H13 : Bill Lindsey – Impaler
Written by Gaz E
Tuesday, 26 October 2010 06:00
“Contact Bill from Impaler” said Jeff Arndt from Mommy Sez No when I told him about my ambitious plans to publish a new horror-themed interview for thirteen consecutive days on Über Röck to celebrate our love for Halloween. As soon as he said it I knew that it just had to be done……
If there was something that scared teenage minds like mine in the mid 80s more than the threat of nuclear war or Aids, then it was the fucking PMRC. Tipper Gore’s fascist ‘tard troupe thought they were protecting the youth by trying to outlaw metal bands and their output when, in reality, they were threatening to take away the very things that were keeping us alive. And one of the bands that got a great deal of negative exposure was Impaler.
Interviewing Bill Lindsey have given me an excuse to watch classic 80s movie Trick Or Treat for the millionth time. Such was the furore over the band’s ‘Rise Of The Mutants’ EP, when Ragman’s mom goes sniffing through his metal collection in the seminal flick what is there on top of the pile? Impaler’s infamous extended player. With repeated viewings of the movie burning that record sleeve into my soul since my
teenage years, I’m stoked to be able to bring this interview with Bill to the Über massive as part of our 13 Days Of Halloween……..
What are your most vivid childhood memories of Halloween?
I grew up in the 1960s and 70s in the U.S. That puts me at the tail end of the baby boomers. Halloween was like a religion to us! EVERY kid went out trick or treating. It was really a sight to behold because there was literally an ARMY of children in costumes up and down the streets every October 31st back in those days. Costumes were either homemade or store bought. The Ben Cooper and Collegeville costumes were popular back then. They came in a box with a plastic mask and a satin jumpsuit with artwork printed on it. The masks were form pressed, simple works of art and portrayed Universal monsters, popular cartoon characters, witches, pirates, princesses, fairies…you name it they had a mask of it! I have a small collection of these awesome relics from Halloween’s past.
It was a great time and I feel sorry for kids growing up now because it is not the same at all!
Why do you think that the worlds of horror and metal/punk have always been so
closely linked?
I think they are more extreme forms of entertainment that tend to gravitate together. My band Impaler is very inspired by horror films and images. Horror films can influence a songs’ atmosphere or lyrics. I watch horror movies and come up with song ideas all the time. It’s that inspiring to me!
They certainly complement each other nicely.
What are your thoughts on the state of horror movies at the present time? With all the remakes and rehashes there doesn’t seem to be much original thought going on at present…..
On the major studio level I would have to agree with you. Very slim pickings. I end up watching the classic films at home when I watch horror and sci-fi these days, rather than going to the theater to see some lame new film that Hollywood is trying to shove down our throats.
But if you look hard you can find some excellent independent and foreign films. That is how Sam Rami got started with Evil Dead or Tobe Hooper with Texas Chain Saw Massacre and
George Romero with Night Of The Living Dead. Very low budget but done with a fresh style and imagination. If you are a true fan of horror movies you are always looking for new, cool stuff!
Has there been a horror remake yet that has bettered the original movie?
Well I guess you’d have to go way back to the silent Frankenstein. The Universal Studios film was technically a remake and a much stronger film. But that’s about all that comes to mind…I haven’t seen the remake of Piranha yet but I heard that was well done.
John Carpenter’s Halloween or Rob Zombie’s Halloween?
Carpenter’s was classic and can’t be topped. That’s another great example of a director with a low budget but a great talent to tell a story and set a mood. I think Rob Zombie’s heart is in the right place though.
Fast zombies or slow zombies?
Slow! They are dead and decaying for Christ’s sake! Rigor Mortis has set in you know! No running!!!!
What’s the greatest ever horror movie kill?
When Leatherface whips open that steel door in TCM squealing like a pig, and slams the dude on the head with the sledge hammer. Then as the victim lays there convulsing Leatherface slams the door back shut again! It blew my 15 year old mind! At that point in time I was an usher at an old, creepy, rundown movie theatre in my home town of St. Paul, Minnesota. I was the only worker closing up that evening. I had just watched TCM for the first time with only one patron in the theatre with me…..a creepy looking patron at that! (A big fella with a crew cut and thick plastic black rimmed glasses)
The film was so intense to me and I was truly spooked like I have never been since that night. I was so frightened walking…or should I say running home that night. I heard every squirrel stirring in the bushes and twigs snapping behind me. It was my most intense horror experience ever!
Who is the baddest ever horror movie villain…and why?
Leatherface. Because he is so real and human. He is a mixture of many serial killers of the past and could actually be a real flesh and blood person waiting in the shadows.
Who is the greatest ever Scream Queen?
Marilyn Burns who played Sally in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I’ve never heard anyone scream so loud for so long in any film since!
Name your Top 5 favourite horror movies of all time…and tell us why!!
King Kong (1933) : The first horror film I saw as a grade schooler. I was so excited by this film that I could hardly sleep that evening from the excitement and explosion of imagination it unlocked in me. A giant ape wrestlin’ dinosaurs!!! Goddamn! This is what I have been waiting for!! It was all I could talk about at school for days!
The Bride Of Frankenstein : Strong, iconic horror characters, heavy gothic atmosphere and great direction make this my favorite of the Frankenstein trilogy that Karloff did playing the monster. Karloff was AMAZING!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) : That freaking family was the greatest bunch of loonies ever assembled in any film! Edwin Neal as the hitchhiker!! That guy should have won an Academy Award for that performance!
Curse Of The Werewolf : My favorite Hammer Horror flick! Oliver Reed was the coolest werewolf I’ve ever seen. Knee high jackboots and a ripped up poet’s shirt, what style!! That’s EXACTLY how I would dress if I was turning into a wolf!
The Old Dark House : Great James Whale picture he did between Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein. It is so atmospheric, unsettling and funny at the same time. It stars great actors like Boris Karloff, Ernest Thesiger, Charles Laughton and Gloria Swanson. It is a very overlooked film.
What underrated horror movie would you recommend to our readers just in case they have never seen it?
The Old Dark House – 1932
What ‘star’ of the music world would you like to see slaughtered in gory horror movie style? How and why?
Fred Durst. Cause he gets on my nerves.
What are your plans for Halloween this year?
Impaler plays a lot of Halloween shows each year. Most on weekends so if Halloween falls on a off night like it does this year I LOVE to dress my frontyard out like a graveyard with tombstones and corpses and dress up like a monster to hand out candy to the kids and scare them a bit as well…kind of the same thing I do in Impaler!
www.myspace.com/impalerhorrorrock
Photo kudos to Tommie Knutson, Nese, Tracy Graham & Urban Torched Photography