Ever wonder which movies inspire your favorite bands or how filmmakers work with artists to compile your favorite soundtracks? Sound to Screen is a regular feature that explores where film and music intersect. This week, Salem’s Pot pick eight horror sequels that fuel their uniquely terrifying approach to doom metal.
No band knows horror like Salem’s Pot. The Swedish doom rockers are the musical and aesthetical embodiment of low-budget ’70s horror films: the psychedelic imagery, the oversaturated Panavision colors, the campy sex and gore. Listening to Salem’s Pot feels almost like watching an old VHS copy of Suspiria late at night, bong smoke lingering in the air, wood-paneled walls closing in.
“That’s exactly how we started the band, just watching horror movies,” explains frontman Knate. “I was the only guy playing music, so we just started as a concept: me doing the riffs, everybody coming up with artwork and ideas. We try and do the whole theatrical thing with our live shows: 50 percent music, 50 percent horror movie.”
The band’s second full-length album, Pronounce This!, drops July 22nd via RidingEasy Records. Drawing inspiration from the supernatural creeps of Italian giallo cinema, the record is their catchiest and most hallucinatory yet. It’s rock and roll that’s slightly off, content to drift in its own left-field weirdness like the bizarre flicks that inspired it.
With Salem’s Pot set to drop their very own horror sequel — and with our film staff’s sequel ranking still fresh in our nightmares — Consequence of Sound caught up with the band to get a rundown of their favorite terrifying follow-up films. Read on if you dare.
