Legendary composer/director John Carpenter has returned with his first non-soundtrack music since 2016’s Lost Themes II. Collaborating again with son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, his bandmates and co-composers for the David Gordon Green-directed Halloween films, Carpenter has shared the propulsive new single ‘Skeleton’ and its B-side, the haunting ‘Unclean Spirit’. Both songs are available digitally now and will be released as a deluxe limited-edition 12" with art by Chris Bilheimer on August 28 via Sacred Bones.

The sessions for these songs saw the trio shifting their focus from scoring for the screen and engaging a totally different creative muscle. “It was refreshing to be able to write music that didn’t have to fit to any sort of locked image,” John said. “We also had a specific focus and direction we wanted to follow when working on Halloween, both in terms of mindset and instruments, and being able to return to working without that narrow focus was refreshing. Although working on Halloween didn’t specifically influence any of these new compositions, there is always a honing of craft that must take place when working on a film like Halloween, and our improved skills definitely helped us in writing these songs.”

‘Skeleton’ and ‘Unclean Spirit’ are the first taste of a batch of new music that will eventually yield a Lost Themes III, and with the composers hard at work on the music for Blumhouse’s Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, there is plenty more music to come. Even for the famously prolific John Carpenter, this might be the most fertile creative period of his life.

The Master of Horror, John Carpenter, has announced that he'll be bringing his gripping live show back to Europe this Autumn. The tour, in support of Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998, which came out late last year on Sacred Bones, has already toured across the US and is now it's set to hit cities across the UK and mainland Europe.

The announcement comes ahead of the release of the next instalment in the Halloween movie franchise. The new film is set for release this October and is the first to have Carpenter involved since 1982's Halloween III, with him acting as Executive Producer and working on the soundtrack.

The John Carpenter live show made it's debut in 2016, touring across the world and taking in two weeks in the UK which culminated with two nights at London's The Troxy over All Hallows' Eve. The show was described as "The perfect Halloween treat *****" by The Telegraph and The Guardian said he "rampages through a wall-shaking 90-minute set of his movie music with grisly glee. ****"

The live shows see Carpenter joined onstage by his stellar band, comprised of his son Cody Carpenter on synthesizer, his godson Daniel Davies on guitar, John Spiker on bass, John Konesky on guitar and Scott Seiver on drums.

The forthcoming dates are:

Oct 16: London, UK @ Eventim Apollo

Oct 18: Newcastle, UK @ Tyne Theatre

Oct 19: Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands

Oct 21: Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall