Composer Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates & the Genre of Doom

"Because I tend to do films that span a broad scope of stylistic components or cultural components, I tend to approach them not always knowing exactly what I'm going to do!" Tyler Bates

CC: Since 2004, you've done: DAWN OF THE DEAD, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, SLITHER, SEE NO EVIL, DAY OF THE DEAD, 300, HALLOWEEN and now DOOMSDAY. Are you attracted to blood-laden movies? Does violence or gore inspire you in some a special way?


TYLER BATES: It's funny that you ask that. Actually, I cannot say that violence inspires me at all; however, I have had a lot of close experiences with violence early on in life, which makes these movies pretty easy for me to relate to. I would like to tone down the death toll in some of the movies I have coming up.


CC: So you're comfortable with the violence, so to speak?


TYLER BATES: To be frank, I can't say that I'm entirely comfortable with it. I have two little kids and that's not something I want to subject them to. It's just turns out that the film-makers I've aligned myself with are making these types of films and I support their art, their vision, and the kind of people that they are: Rob Zombie, Zach snyder, and now Neil Marshall.

DOOMSDAY was actually a little more "fun." So that made it a little easier to handle the violence. Obviously, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS was quite a challenge to handle as I had to watch every scene of that film several hundred times, while working on it. That leaves an indelible mark in your brain, so I have to find ways to come down from working on that each day.


CC: Do you ever just get an appetite to score a little, romantic-comedy?


TYLER BATES: [laughs] - Sure! Are you kidding? One thing about a comedy is that they usually have 1/3 less music than the type of genre-films I've been doing. Sometimes it gets a little exhausting cranking out 80 to 90 minutes of music for a film and trying to remain interesting and continuing to pack a punch. Nontheless, I enjoy doing the genre films a lot they give me tremendous opportunities to be creative and to try things that might not be appropriate for more character driven films.

CC: How did you get involved with DOOMSDAY?


TYLER BATES: Neil (Marshall) called my agent. It also just so happened that a producer on the film and I had worked together on a project years ago when he was at Screen Gems. Neil Marshall had listened to a lot of my music and liked what he heard. We really hit it off. I didn't quite realize that it was such an homage to the 80s. When I was brought on, I was told it was more CHILDREN OF MEN meets MAD MAX, but it's much more like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK meets MAD MAX. And for me that was a lot of fun, because I really into electronic music and I love the electronic music from the 80s. Even though we didn't have a lot of time, it was a lot of fun working on it.

CC: How much time did you have?


TYLER BATES: I'd say the better part of 4 and a half weeks, then we recorded and mixed in about two weeks. There's about 90 minutes of music for the film. Part of our mixing was overdubbing and recording rhythm section. It was pretty crazy. Still, it was really pleasant and I had great time on it. I really enjoyed the movie but am a little disappointed that it didn't do better at the box office. That's how it goes sometimes.

CC: With DOOMSDAY paying an homage to MAD MAX and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, did it any pressure on you.


TYLER BATES: That, in and of itself, didn't add any pressure, but there is something interesting here. Because I tend to do films that span a broad scope of stylistic components or cultural components, I tend to approach them not always knowing exactly what I'm going to do. The pressure is really for me to find what is going to work this particular movie. I can't really look at other movies that might be considered classics. I can't compare what I'm doing or about to do with those films. There's no way I can compete with that. There are just so many great, historical scores that have come before my work. I don't expect to "best" any of those. I try though! [laughs]

CC: Did you use any vintage synths from the 80s for DOOMSDAY?


TYLER BATES: Some of them are. There is a lot of Yamaha CS80 on it.  I did use a lot of the Prophet 08, which is Dave Smith's new keyboard - the guy who basically invented midi - and using that has been fantastic. I think it is one of the best pieces of gear to come out in a long time. It was great fun to work with and it was a perfect fit for the film. Also, a lot of the sounds are "home made," which is something I tend to do with all of the films I work on.

CC: The guitar is an important instrument in many of your bigger scores. How did you use the guitar differently in DOOMSDAY as opposed to 300?


TYLER BATES: In 300 the guitar was intended to be very crude - to embody the essence of all the weaponry and landscape. They were definitely colder and menacing and they were detuned both naturally and artificially. Now in DOOMSDAY it was a lot more fun. While it was still frenetic and violent, it's all done in "fun." Here, the guitars have a bit of a more upbeat spirit to them.

CC: How many different themes did you write for DOOMSDAY?


TYLER BATES: There's one umbrella-theme for the film. I tend to do that for films as opposed to writing themes for individual characters. What I'll do is break off that main theme and express it in different ways depending on the situation, emotional exchange, or the texture the scene. So I tend not to write individual themes for characters when doing a genre movie. It would be different if I were doing a comedy. In that case, you can be a little more literal in your expression. I have a tendency to work with directors who like to be a little more obtuse in the way a theme will play in the film. They are usually looking for the theme to capture the overall feel of the film. They don't think the theme has to dominate or even be so recognizable.

CC: The soundtrack to DOOMSDAY ends on a surprising note - "The Can Can." Did you have a say in that?

TYLER BATES: Oh! I did not. Neil Marshall put that in there and I think its great! I love all the songs he selected for the movie. Once I had seen a cut of the film and the songs he had selected I really understood what it was he was doing. We found out that our personal music tastes were similar in many ways. Frankly, I think the can-can should have had a lot more to do with the marketing of the film. I think it would have been cool and people would have seen more of the humor that the film has to offer.

 

Continue the interview (Page 2)