracking bass, guitars and vocals with my
friend and sound engineer Brucifer playing session drums for me. So the idea of
doing more stuff 100% alone is definitely not out of the question. I’m sure
I’ll do more stuff that way in the future.
Along those lines, how does it feel to be a front man of your
own band? What challenges or difficulties did you face when making that
transition?
It’s great. It was challenging and a lot of work to make the leap
and start my own project, front it, write all the music for it, etc. but at the
same time, it really just came naturally. I’m just so happy to be doing what I
love and what I’ve always wanted to do since I was a clumsy 12 year old, clanging
away on my first Strat and recording shitty garage / noise tracks on my dad’s
old tape recorder. It was a bit crazy going from being a guitarist in a band to
being at the center of things, but I’ve found that if you have a vision and you
want it to be seen through in a very specific way, the only way you can have
that kind of creative control is to do it all yourself. Nobody can tell you
what to do or fight with you about what direction you’re taking things in a
solo project. If they do, then that’s
absurd. So you can just do it your way. And maybe it will make me sound like a
prick, but I don’t care. I like being able to do it how I want to - without
outside interference. Compromise is good for some people and some bands, but
what I create it tends to be the result of a solitary process. That’s just how
I work best.
Right now, in addition to Shadow Windhawk
and the Morticians, you also play with Goolsby in his solo band, Argyle Goolsby and the Roving Midnight. How does it
feel collaborating and playing with someone that you are a fan of?
It’s been a blast. Goolsby is really a humble, amazing person and
over the last three years, we’ve become good friends. We live all the way
across the country from each other, but obviously keep in touch on a regular
basis. It is a lot of fun performing with the Roving
Midnight and I hope to do a lot more with Gools in the future. I
play guitar for his band at all the shows I can make it out for. I have been a Blitzkid fan since I was a kid and was massively
influenced by them. Five Cellars Below was one
of my favorite albums in high school, so to be on stage playing "Starlite Decay" alongside Gools in his new band…it’s
still fucking crazy for me sometimes. I was honored when he asked me to join in
for his debut solo show back in 2013 at Ghouls Night Out. And then re-visiting
that project this year with a new revolving group of guys and with the fresh,
extremely focused approach Goolsby has - it’s been a great experience. I’m
thankful for it and for the friends I’ve made along the way.
In the past, I’ve asked people their current assessment of the
scene. Instead of that, are there any new artists or bands in the Horror
Rock/Punk genre that you think people should know? Someone who is exciting you
with the music they make?
There’s a ton of great “undiscovered” bands out there. I’m into a
lot of doom metal / stoner rock bands. Last month I saw a band called Ruby the Hatchet, opening for Uncle
Acid and the Deadbeats. They were great. But there’s a ton of great
DIY bands out there that I enjoy. Among them - The
Cryptkeeper Five, Argyle Goolsby, Midnight Syndicate, The Other, The Loveless,
Nekromantix, The Big Bad, The Lurking Corpses, Blood Ceremony, Kylesa, Bloody
Hammers, Vladimirs, Stellar Corpses….the list is long and endless.
Are there any new releases that you are looking forward to
(movies, music, etc.)?
Well, I am stoked as shit for the new Ash vs.
The Evil Dead series…and the new Danzig
covers album, the new full length Danzig LP…and
the Danzig Sings Elvis record. Haha. Of course,
I am anxiously anticipating the upcoming Argyle Goolsby
full length LP and the new Cryptkeeper Five LP.
Those are going be some incredible albums.
In case some don’t know, you are also a film student! Will we
see any releases from these movies you write?
I’ve been taking a break this semester from school, but yes I
have been studying film at the University of Utah for awhile now. I’ve been
working on a couple of screenplays, but I seriously doubt they’ll ever be made.
That’s ok. People would be amazed at how many screenplays never turn into
movies. My screenwriting professor once told me that every successful
screenwriter has probably 50 screenplays on the shelf that never see the light
of day for every one script that actually is purchased, let alone turned into a
film. It’s a hard business, to say the least. Always has been. Right now I’m
focused elsewhere, on making records and getting music videos made - "1428" is getting an official video soon, so I’ve been
working with our director, Adam Judd, on organizing that, as well as working on
the next SWATM record with Bruce Kirby and the guys. It’s so hard to find time
for film making on top of all that, especially feature length stuff. So I
honestly just hope to graduate soon and live long enough to see one of my
stories appear on a big screen one day. Haha. If I get even one feature made in
my life, that would be huge. Only time will tell.
In Horror, sometimes a movie is so bad it’s good. We all know
movies like this! What are your feelings and/or favorites?
My favorite movie that is so bad it’s good. That’s a tough one.
It’s probably a three-way tie between Basket Case,
Fulci’s House by the Cemetery and the first Toxic Avenger flick.
Along those lines, what makes a movie good? As a film student,
how do you view a movie differently then how someone else would?
I think what makes a film “good” is super relative…it can be
anything. The worst movies can be well loved because they are unintentionally
hilarious or maybe the art direction is brilliant but the acting sucks. There’s
a lot to appreciate about cinema that is often seen as garbage. On the flip
side, there’s also a lot of bad movies that have no charm. They just fucking
suck. It’s hard to pin down exactly what makes a film good, but I believe that
the main key to it lies in the hands of the writers and the storytellers. If
the story holds my attention and interests me and draws me in with characters
that are interesting to watch, that is the biggest thing. It’s the story and
the ability of the storyteller to strike a chord with the audience that often
makes a movie brilliant. It really it is all a matter of how that story
translates visually and that involves a talented crew and artists and a great
director and cinematographer. When you write a screenplay, you are telling a
traditional story first and foremost, but you are also telling a very specific visual story. You’re writing literally for the screen.
Everything happens in the present. I could ramble on and on about all of this
shit forever, but in the end what makes a movie good is a matter of personal
taste!
Thank you once again for taking the time to do this! Are there
any parting words you have for the readers?
Anytime. Okay, parting words…
Always check your candy. Respect Halloween. And Long Live the
Horror! You can listen to my latest solo studio recording that was just
released this October“Stigmata Martyr” by Bauhaus
(from the 1980s cult classic, Night of the Demons)
right here:
https://youtu.be/meGK0uM1kZc
You can also join the Official Shadow
Windhawk “Morticians Assistants” Fan(g) Club and get a one-year
subscription that includes a pre-order of a special Fan(g) Club only CD variant
of Cremation Garden, which will be shipped to
subscribers before the album is released to the public, among TONS of other
kick ass member exclusives.
Sink your fangs into yours at: http://shadowwindhawkandthemorticians.com/
Also, everything on the official merch store is currently 25%
off, when you use the code: october at checkout. The code expires on November
1st.
Thanks so much to all of you out there reading this and
supporting my work.
Much love and respect to you guys!
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