Horror-101

Paul Joyce Interview

H101 recently reviewed the impressive Dawn of the Dead score tribute album by musician Paul Joyce. He’s also the score composer of the upcoming film, Isle of the Damned. We sent some questions to Joyce about the work that went into this album, his influences, and his work on the Cannibal Holocaust spoof.

Horror-101: Dawn of the Goblin is a full-blown homage record to the music of Goblin. How did you come to do this project and how did you track the members of Goblin to get permission to do this record?

Paul Joyce: My interest in Goblin goes back to me first seeing Dawn of the Dead around 1985. Since seeing it, DOTD has always been my favorite film. Part of that admiration came from Goblin’s score and the Wolf Library music Romero used in the American cut.

Fast forward to 2004 and me finally getting online. One of the first things I looked up was the soundtrack to DOTD. I had never heard the music isolated from the film before. This lead to a treasure hunt of sorts looking for all the Goblin music I could find. (I highly recommend their album Roller). During this period I was performing with my band Dark Water Transit, promoting our first CD, The Wonders of the New New Testament. I got the idea to cover a song live which quickly escalated to doing a CD. The drummer for DWT is also a huge DOTD fan, and the other guitar player a really good sport.

Contacting Claudio Simmoneti of Goblin was really easy. I just went to his website and emailed him. He was really very friendly and said that releasing the CD would not be a problem. He also thought we did a good job.

H101: The record is truly a rich undertaking. There are layers and layers of actual musicians playing in each one of the tracks. Can you tell us about the production process of this project?

PJ: As far as production for this CD went, I can tell you it was a challenge. What started as a proposed six month project ended up lasting two and a half years, maybe three. It was a combination of money and just sheer size that led to this slow process. Independent releases done on a pro level can be daunting!

DWT has always been a 3 piece. For Dawn of the Goblin, though, we had six guest musicians. Cello, violin, alto and baritone sax,t rumpet and synth were supplied by my friends who are all very talented and were willing to do what I had envisioned. I actually had tons and tons of written notes by the time mix down came around as the average was about fifty-give tracks per song, “La Caccia” being the biggest). Everything on the CD, including all the percussion, is performed with one drum machine to make some weird percussive sounds at the end of “La Caccia.”

H101: I’ve noticed that you’re very influenced by prog rock, specially the sounds of bands from the 70s like classic Genesis. What are some of your other influences? And how did you come to appreciate their style over the radio friendly rock on the airwaves these days?

PJ: Well my three biggest influences are Rush, James Brown, and Peter Gabriel — also Fela Kuti — but two of those artists have a big prog roots. My father got me interested in music at a young age. I remember trying to touch the strings on his guitar when I was a little toddler. He would often play for me. I also have fond memories of spinning his Who and ELO vinyls until the cows came home. He also got me into Tom Petty, Judas Priest and Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen is my biggest guitar influence, and I consider him the best. That sums up my roots, although I did have a huge metal thing in high school as well.

I would say that The Orb, Can, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, Mr. Bungle and the Secret Chiefs round out my influences for how I approached DOTG. As far a friendly radio? Boring and as time goes on increasingly watered down. But hey, McDonald’s is terrible for you but I hear business is booming. Let them eat cake!

H101: You seem to work under many different project guises. Dark Water Transit and your current Heirs of Rockefeller. What’s the different entities? Why not just Paul Joyce, solo musician?

PJ: This is the full list of my projects: The Heirs of Rockefeller, me solo at home doing whatever comes to mind; Dark Water Transit, instrumental three piece; Compression, metal and hardcore with a psychedelic edge four piece; Il Culo, jazz/funk five piece; and my freelance work which is under Paul Joyce, as an example I’ve done multiple tracks for the National Aquarium in Baltimore. To be honest, the music for Isle of the Damned has been eluding me as whether to list it under The Heirs of Rockefeller or Paul Joyce like a freelance job. The credit in the film goes to Kobold, but that is a very in-joke; the real credit is all me!

H101: You have composed the 70s funk-infused score for Mark Colegrove’s Isle of the Damned. How was the process of working on a movie score and are you looking to do more of it in the future?

PJ. Funny, Mark and I had crossed paths a few times over the years and had expressed interest in working together. He approached me at Horrofind August 2006 when I was promoting Dawn of the Goblin. He asked if I was interested in scoring a 70’s Italian horror parody. I thought to myself, “I just spent all this time paying homage to Italian 70’s film music. I guess I couldn’t be more qualified!”

I did the whole score from my house. I probably recorded eighty-five minutes worth of music, plus some sound effects and voices. I am very happy with this body of work. Having two years and unlimited studio time really makes a difference compared to recording demos in a weekend when I was a young buck.

The process was very fun as I got to create pieces that alluded to music I loved as a child when watching TV and horror movies. I always have a soft spot for music between 1970 and 1981, give or take a year. Funk and prog are my favorite styles, so what more can i say? I just spent the last five years of my life feeding my inner child.

Paul Joyce is actively pursuing more film score work, and anyone interested in contacting him can do so at his Myspace.

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