interview with Haunt
How was the band formed? I had played in many bands over the years but it never seemed to work out for various reasons. Therefore, I decided to start this solo project in 2012.
Can you tell about your band? My name is Steve(aka Stevil) and I am the sole member of Haunt. I play all instruments and vocals and write and compose all the music.
Where are all band members from? I hail from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? I had made music solo for a few years before I decided to release it. My main ambition when I started doing this was basically just to see if I could pull it off. After awhile, I decided to start up a reverbnation page just to see if anyone would actually like it.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Haunt is a homage to first wave black metal of the 80`s, European black metal of the 90`s, thrash metal of the early-mid 80`s and trad metal of the 70`s and 80`s, all rounded out with a punk attitude. I have a lot of influences and I try to incorporate a little bit of it all within my sound.
Where was your first gig? Being a solo artist, I don`t do live shows. I have played live before, but never under this moniker.
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? That would be me
What's good/bad with the band? My favorite element of this project is I feel I have my own sound. As I stated earlier, I try to incorporate several forms of metal into my sound. With that being said, I also feel that may be one of my downfalls as well. Perhaps I blur the lines. Hard to place Haunt in a particular genre. Some potential fans may not even give Haunt a chance because of this. But I am fine with that.
What are your songs about? I have other projects where the lyrical topics are more personally or socially based. Haunt is more of my dark side. War, insanity, occultism, hatred, depression and disdain towards religion have all been topics within Haunt songs.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? I have done covers in the past but the bulk of my material is original
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? I have they are;
Curse Of The Northern Moon - 2012
Nightfall Sorrow Eternal(EP) - 2013
The Plague Divine - 2013
Solar Forest(EP) - 2014
All have been released by Stillborn Twins Records. I also have appeared on several compilations and split albums.
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes, there are clips on my youtube channel and the Stillborn Twins Records youtube channel
What got you started in music? I had family and friends older siblings who were into great classic rock and metal, so I was exposed to it at an early age and I just loved it. It was something that I always wanted to do.
At what age did you start playing? I was given a guitar at a fairly young age, but didn't truly start to actually learn to play it til my early teenage years. Later on, I tried my hand at bass and drums.
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? I was 15 years old when I played my first show. I played my high school band week back in 1991. We played a crude form of death metal. It was quite shocking to most in attendance, death metal being fairly new at that point. It was quite humorous actually haha. Some of our friends started a pit and they shut the show down for a few minutes. It was a notorious show. They cancelled band week for a few years after because of that show haha.
Witch band is the best you´ve seen? I've seen a lot of great concerts over the years; Slayer(like 8 times), Maiden, Sabbath, Kreator, Exodus, etc. But still to this day, the absolute best concert I've ever seen was Motorhead in 98. It was in an overpacked country bar. They were supporting a greatest hits album they had out at the time so they played all their classics. It was amazing. Still the greatest show I've ever seen.
What are your goals with your music? Basically, I want to make music that'd I'd want to listen to myself. Hopefully other people will like it as well, but I cater to myself first. I don't ever think about catering to a particular audience. I just do what I do.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? I definitely wouldn't say I'm" all in". I do it for the love of creating art and music. To go "all in" takes a huge commitment that I wouldn't be able to do at this point of my life.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Definitely older bands. The 80's and early 90's were a special time for metal that hasn't been duplicated. Most of my sound is taken most from that era. Not to say they're isn't great bands presently, but for me, my main inspiration is from older metal.
What's the first step when making a new song? I usually will come up with a song on guitar, craft the song, then think about how the drums will work in, then record the drums, then play everything over that. Sometimes it will vary, depending on the song.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? I'm okay with it. I still like to buy albums from the bands that I enjoy, but for underground music, such as myself, we rely on music downloading. It has made the underground much more accesible to people around the world to hear all sorts of great bands. I, personally have discovered many great bands this way.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I have really been digging on underground metal the last couple of years. All the bands on Stillborn Twins Records are great. Formulus, Unsung, Lurid Reign, Korpifjellet, Crowfather, Encroaching Darkness, just to name a few. Other than that, I still listen to the classics quite regularly. Dissection, Slayer, Darkthrone, Maiden, etc. Some great newer bands too. Skeletonwitch, Midnight, Ghost, Toxic Holocaust, all great stuff.
Have you been part of any other projects? I have several other projects that I work on periodically. I have a more kind of punk project,An experimental project, a kind of more straight up metal project and some other things that I work on that have never been released. It's great to work on different forms of music. It keeps ideas for Haunt fresh as well, so I don't get burnt out playing one form of music.
How important are your fans? Most important thing I feel. I am so appreciative of any fan that digs what I do and wants a shirt or downloads my album or even just spreading the word. That means a lot to me, and I thank all of them.
Do you have any webpages? Yes, you can get all my music off of bandcamp
http://hauntdeadmonton.bandcamp.com/
From the Stillborn Twins archive page
https://archive.org/details/stillborntwinsrecords
and I also have a facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Haunt/506344349399621
Do you have anything to add? Would just like to thank you for this opportunity and to thank all my fans and friends for their support. It is greatly appreciated! Hails and support the underground!