Decades after ‘Suspiria,’ Goblin keeps returning to bedevil fans

Goblin was an up-andcoming Italian prog-rock band when director Dario Argento asked its members to compose a score for his 1977 horror film, “Suspiria.” The film and its discordant and terrifying score would become legendary, and Goblin would go on to compose music for a succession of horror films, including a version of “Dawn of the Dead.”

The members of Goblin squabbled frequently, dissolved and got back together more than once, and occasionally released nonsoundtrack albums of their own. They toured America for the first time in 2013 and splintered into rival factions before the tour was over. There are now at least two versions of Goblin; actual Goblin and Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin, fronted by the band’s founding keyboardist. “I don’t want people to judge who might be the real Goblin,” says keyboardist Maurizio Guarini, who sounds like he does.

In a phone interview, Guarini, who lives in Canada and makes avantgarde jazz albums in his spare time, talked about Goblin’s surreal journey from prog-y, workmanlike upstart to period horror movie influencer. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation:

A: It depends on the period. In the recent 10 or 12 years, we’ve been in touch with each other because we’ve been working. Before that, we disappear from each other for decades.

A: In the beginning it was weird, because you go back to the same emotions and the same connections with the people you played with 30 years before. When you’re on stage, we are communicating. Musically, we are all the same, we don’t change over the years, but it was a strange sensation.

A: Yes and no at the same time. For our choice, we don’t have any record label, we don’t advertise, we don’t have anybody taking care of our PR. We might have way more visibility, but we don’t. But we are very lucky, because we are on the scene for more than 40 years. People that know us, they love us. In this way, we cannot complain. We are lucky, because we still have a big following. been a glue that sticks (us) together. That was the main reason why we were playing together. Would we be together still without soundtracks? I don’t know.

A: Some fans love what we do, no matter what we are. The other ones are sort of divided, like political parties. Some like what we do, others are sticking with Claudio. It’s a personal test of people, right? I don’t want to judge.