Pulp Features

Claudio Simonetti is one of the most profound composers and musicians working and performing today. Consistently exploring and pushing the boundaries between sound and music with a strange assortment of chimes, groans, inharmonious, garbled sounds and high-pitched wails and tremulous, blaring, heavy metal music.

He is probably best known as the keyboard player of Goblin, the band that enjoyed a long and very successful collaboration with horror maestro, Dario Argento.

And here, he took some time out to answer a few questions from Dale Pierce.

Dale: How did Goblin meet and when were they formed?
Claudio: I formed the original band (our first name was “Oliver”) in Rome in 1974 with the guitar player Massimo Morante, then we called the bass player Fabio Pignatelli and Carlo Bordini, on drums.

Dale: Were they formed for the exclusive intention of doing film soundtracks or did they also do rock concerts?
Claudio: We started playing the music that me and Morante had written, then we live Rome for stay in London for almost one year, playing concerts and recording demos in a small studio.

Dale: When did the band dissolve?
Claudio: In 1978 after the recording on the soundtrack of “Zombi/Dawn of the Dead”.

Dale: Where did you select the little demon playing the violin for your logo? Wasn’t it off an old painting?
Claudio: The demon was taken from an antique figure of the devil with the violin in one old book, then re-stylised for us.

Dale: After Goblin, you have still done music and CDs. What are some of these?
Claudio: See biography attached.

Dale: Why do you think Goblin was so well received in regard to film composition, as their hard rock music was a bit uncommon for films at the time, wasn’t it?
Claudio: We was just very lucky that Dario Argento chose us for the soundtrack of his film “Profondo Rosso”, we would never be expected to become a soundtrack composers.

Dale: Are there other film composers you respect?
Claudio: There are many composers that I like: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herman, Alan Silvestri, James Horner…

Dale: Did any past film composers influence you or the rest of Goblin?
Claudio: There have not been musicians that have influenced us in particular way, rather sincerely I think that we have influenced with our style many other musicians in the world.

Dale: What films core has provoked the most positive feedback, from your group?
Claudio: I think that “Suspira” is our masterpiece because in this film you can listen the real “Goblin sound”.

Dale: Argento has gone back to using Ennio Morricone for his pictures, it seems. Do you think you will do the music for one of his films again?
Claudio: Yes, I hope to continue my work with Dario.

Dale: Closing comments?
Claudio: Now I’m recording with my band Daemonia our 3d album and I hope to finish it in September. In September I’ll also release the DVD of “Daemonia-Live in L.A.” recorded in November 2002 and the DVD of the original “Simonetti Horror Project” of 1990.