Interview with The Haunting at Anchor Rock Club
The Haunting photographed by Mark Scardilli
With visuals, sounds, and a name straight out of a horror movie, The Haunting is the perfect band to interview during a Halloween show. Their latest singles, “Canofworms,” “Eclipse,” and “Wightnoise,” were released over the past few weeks, with the latest out on Halloween. Anticipating a full-length album that will be out in late November, the band has been working tirelessly for just about two years on new music. Following their Mollyween set, the band discussed their group dynamics and how the album-making process has been so far.
Could everyone introduce themselves and then explain their costumes?
[Rico] I'm Rico. I play bass, and I'm dressed as a skeleton, and you can see right through me.
[Casey] What up, I'm Casey. I sing, and I’m dressed as a skeleton; you can see right through me.
[Steve] I'm Steve. I play guitar, and you can also see right through me.
[DJ] I'm DJ. I play drums. I'm also a skeleton.
[Jules] I'm Jules. I sing harmonies and play synth and a little bit of guitar, and I'm fully transparent, yeah.
“Eclipse” and “Canofworms” are your first releases since 2023. What was the behind-the-scenes of working on those songs?
[Casey] We built a studio. This is the first time we've written and recorded things as a full group. We're just trying to make music that sounds like the stuff we grew up listening to, but with our own twist, I guess. We just did it in our garage, and we have like 11 more coming in a couple of weeks.
You guys have been releasing music together since 2021. What's your favorite part about creating and playing with each other?
[Casey] Shared music experiences. Music is meant to be shared. These are my favorite people in the world, and we're doing what we love. It's fun.
[Jules] DJ and I are newer additions, so we're sort of figuring out the whole culture, and it's been so sick. Casey is the mastermind behind The Haunting, by the way. That should be stated. He writes the songs, he writes most of the parts, and he's sort of the nucleus of this beautiful group.
If you guys could pick one Halloween song to cover, what would it be?
[Rico] We thought about playing the Halloween theme song for a second during the set. That was definitely circulating through the thoughts.
[Steve] For me personally, Danzig Misfits.
[Casey] “The Haunting” by Misfits.
[Jules] This isn't a Halloween song, but I feel like we would fuck up “Toxic” by Britney Spears.
[Casey] I know we just played a Panic! At the Disco song with “New Perspective.” Panic is a guilty pleasure in this band for sure.
For lack of a better word, your entire vibe is very horror-centered, very horror curated. What are some works of art, whether it be movies, music, or art pieces, that you guys feel inspired by when creating music?
[Rico] For a lot of our graphics, we take inspiration from older horror movies from the 60s and 70s. The 70s were kind of that revolution and that push for a lot of that newer horror, so we look at a lot of that. Even when you look at those soundtracks, the tension and the suspense that they create, we definitely try to incorporate that throughout our music.
[Casey] I get inspired by a lot of old dystopian literature, just books in general. Movies too. Admittedly, I don't know a lot of movies, but I know a lot of wanky movies. Bad movies are the ones that usually inspire me the most.
[Steve] Probably old slasher movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, I could go all day. All the classics. I'm a big Halloween guy.
[Casey] Scream is underrated, though.
[Jules] I will say in terms of vocals, Paramore has inspired me a lot with the harmonies that we're trying to create. Haley Williams, for sure. She is the blueprint.
What does the future look like musically for you guys? I know you said you're working on some more songs.
[Casey] We have an album, and it's actually done. It's 13 songs, and it drops on November 21st, so four weeks from today. We have a release show on Black Friday up in Asbury Park. We’ve got two more EPs written, two singles recorded, and we just started working on the third album. We have an ungodly amount of music on the way. We get super inspired. I’ve never been so happy making music. I love this group to death.
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