It’s been such a rotten time for so many of us during the pandemic, I know.
I posted recently about the tragic loss of my good friend and collaborator Paulo Turin, gone far too soon, but never forgotten.
Since then, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I really wanted to do something in tribute to my friend, beyond a blog post.
And I got to thinking about another lovely friend and collaborator, Dooj Wilkinson, who sadly passed away in 2017.
Then i remembered that when i put together a series of posts for the 20th anniversary of On Edge i found the original soundtrack DAT tape master recordings. And i had an idea…
I dusted off the DAT tapes and, thanks to the dudes over at TransferMagic, they have been professionally digitised.
And now Paulo and Dooj’s wonderful music can live on.
It’s my tribute to them both.
Never before released, ON EDGE: original soundtrack, is a charity EP containing every note of music from the film (along with a bonus track from Paulo & I with our band SDN).
The track listing is as follows:
1. Defiler
2. Cycles of Abuse
3. Waiting room
4. Uberdrill
5. Eyes
6. F.U.F.B.
7. Pshoos
Vinyl, CD and digital download editions are available below.
So sorry to have to say that my good friend & collaborator Paulo (aka Paul O) Turin has passed away after contracting Covid-19.
My sincere condolences to his family & many friends. We were all hoping he’d pull through after three weeks in the ICU in Brazil. Thanks to all the doctors & nurses who tried so hard to keep Paulo alive.
Here’s a photo from much happier times, taken when we worked on the music for ‘On Edge’ together with our band Self Destructive Nature
My friendship with Paulo began in the mid-90s when we were introduced via mutual contacts. We spent many happy hours writing and recording music together, discussing life the universe & everything — and eating penne arabiatta, or pizza, or both. Paulo worked & studied hard and was always inquisitive and determined to master whatever he put his mind to. His musicianship was second to none. Our song Cycles of Abuse featured in my film On Edge, as did Paulo’s killer dance moves (you can spot him in the nightclub scenes that bookend the film). Another composition Defiler featured on the Planet Metal compilation and on Brazilian rock radio.
SDN’s track Defiler featured on Planet Metal Volume 2
When Paulo returned to Brazil, we kept in touch and exchanged family photos (and godawful Dad jokes!). A couple of years ago, Paulo asked for my help in putting together a Wikipedia page about him. But the Wiki editors rejected the page as ‘not notable’!!!
Well, screw them. I’m including the Wikipedia text below in full, in tribute to Paulo, who was very notably a gentle giant, and a brilliantly talented musician. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
(And if any Wikipedia wizards out there can create a page for Paul O Turin, please do so. He would have liked that!)
Sweet dreams Paulo, be at peace, the world will rock a lot less without you x
Paulo in his own words…
Paul O Turin performing live in 2014
Paul O Turin
Background information
Birth name: Paulo Eduardo Turin
Born: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Instrumental Rock/Metal
Occupation: Guitarist, songwriter
Instruments: Guitar
Associated acts: Gangland UK, Battlezone, Paul Di’anno, Self Destructive Nature, Aquiles Priester, Felipe Andreoli, Realm of Illusion
Labels: Pony Canyon, Encore Records, Magick Records, Zoom Club Records
Biography
Paulo Turin was born in Brazil but made his mark in metal music in England where he lived for 22 years. He was of Italian heritage. His grandparents moved to Brazil from Venice during the first world war. He spoke English, Italian and Portuguese.
He started playing his father’s acoustic guitar at a very young age and learned music from some music books that also belonged to his father. After begging his parents to buy him an electric guitar for two years, he finally got it at the age of 13. It was a Fender Jaguar copy. The first songs he learned on the electric guitar was from Credence Clear Water Revival, Slade and Chuck Berry but when he heard Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin his guitar playing and musical taste went to a new dimension.
Turin then started taking private guitar lessons with some well known teachers around the Sao Paulo area. The lessons included rock, jazz and music theory. During this period he played with some local bands.
In 1986 Paul took advantage of his European (Italian) citizenship and moved to England where he worked part time and took guitar lessons at the Musicians Academy and at the Guitar Institute. Paul also held a degree in management and graduated to be a University teacher.
Paul O Turin at the Marquee, London
Career
In England, Paul went to several auditions for bands in the underground metal scene of London and got the job as the guitarist of an up and coming act called Gangland UK. They toured the UK nonstop for two years and recorded two songs Beyond the Law and Death Threat for the album Metal for Muthas‘92 released in Japan. Gangland also put out a single One in a Million/Crazy Angel for the Japanese market.
Paul composed the soundtrack song Cycles of Abuse for the horror film On Edge with Self Destructive Nature (SDN), a band he formed with vocalist and writer/director Frazer Lee. Another SDN song Defiler featured on the Planet Metal compilation. Paulo did session work and played for bands as a hired hand also.
In 1997 he was invited to join Paul Di’anno’s (former Iron Maiden vocalist) Battlezone. They recorded and toured the album Feel My Pain. Paul returned to Brazil in 1999 and put together a band for Paul Di’anno which recorded and toured the album Nomad. Nomad was re-released in 2006 with a few bonus live tracks under the name of The Living Dead.
Since then Turin was writing and recording solo instrumental Rock Metal, and with thrash metal oufit Realm of Illusion, in addition to producing, and hosting guitar masterclasses.
I’m devastated to hear of filmmaker Norman J. Warren‘s passing, and touched to see social media buzzing with fond memories of, and tributes to, this gentleman of horror.
The late, great Norman J. Warren (photo: Vice.com)
My friendship with Norman began just over a decade ago, when a producer recommended me to him as a potential screenwriter on his new movie project. We met in a hotel bar in London and got along like a haunted house on fire. I was hired to do rewrites on Norman’s script ‘Beyond Terror’, which was both a sequel to ‘Terror’ and a ‘greatest hits’ showcase. I was thrilled to be working with him, as I was a fan of Norman’s cult-occult movie ‘Satan’s Slave’ (aka ‘Evil Heritage’) from my VHS video nasties days.
Our collaboration continued and we met up for coffee-fuelled story meetings and regular chinwags at the National Film Theatre café on the South Bank, and sometimes at Norman’s home in West London, where I got to see his vintage movie posters and memorabilia over mugs of tea. Norman had so many great stories from his decades in the film industry, and I loved hearing about him driving around in an open topped car with ‘Terror’ star Glynis Barber in the passenger seat.
(Glynis Barber in Norman J. Warren’s TERROR)
‘Beyond Terror’ was retitled ‘Delusion’ (we joked that we were deluded if we thought it was going to get made) and Norman eventually took the project to China with producer Yixi Sun, to pitch for financing. Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Following our work on ‘Delusion’, Norman invited me to brainstorm ideas with him for a horror/thriller film called ‘Shadows’ and I worked up a story outline based on our creative discussions with producer Yixi Sun.
Horror can be a notoriously hard sell when trying to attract funding, especially state funding, and so Norman decided to pursue the art house/surreal thriller route. Following on from ‘Shadows’, Norman and Yixi then developed a script called ‘Susu’, which Norman was going to direct in China. When ill health prevented him from directing, Norman moved into a producing role, with Yixi directing. Norman made a fun short too, for the ‘Turn Your Bloody Phone Off’ segment at FrightFest London.
Alongside all this, I was hard at work on my short folk horror film ‘The Stay’, and Norman mentored me throughout the process with his trademark enthusiasm and words of encouragement. You’ll see his name on the thank you credits at the end of the film (I apologised in advance, in case he didn’t like the movie!).
Norman was a lovely friend and collaborator who always had time for others, even when he was unwell. And I have never known someone to be so excited and upbeat when discussing grisly death scenes over lunch! Norman survived polio during his younger years, and I think that maybe gave him some of his appreciation for life’s possibilities. He was a proper gent, and I will miss him.
Listen to Norman discussing his filmmaking roots and influences on Radio 4’s The Film Programmehere.
And you can relive Norman J Warren’s greatest hits in this stonking Indicator Blu Ray box set.
a genre giant – on the set of Nightmare On Elm Street (photo source: WesCraven.com)
Horror fans are mourning the loss of a Master of Horror. Wes Craven was a true innovator in the genre who had a knack for taking transgression and giving it mainstream popularity. From his early video nasties through to the live burial scene in The Serpent and the Rainbow (arachnophobes beware!) and the crowd-pleasing jump scares of the Scream series, Uncle Wes knew what scared us. I remember having bruises up my arm for a week after taking the prettiest girl at high school on a date to see A Nightmare on Elm Street – and I hardly slept a wink that night after seeing a red and green car on the walk home (for real – what are the chances). Wes Craven’s filmography is an impressive legacy and he will be sorely missed.
Here is Wes Craven talking about being a filmmaker, about finding something deeper, and about the geek inheriting the Earth in one of my favourite segments from the brilliant Nightmare Series Encyclopedia (1999). It is bittersweet to hear him speak about how he’d like to be remembered.
And remember him we will.
Rest in Peace Wes Craven, sweet dreams – and thank you for all the nightmares.
Doctor Who and the Daemons director Christopher Barry has sadly passed away. He famously helped introduce the world to the Daleks, but Daemons is my all-time favourite of the Time Lord’s adventures. Yes, I cleaved to a fuzzy, fifth generation VHS copy for many years (much of it in b/w) until the show finally became available on DVD. And yes, like many of ‘a certain age’, I devoured the Target novelisation. The BBC website posted a lovely obituary of this amazing, talented man – aside from his outstanding contributions to Dr Who, Mr Barry also helmed The Tripods (another childhood fave of mine) and many more.
Christopher Barry, I salute you – with five rounds, rapid.
The world is also a lesser place for the loss of filmmaker extraordinaire Alain Resnais. His Last Year in Marienbad has haunted me for years, and continues to do so. It was lovely to see his life and work so celebrated in memoriam this week. ‘Innovative and unusual’ just about nails it:
And while I was composing this blog entry, I was saddened to hear about the death of Selim Lemouchi. Frontman of one of my favourite bands The Devil’s Blood (and later of Selim Lemouchi and His Enemies), he was a fiercely talented musician who passed far too soon, aged 33.
I’ll leave it to Selim (with his sister Farida on vocals) to roll credits on these three blazing stars, who will all be missed by any who knew, or knew of, them.
Doctor Who and the Daemons director Christopher Barry has sadly passed away. He famously helped introduce the world to the Daleks, but Daemons is my all-time favourite of the Time Lord’s adventures. Yes, I cleaved to a fuzzy, fifth generation VHS copy for many years (much of it in b/w) until the show finally became available on DVD. And yes, like many of ‘a certain age’, I devoured the Target novelisation. The BBC website 
FrazerLee.com 