Feature on “In ‘E’” by Aaron Mesh, Willamette Week 10-26-11

Deadly Synths

John Carpenter’s music is in the key of Terror.

MUSIC OF THE MACABRE – ILLUSTRATION: Tony Morgan

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It emerges out of the night, throbbing, relentless, implacable. It cannot be reasoned with. It cannot be silenced. It is coming from inside your brain. It is the music of John Carpenter.The director composed the music for most of his horror and sci-fi movies, includingHalloween, Christine, Escape From New York and They Live. Each score is in the same insistent tempo, and in the key of E. For one night, anyway, Carpenter’s compositions are finally getting the respect afforded to minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Local musician, author and composer Willy Greer has arranged nine Carpenter soundtracks as In E, a 45-minute suite for five musicians. (The title is an homage to Terry Riley’s 1964 randomized musical piece In C.) Greer will perform it with his ensemble the Magic Pumpkin at Tonic Lounge on Friday night.Carpenter wrote music that feels like a stabbing. “It’s not necessarily a pleasant experience for everybody,” Greer says. “There are certainly people who have adverse reactions to such highly repetitive music. I guess that’s kind of what I like about it: You very rarely get a neutral reaction.”

Greer first responded to Carpenter’s motifs when, as an 8-year-old learning to play drums, he saw Halloween for the first time and forever associated Michael Myers’ menacing trudge across suburban streets with a racing keyboard. After writing his own soundtracks for chillers like 2007’s Cthulhu, Greer recognizes Carpenter’s music as achieving the escalating purity of Glass’s Einstein on the Beach—or “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s prolonged bum fight in They Live.

“It’s a very simple idea that is milked for a good 10 minutes,” Greer says of that famed alleyway ass-kicking. “And that’s an argument you could also make about the composers of the ’70s: They might have been working within very repetitive structures, but there’s nothing minimal about the way they arrange the instrumentation and the harmonies.”

In E will be performed with very few instruments: guitar, drums and several keyboards, including at least one synth.

“We’re trying to keep it as synthy as humanly possible,” Greer said.

Appearing At Horroregon Social This Wednesday, Jack London Bar

Jack Maraglia, Luchadore extraordinaire and creator of the Horroregon network, hosts the Horroregon Social Wednesday October 19th. And he’ll be chatting with me and several other local creatives during the talk show segment of the evening. Bands, DJs and sundry other sorts of sordid entertainment will be enjoyed. Maybe even punch!

To see the full line-up, click here: http://www.horroregon.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93%3Ahorroregon-social&catid=22%3Alocal-news&Itemid=27

 

 

Excerpt from creepyla.com review of Dead Of Night

“… the Visceral Company showcases John McCormick’s flawless sound design and Willy Greer’s highly effective original music for the show. Technically, the show’s a gem.”

-Richard A. Becker, creepyla.com

Press Release for John Carpenter Tribute Show

The Magic Pumpkin Presents:

“In ‘E’: John Carpenter Suite

Friday, October 28^th, Tonic Lounge, Portland OR

The music of John Carpenter gets the trance-minimalist treatment this October at the Tonic Lounge. Musician, film composer, author and horror soundtrack DJ Willy Greer has arranged tracks from The Fog, Escape From New York, Christine, Halloween III, They Live and Prince Of Darkness into one continuous piece in the same tempo and key. The ensemble The Magic Pumpkin will bring it to throbbing life with a blend of analog and digital synths, rock instruments, and strobing visuals.

“In ‘E’” explores the similarities Carpenter’s music shares with 1970s American “minimalism” and Krautrock, as well as modern day artists like Glenn Branca and Stereolab. Repetition is one of the most effective tools a musician or composer has to alter the consciousness of the listener. Carpenter used it to great effect creating mood in his films, but taken on its own, the music can do the same funny things to the brain as a piece like Music For Eighteen Musicians. We look giddily forward to doing these funny things to the brains of everyone at the Tonic on the 28^th. Horror fanboys and music snobs should feel equally well served.

The Magic Pumpkin will share the stage with Bowie tributers The Band Who Fell To Earth and Joy Division tribute band Unknown Pleasures.

Dread-Central Review of Shadow Play

“Welcome to Willy Greer’s corner of horror and cult cinema adoration. His newly published book Shadow Play offers an appealing page flipping experience for the die-hard horror fan. To a lesser extent, Shadow Play a personal memoir from adolescence into adulthood, with Greer offering up some of the turning points in his life that cemented his love for the genre.

“More significantly, Shadow Play is a review/critique compilation of new and old genre flicks Greer has taken a special interest in over the years, filtered through Greer’s assertion that being into scary movies has a complex and meaningful psychological significance. Summed up, it’s a horror review tome served up with more personal insight and rationale than your typical detached compilation of film and video reviews.

“Mr. Greer contends that being into this horror stuff is a potentially therapeutic pursuit that may even hold the key to unexpected positive influences in our world. The title of the book refers to some Carl Jung palaver about ignoring or avoiding that which you fear at your peril, for a great, malevolent shadow will emerge and dog you for your mortal existence as a result. Greer adheres to this philosophy throughout the presentation of this book and makes an entertaining case for how he rationalizes his genre fixations.

“Enough about that. Shadow Play is not just a philosophy book for horror fans. For the most part, it’s actually a damn fine little compendium of notorious and noteworthy genre films, some well known, others more obscure, spanning the ages of obscure VHS trash to modern Cineplex mass audience horror. As a reference tome, it would make a worthy, unique add-on to your cross-reference stash, those books you pull and hit the dog eared pages to find more info or perspective on a horror film of interest. My copy of Shadow Play now sits on my shelf alongside Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies (still the ultimate in my opinion), Stephen Thrower’s Nightmare USA, Chas Balun’s The Gore Score, and L.A. Morse’s Video Trash & Treasures 1&2.

“Greer’s book might not be anywhere near as dense in terms of content as some of those books, but it’s got a cool selection and probably at least a handful of films you’ll want to see after reading it if you’re not the ultra-completist who has seen every version of every thing yet (from Greer’s critique, I am now compelled to check out this trashy ’78 flick Alien Prey, among several other new and older titles I missed or skipped for whatever reason).

“And it’s a point-of-view book, so you’ll have your own preferences coloring your reading experience. I found myself raising a confused eyebrow at some of Greer’s assertions (like his suggestion that 28 Days Later is somehow on par with the original TCM as a grueling viewing experience) and thinking “Damn straight!” at other observations of his (like Greer’s thoughtful inclusion of a significant non-horror flick like Irreversible, or his noting of Chas Balun’s odd, rather inexplicable meltdown over Nacho Cerda’s Aftermath). Basically, reading this book is a lot like discussing genre favorites and trends with a cool, articulate fellow fan over some cold ones, with all the expectedly passionate and preferential arguments in tow.

“I should mention – in this book, Greer reports something I found myself shaking my head in disbelief over. He gets into some uncomfortable personal details here and there in his reviews and critiques, one of which is him deciding watch Aftermath, Aftermath: Genesis, Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh and Blood, and Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, one after the other in sequence, under circumstances that I can say with 100% certainty that I would never, ever venture to try myself.

“If you want to read more about fighting shadows the Willy Greer way, grab a copy at your preferred bookseller stocking specialized genre content, or hit up the source at Midnight Marquee Press or even on Facebook.”

-McCannibal

dread-central.com

Fangoria #304 Review of Shadow Play

“Any horror survey that opens with quotes from both Carl Jung and Alejandro Jodorowsky has more on its mind than just trotting out genre titles with perfunctory observations. And indeed, Willy Greer’s Shadow Play: Philosophy and Psychology of the Modern Horror Film is no light read; hell, in the preface’s first sentence, he even states that this is ‘not a Leonard Maltin-style’ book. And yet nowhere in this 200-plus-page tome is there evidence of snobbery or elitism or pretentious intellectualism. Instead, Greer paints the very literate case that horror films are not just cheap escapism, but rather have the power to evolve the psychology of mankind.

“Shadow Play is divided into eight chapters that serve as both critical reviews of a miasma of movies and, more importantly, the either conscious or unconscious philosophies and moral lessons they taught the author. In “Me and My Shadow,” he discusses his wonky, pop-culture-fueled upbringing, and how his long-suffering mother allowed him to explore monsters, movies and rock ‘n’ roll with only traces of disdain. It’s a heartfelt coming-of-age chapter that more than one of us devoted fans of dark entertainment will recognize as our own story.

“From there, we move through the grotty bowels of lowbrow horror and films that have have become staples of hardcore shock, and yet aren’t necessarily accomplished. Greer’s analysis of Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (in “Defending a Mountain of Crap”) is bang-on, calling out the film as a more rigid of Dario Argento’s Inferno and its many gaffes and structural pitfalls, but celebrating the charming, leering mise en scene that made Fulci’s work more memorable… and let you forgive its flaws. Of course, personal reviews like this always come back to Greer’s own point of view–thateven a movie as pandering to visceral shock as this has an undercurrent, something that sates natural human curiosity and offers stimulation for both the gag reflex and the cerebellum.

“The final passage of Shadow Play is a kind of call to arms, a cry for the mainstream to accept and understand that horror films and stories are necessary, even vital to our sanity as a global culture. And as hyperbolic as this may sound, within the confines of Greer’s excellent, impassioned, intelligent–and yes, fun–book, it makes perfect sense.”

-Chris Alexander

Fangoria Magazine #304

June 2011

The Magic Pumpkin Presents: “In ‘E:’ A John Carpenter Suite, October 28th at Portland’s Tonic Lounge

This October brings forth a horror fanboy dream project: The Magic Pumpkin, an ensemble recruited for this one specific show, will perform a suite of John Carpenter film scores in the spirit of ’70s experimental/”minimalist” music–two genres that go together like chocolate and peanut butter.  All this and Bowie and Joy Division tributes, too! Save the date, and stay tuned for more details.