“Friends In The Woods” is a combination of introspection and imagination blended together organically through curious and inventive experiments. Tender acoustic guitars softly steps in a texture of noise. Processed environmental sounds splash onto the canvas and becomes the cold and moist air and darker shapes of green in the deep forest. Through sounds, A Demon in Fun City transitions you into an unfamiliar world, a lost and a hidden world perhaps, where the culture of wildlings exists, untamed by the outside world.

“Friends in the Wood” evokes a very special and vivid audio-visual experience. Like a film that investigates and unravels the truth, layer by layer. The threads of sensitivity and human emotions are thinly stretched across the song, at the same time, the atmosphere deepens, filled with strange and familiar sounds that spark your own imagination. “Friends in the Wood” is epic and cinematic in its way own, but unlike the soundtrack of a film, the story itself is told brilliantly through the layers of sounds.

There’s no need for words. They paint the mood, they introduce suspense through the lens of curious eyes. But the deeper you go in this forest, the less you truly know about it. There’s an undertone of eeriness and danger. The unknown, but also a touch of sacredness. As humans, we are intelligent creatures, but still there are so much we don’t know. “Friends in the Wood” reminds you of that and keeps you humble.

They don’t really give you an answer in the end. Are there really wildlings in the wood? The possibilities are endless. Perhaps a conspiracy theory, perhaps a whole different world, but that’s exactly the fun. A Demon in Fun City invites you to investigate. The clues are in the music.

A Demon in Fun City’s story began at an accidental meeting online between BC Smith and Richard Kadrey. Two kindred spirits bond over their shared interest, and a deep collaboration is formed. Read our interview with BC and Richard and learn more about their creative visions.

Punk Head: I love the storytelling and world building in "Friends In The Woods." How did everything come together?

BC: World building is a great description. I was experimenting with acoustic guitar blended with noise textures, delays and processed environmental sounds. It was early in our collaboration and we were speaking a lot conceptually about what we hoped to create together. 

Richard: BC started the track and we talked about the mood and feel. I came up with a short scenario and we went from there. Most of our music is built around a specific image or backstory. For “Friends in the Woods,” we worked from this: Rumors of wildlings in the forest. Are they human or changelings pretending to be human? The trees are their church and what they worship is older than anything you can imagine.

PH: What are you most proud about this track?

Richard: The mood. It’s full of mystery and darkness, though not the sinister kind. It’s the darkness of lost places on the borderline between this world and somewhere far stranger.

BC: I love the sound textures and the way our mixer Bob DeMaa crafted the sonic space. I’m also pleased that the musical form of the composition is derived solely from our imaginary narrative rather than traditional song form and structure.   

PH: Are there any specific musical influences that played a role in the creation of this single?

Richard: I usually describe our sound as a combination of doom jazz and cinematic ambient. “Friends in the Woods” isn’t based on any specific influences but comes from a lifetime of listening to a wide variety of music. 

BC: I had been thinking a lot about Folk Horror and wanting to score a film with that type of story. I’d also been watching obscure art films on loan from Richard and that probably motivated the experimental development of the track. For me the final music feels more like an art installation than a song or soundtrack. 

PH: What is your creative vision as a band?

Richard: To tell stories with our music. If we can create little movies in our listeners’ minds, then we’ve done our job. 

BC: No songs. Just sonic adventures.

PH: What is the one thing that you’d like your fans to know about you?

Richard: Aside from playing music, I’m a professional writer. However, I don’t have formal training in either discipline. I’ve learned everything on my own and if I did it so can you. 

BC: In addition to being a film and tv composer, I’m a Magician member of the AMA/Magic Castle here in Los Angeles. Magic and fortune telling are passions of mine. I create and perform bespoke seance evenings and read tarot cards when my schedule allows.