Carpenter released his debut non-soundtrack collectionLost Themesin 2015 and followed that the next year withLost Themes II.
He also scored DavidGordon Green’s 2018 franchise rebootHalloweenand is performing the same duty on the upcoming sequelHalloween Kills.
We called Carpenter to talk aboutLost Themes III,Halloween Kills, and a certain Los Angeles alleyway.
John Carpenter.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Hi, is that John Carpenter?
JOHN CARPENTER:Yes it is.
This is Clark Collis, fromEntertainment Weekly.
I’m calling to annoy you with some questions about your new album.
Oh, thank you, thank you.
We’ll have to interrupt it for about 30 seconds when my dog comes back in from being washed.
Someone’s bringing the dog back?
What kind of dog is it?
It’s a husky.
Was the album recorded before the pandemic?
And it was recorded before and during andafterthe score that we did forHalloween Kills.
So, we’ve just been working on it for a while.
How did the pandemic affect the way you worked?
Not a bit, not a bit.
Could you talk about how you wrote and recorded the tracks?
How do we do it?
It’s like, how do we create?
I can’t explain it.
[Laughs] It’s a lot of improvisation.
I have a home studio with a lot of great electronic sounds and that’s how we do it.
[Laughs] Yeah.
Nah, it’s just your imagination.
Obviously,you’ve worked with unusual time signatures before.
Where does that interest come from?
Well, it comes mainly from my son, Cody.
He’s a virtuoso musician, keyboard-player, he loves experimenting with different time signatures.
I can only do 4/4 and 3/4 and 5/4.
That’s my limit.
And then you have so snake it in, where I don’t know.
What’s the significance of the titleAlive After Death?
Oh, that’s what we hope our art will be.
Would that be correct?
I get to play with the son and my godson.
We have a rock and roll-bang out bang out band.
A bunch of guitars and drums.
This is the greatest!
Oh, well, thank you, thank you very much.
I wanted to have naked girls up there with us but that didn’t work out.
Well, if the world comes back, and gets safe again, we might.
We’ve talked about it.
But we’ll have to wait and see.
Thing are so chaotic now, still.
Are you finished with scoringHalloween Kills?
We’re done with that.
Unfortunately, we can’t score the next one (Halloween Ends), because everything’s on shutdown.
Hopefully things will get better next year.
Could you teaseHalloween Killsfor us?
It’s the ultimate slasher.
I mean, there’s nothing more than this one.
How much have you been forced to adapt over the past year, if it all.
You like being at home, right?
It’s not that bad.
It’s not terrible.
You just have to get with it.
Get with the program!
Have you been playing any new video games?
I’ve been playingAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, which I like a lot.
I like being a Viking.
I can definitely see you as a Viking.
Well, thank you, thank you very much.
[Laughs]
Do you know what you next project is going to be?
It’s like everybody else.
We’re in a holding pattern until something clears up in terms of the virus.
Just taking it a day at a time.
I just wanted to let you know that that is still a really s—ty alleyway.
[Laughs uproariously] Yeah, I know, it’s terrible isn’t, it?
Well, this has been a real pleasure.
I’m sorry we didn’t get interrupted by your dog, but maybe next time.
Okay, you got a deal.
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