Drummer Antonio Sanchez Sets The Cadence For His BIRDMAN Score

“Rhythm is everything in cinema,” says director Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Making the unique choice for the BIRDMAN soundtrack, Iñárritu went with an almost total drum score by four-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez.

Sanchez is considered by many critics and musicians alike to be one of the most prominent drummers, bandleaders and composers of his generation.

Sanchez will open the 2014 Hollywood Music in Media Awards with a special drum performance from BIRDMAN. Held at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood on Tuesday, November 4, Sanchez will play his critically acclaimed drum score live to a scene from the film.

BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a black comedy that tells the story of an actor (Michael Keaton) – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.

Like all of Iñárritu’s films, BIRDMAN takes an acute look at the human existence as seen through the characters, anchored by Riggan (Michael Keaton), but it walks a tonal tightrope between comedy and pathos, illusion and reality, allowing for multiple interpretations.

Starring Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts, BIRDMAN’s filmmaking team includes director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki, (GRAVITY), production designer Kevin Thompson (MICHAEL CLAYTON), edited by Douglas Crise (BABEL) and Stephen Mirrione (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY), and costume designer Albert Wolsky (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD).

Born in Mexico City, Antonio Sanchez started playing drums at the age of five and began performing professionally in his teens. Sanchez pursued a degree in classical piano at the National Conservatory in Mexico, and in 1993, he moved to Boston to enroll at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in Jazz Studies. Since his move to New York City in 1999 Sanchez has become one of the most sought after drummers in the international jazz scene. Sanchez is the reigning ‘Best Jazz Drummer’ on Modern Drummer’s Readers Poll’s reigning ‘Best Jazz Drummer’.

He has been the drummer of choice for twenty-time Grammy winner Pat Metheny and has been part of virtually every project the famed guitarist has put together since 2000. They’ve recorded eight albums together, and three of them have been awarded the Grammy. The Pat Metheny Unity Group is presently touring Japan, China, Australia and Singapore and will wrap up in New York in early December.

WAMG caught up with the percussionist, via the phone, in Shanghai as he was preparing to make his way to Australia for the next part of the tour with Metheny.

During our discussion, Sanchez explained his collaboration with Iñárritu on BIRDMAN and how the rhythm of the drums is tethered to Riggan’s journey towards self-discovery.

WAMG: Your score is amazing and the film is brilliant.

Antonio Sanchez: Oh thanks. I still can’t wait to see the film.

WAMG: The viewer follows Riggan and Birdman. Iñárritu has said, “Birdman is Riggan’s super ego, and from Birdman’s perspective, Riggan has lost his mind by doing this play that is clearly beneath them. From Riggan’s perspective, it’s Birdman that has lost his mind. From the perspective of the era, both are irrelevant.”

Your drum score is woven throughout the film. How much of it did you compose prior to shooting?

AS: When Alejandro first contacted me in January of last year, he sent me the script right away and I read it. It would be the equivalent if I sent somebody charts of music that hasn’t been finished. I’m not a film director seeing it already done, so it was like a completely different experience. When I read the script, it was a great script, but I needed a little more information.

Alejandro started talking to me, telling me about the characters, giving more information about the backstory. What we did is when they started shooting the film in New York, we got together in the studio and did a bunch of demos. My first instinct was to compose rhythmic themes for each character so every time you see Riggan come on the screen, you hear a certain beat or vibe.

When I showed that to Alejandro, he said that’s exactly what he didn’t want. “I want something completely spontaneous,” he said. “Very improvised. You’re a Jazz drummer, so I want you to do your thing.”

When we got together in the studio again he would explain the scene. “Riggan is in his dressing room and he gets up and his mind is boiling already. He opens the door to his dressing room and starts walking down this long hallway. He then turns the corner and he’s having all these crazy thoughts and goes to the stagedoor and waits there for a second. He opens the stagedoor and he goes on the stage. How would you play?”

I was thinking, okay, I’ll figure something out. But I told him I wanted him to sit in front of me while I’m playing and to raise his hand every time he sees Riggan doing something. Imagine the whole scene and every time I see your hand, that means he’s going onto the next part of the scene. So I would change what I played according to that and that’s what we did for a bunch of scenes. This way he could get the timing in his mind.

Once we did that, we took it and put it to the film.

WAMG: Was the film edited to your drum score or vice versa?

AS: It was a little bit of back and forth. They spliced up what I had done and they edited onto the film once it was in a rough cut shape. I then came to Los Angeles, saw and heard what they did. We got another studio in Los Angeles and I did another whole pass of more or less the same thing that I had done, but now looking at the movie as I was drumming. Alejandro was there giving me a lot of pointers. For instance, “when Riggan says this word, stop playing,” he would say.

I’ve been improvising my whole life, but I’ve never really had to do it to an image – especially a moving image. It was very interesting. Getting into Alejandro’s head and seeing how his mind works was fascinating.

WAMG: The rhythm of the drums is the movie’s heart, despite what’s going on with Michael Keaton’s character.

AS: Yes, that’s exactly Alejandro first told me when he contacted me. “I want the whole thing to be about the drums and the rhythm and Riggan’s unhealthy mind,” he said. “I want you to show that with the drums.”

Another really cool thing that we did was to overdub a bunch of drum tracks, especially towards the end when Riggan starts getting really bad. We did a lot of music and put it together so it sounds really chaotic and horrifying in a way.

WAMG: There’s a cacophony of brushes and sticks and snares throughout.  For percussionists reading, what did you use?

AS: I brought the whole kit and caboodle for this. I used a lot of different cymbals, as well as various different drum sizes.  I played with sticks, mallets and rods. I used my hands.

Another thing we did was to give the drums a gritty, dirty sound. When we did those first tracks in New York, the drums sounded really clean.  Since the film takes place around this Broadway theatre, Alejandro wanted it to sound dirty and gritty. I had to prepare the drums with different drum heads so they would sound old. I detuned them so they would sound flappy, so when I hit them, it would sound like they hadn’t been played in years.

WAMG: There are also some interesting classical pieces, along with the songs, that are mixed in with your score. It’s a nice ebb and flow between the two. Were you in on that?

AS: Alejandro told me both would be in there. The soundtrack CD was released not too long ago and the whole thing is just drums and classical music.  I don’t think there’s ever been a record like that ever in the history of soundtracks.

I was listening to it from end to end and it’s really interesting how it flows.

WAMG: Your tracks reminded me of John Bonham, Art Blakey, and Buddy Rich.  Who influenced you and who are your favorite drummers?

AS: You mentioned some of my main guys. Those were a big influence on me growing up. Ringo Starr was my first influence as was Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones. I was a rocker at heart as a kid.

I started playing along to the records of The Police. I love The Police – especially Stewart Copeland. Rush’s Neil Peart – he was also one of my guys.

Then I started getting more into Jazz. Tony Williams, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes. You have to listen to everything.  I came more through the backdoor into Jazz because I started Rock first. I have a pretty wide variety of things that I can do as a drummer.  I’ve listened to so many other types of music – besides drums and played it too – in Mexico and in The States. It was very useful to have all those tools when we started working on the film.

WAMG: Do you hope to work on more film scores in the future?

AS: This was my first soundtrack. It was not my on my radar to do a film score at all.  Alejandro just happened to want to do this and I was very into the idea.  If another score happens in one shape or form, that’ll be great but I have my other career as a band leader and musician. Right now I’m in Shanghai doing this Asian tour and were going onto Australia. Next year I’m putting out my own solo records and working a lot with my band.  If in the midst of it all, another film score happens, that’d be great.

The BIRDMAN soundtrack is available now on Milan Records: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/birdman-original-motion-picture/id922241290 and HERE.

From Fox Searchlight Pictures, BIRDMAN is in select theaters now. Nationwide this Friday, October 24th.