CARPENTER’S GREATEST HITS

THE HORROR MAESTRO TALKS ABOUT HIS WORLD TOUR

ICTURE THE scene. It’s October 31. You’re in a packed London venue. An old man, who doesn’t look anything like a music star, walks on stage, sits down at a keyboard, and starts playing a familiar melody: the theme from Halloween. The crowd goes wild. Welcome to John Carpenter’s World Tour.

‘Musician goes on tour’ is not usually worthy of note. But when that musician is Carpenter, the great director who also happened to compose some of the most iconic scores of the ’70s and ’80s, it’s time to get excited. Well, some of us are excited. “It’s terrifying,” laughs Carpenter. “But to get to do this late in my life, that’s just sensational.”

Of late, the 68 year-old Carpenter has been turning the passion for music that fuelled his soundtracks (Halloween, The Fog, Assault On Precinct 13, Escape From New York and more) into a fulltime career, with the release of two albums: last year’s John Carpenter’s Lost Themes and its sequel, this year’s Lost Themes II. And there’s no better way for a musician to support albums than by going on tour, which is exactly what Carpenter and his six-piece band are doing, starting off in Denmark at the end of May and finishing up with that nicely timed gig in London.

“The show we’re going to do is a career retrospective of my movie music, and the best stuff from the albums,” he says. “It’s been fun thinking about what the audience would like to hear, and what we will sound good playing.”

Carpenter won’t be drawn on the set-list, but he does confirm one thing: “I’m even going to do stuff I didn’t compose. I’m going to play the main title to The Thing — and that was Ennio Morricone.” And will we get to hear Carpenter sing? “No, I think we’ll be an instrumental group,” he admits. “But I think it’ll be a good show. Hey, everything is good. Every day I’m above ground is a good day…” CHRIS HEWITT

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