Dundalk’s most crushing metal outfit, Words That Burn have proven to deliver crushing live shows and a rich discography despite only releasing their sophomore album in June of this year.
Seeing as it’s Halloween today, we decided to catch up with vocalist Roni Vox to find out what’s been happening and of course, their favourite seasonal moves, music etc.
OD – Can you share with us your favourite horror movies?
RONI – This is a bit of an interesting one for us cos none of us watch Horror. We are fucking pussies when it comes to that kinda stuff.
I used to watch them all the time but then my imagination got the better of me and I couldn’t sleep after watching some fucking weird Japanese Horror – I think it was the original Ring. So for the purposes of this – let’s say, The Ring!
OD – Who would you consider to be the master of ‘Shock Rock‘?
RONI – Unquestionably, Alice Cooper. He was bringing his style of macabre theatrics to people back from way back in the day.
We all know the chicken story! Imagine something like that happening at a show in the middle of the flower power era! People would lose their tiny little minds! I think every era has to have a bad guy tho. Alice was then. The 90’s had Marilyn Manson and now we have Justin Bieber!
OD – f you could write a track for any horror movie, what would it be?
RONI– I’d like to give something like The Exorcist a go. Tubular Bells is one of my favourite pieces of music and I’d love to do something like that.
When I heard it first I didn’t associate it with anything dark at all and then I saw the exorcist and it totally changed how I looked at it.
In a silly way it has become more sinister or scary – I had the opportunity to score a short film for some friends of mine in college a few years back and it was really fun making different noises and incorporating them into a dark score, so I’d be very open to trying that again.
OD – Who do you regard as the most iconic horror movie character?
RONI – Has to be Dracula! He’s always been there. I know he’s been portrayed in different ways over the years sometimes a bit more digestible than others but the guy is pure fucking evil.
The concept of the vampire paved the path for some pretty cool movies and characters too – like from Dawn Til Dusk to Blade… and lets not forget Buffy the Vampire Slayer (kidding!!) But when ya bring it back to source Dracula is the original bad guy. He’s been around for ages and he’s always been a prick!
OD – If Words that Burn were given the opportunity to spend the night in a haunted house, like the movie ‘House on Haunted Hill‘, who would be the first to ‘bottle it‘ and leave?
RONI – Well, this is fucking easy. If I knew it was haunted I wouldn’t be going so the answer is me. Hands down.
© Down The Barrel Photography 2019
NO FUCKING WAY am I going into a gaff that is even remotely associated with the word haunted…. The first tour we did we were sleeping in a biker-club in the middle of nowhere in Romania and about 5am, these wolves start fucking howling like crazy.
Man, I know there is no such thing as werewolves, but I seriously started doubting my sanity for a minute when that happened. Like, “Romania has Transylvania, Transylvania has vampires, vampires hang round with werewolves, werewolves howl, I hear howling – THEY ARE DEFINITELY WAREWOLVES !!!!” That kinda insane mentality!!
So no,….no haunted houses for this guy!
OD – Is there any movie that was just too scary for you to finish and if so, what was it?
RONI – Like, I don’t watch em. I don’t like gore and I don’t like little girl ghosts so I just avoid anything that has the potential to give me insomnia again LOL!
In saying that I attempted to give A Serbian Movie a go to see what all the fuss was about….Like seriously, who the fuck even comes up with this shit? Sick fucks!! I read in interview with the guy who directed it and he was talking about art this and art that… That guy needs a slap upside the head with his fucking camera!
OD – Have you ever considered doing a cover song for Halloween and if so, what would it be?
RONI – I think it would be great fun to take a classic and make it heavy as fuck for a Halloween show. Something like ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’, or ‘Thriller’, or ‘Psycho Killer’…or the Ghostbusters theme song lol.
OD – Will we see another single from ‘Pyres‘ coming out before the end of the year?
RONI – Yes, you absolutely will. ‘Deathgrip‘ seems to be a pit of a crowd favourite, so we will be releasing it in the next month or so, along with a video – so keep your eyes peeled and ears perked for that!
Words that Burn ‘Pyres’ is out NOW. You can access it via Spotify, Bandcamp and exclusively in Tower Records, Dawson Street Dublin.
Catch the band live with Cursed Sun in Belfast on November 15th. Get full details here.
Photo – Down The Barrell Photography
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2019
