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Interview – WAMG Talks To THE WORLD’S END Composer Steven Price
Bells, wires, computers are all part of the music in Edgar Wright’s THE WORLD’S END. As you head off to the theaters this weekend to see the film, have your ears on the lookout, or listenout, for Award winning composer Steven Price’s score.
Reteaming director Edgar Wright with actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, THE WORLD’S END reunites five friends who return to their hometown to relive an epic pub crawl from their youth. Along the way, the “five musketeers” uncover an alien invasion and soon learn that they are mankind’s only hope of survival.
Price joins the dynamic comedic team of Wright, Pegg, and Frost following the trio’s success with SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ.
His passion for music began early: a guitarist from the age of five, he went on to achieve a First Class degree in Music from Cambridge University. Following graduation, he went to work in the London studio of Gang of Four guitarist/producer Andy GIll, for whom he would program, contribute string arrangements, and play on albums alongside artists such as Michael Hutchence and Bono.
Mr. Price went on to work as a programmer, arranger, and performer with film music composer Trevor Jones. He provided additional music for projects such as Roger Donaldson’s Thirteen Days; Stephen Norrington’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Frank Coraci’s Around the World in 80 Days; the television series Dinotopia; and Tamra Davis’ Crossroads, on which he was also the featured guitar soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra.
A recommendation from Abbey Road Studios brought him to the attention of Howard Shore, leading to Mr. Price’s work with the Oscar-winning composer as music editor on Peter Jackson THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.
His subsequent movies as music editor included Christopher Nolan’s BATMAN BEGINS, for which he shared with his fellow music editors a Golden Reel Award nomination; and, in his first project with THE WORLD’S END director Edgar Wright, SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, on which he also collaborated with the film’s composer Nigel Godrich.
Among the other composers that he has worked with and learned from are Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Harry and Rupert Gregson-Williams, Patrick Doyle, George Fenton, Dario Marianelli, and Anne Dudley.
He has composed music for advertising campaigns in both the U.K. and U.S. After contributing additional music to Richard Curtis’ PIRATE RADIO, he composed the original score for Joe Cornish’s sleeper success ATTACK THE BLOCK, winning awards from both the Austin Film Critics Association and the Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival.
On Wednesday morning I was able to speak with the composer over the phone from London. He was in a studio laying down the final master cut on the album to his original score for one of 2013’s most anticipated films, Alfonso Cuarón’s GRAVITY, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
Mr. Price and I discussed his work on the electronic and symphonic tale of THE WORLD’S END, the unique sounds on the film, and of all things, Rowan Atkinson.
Michelle McCue: I loved the film. Fans are really excited for THE WORLD’S END – there have been pub crawls and back-to-back showings of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ across the U.S.
Steven Price: Ah, we can spread our terrible, binge drinking ways across the Atlantic – that’s a good thing.
MM: You worked with Wright before on ATTACK THE BLOCK and SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD. How did you land this gig?
SP: We first worked together, Edgar and I, on SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD and I was hired on that as music editor and ended up doing additional music and working closely with him and Nigel Godrich. We found out we work together very well. Everything Edgar does is entwined… everything he does is very planned and everything is seamless. The sound design relates to the music, the music relates to the cut. Everything develops together. That’s the process I enjoy a lot as well and I enjoy being involved in that layering. Everything has a lot of layering with Edgar’s stuff. You can become part of that and so we started that with SCOTT PILGRIM and then obviously after that on ATTACK OF THE BLOCK.
I was thrilled when I got the phone call about this one and the opportunity was there.
Again, he was looking to have a score that was really entwined with a lot of the pop song choices that had character. It works with all of the different kind of moods in the film, because really, the score has to do a lot of action stuff, but also a lot of dramatic stuff … a lot of quite emotional stuff as well which I think was a surprise to some people in this film. It’s quite moving in places. Edgar was looking for someone to work with on that really, so I was thrilled to get the chance to do this one.
On the set, Wright regularly conferred with all department heads including film editor Paul Machliss and music supervisor Nick Angel – another longtime member of the team, whose name was used for Pegg’s HOT FUZZ character. In THE WORLD’S END, Pegg’s character, Gary, has never moved on from the music he listened to as a teenager. “Gary’s soundtrack is from the popular consciousness of between 1989 and 1993,” says Pegg. “It’s a mix tape, and it gets combined with [composer] Steven Price’s score.”
MM: I liked how the film is filled with a combination of your score and songs of the late 80’s and early 90’s. It’s a nice blend to reference Gary’s days in school.
SP: We were both in love with the songs as well because those are the records, when I first got to the record-buying age, those were the records that I was buying. The sound of those songs well influenced a lot of the instruments I used in the score. There’s a lot of guitars in the score sort of bedded in and drum stuff and synthesized stuff… evoking the same sort of period. So it all kind of, hopefully, feels quite seamless and takes you through the story really.
MM: Had they started shooting any of the movie – had you seen any of the movie before you started composing the score?
SP: Yeah, I mean Edgar is great in that he involves you early on, so I read the script before they shot anything. We had our first chats about things before that, so we knew how we were going to proceed. As soon as there was anything to see, I saw the assembly, which is the very first cut when they put everything together. The assembly on this was amazing because they’re pre-planning. The people around Edgar and Edgar himself – the preplanning is incredible, so in the very early stages, this film was in great shape. We just got going really early basically.
We developed the score as the film cut went on, a lot of back and forth and very collaborative overall.
© Focus Features. Director Edgar Wright (l) positions Martin Freeman (r) on the set.
MM: It looks like the film was being shot around the music instead of vice-versa.
SP: That’s the hope. It’s incredible what Edgar has done. Funny, the other day they put up the SHAUN OF THE DEAD script online so people can see it and even in that you can see in the storyboard things like ‘everyone crossing the road is going to do it in time with the music.’ That’s how he thinks so everything, all the time, has a metronome to it.
Musically it’s the most rewarding thing because rhythmically you’re working with the filmmaker to make it all come together rather than looking at finished cuts. Everything is very musically put together and Edgar’s got a great ear for that. His editor has got a great ear for that. The film’s editor, Paul Machliss, is a musician himself. The whole thing has got a musical rhythm which makes it a great ride when you’re actually watching it.
MM: I noticed there’s a lot of unique electronic and percussion sounds happening in THE WORLD’S END. Were there any influences from the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop? (One of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio. Used everyday sounds such as voices, bells or gravel as raw material for “radiophonic” manipulations.)
SP: We loved that – The Radiophonic Workshop! I grew up in the 80’s and they did an awful lot of stuff with the TV shows in the UK around that time. I love all those sounds. There’s something very, other-worldly about them which obviously suits the subject matter of this film. There’s something brilliantly kind of human about them – you can feel the kind of machines working. The combination really suits the film. And we talked about that a lot because we both share a love of those sorts of sounds, so it was great fun doing that. I’m still playing with that sort of stuff, combining it with the orchestra for a new sound.
MM: It works perfectly in the film.
SP: It’s so great to play with those noises because half of them are sounds of things breaking, you know? You’re destroying bits of equipment to get the sounds from them and making them into music. It’s good fun to do and I like it when film scores still are unique to their subject matter. It’s seems with this it works well.
MM: You are a composer now and previously a music editor – how did that help you in the beginning?
SP: Being a music editor was earlier in my career and a great stepping stone to what I’m doing now. Music editing is great in terms of preparing for a composing career which is fantastic. You really are in the center of things and you’re working very closely with both composers and directors. You’re in the cutting room and you see a lot of things and you get a lot of quality time – it’s the best experience you could ever have.
You’re very aware of things that come up, the needs of a film and how things can change. It helps your filmmaking to do a job like that. I’m thrilled now that I’m doing the composing side of it, but I’m equally thrilled that I got that experience behind me of being involved in that side of filmmaking. Being in the cutting room when the cutting is happening is amazing experience to have.
@Warner Bros. Pictures
MM: You’ve worked with and collaborated with Hans Zimmer, James Newton-Howard, Howard Shore. What did you learn from them?
SP: I was lucky to be on BATMAN BEGINS which was done over here in the UK. You’re sitting with people who are masters of their craft really. On every level you learned a lot because you saw how there’s a great focus on telling a story and the music is serving the film. There’s no ego involved – you’re literally part of the filmmaking process. As much as you’re a musician, you’re a filmmaker and that would be a great experience working with people like that. They’re constantly trying to make the film better and tell the story better. They will go to any lengths to do that and that’s a great thing to see – to realize these people are at the top of their game for good reason. They put that level of work in and attention to detail. With Howard Shore and all work that goes into THE LORD OF THE RINGS – you can hear it when it’s done. I’ve been lucky to be in the same room with these people over the years.
MM: What was it like to work on the documentary MARLEY?
SP: In terms of the music actually it was a very small amount. They were obviously going to use the music of Bob Marley and the intention was to use it through the whole way. But you get certain subject matters and the reggae feeling might not be the most helpful thing. The shooting or the death of someone – the style doesn’t quite work, but it’s finding a way of doing music that does work for that dramatic purpose that kind of feels linked into the film.
On that one I used the sounds of reggae. The production of slight dub echoes to underscore – so that it felt like it belonged and within the style that did that dramatic job that the original source couldn’t do. It was a problem solving job that was really good fun to do. I like Kevin Macdonald a lot, he’s brilliant filmmaker and so thoughtful with everything he does. He’s got a real way of capturing the excitement. I enjoyed the film a lot.
MM: You also worked with Alfonso Cuarón on his new film GRAVITY.
SP: GRAVITY has been an amazing experience. We’re mastering the soundtrack for that today – I’m calling from the studio where we’re putting the finishing touches to the album. Because of where the film is based, up in space, and there’s no sound in space so there are no rules. The music can do things that it wouldn’t ordinarily do because the conventions of the sound in the film are gone. It’s been great fun playing with the conventions of how we can do things and doing them a little differently. I’m very excited about people seeing it because of what Alfonso has achieved – from the writing through the way it looks. It’s a complete experience so I’m looking forward to people seeing it in the cinemas and having the experience, both visually and with the music. I had a great time working on that film.
MM: I got sweaty palms and was very nervous just watching the trailer. I can imagine what the rest of the movie will be like.
SP: Of all the films I’ve ever seen in 3D, (some people love it and some people don’t,) it’s the most immersive – the experience. Being up in space and the way it’s been shot… the tension is quite incredible and it’s a very emotional film as well. The whole thing is a real journey with amazing performances and everyone is very proud of it.
Being the mother of a son who’s a fan of British comedian and actor, Rowan Atkinson, I had to ask Mr. Price about his work on JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN and MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY.
SP: I think Rowan Atkinson is the nicest man you could possibly meet. He’s just delightful and an absolute gentleman. It’s good fun working with him. I grew up watching ‘Black Adder’ so it was interesting to then go into work and face him the next day. Sitting in a room talking to Rowan knowing that he’s done all these things and he’s so down to earth, was a bit of a treat.
MM: What advice would you give to young musicians considering a career as a film composer?
SP: I think the thing that has been great for me is if you enjoy being around this process there’s always jobs that need to be done. I’ve taken on over the years programming, arranging, orchestrating for people – I’ve made the tea for people as well, so I’ve found ways of being useful to people. You’d be amazed once you’re in the room how many opportunities can come really. There are always jobs that need to be done, and if you’re a musically minded person and you’re nice to have around, I think people appreciate that and there are opportunites out there. It can appear very daunting getting into this industry at times, but I think if you’ve got the right attitude and you’re keen to get involved, and ultimately you love to do it, there are definitely openings for people.
MM: Thank you for a delightful conversation about THE WORLD’S END and your other films.
SP: Thank you kindly and take care.
The World’s End – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is available now on Universal Back Lot Music.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/worlds-end-original-motion/id689426129
Tracklisting:
1. They Called Me The King
2. The Cross Hands
3. Has It Got Messy Yet?
4. Hello Trevor
5. The Trusty Servant
6. The Two Headed Dog
7. We’re Way Past Leaving Now
8. The Mermaid
9. To The Beehive
10. I Hate This Town
11. Break It Up
12. The Smokehouse
13. I’m Disappointed In You
14. The King’s Head
15. Put The Pint Down
16. The World’s End
17. Cosmic Intervention
18. You Had To Go and Spoil It
19. The Morning After
20. There’s Only One Gary King – osymyso’s Inibri-8 Megamix
21. There’s Only One Gary King – osymyso’s Inibri-8 Megamix (Instrumental)
http://www.focusfeatures.com/the_worlds_end/
Director Edgar Wright on the set of THE WORLD’S END.
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