Interview: Trevor William Church-Haunt

You are currently on tour with Hell Fire. How is the tour going?

Tour is going well. We are only 4 days in but with Hells Heroes and Psycho Smokeout 4/20 on the trip it’s gonna be great. This is our third tour with Hell Fire and they’ve become our best buds over the past year.

What inspired you to start a heavy metal band?

I’ve always loved heavy metal. I started doing punk music and then just joining any band that would have me. I didn’t have a clear focus for a long time. It wasn’t until I decided to try and be a singer did things take shape. The obvious genre for me was an old school metal sound. Black Sabbath, Ozzy style was my preferred blueprint. Things evolve naturally over time.

From a solo effort, Haunt has now become a band. How did Daniel “Wolfy” Wilson, Taylor Hollman and John William Tucker become a part of the line up?

Daniel played drums on Luminous Eyes but at the time it wasn’t a main focus at all and I wasn’t planning on playing live. John played with me in Beastmaker and he is such an amazing musician and friend. Taylor I’ve known for a long time. I saw him at a show and said hey want to play bass and that’s that. We’ve been playing live for a year now.

If Icarus Could Fly sounds like a step above Burst into Flame in all aspects. Tell us more about the album.

I started writing and recording the album immediately after burst so I feel like it’s an extension of Burst. I learned some new things to get a better production. But, I feel that I was just continuing my inspiration fresh off getting done with Burst.

Was the writing process for If Icarus Could Fly a solo effort or a band one?

The writing process is still very much a solo affair. John writes his own leads, but mostly I come up with the general ideas.

You’ve also released a EP last month, Mosaic Vision. How did it come about? Were the songs on the EP written before or after those on If Icarus Could Fly?

Way before. They were unfinished songs that were supposed to be on Luminous Eyes. I didn’t expect at the time that Haunt would be full time. I was still touring with Beastmaker and recording. So, my focus was a little all over the place. I went back though and finished the material.

Did the success of Burst Into Flame, have an effect on the writing process of Mosaic Vision and If Icarus Could Fly?

I don’t think we’ve even seen the full potential of Burst because a full year hasn’t even passed and since Icarus was finished in July of last year burst hadn’t come out. Mosaic was more of a project I felt needed to be finished. They were instrumental so putting lyrics to it and getting it done was something I wanted to try and get done.

Beastmaker was quite prolific last year, releasing 8 EPs. How do you manage between Beastmaker and Haunt?

10 Eps actually. They were an accumulation of songs i wrote over 4 years. The idea was re record the demos and finish them as fast as possible. It’s really raw recordings. Very little production. Beastmaker is now on a hiatus. Not sure if we will come back. Haunt is my main focus mainly because John and I decided we’d rather focus on doing one band live.

What are your thoughts on the current revival of vinyl records and cassette tapes in this digital age?

For me I want people to just have access to their preferred way of listening. There is definitely a tonal difference from stereo to stereo. As long as the listener is happy that’s all that matters.

What are your currently listening to (metal and non metal)?

I’m all over the place right now a lot of Journey, Europe, Alien, etc. lots of new bands killing it if you go to the NWOTHM page on YouTube you’ll find a treasure trove of great bands.

You are touring with Spirit Adrift next month. What are you looking forward to at the shows?

We are only on 4 dates. The tour poster is extremely confusing. We are mainly playing our home state market and we love all the cities we are playing.

Do you have any more shows/tours planned in the the coming months?

I’m having a son in July. Rex Church so I’m taking some time to spend with him. We will return in the fall. Europe in October/November.

Thanks for answering all our questions. Do you have any final words?

Thank you for your support and thanks to all our fans that buy our records and come to our shows.