Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns

October is here. I spent some time this past weekend visiting two different farms for pumpkins. This is serious Halloween time here people and I need my f***in' pumpkins! So, it's time to talk about my Halloween 2022 single "Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns".

Click the album artwork to choose where to stream "Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns".

Now, I could get into the technical and nerdy parts of the process of putting this track together, but, who cares, right? I'd rather tell the story I pictured and where it came from. That is almost always my process - I make instrumental music to fit a story or imagery I think of. I try to make the music feel that way without using lyrics to convey it.
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Where did the imagery for "Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns" come from? IT CAME FROM HELL! Just kidding. mostly. Not really though. 

It's simple really. I visited a favorite haunted attraction of mine, Nashville Nightmare, on September 19, 2019. I took some pictures while walking around, and always loved their huge stack of pumpkins. I've taken better pictures of it since then, but, here's the one that started it all. 

Around that time, I was doing a cool thing on my social media of selecting an image or video I had recently taken and creating a short piece of music (10-30 seconds) to go with it. I selected the above image and started messing around on guitar and immediately thought of ​"Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns".  I thought, what is Halloween season like in Hell? 3 years later, I took that initial 30 second piece and made a full length track to release officially, in my mind it tells the following story.

Picture it now. It's Devi's Night, October 30th. You have snuck into a pumpkin patch at night, a yearly ritual of yours. The waxing crescent moon luminates just above the tree line. The familiar sounds of a crow cawing, crickets buzzing, and a gentle breeze blowing make you feel right at home in your favorite season.

Suddenly, within a blink of an eye everything has changed. You don't know how, but, you've been pulled down to Hell.

Being in Hell on Devil's Night might seem to be too literal of a nightmare, but you get the sense that you are just a visitor, not damned for eternity. Think of it as being in the ultimate haunted house attraction. It's terrifying, but, you're pretty sure you will be going home when it's over. Nothing can harm you, at least not physically. 

You are alone as you walk around lakes of fire. You hear distant screams of those that have been sentenced to burn. You feel the presence of demons. You're alone without actually being alone.

To your surprise, you notice that they even have Halloween decorations on display. This is an unexpected fit of whimsy in an otherwise horrifying pit of despair. As you continue to wander, you notice a few carved pumpkins laying around on a narrow path in the distance.

You walk down the path for a closer look and find that the path gets wider and wider. As you keep walking, more and more jack'o'lanterns line the path. Unbeknownst to you, the pumpkins slowly and silently turn to face you as you pass them by. You continue to wind your way around the path as it gives way to a huge cavern.

As you enter the cavern, you find that there are jack'o'lanterns as far as the eye can see! There must be thousands. Maybe millions. Who would have thought there would be a pumpkin patch in a cavern in Hell?

Something is off. Those distant screams you heard earlier are now much louder. You gaze across the vast field of jack'o'lanterns noticing volcanic-like eruptions blast through cracks in the ground at random. 

Oh no, you've found the source of the screaming! You realize those aren't just fun, whimsical jack'o'lanterns to amuse the Devil for Halloween. Those pumpkins are somehow inhabited by real human faces. It's as if the souls of the damned have been trapped inside the pumpkins. They scream each time an eruption of fire washes over them. They can't go anywhere, and they can't die again. All they can do is scream in horror.

You turn around and the path is no longer there. You're stuck in this never ending cavern of screaming pumpkins. You can no longer see a way out. You take off running, desperately searching for an exit. Your screams start to sound exactly like the pumpkins'. You're narrowly dodging eruptions of fire. 

It feels like hours of running in panic for your life have passed when, suddenly, you hear the caw of a crow, the buzzing of crickets, and a pleasant Autumn wind replacing the overpowering heat.

The sound of fire and screaming starts to fade. Images of screaming pumpkins and volcanic eruptions fade away. You're back in the pumpkin patch with nothing crunching under your feet except for the leaves and straw. 

​The moon is in the exact same place in the sky as it was before your Hellish journey. It's as if no time has passed at all. 

That's it. All of that really did come from taking a picture and asking myself a few questions. Then, of course, hours of playing guitar, keyboard, editing, producing, etc.....but you get the point. 

"Hellfire & Jack'o'lanterns" is available on all streaming platforms. Its mix of rockin' guitar riffs, spooky piano melodies and horns make it a perfect addition to any Halloween playlist.