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- I am from Montreal but live in Vancouver. Unlike most people here, I like the rain, it makes it easier to stay in and write.
- My first musical memory was listening to my Star Wars LP I recived as a gift, reading about the themes for the different characters as I sat by my mother's beat up record player.
- I still have that Star Wars LP even though I don’t own a record player.
- Star Wars (and John Williams) is surely the reason why the orchestra is my favourite instrument and it was the beginning of my journey towards becoming a composer.
- I started guitar at 5 or so and piano when I was 7 or 8.
- My old-school piano teacher wasn’t happy that I didn’t practice what she asked. So I quit.
- Instead of doing my assigned pieces I would learn Star Wars and Chariots of Fire by ear.
- My mother should not have let me quit. (Let’s face it, if kids were left to decide, they would always choose an X-Box over a piano.)
- I decided to become a professional rock guitar hero when I heard Ride the Lightning by Metallica. (From Metallica to classical composer? Believe it! According to a study, head-bangers and symphony lovers have a lot in common.)
- After Metallica I started practicing my guitar from 4 to 10 hours a day. I got pretty good pretty fast. (I wonder how I managed to make time for girls.)
- After a few years of bar bands, recording lead on an album and starting to make a name for myself as a guitar visrtuoso, I got bored of metal and hard rock and dove head first into jazz.
- I then performed with a jazz big band for a few years, formed my own jazz fusion combo, accompanied singers and did solo jazz guitar gigs. After a few years of that I was starting to make a name for myself as a jazz player, but I got bored of it.
- I don't like stylistic limitations, as it turns out. Being forced to do a single genre of music was not my idea of fun.
- Then I heard “The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky and that was it! I knew I wanted to be a composer instantly and headed for University in music.
- John Williams quotes The Rite of Spring in the original Star Wars score. Coincidence? Is it like a full-circle sort of thing; starting at Star Wars then moving on to Metallica, then Chick Corea and finally to The Rite which was quoted in Star Wars? Mmm…
- Now I am a film composer. I AM a film composer. I feel this is exactly the right thing for my personality, and it feels good.
- I do see film and film music as an art form... potentially.
- My goal as a film composer is to live up to the great tradition of golden-age composer, to continue working at their level of craft, creativity and quality.
- When composing a film score I consider myself an actor with notes, but I don’t need a trailer.
- I compose with pencil and paper because it sounds better. I compare it to writing a novel, you just can’t do it by going off-the-cuff and recording yourself into an audio-recorder. Now just imagine having all those orchestral elements to deal with. Pencil is best.
- There is a lot of bad film music… but there is also a lot of bad music everywhere.
- I have written bad music.
- Other favourite sounds are (see item 6); the cello, Alan Holdsworth’s lead guitar tone, 4 French horns in unison, and another one I won’t mention here…
- Favourite guitarist: Django Reinhardt is the best guitarist ever.
- Favourite metal band: Slayer is the best heavy metal band ever.
- Favourite piece: “The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky, most ground-breaking and rocking musical piece ever.
- Favourite composer: Bach. He is the best ever, and as much as I love film music and many other composers, nothing compares to the experience of playing Bach. It is perfection; truly humbling and inspirational all at once. Speaking of which, I need to go play some Bach now.
- Favourite film: Gattaca would be a top contender. Others are Hook, Star Wars because it changed my life, and anything that John Williams has scored gets vote for best film.
- I am generous in my opinions when watching a new film, because it’s an accomplishment to just get a film completed in the first place! It’s like watching the Olympics and when a gymnast moves his foot a little after doing a quadruple back flip we go “ooooh, not good.” It’s easy to be critical sitting in your comfy chair with popcorn.
- Facing a new piece often fills me with anxiety and uncertainty. The writing of it is usually a hardship, but once I am done I am as happy as a new dad and ready to do it all over again!
- Music was not my first choice of a career. Before Metallica set me on the path to meet my destiny as film composer, I wanted to be an illustrator.
- I was a bona-fide child-prodigy in arts. Born with a pencil is what my parents would say.
- I started earning money from my drawings when I was 14 or 15.
- I wanted to draw comic books and finally got signed on to a magazine that published my comic strips. I was 15 or 16, I forget, and I hated doing it. Drawing all those little details, the lettering, the inking, the backgrounds, it just drove me nuts.
- After The Rite (see item 14) I changed from an art degree to my music degree, and continued earning money as a commercial illustrator during that time. I illustrated for ads, restaurants and newspapers plus other free lance work that came my way.
- My parents and high-school art teacher were not pleased with my decision to leave art and pursue a career in music.
- I have, sadly, not drawn much since I move to Vancouver 14 years ago.
- When I did my piano book in 2006 I decided to self publish and illustrate it as a way to bring all my loves and abilities together.
- Making that book was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The book is called “A Garden of Music” and I am very proud of it.
- I will never do another piano book like that as long as I live.
- I am bald by choice… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
- I make up bed-time stories for my boys in which they are the heroes. The stories are epic adventures into strange worlds that sometimes last several weeks.
- They love when they become Lego guys in the stories, or meet up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- I don’t play my own music. I think it’s because I always look to learn new things, or because I always try to do better with the next one.
- I have had nightmares about shopping for sample libraries. Hoest to God, I am not lying.
- My greatest fear is not living up to my potential. To look back on my life and to wish I had been as worked to be. That would suck.
- I like to put the lights down, lie on the ground with my two boys in front of the TV and watch the original Star Wars. Seeing that star field go down after the scrawl makes me happy.
- George Lucas has lost his mind. I try to pretend the new Star Wars movies don’t exist.
- I could not live without my internet.
- I will be honest with you, I do not like temp tracks. Would you tell Brad Pitt “act like Harisson Ford?” Or write a script with little bits from other scripts?
- On the other hand, I do believe in using models when composing, “standing on the shoulders of giants” and all that. So if used like that, temp tracks can be good.
- If I could time travel I would go early 20th Century Paris, where Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Prokofieff and more where hanging out together and composing the most amazing music ever written. It must have been something!
- I have learned a lot about the creative process by studying film, story and copywriting.
- The studio system was a good thing. It was positively creative environment which is resulted in amazing films and music.
- I haven’t had cable since 1999. We watch movies. I used to be a TV junky, so I cut the umbilical.
- My kids are growing up without commercials, so when they go to a friend’s house and watch TV, they get frustrated at the commercials! “Why is the movie stopping again!!!”
- I believe John Williams is actually underappreciated because we take him for granted. His music is better than most people realize.
- I am a very passionate guy – there is a fine line, however, between passion and obsession. I walk that line.
- My wife still finds me funny after 16 years together. No, not that kind of funny.
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