Self-confessed demented-pop artist Eddy Lee Ryder has been writing songs and performing them in quite the nomadic way since she was a teenager, but her new single “Smoke and Mirrors” ended up in a place even she couldn’t have imagined; a hardcore slasher horror film.
Through a series of informal introductions to Ryder’s music through mutual friends, Damien Leone—creator, director, and writer of Terrifier 2—ended up using “Smoke and Mirrors” in his film after a search for something that sounded like Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush. “It was actually my friend Jeff Harris, who also was brought into the Terrifier family as a photographer, who messaged me one morning. ‘Can you email Damien? I don't know why but they are looking for music in your genre, I don't know how it fits with a slasher flick but that's what they want!’” remembers Ryder.
The upbeat song itself has a much different backstory. “It's about friends of mine, amazing independent awesome women, who started doubting themselves or losing themselves after getting married to men who didn't treat them very well,” says Ryder. “One of the husbands I reference in this song would text other girls but the messages would pop up on my friend's synced iPad. He once said, ‘Sometimes I wait for her plane to burn in flames.’ That line made it into the song. And this was coming from a guy who would judge me for not being married!”
Fans can hear “Smoke and Mirrors” now at this link and, if you dare, check out the trailer for Terrifier 2 right here. Ryder is playing a special single-release show at New York City’s Rockwood Music Hall on October 10th.
