Haunt and Beastmaker founder/guitarist/vocalist Trevor William Church is an extremely busy man of artistic means who’s always got something going on. Accordingly, I was ready for a brief, curt discussion but that couldn’t be further from being the case. He’s recently been sought out for his incomparable ‘can-do/must-do’ work ethic by outlets much larger, including Rolling Stone. Despite seriously being busy all of the time, he comes across as an affable individual who beams positive vibes. It was an exceptionally accessible talk and he seemed to be up for discussing anything I wanted to throw his way. As a result, what could’ve been a simple Q&A style ‘interview’ turned into a great conversation about the different projects and fascinating events happening in his world. Included, was a discussion about an incident that the band was forced to face that could’ve changed everything. It’s not something that he took lightly by any stretch and after keeping the details strictly within the confines of the band and the closest of friends, he’s just now willing to come forward to tell a private story that literally turned into a matter of life and death.

Most recently, Trevor’s band Beastmaker released their newest EP, Eye of the Storm, via Shadow Kingdom Records. The Californian doom metal band released an exceptionally long stretch of EPs back in 2018 at a staggering count of ten over roughly two months, simply and efficiently titled 1 thru 10, respectively. Officially, Eye of the Storm ends that trend, and the band itself. Over the last few months, Trevor has made the decision to disband Beastmaker, making Eye of the Storm most likely to be the band’s final word. “I think that the band has gone about as far as it can,” Trevor explains. “I just feel like we were kind of limited to one style of music. There’s only so much that you can do sometimes. Since I felt like we had done about everything that we could do without it becoming stale and repetitive, it just felt like it was the right time to end things.” Now, as a result of Beastmaker’s dissolution, he can give Haunt its deserved attention while he attempts to map out a trajectory that’ll better benefit the band, its fans, and his other future projects in the making. So, one door closes, others open up.

At the moment, Trevor is juggling several different projects in various stages of development. As things progress for Haunt, there’s one thing in particular that Trevor feels compelled to re-release their debut LP, Burst Into Flame, in order to help the group, as a band and a family of friends, move forward.

Despite all of the planning, it was not an easy record to make. The band initially had their proverbial ducks in a row and everyone was excited about laying the songs down. Then from out of nowhere, they were dealt a huge blow when drummer Daniel “Wolfie” Wilson suddenly fell ill.

Wolfie has been with Trevor and Haunt since the Luminous Eyes EP. Trevor describes him as a Fresno legend, saying that he’s probably the best drummer in the valley. “He’s played with everyone out here,” he affirms. “We started jamming Megadeth together and I think that really formed a bond between us. He started doing merch for our other band Beastmaker just to get out and see the world. I had started writing music for Haunt and he was the first person to hear it. I told him I needed some Iron Maiden style drums and he came in and knocked it out really fast.”

As he begins talking about how Wolfie’s energy really began to diminish, Trevor’s voice begins to take a much more serious tone. It’s evident in the sound of his voice that this ordeal he’s just now beginning to talk about was a paramount concern for him. “This is more his story, but I’m telling it because it is such a triumphant story,” he explains. “During the recording of Burst Into Flame, he came over one day but had to leave after about fifteen minutes in. He said that he felt sick and had no energy. The next day he was hospitalized. He found out that he was in complete organ failure. They told him that he’d likely have only six months to a year to live. I mean, can you imagine how heavy that is to hear?”

Just as the band was beginning to bring their debut full-length to fruition, they had the rug pulled out from under them as an integral member of the band, and a friend wound up embroiled in a battle for his life, literally.

“When we were on tour with Beastmaker and Wolfie was working as our merch guy,” Trevor begins to recollect. “It got to a point where we were like ‘What’s going on with this guy?’. You know, we had all been friends for a long time. Then, when it was time to get Haunt going but he just seemed to have no energy whatsoever, man. And it turned out that it was for good reason! It was so hard on him.”

“At one point he only had something like 15% of his liver functioning. After that, he had to undergo surgery to have a pacemaker put in. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to be present as much as he’d have obviously like to’ve been. I mean, it was a gnarly struggle for him.”

As time moved on, Wolfie began to gain back what’d been lost for such a long time, but it was far from ideal. Long stretches of time out on the road and the rigorous lifestyle would take its toll. While things were looking up in terms of Wolfie’s ability to get out and get behind the drum kit, things weren’t without their challenges. There was still a long road ahead.

Now, fast-forwarding to today, Trevor says that Wolfie’s health has made a 180-degree turnaround. “He made a miraculous recovery,” he says with obvious exclamation. “He actually just recently spoke to his doctor and was completely cleared.” Trevor says that the reality of such a dire situation hitting so close to home has really changed his outlook on the fragility of life. It’s altered the way he looks at things in his own life and those of the ones close to him. “It really has a way of putting things into perspective,” he goes on to say. “Life is beautiful and you’ve got to live for today, truly. You never know when your last day is going to come. Wolfie’s story could’ve easily had a sad ending–and almost did–, but like I said, he came out triumphant.”

Getting Burst Into Flame completed was a real struggle on several fronts. Obviously, Wolfie’s failing health meant he wasn’t able to perform at peak level, if at all. Then, he was down and out so there was a vacancy to be filled somehow. “We didn’t know how we were going to get it done,” Trevor recalls. “At the same time, it was like, ‘We’ve gotta get this done! We’ve gotta figure out a way,’ and we did. But Wolfie is so much better than what little bit that he was able to contribute. I mean, Andy and I had to go in and do some of the drumming ourselves. It was a weird, weird process.” There was also an issue of not having a bass player. Someone had been lined up but he was apparently a dastardly and an all-around shady character, so that union went south, fast. Ultimately, it was a situation that continued to disintegrate until the band had to cut their losses. So, Trevor said that they cut that dead weight loose. At times, he says, he felt like he was going berserk. To say things were all up in the air for the band would be a grossly poor assessment.

“We ended up just really burying the drums. There were multiple drummers that played and everyone hits differently. I mean, when I look back at how it all went down, I think it was a fucking miracle that we managed to get it [album] out there. I wasn’t sleeping, I was getting up at 5AM every day worrying about how we were going to finish the album. I had Andy [Saldate] here, who played drums in Beastmaker. He’s like my right-hand man in the studio. He was saying ‘Just let it go, just let it go. Everything is good enough. People will hear the songs, they’ll understand. That’s all you need. So, I just had to step back sometimes.”

With Beastmaker, Trevor says, he could maneuver playing and singing fairly easily. After he began writing the material for Haunt, fronting the band while playing the decidedly more complex music is a different story. It’s something that he really had to work on and take into consideration during the writing process, as well. He’s a determined man though, so he decided to push himself instead of taming the music down in order to accommodate his new challenges.

To hear him talk about everything that transpired during the Burst Into Flame process, it’s clear that getting it done the way it was originally envisioned is something more than simply making sure the right things are tweaked and done precisely. It’s more about how it represents the band itself. Giving Wolfie opportunity to replace the original percussion is an important aspect of the process. And having Taylor Hollman on bass is also an important new element. It better represents what Haunt is as a band. “Taylor is the youngest in the band at only 24,” Trevor explains. “He has a great personality and is really easy to work with. He plays multiple instruments and has the desire to excel.”

The first pressing of the Burst Into Flame vinyl is done, so Trevor is really excited to get it out there for the fans to hear the music the way he had intended the music to be heard from the beginning. For the fans who’ve already purchased the first release, he says that there’ll be some kind of accommodations made so that they won’t have to shell out more money for the corrected version. But at the same time, those first versions will become 100% unavailable, never to be seen again. So those fans who already own the first release of Burnt Into Flame will have a scarce commodity on their hands. It’ll no doubt something for the collectors to get a hold of in the coming years.

Even as they’re looking back into their past to re-release their debut album, Haunt is well on their way to realizing still another record. Their sophomore album, If Icarus Could Fly, is still fresh but the band is already in the process of wrapping up on their imminent third full-length LP. “This new album will be the first time we’ve really been able to work through without anything out of the ordinary happening,” Trevor says about the upcoming release. “Even with ‘Icarus..’ we were in a similar situation to Burst Into Flame because Wolfie was still ill. Until the artwork is finalized, he says the name of the could change, but at the moment the working title is Light the Beacon.” According to his projections, the album should probably come out sometime near the beginning of 2020.

As he’s working on the completion of next Haunt album, there’s another project coming together that includes another fantastic young heavy metal band that hails from Whittier, CA-based called Fortress, whom he recently recorded at his own home studio. He assured me that Haunt will be releasing some 7″s on his own label, Church Recordings, with Fortress. They’re shooting for a Fall release with that one. Then, if that’s not enough, Trevor’s in the process of putting together yet another musical project that’s autonomous from any of the others. “I have a new band with the Jake Nunn and Mike Smith from Hell Fire,” he explains. “I must keep [that] under wraps for the moment. [There’s] no name yet but there will be a full album of heavy metal bangers.”

At this point in his life, Trevor has already done the touring thing all over the world for his various outfits over time but he’s most ‘at home’ back in the studio. “I’ve done the road-dogging, living on the road, out of suitcases, I really like those things,” he explains. “But I really come alive in the studio. But at the same time, I’m not sure if I want to do full-length records anymore. I’ve lost interest in the process and I like quick and fun sessions. Full albums are really serious because you are juggling so many songs. So I guess we will see how it unfolds. 2020 we have a European tour in spring and a full USA tour right after. Also, in January there’s the release of our 3rd full length.”

At the present time, Trevor’s got a lot on his mind, primarily being a new dad. With a baby on the way, he’s at a point now where he’s got to start looking out for more than just himself. But he’s excited about the prospect of raising his child around the music, the studio, and all of the creativity that comes along with the environment. After all, he got an early taste of the life himself. His father, Bill “Bill Electric” Church, played bass for Sammy Hagar’s ten solo albums along with some time serves with Montrose and other notable outfits during the 1970s and ’80s, so it could be said that music is in Trevor’s blood. “I grew up with a recording studio. My dad’s buddies had a studio called Windmill Studio out in Antioch, CA. He lived out there for a while so I was around it all of the time. And I loved it!”

We go back to discussing the work that’s being put into his own home studio and I couldn’t help but picture the cycle repeating for Trevor and his son. It’s a role that he’s looking forward to. But, along with that, there’s also a big-picture vision Trevor has that extends far beyond the confines of immediate family. He’s got a long-term goal in mind of a uniquely functioning and thriving musical community based there in California. He’s determined to do whatever he can in order to be instrumental in facilitating such a scene. It’s another reason that realizing his own home studio and label has real meaning for him. “This is like a big dream that’s coming true, ” Trevor says. “It’s something I’ve been wanting for a long, long time. But there’s a lot of learning in the process that happens along the way.”

Looking into the future, he goes on to say, “I love making my music but there’s something in me that tells me that I might find somebody one day who’s way better, so I want to help them get to the point that they need to reach through my own experiences and hard knocks.”

“My studio is based out of Fresno so it’d be great to be able to build a community up for everyone to benefit from. Some things are about timing and I feel like maybe it’s a good time to help with some of the bands that we play with and know. I think it’s a good thing to do with the experience, and the knowledge, and the wisdom that we’ve all picked up over time. It’s something that’ll be good for everybody because we’re all learning and growing together and we can look out for each other.”

Bringing such a concept to life requires the work of a lot of moving parts. The difficulty of such a feat might prove to be too overwhelming for a lot of people with similar desires and ideas, but Trevor doesn’t appear to be intimidated by the possibilities of obstacles and hindrances. It might even be true that he almost welcomes them. “That’s how you learn,” he asserts. “Its all DIY here, really. We’re trying to do it all ourselves and learn from the process!”

After all is said and done, regardless of what paths he takes his career in, Trevor never stops talking about how he feels like he needs to write music as a way of life. He’s just naturally compelled to keep making the music that he loves. So, it appears that as long as there are inevitable constants in life, like the drawing of breath, taxes due, the changing of the seasons, it’s also true that Trevor William Church will continue to write and live the music in creative ways.