FlamesRising.com is pleased to present an interview with James Semple, a composer and musician who hails from the UK. Semple’s work includes compositions for Pelgrane Press, a storytelling games publisher whose award-winning titles include TRAIL OF CTHULHU and MUTANT CITY BLUES. In this round of questions, we ask Semple to confirm the rumor that he recently was named as composer for the upcoming HOUSE OF HELL movie and more!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a musician?

Although music has always been a part of my life, I knew I wanted to be a musician after watching Star Wars for the first time back in 1977. I remember how the power of that huge orchestral music really moved me; that moment has stuck with me, even to this day. Of course, as I became a teenager I got into rock bands like Aerosmith and Queen, and I began playing electric guitar. The more I got into rock music, the deeper I focused on a technical style, improvising difficult lead solos. This meant I ended up not writing much music for a while. Admittedly, I loved performing live because I was always more comfortable up on stage than in the studio, but eventually I relented and began creating my own home studio. At that point, I noticed that the studio technology had advanced so far that I could actually write orchestral stuff just using virtual instruments. This technology gave me the opportunity to write what I originally wanted to write way back when I was a kid. These days I actually play more piano than guitar.

Can you describe the first song you ever wrote?

While I can’t remember my first song, there’s a good chance that it might have sounded a lot like Marillion with lots of picked broken chords and chorus/delay effects. Back then, I was writing a lot of stuff like that in D minor, which we all know is the saddest of all keys. Then I did the whole angst-ridden, romantic stuff when I was backpacking around Australia with an acoustic guitar (like about a million other English guys who can’t surf but still want to impress girls).

How has your process for composing music changed since that first composition?

When I started composing music, I was the typical guitarist in a band who didn’t really know what the other guys did. I’d just write chord changes and riffs and let everyone else figure out their parts. These days I mostly write orchestral music and go into great detail arranging parts. There’s a lot of differences between improvising to create a rock song and crafting orchestral arrangements.

One thing that hasn’t changed much since my days in a rock band is how I get my initial inspiration. Normally I hum or sing ideas to myself. Then I go for a walk and just come up with melodic fragments that I then use to seed ideas. This initial process can take a while and I often let the melodies ‘marinate’ in my subconscious until they feel developed. Then I sit down at a piano or guitar and I play with them, write them out on the music stave and develop the melody further by adding harmonisations or accompaniment ideas. I’ll often work on three or four variations of the theme right then so that I have ideas of where to take it.

I also like to pick a ‘pallet’ early on during a project. Selecting the main instruments to be used is always important to me and influences my further writing. I’m about to begin scoring an offbeat UK comedy called Kenneth (http://www.kennethmovie.com) and we’re picking a particularly unusual set of instruments for that.

During a project I’m usually surrounded by many scraps of paper and music manuscript with all of my various harmonic devices, accompaniments and motifs. Once the themes are created, I reuse them in different combinations to create interesting sounds. I find that the strong the theme, the easier it is for me to compose an arrangement.

Do you prefer composing music for horror versus other genres?

Good question. Horror is an exceptionally interesting genre of music. In some ways, it is a defined and narrow musical genre but in other ways there is a lot of freedom to play with different sounds and instruments. For instance, you’ll typically hear minor keys used in harmonies with influences of diminished harmonies or the occasional scales from central and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, you’ll often hear a lot of avant garde techniques from the instruments which are seldom heard in other genres of music.

I can’t say I prefer one genre over another because I always tend to love what I’m doing at that point in time. Right now, I’m working on a lot of horror arrangements so it’s currently my favourite. I love the chance to make a huge impact with the music and to really set the tone of a scene. Music plays an enormous part in scaring the audience during a horror film and it’s a great feeling when I can create music that does precisely that.

Can you give us a sneak preview of an upcoming work?

This a piece of music I wrote for the Eternal Lies campaign for Trail of Cthulhu RPG from Pelgrane Press. The campaign is going to feature over an hour of commissioned music specifically written and tailored for the individual scenes. This particular piece has a sentimental, melancholy theme that’s featured in an important scene early into the story. You can hear that one of the main themes is quite clearly presented here on both piano and strings. This is probably one of the ‘nicest’ cues in the suite. The other music tends to be far more unsettling than this.

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Rumor has it you’ve been hired as one of the composers for the film HOUSE OF HELL. How did you get that job?

Haha! Well, the rumours appear to be true. I guess it’s on IMDb now so I can talk about it. I was already a fan of Fighting Fantasy and I discovered the movie through the Fighting Fantasy website. I got in touch, sent them a showreel and went in to meet the group. We got on really well and I was able to share with them that I was a fan of the source material and had a background in horror, which helped keep me in the selection process.

Given my background in RPG-related music, I believe that composing for HOUSE OF HELL is a wonderful natural progression for my career as a professional composer. Ian, the director, really knows what he wants and I think he’s going to do an amazing job on this. The other composers are great guys as well and this is going to be an incredible experience overall.

How does composing music for games differ from your other works?

In film, I score to an exact scene so that the music is timed to the events on camera. With games, I often have to write looped tracks for ambient or action music that can be played continuously. This is the same for both RPG-related and video game music of course. I’ve really enjoyed writing for games and you can hear some of my music on version 1.5 of The Witcher video game. I’ve really been surprised by the dedicated following there is for pen and paper RPG music. It’s great to see comments about how players enjoy it.

You had composed a short piece for THE QUEEN OF CROWS e-book trailer. Can you tell us about your experience?

That particular piece was a lot of fun. It was done at a pretty breakneck speed and there was a lot of back and forth with the editor. She really had a strong idea of what she wanted and it was great fun integrating music with the sound effects of crows and fire and explosions. Definitely new ground for me with the Native American angle and it’s always cool to do new things. Really pleased with how it all came out and Monica was a joy to work with.

Editor’s Note: We’d like to mention that you can listen to Semple’s work by viewing THE QUEEN OF CROWS trailer on YouTube!

Can you tell us the story about how you met the folks at Pelgrane Press?

Believe it or not, Simon and I had met online over an argument about Trail of Cthulhu on the Yog-Sothoth forums… Even though we were arguing opposite sides he was very respectful and his points were always well-considered. At the time, I was hoping to place my music with a local RPG company so, after exchanging a couple of e-mails, Simon came out to my studio and we talked through potential projects. It was easy to work with Simon because he had already heard my music for Yog Radio, so he had a good idea of what I could do. When he was over at my studio, I played through further examples of what I could write for his game. Simon is always about quality and that’s a very big reason why I enjoy working work with him (plus he’s a great guy!)

In FOUR SHADOWS, you composed different types of Cthulhu-inspired music. Which one is your favorite and why?

Anagnorisis is the track I like the best because I really knew what I wanted for the piece and I feel like I achieved it. It’s a great piece of music and is a little more dynamic than some of my other RPG background pieces because if you play it at a decent volume it’s probably a little too loud by the end. It was actually written for a scene in our home campaign of “Beyond the Mountains of Madness.”

I was really pleased with the way Four Shadows turned out overall. We had a strong concept for that music. Horror often uses a lot of ‘sound design’ so I thought about how a 1930s orchestra and what kind of sound design they might have performed live on stage. For this collection, I used wind machines and chimes which would have all been available at the time. I also took a lot of ideas from jazz because of the pulp theme for the game. For example, American orchestras of the time were experimenting with sound effects like car horns and I thought this seemed very appropriate for 1930s music.

How did your work composing music for ESOTERRORISTS differ from what you did for TRAIL OF CTHULHU?

The Esoterrorists music compositions gave me more of a free rein than the work I did for Trail of Cthulhu. Cthulhu already tends to have a sound associated with it and I felt I couldn’t veer too far from that. Not only is there an era-specific sound, but there’s a lot of Bartok in there as well. With Esoterrorists, I had the opportunity to create an entirely new musical identity that was a lot more modern with drum loops and electric guitars. I went quite musique concrete with the track ‘Membrane’ using a lot of different sound design ideas. I have to say that I loved writing for this and would love to score an entire film or TV series of this kind of music. Basically Esoterrorists was either quirky, oddball stuff or really heavy drums and guitars so it was huge fun end-to-end.

You mentioned recently on Twitter that 2010 is definitely your year. How have your recent musical engagements changed your life?

Working as a composer has allowed to meet a lot of exceptionally cool people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. With the recent announcements, I can move into scoring music full time which is a dream come true. I’ve also made a really strong effort to keep up with everyone who has helped me or given me opportunities. My friends are incredibly important to me and I’m getting a chance to work with a lot of them. Of course 2011 is now looking like it might be even better so I have to be careful with what I might let slip here. Who knows, maybe next year I might even get to go to GenCon finally!

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How did you get your start in gothic art?

I’ve always had a fascination with dark, gothic subject matter. Vampires, ghosts, witches, werewolves, skeletons, gargoyles…you name it, I was constantly drawing these sort of things as a kid. I loved watching horror films and the old Dark Shadows tv series. I collected and assembled all the classic monster models and was always drawing my own versions of them. My parents were very cool and encouraged my artistic talent, even though it leaned toward the dark side.

After high school, I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art with the hopes of becoming a professional illustrator upon graduation. This was the first time I ever ran into any negativity about the topics I was drawing and painting. It was a very stifling atmosphere, and most of the teachers scoffed at the fantasy art industry. I left after one semester and worked at various other jobs while I honed my skills as an artist on my own. After a few years, I had amassed a large amount of gothic fantasy paintings and I began sending out portfolios of my work to all the book publishers and record labels. I met with a lot of rejection, but there were a few art directors that offered encouragement.

I decided that if I wanted to pursue this career seriously, I was going to have to make it happen on my own, so I established my own business, Monolith Graphics, in 1991. I began by producing a few t-shirts and posters, framed prints, calendars and stationery, which I mainly sold at local shops and Renaissance fairs as well as through mail-order. I also did cd cover art for a lot of different bands. Most of my work at the time was a crossover between traditional gothic themes and classic fantasy art. As the years passed, my work took a much darker turn and I was invited to appear at various gothic and vampire gatherings.

In 1992 graphic designer Christine Filipak came on board, and Monolith has grown steadily ever since. My artwork appeared in a few magazines in the U.S. and overseas. One of my paintings, “Gargoyles,” was featured in the art annual, Spectrum III. Having my posters and t-shirts in national chain stores like Hot Topic and Spencers did a lot to help promote the company as well. We built and ran a gallery called The Realm which featured fantasy art in 1997 and the Monolith website was launched in early 1998. Since then, we’ve created and produced a wide assortment of products, including books, music cds, fortune-telling cards, calendars, writing journals and magazines. It’s great to be able to create and produce whatever my mind dreams up, but it’s also a lot of long hours and hard work to run your own company.

What challenges are there when creating the next piece of gothic or horror art?

It’s always a challenge to put an original spin on a familiar subject matter without straying too far from a gothic mood. Sometimes elaborate settings are required, while other times it can be as slight as a subtle facial expression. I always try to make the characters that inhabit the shadowy world of my paintings interesting in their own way. Sometimes they’re monstrous, sometimes they’re sexy, but I strive to make every image as haunting as possible. I think that the art should be mysterious and inviting and stay with the viewer long after they look away. To me, the best fantasy images create a mood, establish the characters and set the scene, allowing the viewer to fill in the story line.

Do you have a favorite medium?

I’ve used oil paints, watercolors and pencil to create various pieces, but my favorite medium over the past ten years has been acrylic paints. I love to use oils, but they take much longer to dry, and I have some very tight deadlines, so the majority of paintings are done with acrylics.

What are some of the challenges you’ve come across translating your work to different mediums?

We’ve run into every problem imaginable with the various printers and manufacturers we’ve used over the years. From book pages inserted upside-down to calendars with missing months to T-shirts printed with the wrong colors. After we printed the first run of The Gothic Tarot, we had one manufacturer who refused to cut the card sheets because they deemed them to be “evil.”

As far as pre-press is concerned, some of my paintings are very dark, which makes it hard to get a clean photo or scan. Many times I have to tweak the image in the computer because the scanner picked up too much detail of the canvas or brush strokes. When creating a work of art that will be reduced to the size of a cd cover or tarot card, you have to make sure that the detail isn’t so miniscule that it won’t get noticed. Too much detail is also a concern when creating a piece of art that will be silkscreened onto a t-shirt. If the artwork isn’t contrasted enough, a lot of the detail will be lost. Okay, this technical stuff probably sounds really boring, so I’ll just end this part by mentioning that I mix all of my paints with the blood of virgins.

How do you respond when someone calls your work “evil?”

No one has ever said anything like that to my face. I think that the people who would deem my work “evil” would probably be afraid to. If someone thinks that they’ll be cursed to burn in the fires of Hell just by gazing at an image that’s painted on a piece of canvas, then I feel sorry for their simple minds. I’ve painted angels and I’ve painted demons. Much of my work depicts the balance between light and dark, order and chaos, and the eternal battle between the forces of good and evil. If someone chooses to focus solely on the negative side of something, that’s their problem. I like to explore the beauty in darkness, but some people are too afraid of the dark to venture anywhere near the shadows.

What can you tell us about The Gothic Tarot?

The Gothic Tarot consists of 78 cards including both the Major and Minor Arcana. The entire collection itself represents over ten years worth of my artwork. I had considered doing a Tarot deck as early as 1981, but I just didn’t have the patience to commit to such an extensive project back then. As the years passed, and my portfolio of work grew, I began thinking that a lot of the images that I had created could be used to create a tarot deck, and since my forte was gothic fantasy art, it stood to reason that my tarot deck should embrace the dark side.

Once I began discussing the deck with my friends, everyone seemed to love the idea. A lot of them kept after me to begin the project. Occult author Michelle Belanger is a good friend of mine and she really prodded me about creating a deck based on my gothic artwork. She even shared some of her concepts about the Major Arcana based on some of my pre-existing paintings. If it wasn’t for my friends and fans pushing me to do the project, The Gothic Tarot may have remained in the development stages for quite awhile. Once it was decided, the project took about eight months for Christine and myself to put together. Originally, I had planned on only creating illustrations for the 22 cards of the Major Arcana and to utilize repetitive design elements of the four suits to illustrate the Minor Arcana. However, the more research I did into the symbolic representations of classic Tarot decks, I decided to commit to a full-scale project of creating individual illustrations for each of the 78 cards. In some instances existing paintings were altered to fit the concept of a specific card, but in other cases new artwork had to be created to express the card’s traditional meaning. The Gothic Tarot was first published in 2002 and has since become the top-selling Tarot deck for Diamond Comics Distributors. Including what is sold directly through Monolith, we’ve sold over 12,000 decks to date.

How did Tales From The Dark Tower come together?

The book project was conceived early in 1999 after my writer friend James Pipik suggested having various authors pen short stories based on the characters in my most popular works. I wrote the main story with James, then outlined a series of stories and worked closely with the other writers to maintain continuity throughout the book. In addition to creating the artwork, I also wrote and co-wrote several of the stories. As time went on, the responsibilities of editing this project fell upon Christine Filipak and myself as well.

The 13 gothic tales of vampires, ghosts and other things that go bump in the night are set in and around a haunted gargoyle-encrusted castle known as the Dark Tower. Each of the 13 stories stands alone, yet they all fit together, weaving back and forth throughout the centuries to create the saga of the curse that overshadows the Dark Tower. Tales From The Dark Tower, which was released in 2000, is now in its third printing, and we are currently working on the first of two sequels, Beyond The Dark Tower.

Beyond The Dark Tower, what can you tell us about it?

This will be the second book in an eventual trilogy. Continuing the mythos that was established in Tales From The Dark Tower, the second book will offer a new collection of stories that will take the characters deeper into the shadows of the Dark Tower in addition to explaining some mysteries from the past. We’ll also be exploring the histories of several key characters that were briefly mentioned in the first book.

Who is Nox Arcana?

Nox Arcana is my musical project. It’s a two-man group consisting of William Piotrowski and myself. We both write and perform all of our own music. We’ve released five full-length cds of dark gothic orchestrations and haunting melodies. We love exploring the full spectrum of gothic themes, from the hauntingly beautiful and seductively sinister to the creepy, ominous, dramatic and horrifying. We also like to utilize a wide variety of authentic instruments and musical styles from different regions and time periods. Our first cd, Darklore Manor, was released in 2003. It took listeners on a musical journey through a haunted Victorian mansion with a dark and sinister history. Since then we¹ve released four more cds that explored the themes of Transylvania, a creepy old-time carnival, Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and the ruins of a haunted cathedral.

Each Nox Arcana CD tells a different story, can you tell us about the creative process that you go through when developing a new CD?

We start by choosing a topic that we’re both intrigued by then we begin to develop a story line. Once we have a concept and outline, we start to compose various melodies to convey specific moods of the story. We select specific instruments that establish the setting and period of the story. We work on everything together in the studio. It’s a great collaboration, and as we develop the songs, they begin to take on lives of their own. Once the songs are composed, we add chanting, narratives and sound effects to enhance some of the pieces.

To convey the mood of an ancient fallen cathedral on Winter’s Knight we utilized gothic pipe organs and Gregorian chanting. We also used a lot of bells, piano harpsichords to capture the solemn feeling of winter, and even had two medieval minstrel songs with acoustic guitar and haunting vocal harmonies. William and I both love Bram Stoker’s Dracula, both the novel and film. This was the main inspiration for our Transylvania cd which combined brooding horror with a romantic European flair. We basically told Dracula’s story through music, then added some original elements like the ominous warnings from sentinel gargoyles and witches.

Once the music is composed, we begin assembling the cd booklet to accent the album. Christine works her magic with the layout utilizing my artwork, the accompanying text, and band photos. When it’s all done, we have a full-blooded concept album that tells a story, complete with words, pictures and music.

The Necronomicon CD is a tribute to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, what can you tell us about it?

I consider H.P. Lovecraft to be a true genius and innovator. He invented an entire dark mythos and changed the face of horror fiction. I’ve read all of his work several times, and each time I get something new out of it. After Lovecraft’s death in 1937, his friend August Derleth continued to write and publish stories based upon Lovecraft’s concepts. As time went on, other writers followed in his footsteps and wrote their own tales that were inspired by the Cthulhu mythos, putting their own spin on things. Over the years, many of Lovecraft’s original concepts became blurred by writers who had taken too many liberties with his mythos. There’s even a large number of people who believe that the Necronomicon is real, when in reality it’s a fictitious book that Lovecraft invented and used as a plot device in several of his stories.

I wanted to pay homage to Lovecraft’s original concepts of the Necronomicon and the sinister mythology that it contained. Actually, I was amazed that no one else had done it before. It’s such a wealth of ideas and dark inspiration. The cd gives a rundown of the various monstrous deities, ancient rituals and dark prophecies of the Cthulhu mythos as if someone were reading it from the Necronomicon. All of the text is based on Lovecraft’s original ideas, ignoring the embellishments of later writers. There are narrative intros to some of the tracks that explain the specific roles of each of the Great Old Ones, as described by Lovecraft. The music ranges from mystical Arabian pieces to dark Egyptian chants to powerful gothic orchestrations.

We’ve gotten alot of great feedback and reviews from Lovecraft fans all around the world. The reviewer from Fangoria actually called it “sexy.” The Necronomicon cd is also carried by Chaosium games and is the top selling soundtrack for their Call of Cthulhu audience, and it’s been called the official soundtrack of the Cthulhu Mythos.

What were the inspirations for the Carnival of Lost Souls CD?

The major influence was Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. The idea of a diabolical circus that rises from the shadows to tempt human desires was a tribute to his Dark Carnival concept. We were also inspired by The Circus of Dr. Lao, which was the basis for the old film The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. Once we had the groundwork for this concept, we set out to put an original twist on it. We’ve gotten several letters and reviews of Carnival of Lost Souls that say that the album would’ve made a great soundtrack for Something Wicked This Way Comes. Things like that always put a diabolical smile on my face.

Some of the original inspirations like the gypsy fortune-teller machine, the living dolls, and the spellbound puppet show came from a Halloween party that I put together several years ago. Other concepts like the “Theatre of Sorrows,” the “Soul Stealer” and “The Devil’s Daggers” were conceived specifically for this album. We had the cd release party for Carnival of Lost Souls on 6-6-06. It was a wild event that tied in nicely with the idea that this sinister carnival, The Circus Diabolique, rises from the shadows every one hundred years. Hopefully, we’ll inspire someone to continue this tradition in the centuries to come.

What can you tell us about Nox Arcana’s music appearing in film and other media?

We are continuously so busy creating new works that we have very little time to promote ourselves, yet we’ve been approached by the producers of several interesting projects. Some of our songs were chosen by a company that produces gothic bellydance videos to be featured in their upcoming DVD. In addition, dancers will be performing to our music on their national tour. We’ve also been hired to score a dark adventure game titled Inherent Evil 2. The project is perfect for our music and should be a lot of fun.

All of these creative projects have to take a lot out of you from time-to-time, what do you do to recharge?

I almost never take a break from work. Most of my projects are labors of love, so I am constantly feeding off of the energy from the creation process. Occasionally, we take a few hours off on weekend nights to go out to one of the local rock or goth clubs and drink a few beers with some good friends. I’d love to get out to more conventions to meet our fans, but I still have so many more projects that I want to finish.

How do you feel the goth culture has changed over the years and how has it influenced your artwork and music?

The goth culture has become more of a part of the mainstream in recent years. What began primarily as an underground movement is now much more widespread. Goth fashions are sold in national chain stores and goth bands like Lacuna Coil, HIM, and the 69 Eyes are being played on the radio and selling out large venues with their concerts. I think that’s great, but unfortunately, this has also led to a lot of so-called Goths who don’t even know what the word “Gothic” really means. It irks me when I hear one of these posers trying to claim that traditional gothic things aren’t goth, when they themselves have no clue as to the origins of the genre. If you don’t wear black, you don’t like vampires, you don’t have a brooding dark side, and you aren’t into literature or the arts, then you’re not a “goth,” so don’t try to redefine the parameters in order to fit the label.

Regardless of modern trends, It doesn’t influence my art or music at all. I created gothic work before it was popular. It’s just part of who I am, so I just keep doing what I’ve always done

Who are your favorite authors and musicians?

Lovecraft and Poe are my favorite gothic authors. I also really enjoyed reading the Death Dealer series by James Silke. The tales are based on the paintings of Frank Frazetta and they’re great sword and sorcery fantasy stories along the lines of Robert Howard’s Conan series, only darker. As for musicians, I have hundreds of favorites, ranging from AC/DC to Lorenna McKennit. It really depends on what kind of a mood I’m in on any given day.

What’s next for you?

We are currently wrapping up our sixth cd, Blood of the Dragon. It’s a majestic sword and sorcery epic that centers around an ancient quest. This is our most powerful cd to date, but there are still some surprises. The music ranges from Conan and 13th Warrior style anthems, complete with gothic chanting, to mystical minstrel pieces and haunting harp melodies. We’ve been looking forward to doing this album for quite some time and the compositions are just pouring out of us.

We also just finished recording an album with our friend, Michelle Belanger. She has a beautiful operatic voice. She performed as a guest vocalist on our Winter’s Knight album and she’s worked with various other bands as well. William and I came up with an idea to take a one-week break from working on Blood of the Dragon to write and record an album with Michelle. We invited her down to our studio and worked together for a solid week of 16-hour days to mold some rough, basic outlines into a full-length cd. It was a real challenge, but the results speak for themselves. Both Michelle’s album, Blood of Angels, and the new Nox Arcana cd, Blood of the Dragon, will be released later this fall. Later this year, we’ll begin working on another darkly romantic concept album that will pay tribute to a true master of gothic horror. In the meantime we are working on a companion book to the Gothic Tarot, as well as a new book titled Beyond The Dark Tower, which is the first sequel to Tales From The Dark Tower.

For more information on Joseph Vargo’s work, visit MonolithGraphics.com or NoxArcana.com.

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2. Interview with artist Cathy Wilkins
3. Interview with artist Jennifer Rodgers

How did URN get started?

URN actually has its beginnings as far back as 1994 in Cleveland, OH. Dominic while attending college had been working in commercial radio upon his graduation and was heavily involved in two bands, with URN being very much a death metal incarnation along the lines of a Sepultura, Napalm eath type of vein (Dominic was not the singer however).

Around the same time, he also had a gothic-rock “Sisters of Mercy” type of band called Sacrosanct, in which the famed occult novelist Michelle Belanger was the lead singer. Sacrosanct and had worked along with Ed Douglas, who later went on to found Midnight Syndicate and has colossal success ever since.

This incarnation basically began back in 2000, while Dominic was still an active member of the Electric Hellfire Club. For the most part, despite his great experience with the EHC, he felt it was time again for him to pursue his own thing. Teaming up with some of his musical students at the time, he somewhat made a hybrid of the two bands and Thomas Thorn urged him to use the URN moniker once again.

After fulfilling EHC tour obligations, URN then went out on two tours in 2001 once in the spring with the Babylonian Tiles and then in the fall with Gossamer.

What have been some of URN’s musical influences?

It’s quite various. Each member of the band is very unique in their approach to music, but the common bands that can be cited are Type O Negative, The Misfits, Metallica, Sisters of Mercy, Nightwish to name a couple.

URN also tries to integrate non-rock influences, such traditional Celtic music, first nation (Native American), even some liturgical influences to give the original compositions something a little more different for the listener.

What have been some of the highlights of URN’s live performances?

URN has been blessed to have had the many opportunities to travel extensively and play a great number of places.

Most memorable shows were Endless Nights in New Orleans in 2004 were the band had an opportunity to be one of the main acts and play to 1000+ people, also in New York City at the Long Black Veil Reunion earlier in that tour.

Being a part of the Radio Active Benefit in Detroit in 2002 with IPM Radio was also a fantastic endeavor as well as opening for the Cruxshadows there in 2003. Detroit has been very good to the band over the past five years.

They also have had great experience from their multiple trips across the border to Canada particularly in places such as Red Square in St. Catherines and Toronto.

URN also has quite a few great performances in Milwaukee, whom has been highly supportive of the band and is thought as a second home. Also, the first GenCon to Indianapolis was also a great show as well.

The band enjoyed a great show at the Double Door last year and opened quite a few networking opportunities that they are still enjoying today.

What can you tell us about Desecrated Ashes?

Desecrated Ashes was URN’s second EP they self-released. However, it was their first real foray into a larger musical audience having registered it with Nielsen and various other major corporate entities. The EP brought Michelle back to the band on a new version of “Angels Are Weeping” which was URN’s Canadian single and became an anthem of sorts for the Vampire community. The song was allegedly used in A&E Biographies: The Secret Life of Vampires which aired this past Halloween.

“Little Tin Goddess” was the most commercially successful song having received play on major radio stations in several U.S. and Canadian cites and URN was the featured local band of the week on the now-defunct 94.7 the Zone in January 2004.

“Father Dearest” saw a great number of plays and downloads through various internet stations and websites from everything from Garageband.com to IPM Radio.

“Liar in Waiting” saw some airplay on several extreme rock stations throughout the U.S and Mexico and was one of the top download songs on Number One Music.com for a couple of months.

What’s next for you?

The horizon is going to bring great many things. For starters, URN officially signed with Rotting Corpse Records for the new album “Dancing with the Demigods” which will be their first full-length album slated for a spring 2006 release. The band also recently finished shooting the video for the first single of this album called “Shadow Dancer” in which URN was honored to have the Vampire Don Henrie of Sci-Fi Channels’ “Mad, Mad House” fame co-star in the video along with Michelle Belanger who acted as an artistic consultant as well as doing backing vocals.

Passim Productions who will be releasing a documentary called “National Vampire” was the production company that filmed the video and it was truly an incredible experience for everyone involved.

The video will be on the CD itself and through Rotting Corpse Records’ distribution the album will be nationally and internationally available in a number of major music-retail such as fye, Tower Records, Sam Goody, Virgin to name a few. You will also be able to purchase the album through various retailers such as Circuit City, Best Buy and possibly Hot Topic as well.

Plans are being made for an aggressive radio campaign for a couple of singles off the album to help support the new release as well as a campaign for the video.

URN has always been a band the prided itself on its touring prowess and will certainly continue to do so through 2006. Currently two tours are planned in the spring with the focus being on the U.S. east coast and the Midwest and then in the fall heading to the west coast and doing a few weeks out that way. URN will also be active again on the convention circuit as we are in talks with several organizations about appearances as well.

So, certainly a period of high activity, but this is what we love to do so we don’t view it as work and fell highly blessed that we have had the opportunities and the experiences that we have had.

Check out www.urncentral.com for all the latest band news.

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