PREVIEW: Unsigned518 Halloween Special 2024
“The owner of [former Camp Algonquin] gave me permission to go on the property and record, and it was really cool to be able to just wander around and spend some time at the filming location of one of my favorite horror movies.”
Halloween is my favorite. That is a well documented fact. While I may not dress up and go to Halloween parties so much anymore, I still love the dead leaves, the chill in the air and most of all, the spooky movies.
This is the second year that I have done a Halloween special, and it turned out much bigger than last year’s, with more guests, more music and more segments, including one that was recorded on the site of one of my favorite ‘80s schlock-horror movies, Sleepaway Camp. Being that it is quite long, at just over two and a half hours, I decided to split it into two parts. Both parts are currently available.
This special episode features conversations with local pianist/composer/horror movie fan Andy Iorio, Mike and Cait of the band Lucid Street, and Matty of Nerdy by Nature.
Andy Iorio and I go back more than a decade – in fact, he was playing the piano as my wife Katy walked down the aisle at our wedding in 2015. Andy is not only an accomplished composer/pianist, but he also loves horror music, and especially horror movie scores. We talk about the scores of a few classic horror movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Exorcist and others, and how music is responsible for the tension and feeling of dread in horror movies.
Mike and Cait of Lucid Street have both been on the show before, and after we get right into the horror talk, we discuss the band’s first ever studio single – “Potential Redemption” – being released this weekend, and even premiere it on the show.
I had never met Matty of Nerdy by Nature before our interview, but our interactions on Instagram let me know ahead of time that we were destined to be fast friends. (Our combined knowledge of serial killers and other macabre and dark history is immense, and a little unsettling.) Nerdy by Nature is a retail shop in Troy that has to be seen to be believed. There are human remains, voodoo and witchcraft items, and other dark arts. You can get a print of your favorite serial killer's autograph, or an authentic piece of horror movie memorabilia. I even purchased a piece of asphalt from the exact location where Leatherface did his “chainsaw dance” in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The most exciting segment of this episode for me was the trip over to the old Camp Algonquin in Argyle, NY that Nick Kossor (of Gozer) and I took. The camp served as the filming location to one of my favorite slasher films, 1983’s Sleepaway Camp. The owner of the property gave me permission to go on the property and record, and it was really cool to be able to just wander around and spend some time at the filming location of one of my favorite horror movies. As an added bonus, I also have some video footage of the interview and a short walking tour of the camp which can be found on Unsigned518’s youtube page.
On top of the above mentioned, the episode also features some great Halloween-themed music from 518 artists Ab the Audicrat,The Jagaloons, Matthew Ryan Lowery, Millington, Gozer, The Pine Boys, Girth Control and Oddy Gato.
New episodes of Unsigned518 are available every Tuesday, with The Weekend Spotlight dropping every Thursday, and the Unsigned Unwind every other Wednesday. Find them at http://unsigned518.castos.com/.
