The Passion and Music behind the Haunting Musical Mayhem of a LAKE EERIE
Interview with Allie Jorgen of Le Reverie about their music and their involvement with a soon to be released epic horror thriller LAKE EERIE
Interviewed by Lisa “Sunshine” Svelnys Host- Hollywood Rock Underground TV LA Rock Journalist
Tell us about the moment it came to fruition that Le Reverie's "THE DREAM" would be chosen as the theme song for the horror/thriller movie LAKE EERIE... what were you feeling, how excited were you, what were you doing when you found out?
Allie Jorgen - The really interesting thing about this story is the fact that you really never know where something may come from. Le Reverie was performing a show at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, and we had our photographer, Inda Reid, taking live pictures of the show that night.
After the show Inda told us about a Gothic Horror Film she was working with, and said that our Gothic Songs, Lyrics and imagery would be perfect for the film. She said she would tell the director of the film about us and our music and get back to us. She then gave us the contact information, and Roc called the director, as Inda suggested using her name as a referral, and left a message. He left a few messages, but never heard back, and we got really busy doing other things.
Sometime later we heard from Meredith and Chris, Partners in making the film, that they had heard our music and lyrics and thought that our song “The Dream” would be the perfect theme for the movie. The song is called Le Reverie (French for “The Dream”), and they used the English title. They said that the first line of lyrics “Ghostly Figures in the Night, calling out my name” described the movie perfectly, and could have been written just for this film.
The news that our song was actually the “Theme Song” for a film was amazing; we were completely honored and blown away at the same time. We were actually starting to work on our new songs that we are putting together for a new 4 song EP that we plan to release at the end of the year. But everything has gone wonderfully crazy and the Lake Eerie team of Chris and Meredith has requested some of our other Gothic Songs from our CD Dark Symphony, to be on the soundtrack of the bonus footage DVD.
Le Reverie is…
Allie Jorgen - Le Reverie is French for “The Dream”, and we chose this name for the band because we believe that everyone is following a dream and has something unique to offer. It is our philosophy to try to inspire everyone to follow their dream, no matter what. Our Song “Hold Me Down” is about all the people who told us not to start a Gothic Rock Band, and I said, Nothing will Hold Me (US) Down and now we have a song in a film. That’s so awesome!
Do you believe in ghosts? Tell us a story.
Allie Jorgen - I do believe there are some things out there that we cannot explain. Whether it is a ghost, a presence or an “energy”, there is definitely something. I think the biggest impact ghosts made on me was when I was really little. I think I was about 5 or 6 years old. It is a little hard to understand things going on around you when you are that young, so it took a few years until the experiences were explained to me. My mother and I lived in a house at the end of a block, with a street on one side and a house next door. The woman next door had a daughter and son much older than me, and I think her husband worked in sales as he traveled a lot. My mother became quite good friends with the woman. I used to play in their backyard with her son, daughter and the dogs. I remember being in the backyard with the dogs when I heard a lot of really loud crashing and banging. The people had guests over and I also heard some screaming, so I was a little startled, but the boy and girl of the house just ignored everything and kept playing with the dogs.
Later we went into the house to get a glass of water, we were standing in the kitchen and all the cupboards began opening and closing all on their own, I was young but I know what I saw. The people of the house told me they had playful ghosts, and they were not afraid, so I was not afraid. I believe they even called the ghosts by name.
We eventually moved to another town and as I got older, I thought this was not possible, I must have dreamed the whole thing. A short time later I remember seeing some documentary show on television about haunted houses, and it was actually our neighbor’s old and their house of “playful ghosts”. They had hired some paranormal investigators, and they were able to document hours of audio and video footage of all the unexplained things going on in the house. After watching the TV show about the house, I realized that I did not dream the whole thing. My paranormal experience was real!
Have you visited the house in the movie? Did you feel a presence?
Allie Jorgen - I personally have never been to the house, but I did recently talk to the Director about the house and filming at this house. The house is actually his grandmother’s house, and the events and occurrences that happened to his family when he was growing up there, gave me real goose bumps. I also asked him if the house was haunted during the filming of the movie, and he told of two instances in particular.
“The script supervisor and boom operator were in my grandfather’s old bedroom (a room the paranormal investigators said was a hotbed for activity). The door to a closet that led to the attic had been open for several hours as we had moved some clothes into it… this was a door that my grandfather always kept shut. Out of nowhere, the door slowly closed itself. It stayed open for a few minutes then slowly shut again. We checked to make sure no one was entering or exiting the house at the time. The way the door closed really spooked our script supervisor, she said it was very deliberate. So, she closed and latched the door so nothing more would happen. However, several minutes later, the door opened itself all the way then slammed shut. Our script supervisor ran down stairs and stayed down there the rest of the night.”
“Another event was when we were shooting scene 66 and were just about to film take 6, when all power to the house cut out. Our onsite electrician checked the breaker and nothing had been tripped; he could not explain what happened. But the fact that it was scene 66 and take 6 (666), really freaked out our Director of Photography.”
You are most creative when…?
Allie Jorgen - The interesting thing about writing lyrics, poetry and songs, is that you never know when the thoughts will hit you. I seem to be the most creative, when I am completely busy with something else, and not thinking about writing. Then all of a sudden I will have a creative light go on somewhere inside my head, and I need to start looking for a paper and pen. Or if I have a melody song idea, I begin looking for my cell phone, so I can sing the melody and get it down before I forget it. Other times, when I’m really concentrating and we have a deadline, it’s more difficult to tap into the creative flow. So I guess the best way for me to stay creative is to stay really busy.
What originally inspired "THE DREAM" and how long did it take to write?
Allie Jorgen - “The Dream” was written in about four weeks. We were preparing for our first show, and we needed another song. The song started on the drums, Roc usually hears an entire song in structure in his head, intro, verse, chorus, breakdown, solo, etc. He records all the drum parts and sends the file to the guitar player, who then hears all the chords and changes in his head and lays down a guitar track.
He then sends the file back to Roc, who refines his drum parts and they have created the basic song. They put all the pieces together in demo form, and record a music demo for me to work with.
About the same time I came down with one of the worst cases of the flu I have ever had. I had a really high fever and I was sick in bed for about a week. But like I said before, the last thing I was thinking about was writing a song. But the whole thing just kind of came to me “like a dream”. The band had already given me the amazing music track, and I was thinking" what am I going to write to this?" Then with a really high fever, the images started coming to me, I don’t know if I saw “Ghostly Figures in the Night” or if I was just delirious with a fever of 102/103. But the imagery and lyrics turned out really interesting. I was able to hear the melody in my head and create the vocal, lyrics and melody, so by the end of the following week, we were able to record it as a new song.
How important is image in the music industry and do you do your own styling or do you work with anyone?
Allie Jorgen - I am not sure that image has the same meaning that it used to have. There are certain genres of music, Country, Blues, Rock and Metal that all have a very distinct look, but most people today create an aura with their stories and storytelling. I happen to love Horror Films and Gothic Movies and the Gargoyles in France on Notre Dame, so I tend to dress in the dark Gothic styles, because of my personality.
When will the movie be released and where can we see it?
Allie Jorgen - Team Eerie is working in post-production on the film right now, so I am not sure when this process will be finished. I believe they are looking to release the film by the end of summer, but it is hard to give an exact date. We are all VERY EXCITED!
Tell us about a song that you are working on right now?
Allie Jorgen - I have become extremely interested in the “Vikings” their different stories and all aspects of the Vikings. I am working on the songs for the new EP with this era in mind.
Where can your fans see you next?
Allie Jorgen - We are very excited to announce our Pre-Launch Lake Eerie show on Monday, June 2nd at Paladino’s in Tarzana, CA. We will have the opportunity to create the gothic feel of the movie and introduce our song “The Dream” which is the Theme song for the film, as well as introduce our other gothic/ghost songs that will be included on the Soundtrack DVD of the Bonus footage of the film.
When the Film is released there will be a huge LAKE EERIE PREMIER SHOW, stay tuned to our websites www.lereverie.com, https://www.facebook.com/allie.jorgen, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Reverie/123374824370714?ref=hl and www.alliejorgen.com
How do you think music amplifies the movie industry?
Allie Jorgen - In this genre of films, Gothic, Horror and Thriller, it is ultra-important. With ghost stories and haunted houses the music helps bring all the visuals to life. Like the term scary music, behind the scenes as someone opens a door to a haunted house, it is the music that helps keep you on the edge of your seat to find out what will happen next.
We want to add that we are so thankful and honored to have our music selected for the film Lake Eerie and we are grateful to be part of such a wonderful team – TEAM EERIE!
Thank you for helping to get the word on the Lake Eerie out there, and for helping us to spread our philosophy to “Never Give UP” and follow your dream; because you never what great and magical things can happen!