Interview with Trevor William Church of Haunt

Haunt have become one of my favourite bands in recent years. It's traditional heavy metal played with that will appeal to fans of Thin Lizzy, early Ozzy Osbourne, Eternal Champion and King Diamond. Check them out. If you like their stuff ad live in Europe, i stock their albums, but it never stays in stock for long, so let me know and i'll order them for you! Singer, songwriter, and resident Haunt OG Trevor answered some questions during the first COVID lockdown.

I was touring with my band Beastmaker and I really wanted to do something a bit more melodic. When I got home from tour I wrote luminous eyes and sent the song to a friend of mine that did all the artwork for Beastmaker. He responded what are you calling this project I said I’m thinking of calling it Haunt. 30 minutes later I had the logo and the cover and i started working on the 3 other songs that would go on the demo “Luminous Eyes”. I hadn’t really even thought of it being a live project at the time.

You guys have been super prolific since you formed. What's the writing process involve? Is it one main songwriter bringing the riffs to practice or a collective effort?

I write and record most of the instruments. I have included the live band in some of the recordings but it’s mainly been me. I’ve decided to keep it a solo project at this point because of the volume of music that I accumulate. John Tucker who plays guitar with me in Haunt comes in to write solos. That’s about the only collaborative component.

What are your main influences?

Journey, Thin Lizzy , Ozzy, Hagar, Megadeth, Metallica, Dokken there really are loads of artist that I love.

If you had to introduce extraterrestrials using only FIVE albums, what albums do you choose?

Journey - Escape, Sammy Hagar - Three Lock Box, Thin Lizzy - Jail Break, Ozzy- ultimate sin, Black Sabbath Masters of reality.

"Burst Into Flame" is one of the SICKEST songs in any genre i've heard in a long time. Is there a song or two you are most proud of or that you think is best representative of Haunt?

Well as the songwriter my newest song is always my favorite and that generally is short lived. There are specific guitar riffs or vocal melodies that really grab me though. The intro riff of the song “on the stage” is one of my favorite arpeggios I’ve ever written. Flashback is currently my favorite Haunt song at the moment. Each song I write is like my baby. I had to write the riff come up with the arrangement and write the lyrics. It’s a very personal process and with over 120 published songs out there between Beastmaker and Haunt it’s hard to say. I love them all in one way or another.

Assuming life gets back to normal post covid, what's coming up for Haunt?

I’m just writing and recording in my studio. Lately I’ve been on a major 12 string guitar kick. So after my next album is released which is called “Beautiful Distraction” which i hope to have competed by winter. The 12 string will see some love. I actually play quite a few acoustic instruments and i have no clue how to record these well so that’s huge. Obviously touring will resume because playing live is always fun. I’ve been focusing on my own label Church Recordings and working with other bands that i either play in or collaborate with.

What is one song of any artist, genre etc.. you wish you wrote and why?

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train. It’s loved basically by everyone even if they aren’t rockers. It transcends time and genres.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Thanks for the interview and thanks to all of the Haunt fans for supporting the creative process. Thanks to my family for understanding my madness. Let’s all hope this pandemic is over sooner than later and we can all find some peace.