Zombie rock from Asheville band
SILVER MACHINE SCORES NEW TUNES FOR 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD'
The Asheville band Silver Machine has written and recorded a new soundtrack for the classic zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. Pictured from left is Anthony Dorion, Matthew Westerman, and Chris Tanfield. At right the movie is projected on a wall. / John Coutlakis/jcoutlakis@citizen-times.com
Only in Asheville would a band claim to have climbed aboard a “bachelor pad” spaceship and then, bending time, return to 1968 for the making of the zombie-movie classic “Night of the Living Dead.”
For the Asheville band Silver Machine, that’s their story (and they’re sticking to it) as they release a new version of “Night of the Living Dead” with their own original soundtrack. The group is now looking for donations for the project through an indiegogo.com fundraising drive that ends Saturday.
The 1968 version of “Dead” set the pace for many zombie movies to come, but it did not have an original score, said Chris Tanfield, theremin player with Silver Machine. Instead, the music was lifted from several other horror films of yesteryear, he said. “As far as I’m concerned, the music should be creepier, and we would like to do that,” he said. “We have added theremin and synthesizer effects and a creepy style that could have been from the 1960s that match the tone (of the film) better.”
Needless to say, Tanfield is a hard-core “Night of the Living Dead” fan. “This has always been one of my all-time favorite movies,” he said. “I love zombies, no batter how cheesy or high-budget they are.”
Beyond the music, Silver Machine’s version of “Night of the Living Dead” remains the same — with scene after scene of dead returning to life to feast on the living. “All we are changing is the music,” he said.
While Tanfield figures that some “Night of the Living Dead” purists may not approve of any changes, the movie has actually been through any number of revisions and remakes through the years. Originally shot in low-budget black-and-white by director George Romero, the movie has been colorized several times, and even reworked into 3-D. More scenes were added for a 30th anniversary edition in 2008.
With the original in public domain, Romero himself launched a seemingly never-ending series of sequels. Silver Machine has been working on its version since early this year, and looks to have its DVD ready for the spooky Halloween season by Oct. 1. A companion audio CD is also being released. Fans can get a peak and pledge support for the project at www.indiegogo.com/NotLD.
~citizen-times.com
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