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Baker's Dozen

Let Us Press Pley: Jus Oborn Of Electric Wizard's Favourite Horror Films
Harry Sword , October 31st, 2017 10:08

Electric Wizard grand magus Jus Oborn talks to Harry Sword about a lifetime of immersion in the outposts of horror, sleaze and exploitation cinema, why 'heavy' isn't about the peddles and amps you use and the importance of playing the long game.

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Suspiria
If you want to talk about the interaction between music and movies, this has it all. The music pushes the movie forward. It's very inspirational. There are whole parts where the dialogue essentially drops out - the music pushes the story forward and the images lock in perfectly with the music. That always excited me: the soundtrack is so much louder than the actual dialogue, the only way you can watch it is at full volume. The music starts to make sense at that volume. It's raw and nasty – but not like so much metal today. It's state of the art now, isn't it? You can sound like a fucking earthquake in your bedroom with the right kit. But is that your real sound? Over the years we've done so many rehearsals in shitty little rooms where they have a shitty 50 watt combo amp and someone'll come in and say 'you're gonna have to turn it down, you're too loud' and we've said 'what do you mean? we're playing through your fucking rubbish amps'. It isn't the equipment: it's the resonation; the sound; the guts; that is the real goal, that's where heaviness comes from. We don't use any pedals. We go straight to the amp. Fingers pressing into the guitar. That's what makes heavy music: that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up more than my balls getting rattled by some Pro Tools bullshit.