Posted in: Horror, Movies | Tagged: art the clown, ice nine kills, Spencer Charnas, Terrifier 3

Ice Nine Kills Singer Spencer Charnas On Terrifier 3 Collaboration

We talked to Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas about the band's new song and video, A Work Of Art, which was featured in Terrifier 3.

Ice Nine Kills is debuting the video for the new song "A Work Of Art" today, the same day that Terrifier 3 hits theaters. Many fans of both the band and the horror franchise were wondering when they would collaborate, and the band answered with a thunderous song, one of their best to date. Is it wrong to describe a song as hilariously sadistic? We chatted with lead singer Spencer Charnas about how Ice Nine Kills came up with the video for the song, what it was like being around David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown, and more. You can watch the video here, as YouTube won't let us share it here since it is age-restricted.

Ice Nine Kills & Terrifier Are A Perfect Pairing

BC: How did you conceptualize the video for the song?

Spencer Charnas: So obviously, other than being influenced by Terrifier and all things Damian Leone, you're in that universe. What I really thought about was the scene in Ace Ventura where Ace goes to a Cannibal Corpse Show. I always thought that scene was so brilliant. And the way Jim Carrey plays it, the dichotomy of him dancing, doing his thing, with this death metal band spewing what sounds like the sound of Satan, was always so cool to me. I think even David said that that's one of his main influences for Art. That's how we got there. And we work with some really cool writers. Andrew Justin Smith, our director Jensen Noen, and the amazing special effects team, Christopher Nelson, who is responsible for some of my favorite on-screen gore and kind of just let that guide the story.

BC: What is it like to be around David when he's performing as Art?

Charnas: He's incredibly nice, and he makes it fun and easygoing. But he takes it all very seriously. It's so cool to see how much how much joy he gets out of being on-screen. I mean, it's it's it's quite endearing, honestly.

BC: Was it easy to match his enthusiasm and energy level because it seemed like he was having a good time?

Charnas: He was so excited to be on set. We were surrounded by fans, and I don't think it is that common for this type of thing. We were surrounded by people on set, all the extras and people who wanted to be there, who were fans of his movies or fans of Art, and a great crowd, really. And it was just a really positive environment. And I think that shows it was through in the piece.

BC: Is there a line that you guys thought, okay, we can't go this far, or is it "all bets are off" because it's Terrifier, and we need to go for it completely?

Charnas: I think we were trying to go for it, and we didn't want to censor anything. We wanted to try to live up to what Terrifier stands for. And I think what it stands for is no-holds-barred slaughter. That's what I really, among many other things, admire about what, David does.

BC: As far as the song itself goes, you are in the unique position to have been in the mind space of quite a few horror icons writing your music. Do you ever find it hard to get in the head of any of the characters?

Charnas: Nope. I mean, I think that since I've been such a fan of what all those people do, from Jason to Michael Myers to even Art, it's not hard to get around that. It's not hard to go there really.

BC:  What were your influences for writing lyrics for this one, as well as musically? Was there a specific sound you were going for?

Charnas:  The inspiration is from the franchise, and there's really no other way to put it. We try to echo what we thought were some of the bullet points of the franchise and tie in stuff that you would want, mentions of Miles County, references to the melody of the Clown Cafe, which has obviously become iconic in terms of the franchise and so thrilled to be able to get Leah Voysey, who sings the clown cafe song to actually sing it in our song, but with some different words. Yeah. And yet, you know Steve Sopchak and I write all the lyrics for Ice Nine Kills, and we've just developed such a great working relationship. With us, it's like an alley-oop, kind of like a basketball team of lyrics. We always try to one-up each other, share the opportunity, and still have fun. 

BC: Which of Arts' kills from the franchise is your favorite so far?

Charnas: It's so hard. I mean, obviously, probably, the split in the first one, sawing through Catherine. But other than that, I think the bedroom scene in the second one. Just so fucking horrific. And you think it couldn't get any worse, and then Art comes and sprinkles bleach and salt on this poor girl. And then her mother discovers her? I've never, I never saw anything like that. 

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