Fear ['fea(r)]: noun; a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.
Horror ['ho-r e(r)] : noun; an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear.
Whether it's something from our past, hidden in our subconscious that we try to forget, or something we actively seek out - the rush of endorphins, the thoughts of death to remind us of our own mortality, one thing is certain... .it permeates our daily rituals and the very fabric of our being. Joining our discussion today on this, the 13th day of October, 2006 are three very different individuals who share a common choice of career that is music.
We begin our feature with a man who is no stranger to the macabre. No foreigner to the dreadful, no mere neophyte to the terrible. The man whose bloodcurdling vocals can be heard on Battlecry Under A Winter Sun and the band's latest effort, Advance and Vanquish, 3 Inches of Blood's Jamie Hooper.
What is horror to you?
Horror is watching the news. Humans are fucked. No horror movie is as fucked as the shit people actually do to each other in the name of religion and politics.
When was the first and last time you remember being really frightened?
First time was probably watching Pet Cemetery when I was pretty young. The movie is wack but that creepy aunt upstairs freaked the shit out of me. The last time was probably watching devil's rejects on mushrooms. Again, the movie is pretty shitty but the circumstances made it pretty trippy. I'm much more terrified by suspense than by gore. I can handle all the dismembering and brutal bloodbaths but as soon as a dude is walking down a set of basement stairs with eerie music I'm done for.
How do you feel horror as an entertainment genre - are you a fan?
Yeah, for sure. But there is a LOT of shitty horror out there. I'm more of a fan of older shit like Bava and Argento. The cheesy satanic films. And of course corny zombie films.
Is there any horror movies that just freaked you out as a child?
Psycho. Like i was saying about the suspense, that movie has some good suspense. And of course the exorcist. The first time I watched that I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
What about now?
Not so much. I haven't had a good scare in a while.
Any books?
There aren't many books that have freaked me out. Maybe when I was little but nothing comes to mind. Right now I'm reading a book of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, but there isn't anything scary about it.
Most of 3 Inches' music deals with dark-as-hell subjects. To what degree do you like exploring the "dark" side of things, so to speak?
With human nature and the inherent shittiness of people there's no shortage of "dark" subject matter. We also have a fun time exploiting the imagined hells and evils of the christian world. Religion over the years has come up with some pretty hilarious characters they see as opposition and it's pretty easy to take their demons and devils and turn them into fodder for songs. And plus it pisses people off to no end.
The staff at SPB will also be putting together their quintessential "Spooky Mixes" - what would you include on it?
- Hector Berlioz, "Night of the Witches Sabbath" from Symphonie Fantastique
- Asunder, "Twilight Amaranthine" from A Clarion Call
- Anything from Carpathian Forest
- Dead Can Dance, "Dawn of the Iconoclast" from Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
- Anything from Disembowelment
- Graves at Sea, "Praise the Witch" from Documents of Grief
- Moss, "Crypts of Symnambulance" from Cthonic Rites
- Anything by Sunn O)))
You can catch Jamie and 3 Inches of Blood on tour right now including a one-off show with none other than Iron Maiden in Irvine, CA on Oct. 21st, before entering the studio to record their next album hopefully due in March of next year. For information, see www.3inchesofblood.com
