Nathan Barr is the amazing composer behind much of the recent horror films in the last few years. He has worked a lot with Eli Roth on “Cabin Fever”, “Hostel” and most recently “The Last Exorcism”. Nathan has also composed most of the scores to Broken Lizard’s films, most recently “The Slamming Salmon”. Besides movies, Nathan is also currently prepping for season four of “True Blood”, he has composed and performed all three past seasons. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Nathan about his process for creating music and doing what he loves.

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Mike Gencarelli: Where do you get inspiration when creating the “True Blood” score?
Nathan Barr: “True Blood” is one of those shows where Alan Ball (the creator) has everyone on the show do what they do best, which is their own thing. He is not looking for anything besides you bringing your own unique style and sound to the show. It is a wonderful place to start with a project when they are not asking you to imitate someone else. It was more about inspiration from all of the character and the stories. If I had to say what inspired me, I would have to have say Appalachian, Americana and probably Civil War music. That is only possible because of characters like Bill, who is from the Civil War. I drew inspiration from that due to the time period.

MG: Tell us about your craft for composing the “True Blood” score, you do not always the usual soundboards and mixers?
NB: In addition to being a composer, I am also a musician. I wouldn’t consider myself a strong performer. I certainly love the process of laying down tracks as a musician. The way I play the cello or the way I play the guitar are part of what makes me have a specific sound. In addition to the way that I compose for “True Blood”, I also get to play the instruments as another layer to bring out my uniqueness. Because I was forced from an early age to play cello and fell in love with guitar. I grew up with a foot in rock-n-roll and a foot in classical. Having familiarity and experiences in both of those genres is part of what allows me to compose and perform the music for “True Blood”. It is really just about watching a scene, picking up an instrument and starting to improvise what is up on the screen.

MG: How did you get involved with Broken Lizard to compose their music?
NB: It was just one of those fairly uninteresting industry stories. My agent submitted me as part of a group. The guys liked that I worked with Eli Roth and they were fans of “Cabin Fever”. They were about to do “Club Dread” which is a horror spoof. With the score to “Cabin Fever”, it certainly spoofs many horror films as well and has a great sense of humor about it. I think that they were looking to do the same thing with “Club Dread”. So from that were interested in working with me and we have stayed in touch, and have worked together many times.

MG: Do you find that composing music for a comedy is different than creating horror?
NB: General speaking the process for scoring a film, whether a comedy, horror or even documentary. It is pretty much the same. The job of a composer is to take your impressions of characters , the story and figure out how to musically support what is going on on-screen. If you are doing a horror film there are different tools or tricks you can lean on to create tension or a scary moment.

MG: Do you find that you have a lot of freedom with the scores or do you follow a path?
NB: It depends on the particular filmmaker or producer that you are working with.  A composers worst nightmare is to come in on a project where the director or producers are wildly in love with the temp music an editor has used. It is then an uphill struggle to get them to let go of what they have had in their heads for so long during the editing process. Fortunately I haven’t dealt with that too much. In my opinion, the really strong filmmakers are always willing and open to let you explore musically what you feel like you need as a composer, instead of imposing you. I think also good filmmakers are able to admit where their music knowledge ends and let you take them on the journey and trusting you with that.

MG: What was the hardest project you have worked on?
NB: In some ways, some of the projects with Broken Lizard have been the most difficult. Often times it is not doing something completely new and unique. It is about leaning on some music or traditions from music that they are spoofing, for example “Club Dread”. For that it wasn’t about making some incredible unique score. It was really about spoofing all of the horror movies that has come before it. I think those situations are very hard for a composer if you goal is to get your own unique sound out there. It took me a while to learn to look for those projects where you are going to be able to explore your own sound. Something like “True Blood” is a perfect venue for that.

MG: How did you start working with Eli Roth being you have scored all his projects?
NB: I hate to say it but it is kind of another semi-boring industry story. There was a producer I worked with on an earlier film, she was going to be producing “Cabin Fever” with Eli. She set up the meeting for us to meet. When Eli and I got together, he we walked into my studio and one of the first things he did was look at my DVD collection.  Every horror film that was beloved to him was on that shelf. We kind of both knew right away that based on his reaction to my DVDs, we were going to get a long really well. The friendship and work relationship developed from there.

MG: Tell us about working on the “The Last Exorcism”
NB: Eli brought me on to that project. I took a look at the film and right away I knew it was really good. One of Daniel (Stamm)’s great successes was creating an amazing atmosphere at which the story was evolved. I thought it was a really good scary movie. The main challenge though for all of us was they were making a faux documentary and so we wanted to tread as lightly as possible throughout the film. The minute the audience realized there was a score that was going to remove them from the fact that this is not a real documentary. The challenge was knowing where we can bring the score into the film and then how heavy handed we could be. I think we ended up finding a good balance there so it doesn’t distract the audience.

MG: What is your next project that you will be working on?
NB: I am in the middle of working on a project now called “The Ledge”. It is a drama with Liv Tyler, Terrance Howard and Patrick Wilson and directed by a wonderful director Matthew Chapman. I go back on “True Blood” season four in February.

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Helen Reddy is an known for her music and film career. In the 70’s, she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Three of those fifteen songs reached #1, including her signature hit “I Am Woman.” Helen also appeared in various TV shows and films such as “Airport 1975” and Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon”. Movie Mike had a brief opportunity to ask Helen a few questions about her amazing career.

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Mike Gencarelli: What was it like crossing over from music to film in “Airport 1975” which nominated you a Golden Globe?
Helen Reddy: As I had performed in theater since I was five years old and TV since I was fifteen, I wasn’t exactly ‘crossing over’ from music.

MG: “Pete’s Dragon” was your first leading role, How did it feel to star in a Disney film?
HR: It was a great thrill to star in a big Hollywood musical film. Pete’s Dragon continues to entertain children and I love that my grandchild has seen it and her children probably will too.

MG: Did you find it difficult to be working with your co-star as an invisible dragon?
HR: I only had one actual scene with the dragon and during rehearsals I worked with a latex model of his head so that I would be familiar with the dimensions during filming.

MG: What was it Your song ‘Candle in the Water’ was nominated for an Oscar, How did that feel?
HR: I was very happy for the songwriters of the film that “Candle on the Water” received a nomination.

MG: What was the best part of writing your autobiography?
HR: The best part of writing my memoir was finishing it. As someone once said, “Writers don’t like writing – they like having written.”

Click here to visit  The Official Helen Reddy Website

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Thomas Ian Nicholas started his career with “Rookie of the Year” and Disney’s “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court”.  Shortly after he joined the cast of “American Pie” as Kevin Myers and co-stared in all three films.  Thomas recently released a new CD with his band, The Thomas Nicholas Band, on June 1st and they are currently on tour.  Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Thomas about his movie career so far as well as his band’s current tour.

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Mike Gencarelli: My sisters and my favorite film growing up was “Rookie of the Year”, tell us about working on that film?
Thomas Ian Nicholas: That was my first feature film that got released in theaters so I was stoked. I believe there is still video of me somewhere when I got the news and I was jumping up and down for joy. It was a great time. We got to spend three months in Chicago. We shot on Wrigley’s Field. Just this year when we were playing shows in Chicago with my band, I went back and threw out the first pitch and sang the 7-inning stretch. So that was cool to return back there.

Mike Gencarelli: You worked on “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court”, with then little known Kate Winslet and Daniel Craig, How was it working on that film?
Thomas Ian Nicholas: It was cool. Kate had done “Heavenly Creatures” but that was pretty much the only film under her belt. She was 18 at the time. I was 14. She was cool. I am very excited for her success that she has achieved in her career. It is well-deserved. Daniel Craig was cool too. I spent a lot of time with both of them. When Daniel did James Bond, I was so stoked for him. I love seeing my friends succeed.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell how it was playing Kevin Myers for the “American Pie” Trilogy?
Thomas Ian Nicholas: At the time I was just happy to have a job. I never knew it would turn into a franchise film trilogy and DVD sequels to boot. It was good time and a great group of people. Working with the Weitz Brothers was amazing. I look back and I can’t believe it was over ten years ago. It is kind of crazy. I am grateful for the doors that it has opened for me, both in the acting and the music side. It has been an amazing blessing.

MG: You must have some crazy stories from the set of “American Pie” films?
TN: Probably in the last twelve years, I have told every crazy story. If you would have told me twelve years ago that I would be interviewing with you, I would have saved one crazy story for you. So let’s set a date for a future project I will make sure that I save you one [laughs].

MG: There is word there might be another installment, any chance you will return?
TN: I’ve heard the same things you heard. I was on my twitter page and someone posted an article that was linked to the LA Times. The article said that they hired writers to write the sequel. My reaction was basically “Oh really…Ok cool!”. So I have been following the press the same as everyone else. I think it would be fun if we all got back together. I look forward to it hopefully coming together.

MG: What has been your favorite film that you have worked on to date?
TN: That is a tough one to choose. There are two performances that are my favorite. One is recent and one is from ten years ago. I would like to include both of them. The most recent which is currently in theaters, called “Please Give” with Amanda Peet, Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt. I really believe that Nicole Holofcener directed one of the most honest performances out of my career to date. Hopefully I will continue with that kind of work going forward. The other project was “Rules of Attraction” by Roger Avery. That was the first time I felt that I really stepped outside of myself and became a character that was completely different. My own mother didn’t even recognize me for the first half of the scene I was in. She was like “Wait a second, is that you?”. That is a pretty cool complement.

MG: Tell us about your band and your new album?
TN: My band is called The Thomas Nicholas Band or better known as TNB. We just released our latest album, called ‘Heroes Are Human’ on June 1st 2010. We have been touring across half the country. We started on June 20th and went up through the Northwest into Chicago and down through the Southwest, which is where we are right now. We are playing 19 shows over 21 days, it is just a small little tour to celebrate and promote the release of the album.

MG: Do you have any upcoming films in the works?
TN: There are a few things. I play Abbie Hoffman in “The Chicago 8”, which I just recently finished. It will hopefully be out later this year or beginning of next year. It focuses on the famous trial of 1969. I also just finished filming a movie called “InSight” which stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Christopher Lloyd. It is a thriller and I play the main murder suspect.

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Click here to visit Thomas’ website and purchase The Thomas Nicholas Band’s CDs

Darren Gordon Smith is a composer who is most known for his “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. The film started as a Ten-Minute Opera that Darren created with Terrance Zdunich and since then it has become a cult phenomenon spawning a huge fan base and weekly midnight screenings. MovieMikes has the opportunity to talk to Darren about the process of bringing “Repo” from the beginning to its present cult form.

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Mike Gencarelli: Darren, You Co-Created “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, how did you come up with the story? What inspired it?
Darren Smith: The idea was based on a friend of mine, who had a dental practice and he was getting all of his equipment repossessed. I started thinking it was sort of absurd, like people were going to sitting in the dentist office in the middle of a procedure and they just come and take their equipment. I started then thinking about what if you had bought body organs on credit. The health care system got so bad that you couldn’t even buy a heart unless you made payments on it. That was the genesis of the idea. At the time Terrance Zdunich, my partner, and I were doing Ten-Minute Opera performing all over LA. He had an idea about a grave robber and his idea was taking back into the 19th century. I said we should combine this with my idea and make it set in 2056. We made a Ten-Minute Opera called “Necromerchant’s Debt”. We would do this mini rock opera performed by the both of us and it turned out that it was the one that people loved the best. We decided to make it into a full scale show. From that “Repo” was born.

Mike Gencarelli: What was your process for coming up the music for the film?
Darren Smith: That is a great question, I do have a background in classical music and compositions and a music degree from NYU. Having said that I definitely play a lot of different kinds of music. The Ten-Minute Operas we did ranged from 18th century harpsichord music to Nine Inch Nails to Led Zepplin. We did whatever. When it came to “Repo”, we loved the idea of the obscurity of the main guys and the over the top nature of the Italian opera. So when we were writing “Repo” that is when I started doing more research in opera. I focused on trying to use the right light composition and how to structure an opera both musically and story-wise.

Mike Gencarelli: How was it like working which such an amazing cast?
Darren Smith: We had THE best cast ever for the movie. That really helped us to expand our music. When you are you are writing for someone like Sarah Brightman, you can expand the music because since she can sing almost anything. Darren Bousman deserves a lot of credit as the director. Darren, Terrance and myself had a hand in every aspect of the production, from the visual, costuming, props, and music. It was a really great experience.

MG: “Repo” was the first feature film you wrote, how did you find the process of bringing the music to the big screen?
DS: We did the Ten-Minute Opera first, then in 2002 we did a full scale opera on stage. We had experience doing the whole process on stage. Then we did it off-broadway at the Wings Theatre in NYC in 2005. When we got the go ahead green light from Lionsgate for the film, on the one hand it wasn’t a huge leap and the other hand it was. When I say that it is because Terrance and I have always envision “Repo” would be a film. We wanted to have total control over the visual element and things you just can’t do when you are doing stage with 99 seats. Unlike a lot of films, we work-shopped the music and the story over the course of almost ten years. We had a good feeling of what was going to work with the audience and what was not.

MG: How do you affected by the responses the film has got so far, some are comparing it to Rocky Horror Picture Show?
DS: Yeah, certainly. We are humbled by that since “Rocky Horror” is brilliant. We are on the shoulders of giants. It is gratifying, honestly over the years we have developed a cult following. I knew that “Repo” was going to find its audience and will be kind of “Rocky Horror” phenomena. I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it has. We had this $8.5 million dollar budget but Lionsgate only gave us $200,000 dollars for publicity, which is almost nothing. The film was almost buried from the start. I thought it would be like “Rocky Horror” where it would be years before we even make profit. We beat that already plus more. It is amazing that we have these 45 or more groups in the world who Shadowcast and act out the whole film. These groups know every nuance to the music and the story. Here we are less than a year and a half since the film was released. On a daily basis, I get emails and at least ten new people on Facebook every day asking me questions about the film.

MG: Would you ever consider bringing back it to the stage with all its new popularity?
DS: Yeah great question, absolutely! We would like to do it on a large scale and kind of leaving the options open. I actually want to do this as a permanent stage show in Las Vegas. It will be like Cirque De Solei meets Blue Man Group meets Deep Throat [laughs]. Just really push the envelope for what you can see in Vegas. I would also want to be able to tour with some live musicians from the soundtrack and have me perform with them along with some cast members and do a road tour.

MG: What other projects do you have in the works?
DS: First, we are working on sequel idea for “Repo” and we think we are definitely planning another movie. I am already working on the story and music with Terrance. The other things is I do have another rock opera that I have been writing. Without going into too much detail it is like the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” but in reverse. Rather than the protagonist realizing if they weren’t born things would be worse off. It is reverse and due to a series of bad decisions, it tells how the world would have been a better place without them being born. That is what I am working on right now.

Click here to purchase “Repo! The Genetic Opera”

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Tyler Bates is one of the most well known composers. Some of the projects he has worked on has been 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead”, “The Devil’s Rejects”, “Rob Zombie’s Halloween”, “Halloween II”, Zack Snyder’s “300” and “Watchmen”. Movie Mikes had the chance to ask Tyler about his career and how he got started in the music business.

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Mike Gencarelli: How did you get into the music industry?
Tyler Bates: I have played music my entire life. I began on saxophone, and once my cousins turned me on to KISS and Led Zeppelin I dropped concert band for a Les Paul copy. I spent much of my life in rock bands, and when I moved back to Los Angeles many years ago, my band, Pet, was signed to Atlantic Records. I have always had an appreciation for a broad scope of music – studying arrangements and production of music from every genre imaginable. I was offered the opportunity to work on a very low-budget film in 1992, and began picking up small scoring jobs to pay my rent while my band developed. One day I realized that I was actually in the film business, and I shifted my focus to scoring movies more than pursuing life as a touring musician.

Mike Gencarelli: Do you have any other passions?
Tyler Bates: NFL, NBA, and of course my family. I do like to experiment with instruments and musical gadgets not directly related to my work.

Mike Gencarelli: What is the process for you when you develop a score? How do you start?
Tyler Bates: After watching the film, I begin by discussing it with the director. I find it important to develop an understanding of the director’s taste and sensibilities – generally via conversation not directly related to the film at hand. If the time line permits, I will let the feeling of the movie build inside of me until I can’t stave off writing any longer. I am not procrastinating per se, it is just a way of approaching a project with a sense of intensity or urgency towards the creative process, regardless of the overall timbre and style of the film.

MG: After doing over 60 scores, have you ever thought that they sound alike?
TB: Of course! Some of this is intentional, some is by request of director’s I work with but mostly, it is the stark reminder that I need to consistently challenge myself to grow and add new techniques and dimension to my approach to film music. I think a distinctive style is essential as an artist, but overall you’re touching on the artists “love/hate” relationship with his or her work. It can be painful! Lol.

MG: You worked on all of Rob Zombie’s films, how did you come to get that arrangement?
TB: I did not work on “House of a Thousand Corpses,” but I have worked on all of Rob’s subsequent films. Rob and I were introduced through a close mutual friend many years ago. I heard Rob liked my score for “Dawn of the Dead,” so I offered to help out with the score for “The Devil’s Rejects.” I didn’t know that Rob wasn’t terribly interested in scoring his own films until he asked me to do “Rejects.” It was a rewarding experience despite the brutal nature of the film. We bonded through that movie, and have become good friends over the years. I really respect Rob as an artist, so it for me, it is a great collaboration.

MG: Do you always interact with the filmmakers or do you have creative control over your projects?
TB: The concept of “creative control” in its purest conceptual form does not exist in film scoring, especially the higher the budget. That said; once you earn the trust of your director and the producers, you then have much more support to approach the score from your sensibilities, and in your distinct style. This process requires a bit of “show and tell.” They key is to get it right the first time as much as possible, which means beyond the idea of creating a good piece of music, you have to show that you are thinking about the film as a whole, and the specific function of the score throughout.

MG: Do you have a favorite score that you have created?
TB: Hmm. There are things I like about some of them. The great personal experiences I have had along the way are typically what make me fond of any work I have done in particular. Maybe “The Devil’s Rejects,” and “300?” I don’t know. I just completed the score for Emilio Estevez’s new film called “The Way.” It’s very personal, acoustic, organic music. It was definitely a welcome departure from much of the violent material I have done over the last several years.

MG: Which other composers do you get your inspiration from?
TB: I love Bernard Herrmann and Penderecki. Henry Mancini. I also like Don Ellis’ work on “The French Connection” movies. Great stuff!

MG: In the last six you’ve scored basically sci-fi/horror films? Is that your favorite genre?
TB: I appreciate the opportunity to work with good people and to grow as a composer/artist. The genre doesn’t quite matter, but there is no doubt that Sci-Fi/horror offer the greatest opportunities to implement odd ideas…

MG: Any exciting projects you have planned for the future?
TB: “The Way.” The “Transformers Origins” video game is released soon. Season four of “Californication” begins soon. And of course, Zack Snyder’s new film.

Click here to purchase Tyler’s scores