Grimlin
France puts forth yet another fantastic electronic musical artist.
Slickster Magazine: Your band name is spelled Grimlin, which is just a slight misspelling of the word Gremlin. We’re sure you know of the original Italian band Gremlin, that was featured in Italian Splatter Cinema and George A. Romero’s zombie films. Have they influenced you at all?
Grimlin: First of all, thank you for allowing me to do this interview.
Oh… I can feel the tricky question for this one. Grimlin is a reference to the Italian Progressive Rock band called Goblin. There are no Gremlins featured in George A. Romero films, I only saw Zombies! Haha… So yeah, Goblin is the band. They mainly have composed soundtracks for Romero and Dario Argento’s movies, which I particularly like.
The second anecdote is more personal. These Gremlins we’ve just talk about, you may know them from Joe Dante’s movie. I feel like, I’m a bit a Gremlin sometimes. After midnight if you feed me with some synthesizers, I become a night creature who will have fun with his old analog instruments.
Slickster Magazine: Ah yes, Goblin. You’re right. That was an embarrassing mistake. Your album, Trapped on Tape, is out now and sounds like it could have been pulled directly from an 80’s slasher flick. What are a few of your fav 80’s movies?
Grimlin: It’s so true that “Trapped on Tape” has lot’s of influences among 80’s slasher flicks. Of course, I love those “Giallo” movies such as “Suspiria” or “Tenebrae” (which my cover album is inspired from). Also John Carpenter’s movies, “The Thing“, “Halloween” or more recently “The Ward” (2011). There are other cult ones such as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from Tobe Hooper or the saga “Friday the 13th” (By the way, the track “Slash Fiction” is a tribute to those last two).
But, I’m not only influenced by 80’s slash flicks. It’s more than that. I’m a big fan of sci-fi culture, and movies such as “Blade Runner” or “Alien”. I’m also a gamer (even ifI don’t have much time to play these days) I’m completely into sci-fi horror games such as “Dead Space” for example. And of course, I’m listening a lot to some other modern artists. Justice, Carpenter Brut and Gost which I like very much. Last but not least, I have a futuristic approach with my work. I like to think that one day our world may be controlled by machines, some kind of Terminators. This dystopian vision is my “cherry on the cake”. So yeah, I have a kind of cyberpunk mindset. I take some retro elements and make them sounds very modern, adding some metallic tones, distort the shit out of them. That’s my dope.
Grimlin on 80’s scream queens
Slickster Magazine: The girls from 80’s movies just seem hotter than the actresses of today in a way. Their costumes were a little skimpier, and their boobs a little more natural. Perhaps most of all, they seemed like the girl next door, who really date a guy who watches horror movies. Why do you think that is, or maybe you don’t agree?
Grimlin: Well, it’s also a “trapped” question, isn’t it ? hahaha… It’s so true that women of the 80’s were full of freshness. Perhaps because of the neon lights reflecting their perfect brushings. Yes, in my opinion, women were more natural at this time. The guy who brought his girlfriend watching an horror movie to the cinema had more chance to seduce her than today. You just need the right scene, the right amount of fear in order to create the right approach haha…. In the 80’s, souls were without any doubt, more emotional for the genre.
Slickster Magazine: Do you have a favorite slasher movie scream queen?
Grimlin: I like Nancy from “The Nightmare on Elm Street” (Heather Langenkamp). This phone lick scene is just over-the-top. It really could have been more interesting if the phone was plug-in. Freddy knows how to make girls scream.
Slickster Magazine: The cover art was done by Serhiy Krykun. How was it working with him?
Grimlin: Serhiy Krykun is a very nice guy and and a horror geek just like me! I have discovered his work through some vampire sketches he made (we have this thing in common. We love “Castlevania“, the old school game). So, I have talked to him about my music album. I explained the main idea; An exorcism which takes place in a spacecraft in another dimension. Some kind of witch is trapped inside a giant tape recorder, a VHS machine who look like a cryotube. There is a satanic ritual made by some evil machines, which look like to some skeletons in astronaut suits.
Serhiy just says “stop!”.
This cover might be Lord of the Rings “grandeur”, over-the-top epic. Not a good idea finally.
I’ve said you’ve maybe right. So I’ve focused on what it’s more important. What could be simple and catchy at the same time? Well, you have it. Tenebrae revisited in a futuristic way. Thanks to him to make such a beautiful piece of art.
John Carpenter’s long reaching influence
Slickster Magazine: Recently, I watched the remake (prequel) to John Carpenter’s 1982 film, The Thing. His name is one that most frequently appears on synthwave artist’s bios. His personal musical work in the electronic/synth scene of the 80’s has spawned an entire new genre. Can you briefly discuss the impact his films and music have had on your own career?
Grimlin: John Carpenter is a genius, andI admire him. Of course, I’m influenced by his work. I like “The Thing” soundtrack very much, but this one is the work of Ennio Morricone (which, by the way, has composed great Giallo musics such as “The Cat O’Nine Tails). The Carpenter’s Halloween theme has influenced me a lot. For a long time I wanted to catch the right tone from the creepy bass you hear (I think he has made it with some big synths like the Prophet-10 or the Moog Modular… Which are dream synths for any retro inspired composers).
I have tested many hardware synths as well as a huge amount of VST (virtual instruments) that reproduce the sounds of vintage synthesizers. Nothing seems as close as the sound created by his experienced sound designer Alan Howarth. It’s a pure timeless horror classic musical.
Slickster Magazine: What would you like to say to your younger self when it comes to music composing?
Grimlin: Well, I have to travel back to the 80’s (which is my speciality). Not too early because I was born in 1982. You know what? My birthday is on November 1st, pretty close to Halloween. That’s a sign!
So, once in the 80’s, I would tell this little guy, “Come on, start composing music now! Don’t loose one minute!” Time is one of the most precious things, and it might be the most creepy too. I started composing music quite late in my life. I’m 35 now, and I have to make up for the time lost, and just between us, what is the best way to catch up on lost time than to listen to some John Carpenter, Goblin? If you’re not afraid to attract some invisible dark forces, you can listen to Grimlin too!
Slickster Magazine: Is there anything you’d like to promote to your fans?
Grimlin: I would like to say a huge thanks for those who believed in me and have supported my work so far. I’ve received so many nice messages since the album is out, and they make me very motivated for making a second release (which is already in progress). It will be something much more accomplished and surprising. That is why I won’t say more because I’m a huge fan of surprises just like the best horror movie scenes!
Thanks again for your time, and don’t forget to stay Retro… And HEAVY!
Originally from Paris (France), Grimlin is an electronic music producer, genre Darksynth or Dark Synthwave. His name evokes both the italien progressive rock band called Goblin and Joe Dante’s creature Gremlin. Give him a synth to eat after midnight, that’s his dope.
He draws his inspiration from the 80’s culture with, on the one hand, SF and Horror movies (Blade Runner, Halloween, The Thing), and on the other, the 70’s with the italian Giallos of Dario Argento and the dark era of pop-occult culture that ensues. The whole thing is impregnated by a destabilizing cyberpunk feeling, a neo-demonic current with some heavy rythmic metallic sounds, sharpened like a razor, which intersect with agressiveness in the middle of warm nostalgic tones.
