Our next guest you may know from any number of bands over the years, but more recently can be seen and heard in Fantômas, Electric Masada and other John Zorn projects, not to mention his own Trio-Convulsant. Composer and musician Trevor Dunn...
What is horror to you?
Horror is all about being trapped. Being unable to flee from whatever it is that is torturing you, whether that's an unfavorable bowl movement or a centipede crawling up your nose.
When was the first and last time you remember being really frightened?
Claustrophobia haunted me as a child. I remember spending the night at a friends house and as soon as the light went out, and having no muscle memory to find the door, I would freak out. Lately I find myself panicked into cold sweats every time I'm in an airplane.
How do you feel horror as an entertainment genre â?? are you a fan?
I don't know that I'd call myself a fan of the horror genre in film, but that's probably because I'm limiting the genre to slasher films. I am a big fan of psychological horror, and to be honest, if a film is good for reasons that a film should be good, then the genre doesn't matter.
Is there any horror movies that just freaked you out as a child?
I have vague memories of being really freaked out by a few obscure movies that may or may not hold up today: Phantasm, Burnt Offerings, The Evictors. And of course classics like The Exorcist, Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, The Thing.
What about now?
Lately I've been sticking to The Twilight Zone and PeeWee's Playhouse, but in the past few years, movies that I remember actually scaring me: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Silence of the Lambs...wow, I guess those are old, too. I'm so old.
Any books?
One of the scariest books I've ever read is Bear Attacks: The Deadly Truth by James Gary Shelton.
Some of your music seems to have somewhat of a dark kind of "vibe" to it - your writing on Mr Bungle's Disco Volante album comes to mind. To what degree do you like exploring the "dark" side of things, so to speak?
Oh, I'd say to the Nth degree. I've always loved darkness especially in music. Shostakovich made an early impression on me, and that guy was dealing with some serious darkness. That said, music, as in life, is really about balance to me. I'm not one of those guys who is inspired by being depressed. I just can't function if I'm too dark in my own head. But I also tend to create things that have leanings toward some kind of subculture and lonliness. Those things inspire me in a positive way, and yet they are ultimately shrouded in darkenss.
The staff at SPB will also be putting together their quintessential "Spooky Mixes" - what would you include on it?
Something from Bohen and Der Club of Gore, Third Movement from Shotakovich's First Symphony, maybe some Bruckner, Schnittke String Quartets.
You can catch Trevor at The Stone in NYC on October 17 with Shelly Burgon as well as being on tour in November/December in Europe with John Zorn's Moonchild. For more information, hit www.trevordunn.net
