Award-winning music writer/producer and film composer Carl Thiel was born into a European family and raised in Mexico City, Carl was exposed to a rich and wide variety of cultural experiences and musical styles from a very early age. As a young boy, he would listen to his father (a Swedish immigrant with a doctorate in music) play Mozart and Bach on the piano, while his older siblings would play Beatles and Carpenters albums. His mother, a perpetual student of the spiritual and healing arts and the daughter of German and Austrian immigrants, shared her love for Strauss and Vivaldi, as well as meditation and inspirational music. Immersed in the huge metropolis,…
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Interview…(Part I) ‘Machete Kills’ Composer Carl Thiel Discusses Collaborating with Robert Rodriguez
Film composer Carl Thiel is an award-winning music writer/producer. Over the course of his career he’s worked with a multitude of musicians and personalities including Willie Nelson, Bob Schneider, Los Lonely Boys, John Debney, and Del Castillo to name just a few. Carl currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and frequently volunteers his time to teach and work with high school and college students across the state during educational events. But it’s his collaborations with visionary director/filmmaker Robert Rodriguez that occupy a large portion of his resume (he’s even a member of Robert Rodriguez’s pet project band Chingón). In the last decade Carl has lent…
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Film Composer Patrick Doyle Discusses His Commission with the Syracuse International Film Festival
The Syracuse International Film Festival (which runs October 2-6) is celebrating its 10th year and among the noteworthy talent attending is accomplished film score composer Patrick Doyle (Carlito’s Way, Brave, Thor). Not only will Patrick be attending, he has been commissioned by the Festival to compose an original 77 minute score for the 1927 silent film IT starring Clara Bow, something Doyle considers a “tremendous honor“. But an undertaking like this requires a bit of exposition/back story and who better to tell about it than Patrick himself? Our good friend and fellow film score fan Tim Burden, a radio personality out of Northern Ireland (check out some of his radio programs/interviews here), personally chatted with Patrick…
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Interview…Robin Foster on Scoring Sean Ellis’ ‘Metro Manila’
British composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robin Foster may draw inspiration from bands like Radiohead and composers like Ennio Morricone but really he has a style all his own. What he calls “cinematic post-rock” is a mesmerizing and dreamy mix of electronic loops, and airy synths that are driven by waves of guitars. His close collaboration with Oscar nominated British writer/film director Sean Ellis has lead to soundtracks for prestigious global brand names such as Hugo Boss and Kenneth Cole and last year he composed the score to Ellis’ feature film, Metro Manila. The action thriller recently won the highly prestigious Audience World Dramatic award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 where…
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Interview…Film and TV Composer John Swihart Discusses Scoring ‘How I Met Your Mother’
CBS’ wildly popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother is nearing its end and kicks off its 9th and final season this evening. Prior to the premier of tonight’s episode we got to chat with the show’s composer John Swihart to talk about his work on the show. In addition to How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM for short) his other credits of more than 40 films include Youth in Revolt, Employee of the Month, For A Good Time Call… and Napoleon Dynamite which was his breakout project. John has been playing music from a very young age and his early influences are across the board ranging from Miles Davis, Gershwin, Stravinsky and…
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Interview…Film Composer Elliott Wheeler on ‘The Great Gatsby’ Soundtrack and Scoring Mad Max ‘Fury Road’
Elliott Wheeler is a Sydney based composer, producer and founder of Turning Studios. Classically trained, he studied composition and brass studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Philosophy at Sydney University. Since then, he has worked continuously as a screen composer and producer across a broad spectrum of genres from studio releases to film, documentary, commercials, and theatre. For over a year he worked on the soundtrack for Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, collaborating on material from all of the film’s artists, from Jay Z, Florence + the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, will.i.am, Bryan Ferry and his Jazz Orchestra, Emile Sande and Kid Koala, Fergie, Q Tip…
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Interview…Film and Television Composer Anton Sanko on His Emmy Nom for ‘Ring of Fire’
Music composer and producer Anton Sanko (pictured above Left with director/producer Sam Raimi) was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for his work in the Lifetime Original Movie “Ring of Fire” in the category of Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Original Dramatic Score). “Ring of Fire” stars Jewel as legendary country artist June Carter Cash. Prior his Emmy nomination Sanko scored the Sam Raimi produced horror/suspense film The Possession starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan as well as critically acclaimed film Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. Anton also has a number of television credits under his belt. Chief among them are the epic seven-part global programming television event “Great Migrations” for National Geographic, the acclaimed HBO series “Big Love” starring Bill Paxton, and…
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Exclusive: Interview (Part II)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Talks Tony Scott, Hans Zimmer and His Career
A veteran of the film music world Harry Gregson-Williams has composed scores for more than 50 films including The Town, the Shrek series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many, many others (including the Metal Gear Solid video game series), in addition to a slew of Tony and Ridley Scott films which make up a large portion of his career. In Part I of our exclusive interview we talked about his recent film The East and learned that the success and bulk of the score was less to do with him and more his assistant Halli Cauthery getting his big break on an amazing film. Harry was extremely open to this interview and touched…
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Interview…Film Composer Joachim Horsley On ‘Rapture-Palooza’ and His Debut Album
Composer, songwriter, performer, and orchestrator Joachim Horsley, generally referred to simply as “Jo” (pronounced “yo”) has an undeniable passion for music. His skill for enhancing both documentary and narrative films through music continues to pair him with the hottest established and up-and-coming directors. We recently spoke with Jo about his work on Lionsgate’s upcoming film Rapture-Palooza (starring Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry) which hits theaters this Friday June 7th. The film is an hysterically raunchy account of the end of days which includes, but is not limited to, the biblically above-mentioned Rapture (don’t worry, it really is funny) and features music that ranges from orchestral to rock to…
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Exclusive: Interview (Part I)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Discusses Scoring ‘The East’
As much as we love films at GST, we love film scores just a little bit more. Zal Batmanglij’s amazing follow up to his stunning debut effort Sound of My Voice, The East resembles a smart ’70s styled throwback thriller that is smart, engaging and dripping with cool. One fine element in the cog of that brilliant machine is the score, well themes really, from the one and only Harry Gregson-Williams. I was extremely excited to take a phone call from Harry to talk about The East as well as his astonishingly diverse and accomplished career. This was an amazing hour long interview and because of the breadth of topics I…
