Los Angeles, CA (November 10, 2026)—The first thing that catches your attention when walking into the house where John Carpenter has his office is a Halloween pinball machine. Tucked next to it is a life-sized Nosferatu. Around the living room-turned-common area hang framed posters of his classic films: Assault on Precinct 13, Starman, Vampires, The Thing. Figurines from the extended Carpenter universe are positioned on various surfaces.
They also line the mantlepiece next to a few of his many awards. There are a couple of Saturn Awards, including the one for Best Music for Vampires, along with a Rondo Award for his Halloween score.
There’s no argument that Carpenter is a master of horror, science fiction and action filmmaking. Part of the appeal of his movies comes from their signature scores and unforgettable theme songs, many of them composed by Carpenter himself. In fact, over the past decade or so, his primary focus has shifted to music.
In 2014, Carpenter released Lost Themes, his first album of music not associated with the screen, co-created with his son, multi-instrumentalist Cody Carpenter, and his godson, guitarist Daniel Davies, son of the Kinks’ Dave Davies, who is also Cody’s godfather. Since then, the trio have released three more Lost Themes albums, a 10th-anniversary edition of their debut, and four soundtracks, three of them for the Halloween franchise.
The trio’s most recent collection, Cathedral, released in early August 2026, represents new territory for the 78-year-old Carpenter, as it accompanies his similarly titled, first-ever graphic novel. Co-written with his wife and creative partner, Sandy King, and writer Sean Sobczak, the album’s songs correspond with the chapters in the novel, yet are equally impactful on their own.
ENTERING THE CATHEDRAL
The music came first, based on a dream that Carpenter had. “At first, it was a vocal description; we hadn’t planned a new album,” he says. “Then Cody, Daniel and I sat down, and we wrote out an outline of the dream. We had Chapter 1, 2, 3…”
“John was describing the scenes to us as though it was a movie,” recalls Davies. “Based on the feeling that it evoked, we started writing.”
Carpenter points to Davies and says, “He was the one who spurred me toward an album, and I thought, ‘That’s a great idea.’ For each chapter, we did a song. After we had the music done, we went to a graphic novel.”
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The album took shape in Carpenter’s and Davies’ studios in Los Angeles, with Cody working from Tokyo. Some drums and string overdubs were added during the final stage at mix engineer John Spiker’s Los Angeles-based studio.
The trio works in Logic Pro, with Carpenter and Davies using a Kemper MK 2 profiling amp. The ideas typically start in Carpenter’s studio, then move to Davies’, where he has a combination of outboard and soft synths, as well as pedals set up for his guitars, which became one of the key sounds of Cathedral. The piece then goes to Cody to add his parts.
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“Cody is this musical genius,” says Spiker. “I think he sees music like the Matrix or something. We don’t hear or see music like he does. He’s functioning on a different plane of understanding, which is such a gift to have in the creative process. Daniel is like the traffic cop for all of it. He can receive the things and take them back to his studio and refine them and add the guitars. John is like the seed of the whole thing, where out of the gate, it’s ‘Yes, that’s the idea’ or ‘No, that’s not the idea.’”
The way Carpenter explains it, “Daniel is the adventurer of the band. He is always looking to forge new sounds, new directions, try different things. He’s more daring than I am. Cody’s the maestro. He’s an incredible keyboard player. I’m the experience, because I’ve done it for so many years. And Captain Spiker, as we call him, is the final word. He takes it all and brings it to life like nobody I’ve ever heard.”
