Soundtracks
Both of the soundtracks I've written have been for my friend, Brian Thomas, who, as of February 2003, is working in Los Angeles.
"The Incredible Vibrating Man" 1998
When
Brian gave me a draft of this short script, I thought sounded like a
porno. Well, it wasn't a porno―just a story about a superhero who
vibrates at super-fast speeds and also has problems with his love
life (the villains keep killing or kidnapping his girlfriends).
Brian told me early on that he thought drums or percussion would work well for the movie―especially since the hero, John Devlin, "vibrated." I'd always wanted to do a percussion soundtrack!
I began experimenting with drums, cymbals, and my Roland R-5 drum machine. But it was a visit to Mazatlan, Mexico, that inspired me to come up with one of the trademark "Vibe" sounds―maracas.
Many months later, I was using maracas, wind chimes, and cymbals to produce the soundscape for "The Incredible Vibrating Man." I'm happy with the result―especially the droning, eerie sounds created with cymbals.
Incredible Vibrating Man Home Page
"Shattered"
This is the film that got Brian into NYU film school. He filmed
it with all his friends one summer in Richland, Washington. During the fall, we
were roommates again in Seattle, and Brian had a little Casio keyboard that we
both played whenever we could.
Brian came up with the melody that would become the main theme for "Shattered." I remember many nights of just sitting around playing that theme, the two of us banging away on that little keyboard.
Then I broke the keyboard―or at least I thought I did. The problem with this was Brian had to finish the soundtrack so he could send the movie off to NYU. My brother made a call to Martin Rose, a future member of the band Wake, and on a Saturday Martin carted over all his "professional" equipment―a keyboard and drum machine. We hooked everything up and scored the movie right there in the living room, with Martin doing most of the playing. It turned around pretty good―and reminds me of a John Carpenter soundtrack.
After that, I told Brian I'd try to fix his keyboard―or buy him another one. I gave it to my cousin, Chuck, who was good with electronics. He took one look at it, and then proceeded to put new batteries in it. It was one of those happy accidents. If the keyboard hadn't broke, the soundtrack wouldn't have been half as good!