Take your favorite ‘70s or ‘80s masked movie killer, add a few bloody drops of true crime, some In This Moment visuals, the inspiration of Father Alice and a very creative, perhaps over active imagination and you have Toronto’s masked musician Peril Erinyes and the macabre energy and imagery of Phantom High.
Though she could be Michael Myers non-cinema sibling, for the life she’s had and stories to tell, she’s got Laurie Strode survival skills without the vendetta. Though it would probably scare the hell out of almost anyone if you woke up and she was in the room.
She’s taken the mask, turning it into a multi-level character adding mystique and mystery with every appearance. It’s ever creepier when she puts a black Covid mask over the white mask, further hiding expression and emotion. “It scares the shit out of people. It’s pretty freaky,” she says, half-laughing, half-taunting.
Partial unintentional inspiration came from late night true crime seeing a documentary on the BTK killer as Erinyes was surprised and impressed with the eerie similarity between the masks.
Only family, friends and band members know her real/legal identity but she likes to keep that person hidden. “I don’t personally care really, but for the presentation of the band and keeping semblance people want more of something when they don’t know what it is. We try to keep it that way for that reason. Keeping her former self and Erinyes separate is a challenge. “It’s a messy overlap because it’s who I was in the scene before becoming who I am now. There’s still a gray area. Most people know me as Peril, but there’s still a shadow of the other me.”
She’s doing what KISS did in the ‘70s, modern day, “Absolutely KISS, Alice Cooper, all those guys. This wasn’t intentional as far as that influence. A lot of people are like Slipknot, Hollywood Undead, KISS, Cooper. I like all those things especially KISS and Cooper. As a kid they were real influences on me musically and things I liked. I’m a guitar player. In former incarnations of the band, I was always the guitar player, never the singer. I never sang before 2016. We were looking for vocalists and couldn’t find someone that had the conviction and presence.”
Erinyes says she’d consider doing a vintage style interview, unmasked with the camera behind her. Down the road there could be a time or reason she’d unmask on camera but for now, the mask and music are in constant evolution with too many cool ideas floating around she wants to try.
She hasn’t been stopped going anywhere masked yet, granted during the pandemic you could probably get away with it. “There’s been some clubs where they don’t want you to wear the mask. Many more times than not they’re just like wow, look at this person. I can see how it would catch someone off guard, maybe walk up to a police officer or something.” To date she’s never made a kid scream or cry but has made people take sudden wide-eyed inhales. Eventually there will be YouTube footage of a masked Peril walking through a grocery or department store, doing ‘normal’ things.
She gets a lot of picture requests, randomly on the street along with fans at shows. “People will be like woah, what’s this? If they’re not terrified they’ll usually ask to take a pic.”
Peril Erinyes has been her identity for the last 3 or 4 years, “It’s definitely an aspect of me. While I didn’t come up with the name, I’m more Peril in real life than the other persona actually. This persona has kinda taken over. Peril was a cool name. I thought it had a vibe to it. Then Erinyes are the furies, the great legend with revenge, justice and karma. Someday I might take it as my real name. I don’t know.”
Inspiration came from a Netflix anime called Knights of Sidonia with characters wearing masks as the leaders of a society. Seeing the character created musically resonated with her.
After a four year search Erinyes decided to don the white visage herself. “I was like hey, I could be the muse, and flesh out what we wanna do. When we find the singer, we just place the mask on them and I fallback to guitar and everything’s good.” Though they couldn’t find anyone to match the intensity of the character she brought. We were like OK, this is us now. This is our life. I’m this forever now.”
Erinyes loves the creative process and attention/reaction generated. “I’m having a great time with it. Being your own comic book character, you create the image switching it up as you want.” They’re still evolving in the early stages, switching appearances every release redefining themselves on each album.
On stage, she’s never done the same thing twice whether shows were back to back or spread out. “I try and switch something up so you’ll never know what you’re gonna see.” Though her cross pants has and probably will get ample stage time going forward.
She does go full-throttle every show, every time, “I think I’ll be the only one with a mask moving forward. The other guys have their own personal fashion stuff.”
The band comprised of guitarist Seven Six, Bassist Blaire French, drummer Joey Prolx and synth Jairo Lopez all sport their own sinful style on stage but don’t mask up.
Comparisons to Slipknot might come to mind, “That’s not where the influence comes from. They have a mask so they want to be Slipknot, Mushroomhead, or Hollywood Undead. Those things are cool but that’s not where this came from. We hone our imagery as much as possible to us and less of other people’s.”
The mask resembles a female Michael Myers without the makeup, clear, white and expressionless, a musical blank slate with cinematic characteristics and tendencies. “Absolutely, that was a huge thing when I found this. When I started elaborating on the look, that’s exactly what I was shooting for. That’s the impression I got as well. I try not to say much out of character except interviews, to keep the creepiness alive. There’s something about not knowing who someone is and not saying much so you’re off balance guessing. I really like that.”
A Google search reveals phantom high as a drug reference and high school moniker you’d expect in a horror movie. “I found out about the drug reference way after the fact. We watch a lot of anime and a lot of what we do is based on inspiration from things we do outside music.
The band name came from the Black Butler anime with Erinyes mishearing Phantomhive as phantom high and a new concept was born.
The Warriors movie was another great influence, taking notice of the gang themes.
Sharing unintentional Google and YouTube results with Phantom of the Opera is another weird perk, the name has attained.
All her experiences, dark and otherwise, come out lyrically, “It’s entirely cathartic based on things I’ve experienced.” She’s had a very ‘interesting’ life full of lyrical ammo, each story stored for the right song. “When the music comes on you let it out.”
Another example of doing things their way was covering David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” on The Conjuring EP. Introduced to ‘80s Bowie, “Dancing in the Streets.” It’s the track they could add the most of them to while keeping the core feel and energy but doing something a little different. Freaking it out in a way nobody’s heard before.
The song “Suicide” is about disenchantment when everything’s numb, representing times of depression and isolation. Not wanting to end things but feeling the disenchantment behind life sometimes. A lyrical helping hand to anyone suffering, saying you’re not alone. “I wrote it to reach out to people that feel the same way and tell them there is help.”
For a lot of people the video for “Black Enigma” will be their first audible/visual ‘high’ of the band. With its fair share of eye candy and shiny, sharp blades though it’s not the original vision they had. “We had something more story oriented in mind but with Covid, some of the shooting locations disappeared and we had what we had. It’s a great first video.”
Initially they saved up for a van to tour the U.S. in 2020 then a video became the only way to put themselves in front of people.
On first viewing one might think Erinyes will pull a Prince, climbing out of the tub but for not. “We put it in the middle of the studio.” The director found a used tub online. The first take started with her floundering around, though she put too much passion in the performance bashing the back of her heel wide open, drawing first blood. “I had to stay in the tub for an hour and a half while we did different takes.” Her elbow was also bleeding from hitting the rim. The tub was supposed to be metaphoric. It got spread out in the video so the impact isn’t there like it would’ve been in a storied version.
The masked audience/paparazzi were all people who’ve helped support the band up to that point. They wanted to give friends, DJ’s, show hosts and promoters a piece of the spotlight. “We wanted to support our team and those that stood behind us.”
The butcher knife on camera is real. “It was gonna be contained in one scene and metaphorical, a bunch of people in your circle with knives behind their backs, fair weather friends. “We went to Value Village here, second hand stuff like a Salvation Army. We got all these steak and butcher knives to hold.” You could imagine the clerks face at checkout with a pile of butcher knives placed on the counter.
There’s a quick shot of her ripping the black cloth from her face and for a second you’re not sure if you’re seeing the mask or her face made up like the mask. Erinyes looks at the mask and character as a form of creative possession, like her guardian angel. In the shot she rips it off, “I’d put some holes in it to tear it off real easily. It didn’t work in real time. They were rolling, I couldn’t get it off.” The mask is as much her face as the face underneath, the outer shell of the flesh and bone vessel beneath.
The title “Black Divine” was taken from Egyptian culture and the sacred feminine helping her with consistent, creative blood flow.
The white background gives the video a touch of “March of the Pigs” vibe. “I love that video, I would love to do a video in that theme, just very basic and just rock.”
They haven’t stepped on U.S. soil as a band yet. “We had shows set up for 2020, with The Birthday Massacre and Julien-K, potentially a European engagement for a few dates. I’m American, both my parents are Canadian but I was born in the U.S. I lived in both places off and on through my life. Currently in Toronto, this is where things took off.” The U.S. has the best places for exposure. There’s just some red tape involved in getting the other band members there. They’re waiting until the time comes when everything’s ready so they can invade.
They’ve played Toronto haunts The Opera House, The Velvet Underground and Lee’s Palace and will step foot in whatever venue will have them, eventually ascending to larger stages.
As for future stage presentation, she likes what Ghost does for ambience. “Probably some very basic ambience and really cool neon sign in the background. Money would be invested in lighting and mood. Setting the stage for what we did.”
Musically, her first inspiration came from the rebel black leather of Joan Jett, then the lightning-noted explosion of Eddie Van Halen and much later first two Orgy albums. Steve Vai with David Lee Roth in the “Yankee Rose” video set the standard for her expectations of a stage show. She says there’s a definite Korn/Deftones influence in craft and stage look. It’s all a culmination.
King Diamond was another major influence early on, “As a kid he scared the shit out of me because I thought wow, this guy’s a real deal devil worshipper. There’s something interesting about that because you’re intrigued by things that scare you a little or don’t understand. Just like Alice Cooper, he’s such a fun guy, a friend of mine. It met him on the East Coast of Canada when I lived there.” He was in town for a show and was getting ice cream with his daughter at Dairy Queen. Erinyes held his ice cream while her band member got a photo with Cooper.
They’re still deciding between releasing just EP’s or a future full length. “I would love to do a full length, but the music now, I don’t know if it makes sense. People don’t listen to albums anymore. Now, people cherry pick singles. That’s why we haven’t done LP’s.”
The songs they’re releasing now were written five years ago. She’s not sure whether to release everything they have or sit on it. “I think it’s gonna be another couple EP’s so we can stay busy on social media. If you don’t post something new every two months you disappear into the ether.”
A streaming show’s a future consideration. “I see people doing it and have an appreciation for it. I know why bands are doing it. I only saw a few instances where I thought it was worth my time to see that. We’re trying to figure out how to capture that experience and really add value to it.”
Merch masks could be a future endeavor for fans that want the experience. They draw some unique and interesting people to shows and social media as Erinyes’s inbox attests. Erinyes has seen Korn from side-stage experiencing a crowd size she wants to bring someday, envisioning tour packages with In This Moment and Motionless in White.
She always show’s up dressed for war. “I wear the mask when I arrive at the venue and leave in the mask.” When she rides away in the Uber it’s still on with an uncertain driver looking in the rearview.
She describes their show as, “Like racing on a treadmill full-speed while screaming at the top of your lungs the whole show. It’s very taxing.” She doesn’t break character. “After the show people want to talk to Peril. It goes along with branding, you put so much work into building a character, don’t defuse it. As soon as the show is over keep it going.”
She hasn’t put words or phrases on the mask yet. “One had an upside down metal cross on it. It’s an aesthetic; I come from a weird background. I wouldn’t say it was satanic as much as agnostic or rallying against organized religion. One of my mentors I lived with in Florida was a Jamaican witch so I learned a lot about the occult and voodoo. That’s definitely in my realm (so stay on her good side).”
A video for “Suicide” may be next as they expand their reach any way possible while the world continues to cope with current conditions. “I would just say thank you for having us. Every single like and view, that’s everything for us right now. Anyone helping us get exposure is the most important thing and we’re so thankful for that. They encourage one and all to join the cause and become Varsity Creeps. .
Until they see you in person, may she haunt your eyes and ears on repeated views and listens and see her face in every dark corner. It’s a phantom high worth indulging.
