Bio

Willy Greer grew up in Fresno, California, and became a part of the local music scene at age 17, playing drums, keyboard and guitar. His first band, Gargamel, only performed covers of horror film music; their 7″ single of the “Suspiria” theme was released by artist Tim Biskup’s Duck Butter Records, and featured a silkscreened cover designed by Tim and Willy.

Willy played in local bands until his mid-twenties, including E Is For Elephant, Plague Mosaic, the Grudges, the Shroud, Capitol Punishment and Big Butter. He left for Portland, Oregon in the late 1990s to form the band the Godlings with ex-Gargamel mates Aaron Santigian and Brian Sereda. The Godlings marked Willy’s first time as a singer/guitarist/songwriter. They released one album, “Something Shiny,” on Greer’s own Zhing-Zhing Records before disbanding in 2002.

In November of 2004, Willy started Horror Holocaust Radio-devoted to horror film soundtracks and discussion-with Jeff Dean. Horror Holocaust Radio was the one of the first all-horror online radio shows to hit the net, and is still going today on http://www.horrorholocaustradio.com.

In 2005, Willy landed his first gig as a film composer for the feature film “Cthulhu.” This led to his second gig – another Lovecraft-inspired horror film called “Pickman’s Muse.” Greer performed, produced and recorded the scores at his own Engine Ear Studios in Portland.

In addition to composing scores for horror films, Willy also writes about them. His book “Shadow Play: Philosophy and Psychology of the Modern Horror Film,” is a contemporary, partly autobiographical analysis of the function the genre fulfills for the current cultural climate. He has also written film reviews for fatally-yours.com and upcominghorrormovies.com, and reviews bloody marys for barflymag.com.

Willy is currently shopping the screenplay for the slasher film “Second Skin,” to which “Cthulhu” director Dan Gildark is attached.