PHILIP ANSELMO Talks Horror With Actor BILL MOSELEY

Philip Anselmo of DOWN, ARSON ANTHEM and PANTERA recently met horror actor Bill Moseley for the first time in an exclusive "Rogue on Rogue" feature moderated by ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino. A couple of excerpts from the discussion follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: When did you both find music?

Bill Moseley: I think it was when I was on my way to church on Sundays. I started playing bongos on the car dashboard because I didn't really like going to Sunday school [Laughs].

Philip Anselmo: That's where your musical career started? Believe it or not, the most influential album for me — when I was just a mere shrimp — was Walt Disney's "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" [Laughs]. It was side 2. The first side is a narration. It goes into this wind and howling banshees! I kept the whole house up with it. I lived in the French Quarter, and there was music everywhere, but that one record with all the shrieks and groans was it for me. As a kid, I'd be imitating that stuff. I think that's where I started using my voice. Not to mention, the whole house shook with JANIS JOPLIN, LED ZEPPELIN and JIMI HENDRIX. My folks were of that era. There you go!

Bill Moseley: My mom played SCOTT JOPLIN's "Rags", and the first 45 that I ever had was "Take this Hammer" by LEADBELLY. I don't know why that was [Laughs].

Philip Anselmo: Wow! I inherited my folks' record collection. KISS was a staple when I was a kid. Other than that, it was THE BEATLES and "Frampton Comes Alive" — what a record at the time!

Bill Moseley: Your parents were into that?

Philip Anselmo: Yes!

Bill Moseley: We are of a different generation [Laughs].

ARTISTdirect.com: When did you both become horror aficionados?

Philip Anselmo: When did you discover horror?

Bill Moseley: 10 years before you [Laughs]. I was actually crawling into the living room at night.

Philip Anselmo: It's the same story!

Bill Moseley: I'd see movies like "Beginning of the End" with the giant grasshopper and "Killer Shrews". When I grew up, there was still black and white TV. I was told to never get out of bed once you're put to bed. I'd sneak down the hallway, try to avoid the creaking floor boards and go in and watch the "Midnight Movie." I'm from Northern Illinois.

Philip Anselmo: Did it have a horror host?

Bill Moseley: Yup!

Philip Anselmo: That's great! Your story is pretty much the same as mine [Laughs]. We had a black and white TV, and there was the "Saturday Matinee," which was a horror fest. As a matter of fact, I was home alone and I saw Mario Bava's "Black Sabbath", but that's a later memory. There was the afternoon show, and then the Saturday night show had a horror host, "The Guru." Honestly, the most impactful one was the "Sunday Morning Movie" — films like "Fiend Without a Face" and "How Awful About Allan". Believe it or not, those were on TV! Shit like that flipped me out. I would sneak up and beg my mother every night, "Can I stay up and watch 'Night Gallery'?" [Laughs] I was sneaking out of bed too though.

Bill Moseley: My family was very Halloween-friendly, for all of the religion and whatever was going on. My dad loved to "arrange things" to take us kids to that scared the crap out of us on Halloween. He'd take us to the old "Hermit's House" at the edge of town. He'd park the car 100 yards down the street and say, "Go back there and get something off the front porch!" This was a house lit only by an old lantern with a bunch of old newspapers stacked outside.

Philip Anselmo: That's awesome! When you're a kid, you can see the ghosts in the windows.

Bill Moseley: We'd get up there, and somebody would scream! We'd all run back to the car. We'd go to the cemetery and dad would arrange it so the cops from town would bust us with the lights flashing and we'd freak out!

Philip Anselmo: He'd arrange it? [Laughs] That's incredible. As well-known as New Orleans is, it's a really small city. Man, they always had the neighborhood haunted houses. It stuck with me so much that I started "The House of Shock" in New Orleans. That's still a gigantic haunted house. I'm not associated anymore, but I was always Halloween-friendly as well. I loved the old rickety amusement park rides. I used to live for that shit. It's torn down now, but the only amusement park that we had in New Orleans was called Pontchartrain Beach. It was right on the water, and they had the roller coasters and all of that. However, it was The Haunted House! They'd play that goddamn "Chilling Thrilling Sounds" soundtrack through the fucking speakers [Laughs].

Read the entire discussiong at ARTISTdirect.com.