Pranjal Tiwari is a California-based musician who has played in multiple metal, hardcore and punk bands. Like many of us, he needed to find new outlets to express himself during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during that time his solo synthwave project S.C.R.A.M. (Safety Control Rod Axe Man) was born. Tomorrow, on the Fall Equinox, his new album, Coma Filament will be released. While not traditionally heavy, the album is seeped in dread, pulling from inspirations like John Carpenter's scores and the music of dungeon synth legend Mortiis. 

Over email, Tiwari shared his thoughts about working as a solo musician, his musical and cinematic influences, sobriety, and much more. You can read the full conversation below, which has been lightly edited for grammar. 

You've worked in a variety of heavy genres. What prompted the interest in starting a synthwave project?

You’re right, I have more projects than I have time for! In terms of the heavy stuff, these days I play drums in a Mercyful Fate-inspired band called Cobweb, and do vocals for a Finnish-language punk/hardcore band called Ransu’s Revenge. There’s also my long-running doom band Cardinal Wyrm, and a couple of other band type projects that aren’t super active at the moment.

For its part, S.C.R.A.M. was born during of the COVID lockdowns in 2020. Like I said, I’m primarily a drummer and vocalist, but I’ve also played keyboards/piano since I was a kid, and I’ve always loved making weird, discordant, atmospheric sounding stuff on synths. This was the first time I actually tried putting a project together with those sorts of sounds, though, recording it and putting it together with artwork.

As far as why synthwave… who knows? I didn’t really choose the genre beforehand, things just took a natural turn towards electronic and synthy sounds.

Who are some of your musical inspirations for this project and album?

For this album specifically, I think the soundtracks to Aliens and The Shining were a huge influence. Kryzystof Penderecki, whose compositions were used in The Shining, has had a big impact on me since I was a teenager. One of the best music-related experiences I’ve had was hearing Penderecki’s Threnody For The Victims of Hiroshima played live by the San Francisco Symphony, on my birthday no less! It’s rare to actually hear that piece played live, and it was one of the most intense performances I’ve ever witnessed.

As for other influences on S.C.R.A.M. - I love Vangelis, and his soundtrack for Blade Runner really inspired the 2022 S.C.R.A.M. album, The Inner City. The album before that, America, The Ritual was inspired a lot by the music of John Carpenter and David Lynch films. The great black metal and dungeon synth pioneer Mortiis actually made an amazing soundtrack to a horror film that he released in full form, through an album called The Unraveling Mind. Great record and a huge influence on S.C.R.A.M. in general.

How does your creative process change when you're working on a solo project rather than as part of a band?

It’s totally different. The bands I play in always write their songs collaboratively, or at least with input from everyone, even if it’s based on a song idea that one person had. I have played in projects where one person writes everything and teaches the material to the rest of the band, but I tend to get bored in those situations and don’t last long.

With S.C.R.A.M., I have the freedom of channeling all the sounds myself, but I also feel a big responsibility towards the music. This stuff has a life of its own, I’m just trying to shape it into something befitting its own image. I want to make sure I do right by the music, if that isn’t too out there for you, haha. Sorry, what can I say, I’m from California!

For me, doing a solo project has also been a huge learning process. Mostly learning to trust myself and my own ideas.The first S.C.R.A.M. EP Sellafield Mox was a milestone for me as a musician, because it’s the first solo album I’ve ever released. I had never tried anything like that before, and to be honest, I always dismissed the idea that I could be a solo artist because I lacked confidence in myself and my writing abilities. That was six years ago, and since then I’ve put out five releases with S.C.R.A.M. and another two with a different solo project, WARDAY. I’ve definitely grown as a musician and as a person through these projects.

This album is positioned as a soundtrack to a movie that only exists in your head. What kinds of movies inspired you?

The theme, or the image in my head that inspired this album was “finding a ghost ship in space.” To that end, the “space horror” genre provided the inspiration for the atmosphere that I tried to create. Classic movies like Lifeforce, Event Horizon, and the first two Alien movies (I don’t acknowledge anything in the Alien franchse after that). Those movies are great in conveying both the initial thrill of discovery and exploration, as well as the intense terror that comes after finding something you shouldn’t have found.

I was also inspired by the atmosphere of Andrei Tarkovsky’s classic sci-fi film, Solaris. Very different to the others I mentioned, since the fear in that film is psychological rather than down to a creature. But it conveys such an intense atmosphere of brooding, existential anxiety, panic and delirium,

I think that’s the thing with the best space horror. You’re out in the midst of deep space, surrounded by the infinite universe, but you’re also trapped inside this vessel, and whether it’s because of a vampire, a xenomorph, or the tricks played by your own mind, it feels like the walls are closing in. There’s a juxtaposition there, you’re feeling a sense of claustrophobia out in the unfathomably vast expanse of space, and that is the central underlying tension that really animates the subgenre for me.

That tension, the undercurrent of unease, is also something I wanted to convey through the music on Coma Filament.

Do you know what happens in this movie in your head?

I don’t know that there’s one specific movie with a plot and a cast of characters. It’s my cheeky way of saying that all sound creates an atmosphere, and those atmospheres conjures up images in my head. Those images become stories of sorts, but they’re more like loose concepts rather than realized scripts.

Let me give you an example. So, one time I heard this warped, jangly sounding noise coming out of a wind-up music box. You know, those kids’ toys? It was some busted up old thing at a garage sale or flea market, I can’t exactly remember where I heard it. But there was something about that noise that was so sad and beautiful at the same time. It made me think of a specific image, that of a discarded robot having its first moment of sentience – a dream. It sounded to me like childhood innocence, warped metal, and a stumbling discordance in the act of becoming.

Well, that was the story in my head that led directly to the track “Abigail’s Dream” on the S.C.R.A.M. album The Inner City. Telling that story through sound, conveying some of what came into my head when I heard that messed up music box. So, yeah, that’s one example of the sort of thing I mean when I say that this project is “the soundtrack to the movies in my head.”

It's a really exciting time to be a fan of horror and sci-fi movies. What are some movies that have connected with you recently?

Actually, I watched the 4K restoration of The Shining in the theater couple of months ago, and it was absolutely incredible. Obviously it’s a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time, so I was expecting to be blown away by the visuals, seeing the restored 4K version on the big screen. But while the visuals were cool, the aspect of the film that really blew my mind ended up being the sound! Hearing the soundtrack and the overall sound design of that movie over a theater sound system was truly jaw dropping, it felt like I was hearing the movie for the first time. There were so many details in the sound that I had missed the first, oh ten million times I watched it haha. What an experience.

I tend to watch older films, not least because my poor dog is extremely triggered by the sound of mobile phones dinging and the whoosh of text messaging. Whenever that happens on screen, he gets terrified and jumps into my arms and I need to turn the sound off and comfort him for a while. So, for his sake, it’s better to stick to movies made or set before smartphones because ubiquitous!

But you’re right, there have been some really good movies recently. I absolutely loved Sinners and its central theme about the power of music in channeling historical trauma. What a film. I also really loved the horror film Bring Her Back, terrifying and deeply sad movie.

Would you be interested in scoring a movie if an exciting director approached you? Who would you like to work with?

Yes, of course! I’d love to try my hand at scoring an actual movie. I mean, the dream collaboration would be with John Carpenter, of course, but does all his own music, so that’s not going to happen, haha.

I actually think the UK director Ben Wheatley, his work would be an amazing fit for a S.C.R.A.M. soundtrack. He made the absolutely stellar films Kill List and A Field In England. Really weird, moody folk horror with a psychedelic vibe. That sort of movie would be such a dream to score. Of course, one of the more recent films that Wheatley has made is MEG 2: The Trench, which is about Jason Statham fighting a giant shark, so go figure. Come to think of it, that would actually be fun to do a score for too, haha!

Beggars can’t be choosers, right? I probably wouldn’t turn anyone down. I’ll pretty much work with anyone that doesn’t fuck with AI. Hit me up!

Can you talk a little bit about the names of the songs and how the music reflects those names?

So, like I said earlier, the underlying tension of great space horror is feeling trapped and penned-in when you’re out in the vastness of space. For the most part, the song titles on Coma Filament are references to features of the observable universe. The Hunter is a reference to the constellation Aries. Some of the tracks are based on names given to stars and constellations in different cultures. Haris al-Sana is a based on the Arabic name for the star Arcturus. Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise and Vermillion Bird are both constellation names within Chinese asterism traditions. Great Dragon Rouses refers to the star Gamma Draconis in the Draco system, known as the Great Dragon.

I wanted the track names to form a sort of superstructure, to create that context of space and vastness in which I could situate the music and the story. I thought that using some of the ancient and mythological names for features of the universe would help to convey a sense of vastness across space and time, as well as hinting at the fear of the unknown, and ethereal creatures lurking in the shadows.

Plus, a lot of the mythological star names just straight up sound cool, and so, of course, duh, I had to use them.

Because we (in theory) write about both fitness and metal on this site, what do you like to do to keep yourself physically well?

Hands down the most significant thing for me in that regard has to be going sober at the end of December 2018. Things have changed so much in my life after that decision. Pre- and post-sobriety are like two different eras for me.

I had a lot of problems with drinking and substance abuse before 2019. Looking back now, I can see clearly that body was a wreck and I was spiraling the drain with depression and self-hatred. But hey, that’s all par-for-the-course for rock n roll, right? Ha. Fuck that attitude, man. Quitting all that horrible shit ranks as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It has been a sea change for the better in my physical and mental health, as well as in my creative energy. I feel like I’ve become a real musician since then, unlocked abilities that I was keeping dormant and hidden out of fear. Most importantly, I’m able to be a better person to the people around me. I feel like I’ve finally taken the reins.

I do have a regular fitness routine as well. I do a lot of cardio and calisthenics, as well as strength training with bands and such. I used to love lifting weights, but I fucked up my c-spine a few years ago, so I rarely do that these days.

Do you consider your music to be part of your mental wellness routine?

Yeah, for sure. Creating anything is good for your mental health, especially when you figure out where to channel it from – often with heavy music, you’re processing and releasing trauma, getting the bad stuff out so it doesn’t fester inside you. Or on the other side of the spectrum, you’re creating beautiful things that you can look at and be proud of. Either way, there’s this part of you that’s out there in the world, and that connects you to something bigger than yourself.

As Del Tha Funky Homosapien said,

“Energy has its own will.

And people think they make music still,

But music is there without you or me, we just manipulate,

For better or worse, so let it situate”

I really believe that. Like, music is our connection to the universe, the infinite, the force, whatever you want to call it. We are tapping into something bigger than ourselves and channeling it rather than “making” music. The more you tap into that, the more you develop that relationship, your connection to the infinite, and your understanding of this life and beyond.

How’s that for some woo woo shit to end on, huh? Like I said, California duuuuude…

S.C.R.A.M.'s Coma Filament will be released digitally tomorrow, September 23rd.