Sam Haynes

Sam Haynes
Origin	Essex, England, Essex, UK
Genres	Dark ambient, synthwave, soundtrack
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Haunt Music / Ghost Dance
Associated acts	Cheekyboy Jenna Louise

Sam Haynes is a British music producer and recording artists that has been working notably in the genre of Halloween and Horror music since 2005 under various names and is based in Essex, England.

Sam is known for pioneering a mix of traditional horror and halloween music with modern electronica and is a notable pioneer in this field. Sam's aim is to push the genre of Halloween music to include new styles and approaches each year and regularly reinvents his style and approach with each release.

"It feels like a perfect hybrid of horror soundtracks of the late ’70s/early ’80s by Carpenter or even Goblin with modern day electronica, creating one hell of a monsterish soundtrack for your Halloween night (or season in general).".

Sam refers to his original music from 2012 onwards as "Retro Horror inspired dance music". Sam's early work was originally intended for use in dark attractions, home haunts and theme parks. Over time Sam began to create songs based on the themes of Horror and Halloween, heavily inspired by his love of 70s and 80s Horror soundtrack music. Sam also has written music for several short Horror films.

History

Sam started in music in the late 1990's as a DJ and mashup artist under the name Cheekyboy.

His first Halloween music releases were featured on the popular annual web based compilation series Monster Mashup which Sam, from 2006 went on to oversee, design cover art and promote yearly until 2011.

Monster Mashup achieved notable success with Sam being mentioned in The Guardian newspaper multiple times under his Cheekyboy alter ego. .

The Avalanches featured Crazy Avalanches by him in their set opener at the Splendour in the Grass festival in 2006.

Sam regularly appeared on the Toronto Star 'Anti Hitlist' with his Halloween mashup releases. "his 23-minute seasonal tour-de-force stitches together appropriately spooky material from the disparate likes of Nick Cave, Michael Jackson, Will Smith, and Echo and the Bunnymen and sprinkles them with dialogue from The Evil Dead, Hellraiser and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

At this time Sam produced several tracks for DMC (Disco Mix Club) records who issued monthly compilations for DJ's, becoming one of the few artists to have legitimate commercial releases of their mashups.

Sam Haynes started writing his own original music in 2012 to make the distinction between mashup and original music Sam decided to make a permanent name change.

Sam Haynes released his first album of new original Halloween music in 2012, a natural progression from overseeing the yearly Monster Mashup compilation CD's. Musically Sam's albums feature a number of classic soundtrack themes and tracks that mix Horror music and dance music, which has been the style of the majority of Sam's albums since 2012.

Sam's main influeces are John Carpenter, Alan Howarth, Fabio Frizzi, Goblin, Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman, John Zacherle and many early 80s synth Horror soundtracks.

Work as original artist

In 2013 Sam Released Welcome to the Horror Show which received critical praise on internationally famous Horror site Fearnet who also noted the unusual mix of electronica in the music.

The results will feel right at home in the foggy, cobwebbed corridors of a Halloween attraction, but also command your attention as groovy stand-alone works... some of which will get you out of the shadows and up on your feet

Sam won a Frightee award for his song 'Ghost House' from this album in 2013.

Sam also provided the full soundtrack to Pleasurewood Chills - A Halloween themed event at Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park that year. Promo CDs were sold at the event named 'The Chills' which collected the best of Sam's work to date.

In 2015 Sam released 'Spine Chillers'. The album was notably nominated for a Rondo Hatton industry award for best Horror CD that year.

In 2019 Sam released 'Darkwaves'. A departure form the classic horror sound with more emphasis on the dance elements and 80s aesthetic than previous releases. The album won the Nightmare City Halloween radio award for album of the year.

The album marked Sam's first collaboration with Essex based Guitar player Gary Bennett who worked on several tracks with Sam. A vocal version of 'Witch House' was released and featured in the short movie Dolly V Eve on Halloween 2020.

Work in other media

Over his career Sam has provided music to many Horror and Halloween themed podcasts and youtube channels including 'The Halloween Haunt podcast', Without Your Head's Sunday Summoning, Frigay the 13th podcast' and 'The Big Seance'. Sam's music is regularly played on Halloween Radio stations in the USA including HalloweenRadio.net and Nightmare City Radio.

In 2019 Sam began writing music for the recent 'Valentines Eve' and 'Rag Dolly' franchise. These movies have achieved over 100,000 views online to date and have featured in several USA based film festivals and magazine articles in the UK.

Discography

Studio albums

• Halloween Carnival (2012)
• Welcome to the Horror show (2013)
• Ghost Stories (2014)
• The Gift of Christmas Fear : Horror music for the holidays (2014)
• Spine Chillers (2014)
• The Incredible Dark Carnival (2015)
• Something Wicked (2016)
• Pumpkin on your stereo (2017)
• Season of the witch (2018)
• Darkwaves (2019)
• Groovy Murder Disco (2020)

Reissues

• Halloween - Sinister songs for your Haunted House (2015)

==Film Soundtrack appearances==

• The making of Anna Sophie Story (2016)
• Krampusnacht (2019)
• The Rag Dolly Returns (2019)
• The Rag Dolly (2020)
• Dolly V Eve (2020)
• Valentines Eve (2020)
• Valentines Eve 2 (2020)
• Quoggers (2020)

==Mashup albums (as Cheekyboy producer, cover art and featured artist)

• The Bride of Monster Mashup (2006)
• Mashing Pumpkins (2007)
• Night of the living Monster Mashups'' (2008)
• Texas Chainsaw Mashacre(2009)
• Pumpkin on your stereo (2010)
• Phantom of the mashupera(2011)
• The Curse of Monster Mashup - Mashups and original music for Halloween (2012)

References

This article "Sam Haynes" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Sam Haynes. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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