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Boo! It’s Halloween! Throughout October, HollywoodLife is running The Sound Of Halloween, where some of your favorite fiends of music, movies, television, and pop culture pick songs that should be on your Halloween 2022 playlist. With less than a week until Halloween, we’re doubling your joy with extra, full-size editions of TSOH. This time, LVCRFT, the horror-obsessed collective of music maestros, delivers a double dose of Devil Night delight courtesy of Lil Punkin and Norman Crates.
The spooky season kicked off with the release of Scream Warriors, a collaboration between LVCRFT and Christopher Young, the composer whose work appeared on Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Trick Or Treat, 2019’s Pet Sematary, and Drag Me To Hell. Described as the soundtrack to a movie that hadn’t been made yet, Scream Warriors sees LVCRFT hone their craft and create an audio experience that is truly terrifying.
Previous LVCRFT releases have focused on the fun, the campy, the gory, and the creepy sides of the holiday. It’s a mad scientist’s formula that has yielded great success. LVCRFT partnered with Freeform for the past three years, crafting the channel’s 31 Nights of Halloween theme song (turn your ears to this year’s theme, a cover of Andrew Gold’s “It Must Be Halloween“). The group also teamed with Netflix, and their music was featured on Hubie Halloween and season 3 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. LVCRFT went intergalactic by launching their own Halloween-themed radio show on SiriusXM’s Volume with Lyndsey Parker and Davey Havok of AFI. On top of that, “Skeleton Sam” was just featured on the Hocus Pocus 2 soundtrack.
With that said, we hand the aux cord over to Lil Punkin and Norman Crates – aka Evan Bogart and Peter Wade – to add some spice to The Sound Of Halloween.
LVCRFT’s Halloween Playlist Picks
LVCRFT “Skeleton Sam”
The Specials, “Ghost Town”
Kavinsky, “Nightcall”
LVCRFT, Christopher Young & MILKBLOOD, “Animatronic”
HollywoodLife: When someone says “Halloween,” what’s the first thing that jumps into your mind from your past?
Evan Bogart, aka Lil Punkin: The first thing that jumps into my mind is zombie clowns with giant cleavers! Seriously though, the first thing is memories of making DIY monsters with my Mom as a kid. We used to stuff old clothes with newspapers to make bodies and then attach monster masks to the shirt collars stuffed with blown-up balloons to fill out the masks. Then we would put them all over — inside and outside of our house — and invite all of the kids from school over for a party. We even put dry ice in the pool!
Peter Wade, AKA Norman Crates: When someone says Halloween, I always remember hoarding my candy and trying to make it last as long as possible. I would sort it meticulously, then eat or trade the stuff I didn’t like as much first, saving the best candy for last. For some reason, I would also do this with individual pieces – like I would sort the M&M’s and eat them by color saving green for last.
What do you think will be the most popular Halloween costume this year? What SHOULD be in your mind?
EB/LP: I’m thinking there might be a bunch of people wearing Hellfyre Club t-shirts but I would love to see a lot of Black Phone masks!
NC: I think it’s going to be a big year for Hocus Pocus what with the sequel coming out this week. Sanderson Sisters unite!
Do you have any particular October/Halloween traditions?
EB/LP: SOO many! First, LVCRFT and our extended spooky family always go to every haunted, horror, immersive and candy-riddled event you can imagine every year as tradition, but if I have to pick one is that on October 1st, I watch Hocus Pocus (and this year, Hocus Pocus 2 featuring our spooky smash “Skeleton Sam”). Then during October, I watch one horror movie a day that I’ve never seen before, and then on Halloween itself, I binge-watch these classic slasher originals in a row – Halloween, Friday, Nightmare, before handing out candy with the family.
NC: As Lil Punkin said, we hit all the haunts and events – then on Halloween, we call a taco truck, throw a little party and project a horror movie on our neighbor’s garage. I’m hoping to have the scariest house on the block this year and have some tricks up my sleeve – beware trick-or-treaters!
What horror movie would you star in if given a budget and free range to do whatever? You can remake any film of the past, or you can create your own.
EB/LP: Scream Warriors!! LVCRFT just finished making the most terrifying pop album ever made, a collaboration with horror film composer legend Christopher Young. It’s intended to be the score and soundtrack to a horror film that hasn’t been made yet. And I would love to make that film!!
NC: I would double down on what Punkin’ said, let’s make SCREAM WARRIORS!
What’s on tap for October for you — and the rest of the year?
EB/LP: For October (DEEEP BREATH and exhale)… we just went to Universals Horror Nights, which was an amazing return to glory, IMO. We had the Scream Warriors album release party, our album that just came out. After that, it’s Shaqtoberfest (LVCRFT is curating the entertainment and performing every night), Hauntoween (LVCRFT is curating the music every night), Delusion, The Willows, Reign Of Terror, Haunted Hayride, Carved, Night Of The Jacks, Cemetery Lane, Zombie Joe’s, Knotts Scary Farm and a few other goodies. Then, the rest of the year, we will be going to Seasons Screamings in December in Pasadena and starting to work on LVCRFT’s album #5 for 2023!! Ya know, just a few things.
NC: I will also be compiling our Scream Library a free library of screams and scary sounds we crowdsourced in our Haunted LVCRFT Recording Studio booth at Midsummer Scream this year. We recorded people screaming (and took their pictures!) and are going to distribute all the screams for free…. Follow us on socials to keep track of the drop!
