Film Review: “Herd”

Starring: Ellen Adair, Mitzi Akaha and Jeremy Holm
Directed by: Steven Pierce
Rated: NR
Running Time: 97 minutes
Dark Sky Films

Our Score: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

Despite the saturation of the zombie genre over the past few decades, I still have a soft spot for it. Films like “The Sadness” and “Wyrmwood: Apocalypse” show there’s plenty of fun ideas to still explore within the genre. Then other films seem to simply retread tired clichés, like how humans are worse than zombies or how we’ll fight each other before we fight zombies. Unfortunately, despite an interesting beginning, I’d put “Herd” in the latter category.

Jamie (Ellen Adaiar) and Alex (Mitzi Akaha) are going on a canoe camping trip to repair their breaking relationship. Things get tense during the trip and Alex injures her leg, trapping the duo near Jamie’s hometown, filled with bad memories, two warring factions, and a potentially abusive parent. On top of that, the zombie apocalypse has apparently broken out. While the calamity could provide some fresh meat to the genre, “Herd” goes a lot of predictable routes before it’s finale.

The obvious social commentary in “Herd” is ones we’ve seen before like the breakdown of civilization through overt classism and distrust of one another. “Herd” tries to bring a bit more to the table by offering up the LGBTQ+ relationship of Jamie and Alex. The duo worries about whether or not they’ll be accepted by what few people are left, or as the film title explicitly implies, the herd. It doesn’t necessarily work since the armed men running the show seem more afraid of every cough and sniffle they hear, but it’s clearly a commentary on how small-town acceptance only extends to straight white people.

Other than the commentary, the middle of the film tries to be a character study, focusing on the characters fears and concerns. It would have worked better if the humans and zombies were menacing. Like I said, the men with guns seem more concerned about the other men with guns and every time they hear someone clear their throat. The zombies are slow moving and are covered in boils, yet sometimes seem unconcerned with actually chomping into someone’s flesh. Instead they growl, claw and make gurgling scream sounds.

I’m willing to forgive bad zombie films as long as I’m entertained, but nothing about the “Herd” kept me engaged. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that the ending would somehow pull the rug out from under me or tie everything together in a way that would make my jaw drop. It didn’t, but I’ll give credit for the unpredictable nature of it. There’s a lot of skill, craft and effort in “Herd,” but all of that was bogged down by an uninspired script that made the 97-minute runtime feel like a zombie crawl.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews, Movies Tagged With: dark sky films, Ellen Adair, film review, herd, jeremy werner, Mitzi Akaha, ...

Film Review: “Wyrmwood: Apocalypse”

Starring: Luke McKenzie, Shantae Barnes-Cowan and Jake Ryan
Directed by: Kiah Roache-Turner
Rated: NR
Running Time: 88 minutes
XYZ Films

Unlike one of it’s clear influences, “Wyrmwood: Apocalypse” could care less if you haven’t seen 2014’s “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead.” For the unaware, “Road of the Dead” was a “Mad Max” with zombies. But unlike “The Road Warrior,” Apocalypse keeps it’s foot on the gas and doesn’t bother reminding you who have the characters are. So as a refresher, in the world of “Wyrmwood,” zombie breath and blood are a fuel source for vehicles and other technological weaponry. It’s the kind of idea, at least on paper, that is absolutely stupid, but thanks to a gung-ho cast and plenty of zombie scenery chewing, it manages to become a modern B-movie worthy of any backwoods drive-in. But that’s “Road of the Dead,” how does its successor hold up?

Apocalypse” is about Rhys (McKenzie), an apocalyptic scavenger that bounty hunts the living and dead for his bosses, the evil remnants of the government’s military police. Rhys is handed a hefty bounty in the from of Brooke (Bianca Bradley), our zombie hybrid femme fatale from “Road of the Dead.” Brooke, we come to find out, killed Rhys’ brother making this bounty extra important for our lead. Lest I forget to explain, since the movie doesn’t, the zombie hybrids are able to tame their zombie side by drinking blood, which allows them a variety of odd zombie powers or, I guess you could say, powers that are made-up and needed when our heroes are in a predicament. Rhys has a bounty hunter’s change of heart when he encounters another hybrid, just like Brooke, by the name of Grace (Tasia Zalar).

The exposition, while thick and sometimes unnecessarily complicated in the first half of the film, is forgivable considering the richness of the film’s backdrop coupled with some spectacularly low-budget action sequences. For instance, Rhys home/compound feels like something you’d see in the video game “Fallout 4” while the ultimate battle between good and evil, the zombie hybrid alliance and the bloodthirsty military industrial complex, feels like Immortan Joe and Furiosa using Weyland-Yutani Corp. weaponry and science. If some of these pop-culture references are going over your head, you may not have as much fun as I did watching the final act bedlam of “Apocalypse” because writer/director Roache-Turner isn’t shy about his influences or leaning heavily into them.

“Apocalypse” feels nostalgic in the sense that it’s a mish-mash of 80s action, sci-fi and horror, all bathed in neon lights and shiny red gore.  If blood, guts, mayhem, carnage and the crunch of smashing vehicles is your thing, you’ll be smiling ear to ear during this. The world-building feels endless and lacking at the same time. Sometimes the small details are explained while the bigger details are glossed over, something I wish they flipped, but maybe that’s my own expectations for a sequel in general. That feeling doesn’t go away by the end, when it becomes obvious that “Apocalypse” may be the middle of an expected trilogy. Regardless of my nitpicks or hesitations, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be the first in line for a third “Wyrmwood ” so that I can quench my own thirst for high octane vioelcne and apocalyptic theatrics by over-the-top characters.

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Martin Freeman on Carrying Netflix’s CARGO

Martin Freeman was last seen on screen this year providing comic support to Wakandans in the blockbuster Marvel smash, Black Panther but this Friday on Netflix, he jumps to the forefront of a very different sci-fi landscape in Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke’s Cargo. This fantastic zombie plague story sees Freeman playing Andy, the father of adorable baby Rosie, who is unfortunately bitten by zombies and is racing against the clock to carry Rosie to safety across the Australian outback.

Cargo made its stateside premiere last month at the Tribeca Film Festival, after which I got to speak with Martin by phone about working in the horror genre, and of course what tech he’d like to lift from Shuri’s lab!

Lauren Damon: Before the Tribeca premiere had you seen the film?

Martin Freeman: I had, yeah. But only a long time ago on a laptop.

LD: I imagine it was more effective with other people around…

MF: [laughs] Yeah, it went down very well actually, yeah. It was very well received. It was late and people need not hang around for questions but they did. I think it seemed very positive, yeah.

LD: With the film going to Netflix next, are you excited? Are you a big Netflix user yourself?

MF: I am a frequent Netflix user, yes, very much so. I think when you make a film initially, you always envision it having a theatrical release. But maybe generations now don’t envision that. But my generation envisions a theatrical release and it’s getting that in Australia. The rest of [the world] is on Netfilx, that platform, and you think ‘ok, well fair enough.’ But then you actually think it’s more than fair enough because way more people are going to see it on Netflix eventually than would do in a theatrical setting. Just the accessibility of it, the ease with which you could see the amount of things you could see, yeah, I’m more than happy about it.

LD: With Cargo filming mainly being outdoors and with your character carrying the baby everywhere, what was the hardest part about shooting?

MF: Probably just getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. That was pretty challenging. Holding babies on my back was kind of alright. Sort of felt like free gym work, really.

LD: So you lost weight by shooting the film?

MF: I probably did. I probably did. I ate sort of reasonably healthily…but yeah I was constantly carrying a backpack.

LD: I assume there were multiple babies to rotate through?

MF: Yeah, two sets of twins. One pair of twins turned out, quite quickly, to be the more amenable pair. And the other pair was used more for in sort of wide shots.

LD: When you’re acting in an apocalyptic film or a zombie film, do you start thinking about the choices your character is making and whether you’d agree with Andy?

MF: Yeah, I think he did everything he could really. Part of what makes it relatable for me is that his actions seem very human.

LD: Do you think about if a zombie plague broke out what you—as Martin—would do?

MF: I haven’t thought about that a lot, no. No, not a lot. I don’t really fear zombies…but when the shit really hits the fan, whatever form that’s gonna come in…No, I guess like everybody else I’d panic [laughs]. Most people just hole up…

LD: Meanwhile, you’ve also just appeared in Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories. If you don’t fear zombies, what about ghosts and the supernatural?

MF: Not really. I mean I kind of…I’m open to belief in the supernatural if it can’t be empirically disproved or proved. But no, I haven’t ever seen a ghost. I’ve had, you know, the occasional spooky night. Once you hear something that goes bump or bang and you start making up your own narrative for it. And I’ve been rooted to the spot a few times on my stairs thinking ‘is that a ghost or is it a burglar?’ And fortunately it was neither.

LD: Do you have any favorite horror films or ghost stories?

MF: I don’t know if they count it as horror…The first one I saw as a young child was Psycho. So that was when I was about seven and that was—it really affected me a lot. That first experienced of being very very frightened.

LD: In some sequences of Ghost Stories you get to play sinister, which I’m not used to seeing you in that way, was it fun to go there?

MF: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I loved it. It’s just always nice to lean into another part of your personality and be able to perform in a different way. Because I think as the film goes on and what I’m doing goes on, it was allowed to get a little more heightened and theatrical. You don’t always, in front of the camera, get the license to be that theatrical and that slightly camp. Your job in front of the camera is usually to be very real and not do any acting at all. Or at least that’s the job I give myself. But to do something a little bit more arch—you know, he becomes a function of the story then, as opposed to a three dimensional character. He becomes the function of the story to do something to Professor Goodman he has to have an effect on [him]. And I really enjoyed, yeah, just having to fuck with Andy Nyman. That was really good fun, yeah.

LD: Between Ghost Stories and Cargo, you undergo some pretty heavy makeup prosthetics, is that fun to get more into it? Or something more challenging?

MF: It is a bit of both, really. It is fun, because I’ve not done loads of it so it’s still—it doesn’t feel too much like the day job for me. It isn’t boring yet to do prosthetics. But yeah, the challenges are just the time it takes and the relative discomfort of it. Just there is a layer between you and the outside world that you’re not used to. There’s a layer between you and the other actors that you’re not used to. I guess with Cargo it was meant to be uncomfortable. And as I say, where we were filming at that time was quite hot…

LD: Yeah and then I imagine being under a bunch of zombie makeup in the hot sun…

MF: Yeah, just getting eaten by mosquitoes and I didn’t get on very well with the contact lenses. I didn’t get on very well with those [laughs]

LD: It looked good!

MF: Good. Yeah, then it’s for a good cause.

LD: Between Cargo and Ghost Stories, which order did you shoot them in? Was it close together?

MF: They were quite close together actually. Yeah, I shot Cargo first and then about a month later I shot Ghost Stories. The month after I came back from Australia, I went up to northern England and shot Ghost Stories.

LD: So you were in like horror genre mode.

MF: Kind of yeah, it sort of worked out like that. And of course it, you know, as far as the actor’s concerned, that’s never The Plan. Because you very rarely have any plan at all other than, you know, be able to pay the rent. It’s just what comes to you that you respond to for whatever reason and I’ve got pretty poor taste in what I like—what I like as a viewer. And what I like doing as an artist….I guess there’s more genre around now than there was twenty years ago. There’s more genre around now. And I’m still from the old school of ‘hey it’s the story’. It has be as story that I like. That I would like to participate in totally regardless of genre. I never give a single second thought to genre.

LD: Speaking of being able to pay the rent—congratulations on being in Black Panther, only the highest US grossing movie ever right now, that’s pretty exciting!

MF: Yeah. Yeah, very exciting.

LD: I am just a giant Marvel nerd, so I’m also wondering, if you could have any of the tech from Shuri’s lab in real life, what would you pick?

MF: Hmmm. Well…anything involving the black sand so it could move around and make shit. If you can picture it, if you can envision it, then the black sand would make it to be like that, that would be very helpful.

LD: What would you use it for?

MF: I’m not sure. Probably just furniture. I like the idea of that. Furniture and shoes.

LD: Just have a nice chair to sit on when you need it…

MF: Yeah, exactly. [laughs] A very nice chair.

Cargo starts streaming on Netflix on Friday May 18th

Black Panther was just released on digital and blu-ray

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White Zombie’s Sean Yseult talks about her exhibit at Sacred Gallery in NYC, “Retrospective”

Sean Yseult is probably most recognized as the co-founder/bassist for the heavy metal band White Zombie, a group which dominated MTV with its hit song/video “Thunder kiss 65” in the early 90’s. Since the groups disbanding in 1998 Sean went on to play with several other acts such as The Famous Monsters and Rock City Morgue. In November of this year, Sean will showcase a different part of her artistic abilities in “Retrospective”- a love letter to her long-time muse, New Orleans which will be on display at Sacred Gallery in NYC through December 31st. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Sean recently about the exhibits creation and her return to New York City.

 Adam Lawton: What can you tell us about your upcoming exhibit “Retrospective” which opens in November?
Sean Yseult: The exhibit is going to have a little bit of everything. There are pieces from shows I did in New Orleans 10 years ago. Mostly I am going to be showing my large 4ft by 6ft pieces I did recently for a show in New Orleans titled “SQIREE D’EVOLUTION”. It’s kind of a tongue and cheek yet morbid setting of a party in New Orleans set in the 1870’s. It’s based around a secret societies party that has gone wrong. It’s a really fun show. The exhibit will also have some pieces from my “MISSISSIPPI MERMAIDS” show where I figured out how to put girls inside of bottles on the ocean which is a little different. (Laughs) I also have some pieces from way back that are old black and white Polaroid’s done in the style of Joel-Peter Witkin and Bellocq. There is a lot to look at as they gave me a tone of space so I am going to fill it out. (Laughs)

AL: Where did your influences come from for “SQIREE D’EVOLUTION” and “MISSISSIPPI MERMAIDS”?
SY: I really don’t know where I got the idea for “MISSISSIPPI MERMAIDS” and having girls in bottles. Maybe I watched too much “I Dream of Jeanie” when I was growing up. (Laughs) For “SQIREE D’EVOLUTION” I was hugely influenced by the Dutch Masters. I made an enormous black back drop and the photos have a serious light/darkness to them with an intensity of color. A lot of people walk up to them thinking they are paintings. I am very happy with how those turned out. I definitely draw from a few different areas.

AL: With the pieces that are coming from different exhibits how did you go about choosing those selections?
SY: I looked at everything I had done and it all has this sort of timeless quality to it. You can’t really tell which era the pieces are actually from. Even my new pieces which are in full color and set in the 1800’s have those elements. It’s very hard to tell the time as they are a bit ghostly and a lot of them are portraits of women in various states of dress or undress. It all sort of fits together somehow. (Laughs)

AL: What is it that draws you to this type of subject matter?
SY: I moved to New Orleans and became entranced with the people and the beauty of the city. The city is in this sort of state of decay and things are falling apart. In the summer especially girls are running around in slips and things so it’s hard to tell really what period you are in. It’s pretty amazing. To me it’s just so beautiful and there are so many lovely people. I just enjoy photographing it all.

AL: Coming back to New York for your first solo show is sort of a home coming for you. What do you think the experience is going to be like?
SY: I am really excited! I originally moved to the city to attend Parsons School of Design for photography. Its finally coming full circle that I get to come back there with my photo’s after all these years. Parsons is where I met Rob and we started White Zombie which sort of derailed my photography for awhile but after the band broke up I moved to New Orleans and started back up with my photography. I have shown off and on at different galleries but it’s going to be so great to show at Sacred Studios. I have been making visits up there ever since I was offered the show.

AL: How did the opportunity to show at Sacred Studio actually come about?
SY: I was at an opening last spring at a private gallery at the Chelsea Hotel for Dee Dee Ramone. My old A&R guy from Geffen Records was there and he pointed out this artist that he loved named Vincent Castiglia. We started talking and he had shown at Sacred Gallery and thought they might like my work. He put me in touch with them and I talked with Kevin Wilson the gallery director and from there things moved pretty quickly.

AL: With being so involved with your photography as of late do you feel your music has sort of taken a back seat?
SY: Not always. I sort of flip flop back and forth depending on my schedule. For the last year though I would have to say yes. I spent 2 years putting together “SQIREE D’EVOLUTION” which was a lot of very intense work. Now I am more curating and gathering things to put a show like this together. I do have a new band called Star and Dagger which will be recording with the amazing Chris Goss later this year. We have a lot of songs written but just haven’t had time to get everyone together.

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Meg Foster talks about her transformation in Rob Zombie’s “The Lords of Salem”

Meg Foster is known best for her roles in films like “They Live” and “Masters of the Universe”. She goes under a complete transformation for her latest role in Rob Zombie’s “The Lords of Salem”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with her about her role in the film and how she got into her character.

Mike Gencarelli: How did you get involved with Rob Zombie’s “The Lords of Salem”?
Meg Foster: My manager phoned me and told me about the part. I was very interested in the role after reading it. I grew up in New England and something about it just reminded me of my childhood. I thought the words were just so beautiful. I think Morgan had some wonderful things to say. I had know about Rob Zombie’s work. Rob and I had a telephone conversation and I just keep relating back being a child in New England. I spent a lot of time in the woods and I had all of these wonderful childhood memories. Rob creates so much space for his actors. He expands everything. He is so generous in spirit and so very talented. It is like being a part of a painting. You are not just another color. You are YOUR color.

MG: Let’s talk about your transformation in this film; how did you get into character?
MF: Rob had his hands in creating everything. He worked with all the department heads. He had extraordinary effects, wardrobe, hair and make-up. They all worked together. The coven of witches from 1692 was quite amazing. I am not sure if you can actually see in the movie how amazing the costumes were. I was wearing wolf skin. It was like actually being one of them. You said transformation…that is really what it was. We actually didn’t have much makeup on, it was in fact dirt. I loved it. It made me feel like being a part of the earth. With the wardrobe, Julia Gombert used bones to hold pieces together. It was so well done and beautiful though. So this is how I got into the role.

MG: What was your the most challenging aspect of the role?
MF: I didn’t really do any planning for the role. I went through hair and make-up and just let the character develop on her own. The space that Rob developed for us actors made me feel so safe. I didn’t feel like there were any real challenges, but this is in retrospect. When I went in front of the camera and I just wanted to be as present as I could in the moment and let whatever was going to happen, just happen. The words that I had were very special. I like letting it just flow with the moment and follow the environment that was created. I don’t even know if I have words for this film! It is so multi-layered. It is like a labyrinth, a very visual labyrinth.

MG: What is it about the horror genre that interests you?
MF: It is always different. I like working in any genre. But I think that horror and sci-fi has always been popular and relevant. I remember watching Bela Lugosi in “Dracula”, when I was a child on “The Early Show”. It never frightened me but it terrified by brother. He was three or four at the time. He wouldn’t go to sleep that night without a crucifix in this bed [laughs]. So horror is the real deal.

MG: One of my favorites in the genre is “They Live”, can you reflect on the continued fan base surrounding this film still today?
MF: It is amazing. I have been so fortunate. I have worked with some of the most wonderful directors. John Carpenter was really great to work with on this film. When “They Live” came out and it wasn’t big at first but then it came back on Betamax and then got another life on DVD. Ever since doing “They Live” people always recognize me for the film. If I am in a market and I just hear them say “They Live” and I turn around and say “John Carpenter” and then say “Roddy Pipper” [laughs]. I absolutely love this film. It is quite extraordinary and the film itself is just timeless.

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Bruce Davison talks about ABC’s “Last Resort” and “Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem”

Bruce Davison is one of Hollywood’s best character actors in the business. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his work on “Longtime Companion”. He is also known for his his role as Senator Robert Kelly in the “X-Men”. movie franchise. He recently directed Barry Williams & Danny Bonaduce in the Syfy creature feature “Bigfoot” and also recently worked with Rob Zombie’s on “The Lords of Salem”. Bruce can also be seen weekly on ABC’s new hit series “Last Resort”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Bruce about his busy year and also what else he has planned.

Mike Gencarelli: How did you get involved directing the creature feature “Bigfoot”?
Bruce Davison: Well, I had done some directing before for Showtime and few others. But I had done a few projects with David Latt at Asylum, like “Mega Fault”. I told him if he had any directing gigs come up to throw me a bone and that I would love to direct. I missed my chance with (Roger) Corman, back in the days. He calls me up one day and says “I am not giving you a gift, I am giving you a nightmare”. I went to Washington to shoot and I think we had a 14 day shoot that ended up being only 9 days. It was sort of like being the General at Dunkirk, I was trying to run two armies at the same time, shooting whatever footage we could and trying to juggle jello, basically.

MG: Tell us working with the duo of Barry Williams & Danny Bonaduce?
BD: I had the best time working with the two of them. I would just let them riff lots of time. I tried to get Florence Henderson and Shirley Jones to make an appearance at the end but it didn’t work out. They were wonderful and the best. The hours were impossible. The shooting schedule was insane. Danny was doing a radio show every day, getting up at 4am and then coming to shoot. But he was still so professional every moment. I feel that they pulled a lot of stuff together [laughs] out of their butts. We really had to. There was a lot of improvisation. And also at the same time, we were trying to create a Bigfoot. We had one difficulty after another; we had to shoot a raft scene in an afternoon, when we weren’t allowed to shoot in the water [laughs]. It was one thing after another. It was so difficult, it was laughable. If we didn’t have a scene of humor about it we would have probably killed each other. But we ended up having fun.

MG: It is funny how you directed “Bigfoot” and your first job directing was on the “Harry and the Hendersons” TV series.
BD: [laughs] I didn’t think twice. I figured that “Bigfoot” would be like “Mighty Joe Young” and “King Kong”, just another big behemoth monster that goes around biting the heads off pretty girls. We had all that going for us and it was completely different from “Harry”. People have said to be over the years “Wasn’t doing “Long Time Companion” difficult and emotional draining?” I have said “No, “Harry and the Hendersons” was”. Trying to get the Bigfoot on the van was much more difficult than playing something that was so close to the heart.

MG: You are co-starring in the new TV series “Last Resort”; tell us about your role?
BD: Pretty much, what you can expect you will have to wait and see. Admiral Arthur Shepard is the character I play. He is the father to Lieutenant Grace Shepard, the third-in-command on main submarine. He is a character that you don’t quite figure out where he is coming from for a while but things will evolve. He is an intriguing and interesting character and he has been a pleasure to play so far.

MG: How was it working with Rob Zombie on his film, “The Lords of Salem”?
BD: I am so looking forward to that film. I had the best time of my life working with Rob. I just adore him. I think the three girls playing the witches just go through the roof. I think he has a new franchise with them, since they are just outrageous. Dee Wallace, Patricia Quinn and Judy Geeson are great. I have a scene with them and I just chuckle every time I think about it. His wife Sheri Moon Zombie is just a dear. I am hearing that it is quite controversial and going to stir up the pot. I look forward to it. He is just brilliantly talented.

MG: Can you tell us about your role in film?
BD: I play an author named, Francis Matthias. I work at historical tourist traps in Salem, MA. I am like the investigator and trying to solve the mystery of what is going on. It is sort of like Martin Balsam in “Psycho”. It is a wonderful character. Maria Conchita Alonso plays my wife. I try and track down what is going on and well…get more than I bargain for [laughs].

MG: Lastly, tell us about your work the unofficial sequel To Martin Scorsese’s Film “Raging Bull”, “The Bronx Bull”?
BD: It is a whole other cup of tea and is told from a completely different angle. William Forsythe is going to really surprise a lot of people with this. He is a wonderful actor and is so close to Jake LaMotta in character in his later years. It is not so much connected to Martin Scorsese but it is a chapter two in the life of Jack LaMotta.

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John 5 talks about Solo Album and Rob Zombie’s “Lords of Salem”

John 5 has played guitar for many notable acts in variety of music genres. He is probably best known for his work with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. John 5 is set to release his 7th solo album titled “God Told Me To” in early May. Media Mikes was very fortunate to be able to talk with John 5 recently about his work on the new album as well as his work on the new Rob Zombie film “Lords of Salem”.

Adam Lawton: What can we expect from the new solo album “God Told Me To”?
John 5: What I wanted to do with this album was to make something a little different from my previous releases. I wanted to do a half electric and half acoustic album. I was really into doing some cool Spanish style acoustic songs. I also wanted to incorporate some rhythmic styles played on the body of the guitar. The idea was do something more than just your standard strumming techniques. I was really into that style of playing on the album. The other cool thing about this album is that it is going to come with a DVD as well. The DVD will have clips of me in the studio recording the songs as well as some footage from being on the road. It even will have its own horror host hosting the DVD. It’s really a cool CD/DVD package which is something I personally love. I am very excited for the album’s release.

AL: Are there any guest performers on the album?
J5: No. I did a lot of this while I was on the road or writing with other people. I didn’t really have a chance to do anything like that. I did everything on my own when I had some free time. Maybe for the next album I will do a bunch of guest appearance type things.

AL: Do you plan to make a guitar tablature book to accompany the CD?
J5: I don’t think so. I did put out a book recently titled “The Book of John” which shows a bunch of my techniques. I don’t think we will be doing that for this album because there is a lot of transposing which is a lot of work. We will have to see.

AL: What can you tell us about your work on “Lords of Salem”?
J5: I did the musical scoring for the film. I love challenges and scoring is definitely a challenge. You are dealing with music that sometimes does not have a time signature or even a certain key. You are also dealing with a variety of instruments and musical styles. It was so much fun. I actually just finished it and it turned out great. I am very proud of it. I saw some of the movie and it is going to blow people away.

AL: Did you provide all of the instrumentation on the score?
J5: I and Griffin Boyce did everything. It was just me and him. I did a lot of the stuff on guitar using an Ebow or a violin bow. It’s really cool.

AL: Do you see yourself doing more scoring in the future?
J5: I don’t know. I worked so hard on the project but it’s kind of just background music. There is a lot of work for that. I love Rob’s movies and I was very honored to be a part of the project. If Rob does another movie of course I will do it. I don’t know if I will venture off.

AL: How is it working with Rob in a band setting compared to a directorial setting?
J5: We have a great time just hanging out with each other. However when its business its business. He gives me clear ideas of what he wants and as long as that’s what I deliver we have no problems. I have always listened to talk about how certain people don’t listen to what he is saying. I have made sure to always listen. A lot of times when he is explaining something I will record the conversation and I will tell him that I am doing so. By doing that I will have exactly what he said and I will go from there. This has worked out amazingly for us. A lot of times you can forget what somebody says during conversation so this has really helped.

AL: Can you tell us about this summer’s tour?
J5: We are going to be touring this summer with Megadeth. I am really excited about this because they are a band I love. It’s great being on tour. It’s like heavy metal summer camp. There is nothing better to me than touring in the warm weather in the United States. I love it!

AL: What will the bands lineup be for the tour?
J5: It will be me on guitar, Piggy D on bass and then Ginger Fish from Marilyn Manson on drums. Ginger has a really great groove. I played with him for sometime in Marilyn Manson as well and we are really happy to have him on board.

AL: Do you have any other plans in the works?
J5: I wrote some music for the next Lynyrd Skynyrd album as well as for the next Rod Stewart album. We also will be starting the recording of a new Rob Zombie record in June after the tour ends.

AL: This will be the second time you have worked with Lynyrd Skynyrd. How did that all come about?
J5: I did 6 songs on the bands last album. I did “Storm”, “Gifted Hands”, “Skynyrd Nation”, “Floyd” and a bunch of other tracks.  I got involved with the band through my publisher who asked if I would be interested in writing some tunes. I love Skynyrd more than anything else in the world!  I am very educated in the bands catalog so writing with them was an honor and a treat.

For more information on John 5 be sure to check out his website at www.john-5.com

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: 5, album, john, lords, rob, salem, ...
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