The Halloween III soundtrack was one of the first records I ever owned, and to this day I’m still jamming that original copy. That LP, plus staple Carpenter soundtracks like Assault on Precinct 13 and Dark Star play like synth-wave masterpieces: sometimes synth-punk, sometimes musique concrète, sometimes classical, sometimes almost dancey, but always distinctly John Carpenter. This month the 67-year-old musician is putting out a new LP—his nonsoundtrack solo debut, made largely at his Los Angeles home through hours of improvising sessions with his son and godson. Lost Themes (Sacred Bones) continues the reign of Carpenter’s imaginative kingdom by creating themes for imaginary movies. The instrumental record brings to mind his classic style but meshes it with a more lively rock feeling. Horror fans might hear it and think of the band Zombi and classic Italian prog scores. I was honored to talk to him. -Dave Portner, a.k.a. Avey Tare

DAVE PORTNER: I’m a longtime fan of yours—as a musician and as a filmmaker. Let me ask you, how could I turn this interview into a great horror story?

JOHN CARPENTER: Well, somebody’s life would have to be in danger for it to be a horror story. Horror is a reaction; it’s not a genre.

PORTNER: What are your feelings about genres?

CARPENTER: Horror has been a genre since the beginning of cinema, all the way back to the days of silent films. I don’t think it will ever go away because it’s so universal. Humor doesn’t always travel to other countries, but horror does.

PORTNER: Horror goes back further than cinema, all the way back to folktales. Did you have an interest in folktales when you started? Some of your films, like The Fog or The Thing, have a folktale element to them.

CARPENTER: Horror found me, man. I got into the movie business to make westerns.

PORTNER: Really?

CARPENTER: Yeah, but there were no westerns anymore. They’d already died out as a genre, so I made Halloween and everyone came running because it made money. That’s the only reason why.

PORTNER: But I know you’re pretty well versed in the myth of vampires and horror stories, so there must be some attraction.

CARPENTER: I was a big fan of horror movies when I was a kid—and of cinema in general. I didn’t really know literature that well, but that interest came along as I got older.

PORTNER: Like the stories of H.P. Lovecraft?

CARPENTER: Yeah, big time.

PORTNER: His story “The Colour Out of Space” [about a farm perversely affected by a mysterious meteorite that landed there], is amazing.

CARPENTER: It’s awesome. I’d love to make a movie of that in a way that nobody’s imagined it. They did one [Die, Monster, Die!, 1965] back in the Roger Corman days. Daniel Haller directed; it wasn’t so good.