{"id":1520,"date":"2025-03-11T19:34:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T20:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2025-03-13T18:33:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:33:04","slug":"haunted-mounds-ghost-mountain-breaks-his-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/haunted-mounds-ghost-mountain-breaks-his-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Haunted Mound&#039;s Ghost Mountain Breaks His Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NjcwODQxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc3OTM2NjU3MH0.PaxQHcrT3S3q_GoyGjUvl9xi8KUy-BBfSWf2oQ4N8I0\/img.jpg?width=4467&amp;height=2865&amp;coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0\"><\/p>\n<p>For nearly three years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ghostmountain\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Ghost Mountain<\/u><\/a> existed only as a myth. The California-based rapper, producer and original member of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hauntedmound\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Haunted Mound<\/u><\/a> helped shape the horror-drenched aesthetic that launched the collective into underground stardom \u2014 only to erase his entire catalog and walk away from music in 2021. <\/p>\n<p>His sudden departure left fans scrambling for answers, sparking Reddit threads that dissected lyrics, old Instagram posts, and speculated about beef between him and fellow founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.papermag.com\/sematary-haunted-mound\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Sematary<\/u><\/a>. <em>Had there been a falling out? Was it creative differences? Or had he simply disappeared into the woods?<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs one can imagine, it was confusing,\u201d he tells <em>PAPER <\/em>in his first-ever interview. \u201cIt took a couple of years before me and Sematary really started to talk about the possibility of me making music with Haunted Mound again.\u201d But now, the founding fathers are reunited. What started as a quiet reconciliation turned into a creative revival, leading to Ghost Mountain\u2019s long-awaited return with his debut solo mixtape, <em>October Country<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The tape, executive produced by Ghost Mountain and Sematary, arrives on the heels of singles \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k4uSU_JJQR8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Apollon<\/u><\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kRSda0AnBwc\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Dark Harvest<\/u><\/a>,\u201d released in late 2024. It also features production from Haunted Mound\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oscar8teen\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Oscar18<\/u><\/a>, who helped lay the foundation for the project before Sematary stepped in to complete it. Ghost Mountain, known for his eerie, folk-infused delivery on early Haunted Mound releases like <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2KSCZ4B1q3YqOKMBKsjA0a?si=86-TR7CwSy-7S6DMNYu49Q\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u><em>Rainbow Bridge<\/em><\/u><\/a><em> <\/em>and <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/0EWPDuyXs8aFYt2sgzH4eT?si=avB_IcK7Rx6oBRCGtYEyNg\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u><em>Rainbow Bridge 2<\/em><\/u><\/a>, reemerges with a sound that builds on his past while reaching into something entirely new.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"rm-shortcode\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"90100bf10825832ccd3dcaede23f9cf6\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%\"><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GHOST MOUNTAIN - STALKS (official video)\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jmBzOujPYno?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea started with the concept of returning to something that\u2019s no longer there,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to make something that felt new but also carried that emotional weight.\u201d Blending elements of folk, trap, and \u201880s dance, <em><em>October Country <\/em><\/em>explores the impossibility of fully returning to the past \u2014 a theme that resonates deeply with his own story.<\/p>\n<p>For Ghost Mountain, this homecoming is about more than just music, but friendship. \u201cI just wanted to clear the air,\u201d he says about his reconciliation with Sematary. \u201cIn doing that, I realized that there\u2019s actually a lot more understanding there than we each thought.\u201d As their friendship was rebuilt, so was their creative chemistry, naturally leading to their first collaboration in years. <\/p>\n<p>Now, Ghost Mountain is stepping back into the spotlight \u2014 not just with his debut, but with an upcoming Haunted Mound <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DGvIynDRafQ\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>tour<\/u><\/a>, marking his first live performances since his return. In this candid conversation, below, he opens up about his time away, Criss Angel and what the future holds for Haunted Mound. <\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" class=\"rm-shortcode lazyload\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"29cf9f34c76c8aa2a4030b046d3a35a6\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" id=\"fc412\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-80.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Congrats on making your return to Haunted Mound. I know it\u2019s a big deal. Could you talk about why now is the right time to return? How did you know you were ready, and what was it like for you over the past few years?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I went to school in \u2014 I think it was around 2020 or 2021\u2014 and at that time, Sematary and I weren\u2019t really in communication. We weren\u2019t really talking. It was maybe around 2022 when we ended up reconnecting, just kind of on some friendship. It took a couple of years before we actually really started to talk about the possibility of me making music with Haunted Mound again. A lot of it was just about the process of us becoming friends again, and the music part of it came naturally, as we would talk about the music that we were into. We were reconnecting on that front. <\/p>\n<p>I think it was late 2023 when \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/4hyFwrL9rNfrk5sG8iKctd?si=3b4201dc1bdc49fb\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Apollon<\/u><\/a>\u201d was recorded. That was probably the first song I had recorded since I left that was on a beat made by Haunted Mound. And that was the first single that ended up coming out. It was a long process. But I think what made us realize that the time was right was just how things lined up with that song and how the video came together. I feel like the video and the song were very one thing. So once that had panned out, we were like, &#8220;Okay, this is feeling right, and this makes sense.&#8221; I\u2019d also graduated that year as well. It was a lot of things realigning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A realignment. Yeah, I heard you went to school for videography and editing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I went to school for film in Northern California. I wasn\u2019t really sure exactly what it was that I wanted to do in the arts when I was in high school. And that was around when Sematary and I started making music. But I found there were a lot of connections between film and the music that I was making with Sematary at the time.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>What about Northern California do you think makes Haunted Mound what it is? Since you grew up there, how did the environment influence the sound?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think it makes up a lot of the characteristics of what Haunted Mound is. Because when you\u2019re a kid, I would say you\u2019re influenced the most by your environment and then, you know, the internet. I think it was a combination of things that Sematary and I were into at the time in high school that were exclusively online, and we weren\u2019t really seeing anywhere else in the place that we were growing up, or even in what people were into in the town that we were growing up in as well.<\/p>\n<p>It was a combination of taking these things that we were inspired by online exclusively and then doing what we could with that in the environment that we were in. I can\u2019t really speak for him, but at least for me, I\u2019m inspired a lot by the environment that I\u2019m in. And so kind of mythologizing the area that you\u2019re growing up in and filling in some of the gaps that feel empty with the stuff that you\u2019re into. Your imagination fills in those gaps. But a lot of it was from him. A lot of the influences online and everything that Sematary was into and he was pushing. I was finding things that I connected with in his vision and then building off of that. That was definitely how our collaboration started.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your creative dynamic like back then? Were you both pulling influences from the internet, or was there a division of roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was pretty much entirely him, other than the lyrics that I would write and record. It started with his vision for combining the influences he was into at the time. I remember him sending me beats in early 2019 \u2014 it was like nothing I had heard before. He combined a lot of our influences in a way that was super unique and exciting to me. He told me, \u201cYou should get on this,\u201d and I was really into underground rap at the time, like GothBoiClique, Corbin and Wicca Phase. They always used a lot of imagery in their lyrics, more so than other artists in the genre, and I think I took that approach and applied it to what I was writing over Sematary\u2019s beats.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t put much of myself into the early music other than writing and recording. The overall production, the general concept of the tapes \u2014 those were all him. I\u2019m pretty sure he had at least the first three or four mixtapes fully planned out before even making them. This new project is actually the first time I\u2019ve been involved in the production and shaping of an album beyond just writing lyrics.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>When you left in 2021, were you aware of all the internet speculation and Reddit discussions about it? Haunted Mound really blew up during that time. What was it like watching that unfold from a distance, and what was the catalyst that made you want to reconcile with Sematary?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As one can imagine, it was confusing. I think the catalyst of it was realizing that there was a general lack of communication between me and Sematary. Realizing that the inability to communicate was pretty much what led to us not talking anymore. Even when I was in college, the experience of being a roommate with a friend of yours and how difficult that communication can be and how that can build up resentment and lead to trouble \u2014 it was even harder when Sematary and I were 18, 19 years old. Experiencing all the changes that come with internet fame, for lack of a better word, or how all the things were happening so fast&#8230; realizing that there was a lack of communication that led to us being estranged. I just wanted to clear the air. In doing that, I realized that there\u2019s actually a lot more understanding there than we each thought. It wasn\u2019t my intention to necessarily go back to making music under the name Ghost Mountain when we initially reconnected. It was just about repairing that relationship and getting on the same page about how things went down.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I heard <\/strong><em><strong>October Country <\/strong><\/em><strong>blends folk, trap and even &#8217;80s dance elements. How did the sound for this project come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea started with the concept of returning to something that\u2019s no longer there. Nostalgia, essentially. I built a playlist of influences \u2014 songs that didn\u2019t necessarily have nostalgic lyrics but sounded nostalgic. And then combining real things with the narratives or mythology that Haunted Mound was initially built on. It wasn\u2019t like I was necessarily writing about the real events in my life when I was a teenager. It can be difficult once you\u2019re older to make art that\u2019s entirely escapism. I wanted to make something that felt new, but also carried that emotional weight. The &#8217;80s influence comes from my parents \u2014 what they played when I was a kid. Blending that with what I listened to in high school and middle school shaped the sound of the project.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" class=\"rm-shortcode lazyload\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"66155cbdc4684909446538838a009280\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" id=\"37230\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-81.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any surprising influences that shaped Haunted Mound early on or even influenced this new album?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t really think about it until you mentioned it, but I was super into Criss Angel when I was younger \u2014 kind of like the emo David Blaine. Also, there\u2019s this band Ryan Gosling started in the early 2000s called Dead Man\u2019s Bones. I found them through some horror movie promo, and it really captured the nostalgia of Halloween and fall in a way I hadn\u2019t seen before. Are you asking about my early influences or for this new project?<\/p>\n<p><strong>I guess for both. The early iconography of Haunted Mound and the newness of your new album.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was pulling from Dead Man\u2019s Bones for this new project. But for the early stuff, it was just the movies that we were into. It was really a blend of things that Sematary was into and things that I was into. I\u2019ll occasionally go back and listen to the old music, and the amount of references we packed into the lyrics is crazy to me now because they really run the gamut. I think David Lynch was a big one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When you said Criss Angel, everything clicked for me. I was obsessed with him.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Same. That was when I was maybe 10 or 11. I wasn\u2019t ever necessarily pulling from Criss Angel consciously, but maybe subconsciously a lot of that was there.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>I really believed that he was levitating. I still do.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, yeah. I mean, how else could he have done it? Didn\u2019t he lift Shaq over a house or something? I think that was his best work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you hope for the future of Haunted Mound? What\u2019s next after <\/strong><em><strong><em>October Country<\/em><\/strong><\/em><strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think it\u2019s important to not focus too hard on expectations, which is something that I had to learn considering that this is a weird case where there are a lot of expectations. Oscar18 was heavily involved in this album. He created the seeds for it. It was Oscar and I making a lot of the early demos, and then Sematary came in and finished the album for me. I think for fan expectations, it\u2019s gonna be interesting to see what people think of the sound because it\u2019s pretty different from anything that\u2019s come out of Haunted Mound up until this point. For the most part, it\u2019s pretty out there. <\/p>\n<p>For the future, immediately there\u2019s the first Haunted Mound tour coming up that I\u2019ll be involved with. There\u2019s Europe in late spring\/early summer, and then the US leg will be after that, which is super exciting. It\u2019ll be interesting to see those songs being played live. Bringing back the old music, that\u2019s also coming up. I guess for Ghost Mountain, this last project was obviously focused on the fall season. I\u2019m pretty interested in applying mythology and narratives to real life. I was doing a lot of that in the songwriting for the album. I have this loose idea to make projects based on the seasons and the feelings that specific seasons give me. Winter is the next one after this. That one will be leaning a little more toward stuff that people are familiar with coming from Haunted Mound.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>I love October. It\u2019s probably my favorite month.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. Fall is always a super nostalgic time. There are a lot of changes happening. It\u2019s not necessarily the end of the year, but it\u2019s the sign of the year coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your favorite scary movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>It Follows<\/em>. I think that still reigns supreme.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wow. That\u2019s literally my favorite, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Either that or there\u2019s this movie called <em>Angst <\/em>that I haven\u2019t seen since I first watched it five years ago. That one I\u2019ll never forget. It\u2019s Polish or something.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanks so much for hopping on this interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, thank you!<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I think it\u2019s important to not focus too hard on expectations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><em>Photography and styling: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/eternity_chaos\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Eternity Chaos<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For nearly three years, Ghost Mountain existed only as a myth. The California-based rapper, producer and original member of Haunted Mound helped shape the horror-drenched aesthetic that launched the collective into underground stardom \u2014 only to erase his entire catalog and walk away from music in 2021. His sudden departure left fans scrambling for answers, sparking Reddit threads that dissected lyrics, old Instagram posts, and speculated about beef between him and fellow founder Sematary. Had there been a falling out? &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/haunted-mounds-ghost-mountain-breaks-his-silence\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Haunted Mound&#039;s Ghost Mountain Breaks His Silence&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1520"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1526,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions\/1526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}