New Halloween music is hard to come by, especially good new Halloween music, which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I came across “The Killer Sounds of Halloween.”
The 18 track album was conceptualized, written, and performed by actor and writer Sean Keller. Keller is no stranger when it comes to writing spooky music. He was the mastermind behind the 2017 Fringe Festival favorite “Slashed! The Musical” and has had his music featured in films like Beyond the Gates and horror anthology Tales of Halloween.
The idea for the album stemmed from Keller’s love of mix-tapes, something he’s been making since he was a teen. “I’d create soundtracks to movies that never existed or make entire mix-tapes about songs with ‘Na-na-nas’ of ‘La-la-las’ in them. But my favorite mixes were always Halloween mixes,” says Keller. “I still make Halloween mixes every year and in the past few years I had been including a cover song done by me, but in the style of a different band. I did TV on the Radio’s ‘Wolf Like Me’ in the style of Love & Rockets and Dolly Parton’s ‘Drinkenstein’ in the style of White Zombie.”
As Keller began working on the next year’s cover song, the idea of creating a mix-tape full of “lost songs” popped into his head and the rest is history. “In 40 years of making Halloween mixes, I felt that I had exhausted all the great horror tracks out there, so I would need to make my own,” says Keller.
In order to make the album feel like an authentic mix-tape, Keller knew he would need to include music that was faithful to different genres and periods and to do that he created fake bands to perform the songs.
“The fake band names allowed me to immerse myself in the world of each band and disappear into these songs. I want to fool the listener into thinking these bands are real and that they’ve simply missed out on the genius of Fayna & the Lunarchicks, Los Hombres Duendos or The Doom Buggies,” says Keller.
To add to the authenticity, Keller tapped a handful of guest vocalists to perform on the album including Jesse Merlin and Graham Skipper from “Re-Animator: The Musical” and his “Slashed! The Musical” castmates Mary O’Neil and Fayna Sanchez. Keller also taps A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Amanda Wyss to recite the creepy kids’ poem “I’m Gonna Have A Nightmare.”
The charm of this album lies in the fact that despite it being compiled of Halloween songs you’ve never heard of and from bands that don’t actually exist, it feels familiar, which I think is a direct result of Keller’s drive for authenticity. Mixing genres old and new, the album really feels like listening to one of the old Halloween music compilation CD’s or records.
The album is solid cover to cover (I won’t divulge how many times I’ve listened to it since discovering it), but highlights of the album include:
- “The Monsters Trick or Treat,” a nod to Bobby Boris Pickett’s timeless Halloween classic “Monster Mash” that tells of the monsters abandoning their monster party plans for a night of trick or treating.
- “The Terror At Blood Lake,” an acoustic ballad sung by Mary O’Neil that revisits the story of Peetie Jergins and “Slashed! The Musical”
- “The Old Dark Haus,” a dark wave masterpiece that if it weren’t parody, could actually pass as a song by Bauhaus or similar artist.
- “One of the Dead,” a love song to poltergeists and zombies with vocals that feel very Oingo Boing/Danny Elfman-esque that you’ll find yourself revisiting to see if you can decipher all of the horror movie references featured in the lyrics.
In addition to original music, Keller has injected other nostalgic Halloween treats including a parody TV spot for an 80’s slasher called Axe Night 4: The Lumberjack’s Back! and a WNUF TV 28 spot featuring Dr. Bloodwrench, the fictional late-night horror movie host featured in the 2013 found footage film WNUF Halloween Special.
If you’re looking for something new to listen to this Halloween, this is one Halloween album you can’t miss. You can stream the songs now on Bandcamp for free, but for just $6.66 you can buy the digital album and support Keller’s work. Purchasing the album allows you to stream via the Bandcamp app and download the album in your preferred digital format.
For fans of the vinyl format, Keller is hoping to release “The Killer Sounds of Halloween” on vinyl for next Halloween. “I’ve been speaking to labels and it’s most-likely going to happen. I wanted to do it this year, but I simply ran out of time,” says Keller.
With the release of “The Killer Sounds of Halloween,” Keller is now shifting his musical efforts toward fleshing out a full-length production of “Slashed! The Musical,” so hopefully horror musical fans will have that to look forward to in the future.
What’s your favorite song from “Killer Sounds of Halloween?” Let me know in the comments or give me a shout on social media. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
