What better way to enhance your reading experience than to have a soundtrack tailor made for the series? That is what Vault Comics is doing for its upcoming horror comic Cult Classic: Creature Feature. Working with the musicians of Drift Clique, the publisher is releasing a seven-track original soundtrack to go along with the first issue. The comic is the latest addition in Eliot Rahal’s creator-owned shared universe Cult Classic and pays homage to B horror movies of past decades.
Rahal explained to The Hollywood Reporter via email:
“Long story short, Minneapolis is how this album happened. My wife is a Minnesota native. One of her very good friends from high school lives nearby (Hi, Kathy) with her husband, Nick Syman. Over the past several years I’ve gotten to know them both better, and now I have the privilege of calling them both friends. As it happens, Nick turns out to be an incredibly talented musician. Like…really talented. He’s a classically trained jazz musician. In a lot of different bands. Has released a couple of albums. He even teaches music. The guy lives and breathes the stuff. I’ve seen him play a bunch of times, and you can tell this is what he’s meant to be doing. One day I was talking to him about Cult Classic, about the beginning ideas of Creature Feature, and how this project is like a love letter to John Carpenter but set in the modern-day. Turns out one of his favorite films was Reanimator. And he wanted to jam.”
Syman continued the tale:
“The library where I did my undergrad had an absurd collection of laser discs that no one ever checked out until my roommate returned from summer break with a laser disc player he saved from the garbage. Laser-disc Monday was born: Reanimator, The Thing, Barbarella, Conan the Barbarian, Cat People, Videodrome, Phantasm, Zardoz…. Every Monday for three years, we gathered and worked our way through a magical backlog of dated art. So when I saw Eliot headed in this direction, I wanted in.”
At this point, the series’ co-creator John Bivens joined in, and the plans began. Syman then suggested expanding the group by adding his friend Peter Lund.
Lund added:
“I knew Nick from college and we were both involved in the local music scene. He approached me about making a horror soundtrack, I think mainly due to the immense amount of vintage and analog synths I’ve accumulated over the years. We both love John Carpenter and have bonded over many a laser disc horror film, so I think us working together on this project was a natural fit.”
“I had only met Peter once, but I had listened to some of his tracks. And Nick was really excited to work with him,” Rahal shared. “He kept insisting that Peter was the right person to help him execute a soundtrack. I trusted Nick. And boy…was he right.”
The collaboration became Drift Clique, and a dark, seven-track, synth-heavy soundtrack was born. It will be available either by QR code inside the comics or directly from Drift Clique via Bandcamp, where you can hear the first track for free.
Cult Classic: Creature Feature #1 is slated for release on October 16. Written by Rahal, it features art by Bivens, colors by Hannah Jerrie and Iris Monahan, letters by Taylor Esposito, and designs by Tim Daniel. Cult Classic: Return to Whisper was the initial launch of Rahal’s creator-owned shared universe of interwoven stories back in 2018. Head to Vault’s website for more info.
The Drift Clique Creature Feature album can be preordered now.
