What is several hundred feet tall, covered in tentacles and is generally considered “the thing that should not be?” Everyone’s favorite elder-god, Cthulhu! Now, while you may be a fan of the writings and characters of Cthulhu-creator H.P. Lovecraft you may not have known the level of influence his mythos and writings have had on the music world. There are numerous bands of nearly as many music genres who have dared to tread into H.P. Lovecraft’s world of monsters, ancient evil and the Necronomicon.

TheFeed sat down with author Gary Hill, whose new book, The Strange Sound of Cthulhu, has just been published, to talk about Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos and their impact on music. The best part? Unlike the Necronomicon, the book isn’t bound in human flesh and nothing terribly evil shall befall those who dare to read from its pages (we hope!).

TheFeed: For the uninitiated, explain a little bit about H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu.

GARY: H. P. Lovecraft was an author who lived from 1890-1937. He wrote mostly horror, (although he did wander into fantasy and science fiction). He is arguably one of the most influential authors of the genre with more modern writers including Stephen King crediting him as an influence. Probably for the average person their exposure to Lovecraft’s work would come from films based on his writings – Reanimator and From Beyond are two of those (both of which were turned into awesome horror flicks by Stuart Gordon – Ed.]. For the most part, these adaptations of Lovecraft’s work, while entertaining, have not been faithful to his work. I’ve heard rumors Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) has toyed with the idea of producing a film of Lovecraft’s "At The Mountains of Madness." While I haven’t heard anything recently, I’d guess that such an adaptation would be quite faithful.

Lovecraft was involved in a conspiracy of sorts. He worked with a number of his contemporary authors (who were also his friends) including Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame) to establish a sort of back-story to his fiction. In other words, Lovecraft invented an entire mythos of fictional entities and other authors used those entities in their work, thereby creating a sort of pseudo reality to the beings. These beings, called “The Great Old Ones,” were said to have ruled the earth in ancient times, but had been banished. Of all the Great Old Ones, Cthulhu was the most powerful and horrible. He is an enormous being with wings and tentacles who will eventually return to devour all that mankind has created. For now, he lies sleeping underneath the ocean in a city known as R’lyeh.

TheFeed: What inspired you to write this book?

GARY: I figured for the first time out I should write about something near and dear to me. I love music; there is no question about that. H. P. Lovecraft is my favorite author. I realized that there was quite a bit of music out there influenced by him, so this book seemed an obvious choice. Two years later, here we are.

TheFeed: Where does the connection between the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and popular music begin?

GARY: Well, the first reference I could find in popular music is the band H. P. Lovecraft (yes, they named themselves after him). These guys formed in the 1960s and were part of the psychedelic movement. They only recorded two songs with Lovecraftian ties though, both named after (and with lyrics based on) stories of Lovecraft’s, “The White Ship” and "At The Mountains of Madness." There were a couple of other ones around the same time. One of those was a group called The Liverpool Experience. The other was Black Sabbath, whose debut album had one song that at least has some inspiration in the title (“Behind the Wall of Sleep”).

TheFeed: Is there a particular form of music that best characterizes the world of Lovecraft?

GARY: Well, there are a couple of ways of looking at that. There has definitely been a lot more heavy metal based on Lovecraft’s work than any other single genre. On the other hand, I’d have to say that from my point of view some of the most effective (at least in terms of creating Lovecraft-influenced sounds) efforts come in progressive rock and goth. That’s probably a subjective question, though. For a strictly “by the numbers” type of approach, it’s safe to say that there is more heavy metal than anything else.

TheFeed: Who is the biggest band/artist to utilize Cthulhu within their music?

GARY: I guess the two biggest bands would be Black Sabbath and Metallica. Blue Oyster Cult also should be mentioned. There are several direct and indirect references in their music. Looking to the next tier you could count GWAR, Celtic Frost and others in there.

TheFeed: What would be considered the biggest “hit” to contain direct or indirect references to Cthulhu?

GARY: I suppose it would be between three songs: Black Sabbath’s “Behind the Wall of Sleep” and two Metallica tracks (“Call of Ktulu” and “The Thing That Should Not Be”) Probably a runner up would be “Cthulhu Dawn” by Cradle of Filth – but that’s certainly amongst a select audience. [You got that right! – Ed.]

TheFeed: Are there any bands that have completely based themselves within Lovecraft’s mythology?

GARY: There’s another interesting question. As far as bands The Darkest of The Hillside Thickets really are based pretty thoroughly on Lovecraft. They wear monster costumes onstage and the vast majority (but not all) of their music is based on the works of Lovecraft. The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has done a couple albums of wholly Lovecraftian music. Mind you, both of those acts are quite humorous in their approach. The German death metal band Philosopher calls their music “Lovecraftian Death Metal” and all their music to date is based on Lovecraft’s inspiration.

There are a couple albums in addition to the bands above that should be mentioned here. Payne’s Gray (another German band) did an album (Kadath Decoded) based entirely on a Lovecraft novella. Nox Arcana’s Necronomicon is also entirely based on Lovecraft’s work. I would also have to say that that is probably the most effective album in terms of capturing the Lovecraftian textures ever produced. The Unquiet Void (Jason Wallach records under that name) has released two albums thus far in a trilogy based on his work.

TheFeed: Who is the most surprising artist to write a song that delves into the Cthulhu mythos?

GARY: I’d have to say that it’s more about a couple of the genres that the influence has shown up in that’s truly surprising. There’s a hip hop act from Australia called Humanoids that have done four songs that all contain at least one or two nods to the works of H. P. L. There is actually a rapper from Spain who goes by the name El Gran Cthulhu – translated “The Great Cthulhu.” In that instance, though, there is really no link to Lovecraft’s work other than the name. There is one Americana/Country act called “Arkham Hollow” that draws on H. P. L.

TheFeed: Is there a particular member of the Lovecraft mythos that gets name checked more often than others?

GARY: I would say in terms of number of references it’s probably a book. The Necronomicon is a fictional creation of Lovecraft and it shows up in a lot of music. It also shows up in a myriad of other places in popular culture, too. I actually wrote an essay on just that subject for a book that’s going to be released next year by Hippocampus Press. There are even at least three bands who use Necronomicon for their name – although the one from Canada uses a capital “n” for the final letter.

It’s probably important to note that The Necronomicon has infiltrated popular culture to such a degree that there are people who believe it to be real. There has even been a couple versions of the tome to surface for sale. The thing is, though, Lovecraft himself made it clear that it was strictly a fictional invention of his. Mind you, he also added to the legend by writing “A Brief History of the Necronomicon,” which gives the fictional background of this dread book.

TheFeed: Is there one, definitive Lovecraftian album people should listen to in order to experience the musical world of his mythos?

GARY: Wow, well, if I had to pick just one I’d say Nox Arcana’s Necronomicon album. It certainly does a great job of capturing the Lovecraft mood and is an entertaining listening experience, too.

TheFeed: How many artists did you interview and was it surprising during your research to unearth the sheer number of bands and songs you feature?

GARY: I rather lost track of the number, but I’d have to say it must be in the neighborhood of 60 or so that I interviewed. And, yes, there are more than I realized. When I started the book I knew there was quite a bit, but I wasn’t sure I’d have enough to do a full book. By the time I got done there were more and more bands being brought to my attention. There have been at least six or seven acts that people have told me about since the book was published. There probably well over a hundred acts at least mentioned in the course of the book, but I would bet that there are a good number still out there – and more to come in the future.

TheFeed: What is your favorite song featured in your tome?

GARY: I don’t think I can honestly answer that question. I have a very wide range of musical taste and my“favorites would probably change from day to day. A lot depends on my mood. Last night I found myself singing “It’s beginning to look a lot like fish-men…” from The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society (Sung to the tune of “It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas”) and is featured on their A Very Scary Solstice album. I’m a bit of Black Sabbath fanatic, so certainly “Behind the Wall of Sleep” would be up there. Still, depending on the mood it could be The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets (pretty much any song), Metallica’s “The Thing That Should Not Be,” Nox Arcana, or a number of others. It’s really a tough question and I know I missed quite a few.

TheFeed: Give us a bit of your background and where our readers can find The Strange Sound of Cthulhu.

GARY: Well, I’ve been publishing Music Street Journal for almost nine years now. In addition I’ve done music articles for a number of publications (All Music Guide, Wormwood Chronicles, Beet Café) I’ve played just about any type of rock music you can imagine in various garage bands over the years. I’ve also had one fiction story published in homage to Lovecraft. As to the book, it can be purchased directly from the publisher’s site. Also any bookstore should be able to special order it for you, if you prefer getting it at a brick and mortar store.