This month Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin will make horror history in London, playing live the scores of Dawn Of The Dead and Suspiria for the first time ever in the UK.
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Simonetti and his bandmates from Daemonia will perform to screenings of George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead (1978) and Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) on two consecutive nights at Islington’s Union Chapel.
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ZT spoke to Simonetti ahead of the concerts to find out more about these two nights of terror…
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“The first time I did this was in 2009, with my other band Daemonia, and we played [1975’s] Profondo Rosso in Torino ,” explains Simonetti, regarding the idea behind playing Goblin’s scores live to film screenings. “We did this big show in the same square where Dario [Argento] shot Profondo Rosso and it was incredible, just amazing, because we had 10,000 people sitting in the square watching the film. That was my first time I played live to a Dario Argento film. That came from a request from the Torino Film Festival. They asked me if it was possible to play live a score and film of Dario Argento. Of course, Profondo Rosso is the most important, most famous of his films in Italy, not like abroad where Suspiria is the most famous film of Dario. Then, around two years ago, I started playing Suspiria live, and then also Dawn Of The Dead.”
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London has a special significance for Simonetti, due to the mutual love that the capital has for Goblin, and Simonetti for the city. “I’m happy to play in London because London is a very good place for us. We came here in February [2014] when we started the UK tour at the Electric Ballroom and it was incredible, it was sold out and a lot of people came to see us. It’s amazing to play in London, every time. And I love the city because I grew up with the English music”.
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Goblin were also once based in London, back in the early ’70s when they were known as Oliver and courting Yes producer Eddie Offord. Though they would return to Italy, the recordings they made in London helped hook the band up with Argento in 1975. “With Goblin, before we went to record Dario’s score [for Profondo Rosso], I lived in London for one year,” says Simonetti. “We played live there and recorded some demos. And then thanks to this, when we came back to Italy, we did a contract with the same label who was Dario’s publishers, so that’s how we got started working with him.”
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As for how Goblin will pull off the impressive feat of performing live these two incredible scores, Simonetti reveals the following: “When we play the score live, I try to keep the same sound exactly the same way as we recorded it when the film was made. Then, we play live in exactly the same parts of the film. We have a computer with a click that helps us know where we play and in synchronisation with the film.
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“Of course, it takes a lot of rehearsals to do this,” he continues. “But now, except for Profondo Rosso which we’ve only played live twice, we have rehearsed Suspiria and Dawn Of The Dead a lot of times. And I’ve also played Suspiria live in Ireland, then in New Zealand, Australia, in the United States in Texas, and so now we are very involved with the concerts with the film. It’s very emotional to play live the scores with the screenings, its incredible.”
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With tickets disappearing fast for both shows, the admiration for these scores (which are over 30 years old) isn’t lost on Simonetti, especially when it comes from those not old enough to have heard them the first time around. “I always ask myself how it’s possible that so many young people love this kind of music and this kind of film, because when I recorded these albums most of them were never born!” the keyboardist laughs. “And maybe the mother and father were just born when I was. But, thanks to the internet, and of course to maybe some father showing his son the records of the ’70s, the progressive rock, or music like that…[people have discovered Goblin]. Many generations of people come to see the show, because Dario is so famous and popular that of course many generations know him very well. But, I’m still surprised at the different ages of people when I play, people from 20 years to 60 years old. ”
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Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin will play at the Union Chapel in Islington on August 18th and 19th. Tickets are available HERE
